MovieChat Forums > The Truman Show (1998) Discussion > A few questions about the set he lived i...

A few questions about the set he lived in...


Okay, so I know that this film was so pre-occupied with it's ideas that we never got to explore the technical side of Seahaven. I think that would've made the film easier to watch and a lot more praised than it currently is. Here are some flaws about the set built for Truman:

As we know, the sky is one large dome. When Truman's boat at the end puts a hole in the sky, we see that it's sort of made of like a plaster type material with painted clouds. However, this seems ridiculous because; how would they make sky cloudy, sunny, etc when the clouds are painted on there? How would they change? Not to mention, the sky/dome would need to change to mimic parts of the day like morning, and even sunlight. How? If the dome isn't made of pixels or whatever to display a 360 image, what is the plaster for? As we know, the sky is made of plaster, which means that something must be projecting images onto the surface. Where is this projector?

What was the sirius light for? Most likely the sun. So *sigh* if the sun was most likely a bright spotlight made by this projector, why do they have lights? Surely, this is pointless because when somebody would look up, they would see the lights that make the sun on the roof of the set, and they would probably resemble tiny dots. If the set is too far up for the lights to be visible, the you would still be able to see the shadows of the lights that aren't being used. It's kind of like looking at the top of a soundstage: You would be able to see the stage lights, right? Now, imagine that the soundstage roof is so high up. If those lights were turned on all the way up there, you would see clumps of lights. Imagine how many it would take to create one large sun.

How do they make rain? Where are these sprinklers and why can't we see them when we look up at the sky?

Making weather. Now, my question isn't so much how, but where? If they make a set sooo large it's visible from space, then surely, there must a LOT of engines and machines, and thousands of tonnes of heavy equiptment to mimic weather. Yet, all they do to control it, is create a few touch screen bars. WTF? If you had thousands of machines producing weather, you wouldn't just tap the screen, and they're all working?! There should be thousands of controls to control each aspect of the machine to create weather-and strong weather at that, which could potentially overheat and crash the machines from producing so much energy.

Come to think of it, this is a really stupid movie. Asked too many questions, didn't answer any of them.

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Although obviously your questions are all valid, I find it annoying how because none of these things were explained, the conclusion you come to is "this is a really stupid movie"...This is far from a stupid movie; it's just in the span of 2 hours to even attempt to explain the logistics of the set would a) bore to death half the audience with exposition, b) seem like a half-assed attempt at best and would still be dissected and refuted by smart asses (kind of like yourself), and c) screw up the pacing and also take away from the story.

I'm glad they didn't go that route, because even if they had addressed all your technical issues and also many more I can think of, how would that make it a better film? This has nothing to do with the story, concept, or ideas presented...

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well, if it's dark out, the painted blue sky/clouds wouldn't be illuminated and might just fade into the "night'". the darkness could potentially overpower it.

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the painted blue backdrop was just at the extreme end of the dome - obviously they never expected him to get that far.

as for the light - maybe it was a "star?"
Just because you don't see the sprinklers doesn't mena they're not there. why would you expect to be able to see them?

as for your comments about the weather - what are you talking about? why wouldn't they control all of that from a single room? Would you have preferred to see an army of engineers and machinists? is that really necessary to get the point across?

yes - this movie is probably impossible. the quality of this film or any other is not in the minutia but in the story it tells.

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Just because you don't see the sprinklers doesn't mena they're not there. why would you expect to be able to see them?


I know they're there! Because it rains! I want to know why I can't see them.

Because to produce an enormous amount of rain, you would expect to see enormous sprinklers at the top of the dome. To produce falling rain. And how would you disguise them? Not to mention, being able to control them from one room - would crash the entire system. This just shows how ridiculous the physics of the film are.

Ignore my rants if they really annoy you. I just focus better when I know how it happens.

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What I found odd was the storm.. how would that work in a made up world?

"It's All in the Game."
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I guarantee you the storm was filmed on a set in a studio...just like they depict here.

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You can't see them because they're attached to the dome. Did you see the size of that dome? I think they said that Christof was at Level 221 of the dome, or somesuch. That's 221 floors up - almost a half mile. Think about the fire sprinklers you've seen in offices - those little, 2-inch, round, spikey, silvery metal sprinklers. You really think you'd be able to see those from half a mile away? There's no need to disguise them because they're invisible from that distance.

The sprinklers do not have to be enormous. In fact, you could recreate realistic rain with sprinklers that are exactly the size of those sprinklers you see in office buildings. More to the point, even if the rain weren't realistic, how the hell would Truman ever know that?

And why can't you control them from one room? They control nuclear power plants from one room. Why do you think this is such a problem?

By the way, that "sirius" reference is to the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. So that when Truman looked up at night, he would actually see the stars and constellations the way the rest of the world saw them.




I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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There are probably clouds that are in front of the fake painted clouds! There is a video on you tube (link below) that the Trutalk host says the sky is made of a special material. In the last scene, where the boat crashes, the material must be a hard type material screen that is like plaster. Sirius is a star also. They probably have camouflaged rain sprinklers for rain. Or the area where Truman crashed might be just a small area where there is no special mesh screen.

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Why would they even need the dome? Wouldn't the regular weather system be much less complicated. Sure it would be harder to keep him in and others out but that still seems less complicated than creating a massive eco-dome.

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Part of the show was Christof's need to control everything. Including the weather.

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As Ed Harris(and he oughta KNOW about space, being some of the RIGHT STUFF)/Christof and the camera and the announcer show...this is the largest and highest structure in the world!

Amanda Bynes is hot, Lindsay Lohan is not

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They needed 100% control over the weather, If they planned a big picnic for ratings and it rained, its not just a ruined picnic, its ruined tv.

Im sure a sprinkler system painted sky blue like the rest of the ceiling could not be seen from the ground. There were probably huge rotors and such to to churn up the water when needed, fans for wind, and smoke and fog machines all over the place easily painted to match watever. Remember 'Easy on the fog' when they let Truman meet his father again.

You have to 'suspend disbelief' that in this 'movie world' this corporation managed to finance this huge facility dome set, cast, and crew and keep it going with product placement advertizing

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You do know that "Sirius" is the name of a specific star, right? Not the sun?

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If he lived in a dome that high it'd have its own weather system.

There are several aircraft hangers which aer so big they have their own weather.

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