Line #44 Pinball/LightsCameraAction


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lightscameraaction_7930.jpg]]
3	->''"Quiet on the set!"''
4	-->-- '''Director'''
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6	''Lights... Camera... Action!'' is an [[PhysicalPinballTables arcade pinball game]] released by Creator/{{Gottlieb}} (under the "Premier" label) in 1989. It was designed by Creator/JonNorris, with artwork by Brian Johnson and Constantino Mitchell. It was also one of the company's earliest System 3 tables, allowing for a more complicated game (similar to their competitors).
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8	In this game, the player is a budding Director working on a summer action movie. Under the heat of the spotlights, travel around San Francisco, wrap up the five big Scenes, and finish the Blockbuster. Complete the Stunt Sequence, perform the Helicopter Rescue loop, then flip the ramp and film the big Shoot-Out in the backbox. Keep an eye on the countdown timer embedded in the playfield, use the Catch-Up feature to stay in the game, and collect the stars' playing cards to build up your Poker Hands.
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10	A digital version is available for ''VideoGame/ThePinballArcade''.
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13	!!''Lights... Camera... Action!'' demonstrates the following tropes:
14	* AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats: Chinatown has a parade featuring identical-looking performers wearing conical straw hats.
15	* ArtShift: The cartoonish playfield art is interspersed with several women drawn in a more realistic style. According to Brian Johnson, Constantino Mitchell added them because Gottlieb management felt Johnson's women weren't "sexy enough".
16	* TheArtifact: WordOfGod is that the game was originally designed with a card game theme, which was changed to movie-making midway through production. The many references to playing cards and poker hand mechanic are remnants of this design.
17	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Though set in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, the right side of the table depicts an orange suspension bridge with ''three'' towers. Either the Oakland Bay Bridge is miscolored or the Golden Gate Bridge got a sudden extension.
18	* BigBad: King is the primary antagonist of the [[ShowWithinAShow movie within the game]].
19	* CampGay: Queen is a flamboyantly effeminate man with a loose shirt and leather-skinned bandanna draped over his shoulder.
20	* ComebackMechanic: Multiplayer games have a Catch-Up feature in place; each round ends with all players receiving the score of the opponent immediately ahead of them, while the leading player gets an extra 1 million points.
21	* CreatorCameo: The director's assistant (a woman wearing a tank-top with the name "Jeanine") is Constantino Mitchell's wife.
22	* DestinationDefenestration: The rooftop ChaseScene includes a bystander knocked through a skylight window.
23	* TheDragon: Jack is the right-hand man of King, the BigBad.
24	-->'''Jack:''' "Don't come any closer... copper!!"
25	* EasterEgg: In the artwork on the sides of the cabinet, the rocks spell out "Jon Norris".
26	* EiffelTowerEffect: The Golden Gate Bridge is prominently featured on the backglass, indicating that the game takes place in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco.
27	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Two cars are shown falling off of a cliffside road in a fiery collision.
28	* ForeignLookingFont: The signs and indicators in the Chinatown section of the playfield are lettered with the same psuedo-Asian typeface used in many Chinese restaurants.
29	%%* TheHero: "Ace," the star of the film.
30	* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: Invoked by the movie-within-a-game, as the Chinatown scenes take place in the middle of a Chinese New Year parade.
31	* MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext: While naming the characters in an action movie after playing cards can make thematic sense, there's no explanation why you're collecting their "cards" to build poker hands while filming the movie.
32	* NoNameGiven: The player is never told the name of the movie nor the names of the stars. The main characters are also never properly named, and are only identified by [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname their playing card ranks.]]
33	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Every character in the movie is identified solely by a playing card-themed nickname.
34	* OutsideRide: Two characters are shown hanging off the outside of a helicopter.
35	* PaintingTheMedium: The game has spotlights, like those on a movie set, which shine down on the player at key points of the game.
36	* PlayingCardMotifs: All of the characters in the film are named after playing cards, [[TheArtifact an artifact]] of the original card-game motif.
37	%%* ShowdownAtHighNoon: Though it's not set in the Old West, the shootout scene in the backbox plays this trope straight.
38	%%-->'''Director:''' "Ready, set, ''DRAW!''"
39	* ShowWithinAShow: More specifically, the game centers on the production of a movie.
40	* StairwellChase: One of the Scenes being filmed is a foot chase up a flight of stairs.
41	* ThemeNaming: The movie's characters are named after playing card ranks -- "Ace" (TheHero), "King" (BigBad), "Queen" (CampGay), "Jack" (TheDragon), and "10" (TheHeart).
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Context Pinball / LightsCameraAction