Ask Slashdot: Maintaining Continuity In Your Creative Works?

imac.usr writes: I recently rewatched the Stonecutters episode of The Simpsons and laughed as always at the scene where Homer pulls into his parking space — right next to his house. It's such a great little comic moment. This time, though, it occurred to me that someone probably wrote in to complain that the power plant was normally in a completely different part of town, no doubt adding "I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder." And that got me to wondering: how do creators of serial media — books, web comics, TV shows, even movie serials — record their various continuities? Is there a story bible with the information, or a database of people/places/things, or even something scribbled on a 3x5 card. I know Slashdot is full of artists who must deal with this issue on a regular basis, so I'd be interested in hearing any perspectives on how (or even if) you manage it.

Comments

Script Supervisor

[PopeRatzo]

In film, there's a person who's entire job is making sure that there is continuity from scene to scene (and from titles to credits). Sometimes they're called "continuity supervisor" but that's becoming less common. Usually, they're known as "script supervisor".

So if a character is wearing a hoodie zipped with the hood up in the closeup, the script supervisor makes sure that in the long shot of the character walking away he still has his hoodie zipped with the hood up. Since almost all movies are shot out of sequence, this becomes very important, and the script supervisor has to note all props, so if there's a glass filled 3/4 on a table where two characters are dining, the glass is still 3/4 full in the reaction shot, even though the reaction shot might be shot weeks or months later. Along with the lighting director, they match shadows and along with the costume director, match clothing.

If you ever want to see what a movie looks like when there is no script supervisor (or the script supervisor is stoned), watch Plan 9 From Outer Space by the great Ed Wood. Errors in continuity cause a very disorienting experience for the viewer. It's a fun movie, especially when you see a car pull up in a graveyard in broad daylight and then there's a cut to people exiting the car and it's the middle of the night. You probably have already heard the stories. Bela Lugosi died during filming, so they shot some scenes with someone who was several inches taller and years younger, except he held his cape in front of his face, Dracula style.

Some film makers have used continuity breaks to great effect. For example, the 1940s art film "Meshes of the Afternoon" by Maya Deren is hallucinogenic in its continuity breaks. This film has influenced generations of filmmakers, including current guys like Darren Aronofsky, David Lynch and even more mainstream filmmakers. Also, a generation of Japanese horror directors pay tribute to Maya Deren and her shocking breaks from continuity.

Here, go watch Meshes of the Afternoon right now and see what I mean. It's only like 10 minutes long, so relax a bit and watch the whole thing. It's very trippy. The music is also very very good.

https://youtu.be/YSY0TA-ttMA

Re:Script Supervisor

[PopeRatzo]

Normally I might feel the need to berate you for not answering the question of how

Well, my info on that is a little dated. I've been on three film sets where the budget was big enough for a script supervisor. The first was in the mid-80s, and it was all done by marking up one copy of the script by hand as shooting was going on and another while watching the dailies (the director and editor and script supervisor will watch quickly-developed film later that night).

The second was in the mid-90s, and there were video cameras running while the film was being shot. This way, script supervisors wouldn't have to wait for the dailies to get bicycled back from the lab (they call any transporting fresh film "bicycling").

The third was in 2003 and instead of video being shot on 3/4" tape, it was being shot with decent Sony cameras. There would be video of the set before the actors showed up (to note the shadows, placement of curtains and any other things that could possibly change). Laptops were used to review footage, but it was still being shot on tape (Hi-8 was what I saw, but hands were already talking about hard drive recording).

Now? Who knows. Maybe they have micro-drones flying around recording everything, and streaming the images to someone's Apple Watch or Oculus.

TV shows work the same way. Though I did see an episode of Arrow where in one scene Diggs' tie was loosened and in the over the shoulder, you could see it was nicely knotted in place. If you watch enough films, you'll notice lots of little continuity breaks that get left in. Maybe it was picked up in editing and the actor had already grown a beard for a new role and they didn't want (or couldn't afford) to re-shoot. Oh yeah, and my wife noticed that Oliver Queen's beard stubble sometimes changes length when he changes into his Arrow suit and back again. But my wife tends to notice Oliver Queen for some reason. I don't know what she sees in him when she has me.

Script Supervisor (on movies)

[innocent_white_lamb]

Movies have a Script Supervisor whose job is to keep track of things like that. Since most movies are not shot in chronological order, in many locations and over the course of several weeks or months or sometimes even years, this is a bigger challenge than it appears at first glance.

The invention of the digital still camera was a godsend for these folks; they used to go through ungodly quantities of Polaroid film. Now they can keep it all on their computer.

Sometime software can help

[SolarAxix]

There are some software solutions out there that in addition to actually store your writing, have functions that help to store your research, character bios, locations etc... Some are gear more towards writing novels and others can cover a wide gamut.

I've used Liquid Story Binder (which doesn't seem to be actively updated any more) and Scrivener. They both have ways to keep your facts straight.

You don't necessarily need to use software that's specifically created for this. I've also used mind mapping tools (Mindjet MindManager, MindGenius, FreeMind (open source)) when I am starting out with some ideas. Other tools that I have used includes MS OneNote (free), Evernote (on-line), AllMyNotes, Right Note, myBase and Ultra Recall.

Interestingly, even with access to these these tools, I still use Notepad++, or vi a lot of the time to store some info in txt files.

Even with any of these tools, you should always double check and use people to verify that you didn't mess up.