All language subtitles for The importance of continuity

in this chapter

we're going to take a look at continuity

which is crucial when making a film

continuity basically means exactly what it sounds like

that things are consistent from shot to shot

when we expect them to be

one of the biggest challenges of filmmaking

is to take a whole bunch of shots

which make up little pieces of scenes

then stitch them together

to make it seem like the scene just happened at once

in real time

and few things destroy that illusion more than errors

and continuity

let me show you what I mean

if you look at me right now

and then we cut to some footage

the assurance or something

and then we cut back to me

chances are you gonna have a very tough time

pay attention to what I'm saying

cause all you can think about is this unexplained

seemingly lighting fast wardrobe change

now do you really care what I'm wearing

probably not

but the unexplained change

that's the problem

it's distracting

and you're probably asking questions like

why did you do that

or did he have glasses on before

or was that intentional or mistake

the big takeaway here

is that my audience stop thinking about the story

because of an error

and continuity

in order to maintain continuity

we need to make sure that hair

makeup wardrobe

the set the background

that they don't change from setup to setup

in the same scene

so we had BRI

our second ad taking continuity pictures

so we always knew how to put things back in

the same way when we change camera setups

or took a break for lunch

or whatever

the script supervisor is often in charge of continuity

so they might also make notes

about what hand someone is drinking with or whatever

so the shots will match well when cut together

another tool for continuity is the use of marks

these ensure that each take uses the exact same spot

we replace marks on our actors

and for our camera operator

when the camera was moving again

a lot of film production is just being able to

accurately duplicate the same conditions over and over

for multiple shots

continuity is especially challenging

when shooting outside

with partial cloud cover

the sun shines and hides

shadows get sharper and softer

the sun rises and then goes down

color of the sky changes throughout the day

and it can make it really hard to edit together

this is exactly why I chose to shoot the assurance

outdoors in Seattle

in springtime

I knew we'd be wrestling with these issues

and these problems would make for a great education

in our training

series on color

will look at how we match shots

from different times of the day

and even completely different days and weather

one time I was on a big set with a lot of crew

and one of the main actors was a young girl

after a break

when it's time to shoot again

the crew realize that she didn't have her jacket on

which she wore in a previous shot

in the same scene

if she had a jacket on

and then we edited a shot in

where she didn't have her jacket on

we lose the audience

and because we often shoot out of order

once that scene was edited together

she most likely have her jacket off

then on then off

then on again

so on that set

we did the only thing we could do

at that point

we shut down production

to look for a little girls jacket

producers director

the sound guy

everybody looking for a jacket for

like four hours

that was an extremely costly problem

but we couldn't film any more until we found it

because it would have caused

problems with the continuity

we'll talk later in the series about wardrobe

but suffices to say

this is why you need people on your crew

that can be responsible for specific tasks

because continuity is that important

as we go through this chapter

we'll learn of more ways to ensure continuity

from shot to shot