Revealing mistake: As Rob, Hud, and Lily are rescuing Beth from her apartment, the view outside the window is tilted roughly 45°. This is due to Beth's apartment building being partially collapsed against another building, demonstrated previously by an exterior shot. However, the characters are moving within the apartment with no difficulty or apparent change in gravity, even though they should be struggling to remain upright in a significantly tilted apartment. This makes it clear that the scene outside has been added using chroma key technology, and the camera has simply been tilted to create the illusion that they are on an angle. (01:01:30 - 01:01:52)
Cloverfield (2008)
1 revealing mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Starring: T.J. Miller, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman
Factual error: During the scene where everyone runs outside, the Statue of Liberty head crashes into the street. The head is scaled too small and its size can be compared to the people taking pictures. In real life the statue head is large enough for people to walk into (17' from chin to cranium).
[Seeing Beth's building badly damaged, leaning against another tower.]
Hud: Please tell me she lives on the ground floor.
Rob Hawkins: 37th.
Hud: Shit.
Trivia: In the Audio Commentary the Director shares that when Steven Spielberg watched the film before it was complete, he came up with the idea of the helicopter radio explaining "If you can hear the sirens, you're in the blast zone" and the sirens ringing at the end.
More questions & answers from Cloverfield
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Chosen answer: The actors and crew were kept in the dark as much as possible, unless the information was needed for their performance. They didn't know what the parasites looked like until they began filming the subway scene. Actual-size, realistic puppets had been made for filming but were decided to look too artificial and slow on camera, but it gave the actors a chance to see what they would be running from, how their jaws and legs worked, etc. As for the main monster ("Clover"), actors would only know what was in the script and what the director told them.