British version: unused million win graphics

[Pyscowicz]

My friend noticed when he was watching Donald Fear's million pound winning that when answer was revealed, there was million pound strap behind the question graphics for under second. What is this? Was it used on every question or was it used only on that time? At least it's not shown on television.

[RegisFan]

Whoa! Great discovery! Seems like someone made a mistake in the edit bay.

[kplewisvox]

I'm guessing all the prize money straps are there, we just never see them because the camera angle cuts away before it gets used.

Along the same lines, take Chris Harrison's Millionaire. The dollar amount is almost always revealed as the over-the-head shot, but once in a blue moon the camera stayed on the contestant, and the prize money strap appeared on screen.

[millionairefan64]

Damn, that actually would of been awesome if they displayed it once the question lozenge disappeared

[CycloneBoom]

Wow, very astute observation there. I'd never noticed that until now either.

From the video clip, I see pausing and advancing using the > key and the Millionaire strap appears for 2 frames (just prior to the answer reveal). It's a good thing it wasn't there as soon as the answer was locked in, as it could've spoiled the moment.

It is quite curious why the editor chose not to display it on screen afterwards. I suspect the editing has a timeline with each graphical element, and it just got slightly out of sync with it being unintentionally visible for those couple of frames. There's probably an editing package with all the elements included, to make it easier in post-production.

For example:

I just made this as a brief mock-up example. Here the arrow shows a layer which is enabled, when the rest of it is hidden (greyed out).

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By the way...

I think on the UK show it'd be nice if the amount won was shown after each question like it used to be.

Quite likely they deliberately don't because it's shown on the screen behind.