One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo (2002)

13 corrected entries

(3 votes)

Corrected entry: During the brief scene when Sy is taking pictures of his boss's daughter, he is hand holding the camera. Later, when his boss is flipping through the pictures causing them to come in closer with each print, the pictures are in focus AND the overall exposure stays consistent. Handholding a Point & Shoot Camera with a Telephoto zoom will decrease the f-stop, causing it to let in less light and produce a fair amount of camera shake.

Correction: As the aperture decreases, the shutter speed slows down to compensate for less light coming through the lens, which keeps it at a consistent overall exposure value. To combat camera shake, it's best to use a minimum shutter speed equal to the reciprocal of the focal length (Sy's camera's max focal length was 150mm, therefore any speed faster than 1/150s would eliminate shake). The scene in question took place in broad daylight, and presuming Sy used a common consumer film with an ASA rating of 400, shutter speeds above 1/150 of a second would have been very easy to achieve even with the small max aperture (f/11 at the narrow end) of the Minolta Freedom Zoom 150. But if you look closely at the scene to begin with, exposure does change slightly from shot to shot.

Corrected entry: When the son brings in his "gift" disposable camera to be developed, he places it on the counter. When he does this, the green "flash ready" light is on. The camera then cuts to Sy, then back to the camera on the counter. The "flash ready" light is no longer on. (00:44:05)

Correction: The flash light on disposable cameras generally switch off after a short amount of time if they are not being used.

Lummie

Corrected entry: In scene 27 When Sy enters Room 511 he puts a sticker with the word 'Glossy' on it over the peep hole - in the next shot when he bursts into the room you can see that the sticker is not on the door anymore.

Correction: Its tough to see it but the sticker is still there when he bursts in.

Lummie

Corrected entry: In the car scene where the mother discovers that the husband is having an affair, the son looks in the passenger side wing mirror and sees Sy's car. This would have been impossible as the mirror would have been adjusted for the mother to see out of, plus a child of his size would barly been able to see the mirror. (00:54:15)

Correction: The mother might have not readjusted the mirror or not noticed she couldn't see it from her viewpoint. I know in my car the mirror commonly doesn't stay at the right angle because of the wind pushing it in. From the kid being able to see it, you can readjust those mirrors that even people can see it from the passenger side. For all we know the kid decided to change it so he could things behind him in the car.

Lummie

Corrected entry: Jake Yorkin wants to buy an action figure from Neon Genesis Evangelion, he explains to Sy that it's a good guy and that it is about 20 feet tall, however if you have watched the movie "The End Of Evangelion" you'd know that it's one of about 12 similar bad guys that bring forth the apocalypse and kill Asuka, also these "Eva's" are more likely to be about 200 feet tall.

Correction: We only know that the Jake wants one of these action figures. Whether he knows much about the show or film could be why he gets the facts wrong. Jake might have seen the figures in the store and decided he wanted one and not seen the film or show to find out more of the facts of the characters.

Lummie

Corrected entry: During the scene where Sy is getting fired, Sy states something to the effect that he has never messed up anyone's film the entire time he has worked there. Unfortunately, a short time before, Yoshi reminded him that he had cut directly through a negative once again. Sy acknowledges this and recommends giving the customer a free roll of film for their trouble.

Correction: This is more his character trying to hide his wrong doings. In the scene he is trying to show how valuable he is to the company. Telling the boss that he made a few mistakes wasn't exactly going to impress in trying to keep his job.

Lummie

Corrected entry: When Bill is firing Sy, he tells Sy to finish out the week. No manager is going to tell a flaky, unstable, unpredictable employee suspected of stealing, etc. to finish out the week.

Correction: He is also not going to want to set off a flaky, unstable, unpredictable employee who, up until recent events, had an impeccable record. Perhaps he pities him and is just trying to play it cool.

Macalou

Corrected entry: It seems that Sy gets fired because the counter on the machine that prints the photos was out of sync with what the photo booth had actually charged customers for because Sy had been making extra copies of the photos for himself. We know from the photos on his wall at his apartment that he had been doing this for many years, why did the store only just notice?

Correction: They probably did notice, but were overlooking it. It seems that the manager was just using this is the final straw to fire him.

Corrected entry: I don't understand why a photo developer at a store would have the key to the knife case. Also wouldn't the knife case be watched by a clerk or even a camera in case someone did try to steal one?

Correction: It is fairly likely that Sy stole the key from someone and made a copy of it, perhaps even in that store. He was a very likeable guy to the other employees and they would never have expected anything. As for no one watching the knife case, his likeability also could have come into play here. Many people probably didn't know he was fired. So they may have just figured he was getting the item for a customer, perhaps filling in for another employee.

Corrected entry: There are several shots of the SavMart that show a lot of wide, open floor space at the front of the store. Stores like that never waste floor space that can be used for special displays of soda cases, holiday merchandise, bargain bins, etc. Usually it's hard to even maneuver around them.

Krista

Correction: SavMart was made to be perfect and open and well lit. It is supposed to be Sy's 'heaven'.

Nala

Corrected entry: The black-and-white photo Sy picks up at a flea market and passes off as a picture of his mother appears to be a high school graduation photo from the late 1950s or early 1960s. This would make Sy and his mother approximately the same age.

Correction: Obviously he knew it wasn't his mother, he only picked it up so he could show Nina and say it was his mother. It's doubtful she would have realized exactly when it was taken.

princesskelli

Corrected entry: In the scene where Robin Williams is calling Maya Burson's hotel room, (he first asked for Will Yorkin but there was no room for him, so he asked for Maya Burson's room). Robin Williams calls Room Service and says he would like to cancel the lunch order for Will Yorkin. If the room is under Maya Burson's name how did they know which room Will Yorkin was in?

Correction: When Sy calls Room Service he begins by saying "This is Will Yorkin in 511". The Room Service guy also double checks and asks if 511 is correct.

Corrected entry: When Jake shows Sy the action figure he picked up in the store, there is a shot of the figurine in the box. The title and text on the box is almost all in Japanese writing, including a little yellow text box, on the top right of the plastic covering, and in the shot of the back of the box, most of the writing is in Japanese as well. It's unlikely that a product that was released in a major American mall, would leave most of the writing on the product it was selling, in a foreign language. While many stores import products and leave the writing in the foreign language, malls like the one in the film would never import items like this, unless it was on special request. It wouldn't see much profit from importing an product like that.

Lummie

Correction: First off, the scene takes place at SavMart, not the mall. So, as you stated, stores (like SavMart) do import foreign toys, and since it's not a major American mall, there's nothing wrong with the toy having Japanese writing. Often stores that carry these types of foreign toys do so because they're actually cheaper, thus saving not only the company, but the customers, money.

Bishop73

One Hour Photo mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Near the middle when Sy is imagining he is in the Yorkin's home, he is sitting on the couch watching a ballgame. Behind the couch is a tall white square sculpture. Sy turns to the dog and says, "Good game." When the camera goes back to Sy, look behind the couch, the sculpture has disappeared. But when you see the Yorkins come in the door, and the camera goes back to Sy on the couch, the sculpture has reappeared. (00:30:15)

More mistakes in One Hour Photo

Sy Parrish: Most people don't take snapshots of the little things. The used Band-Aid, the guy at the gas station, the wasp on the Jell-O. But these are the things that make up the true picture of our lives. People don't take pictures of these things.

More quotes from One Hour Photo
More trivia for One Hour Photo

Question: Does the photo at the end with Sy and the family actually happen or is this just Sy imagining what life could have been like with them?

Tallicame

Chosen answer: This is mentioned on the DVD commentary - it's deilberately open ended so one can interpret it as either it's Sy imagining what he wants to happen OR it's what really happened.

Neil Jones

As Neil Jones said, the ending is open for interpretation. However, I think there is reason to believe that Sy imagined the photo. It shows him and the family outside of their house, all looking happy together. Would they want to take such a photo with Sy after the incident at the hotel? And before the incident, they were probably not close enough with Sy that he would be in a photo taken at their home. Him and no other guests/visitors.

More questions & answers from One Hour Photo

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