There is a lot of work involved in setting up a production. This might be undertaken by the person responsible for continuity on location, or it might be the responsibility of other members of the production team, such as the production secretary or production coordinator. A lot depends upon the size and complexity of the production, past precedents, the size of the overall budget, and the type of company making the film or video.
It is hard to generalise, as a production can employ a whole army of people or just one dogsbody who does everything – and that job can be the most satisfying! It can also be confusing as someone you are used to calling a First Assistant might well masquerade under the title Production Manager in your next job!
The following chapters give a guide to the setting up of a production. Generally speaking, if you are employed as Continuity Supervisor or Script Supervisor, you would not be responsible for any of the setting up other than possibly advising on the layout of the script and a breakdown of the scenes. If you are employed as a Production Coordinator/Continuity, your duties might involve setting up the production as well as doing the job of continuity on location. If you are employed as a Production Assistant (although this term is fast going out of use other than in respect of a Studio Gallery PA working on multi-camera studio programmes), you are most probably working on unscripted documentary-style productions and would certainly be required to set up and clear up a production as well as log shots and do basic continuity on location.
The type of production which is to be shot will, of course, vary enormously, ranging from the multi-million pound cinema epic to the video of the board meeting where the chairman gives his annual address. The requirement for continuity is there in both cases but to differing degrees. In this book I have divided productions into those that are scripted and those that are unscripted – drama and documentary types. The following chapters deal with the pre-shooting period of both types of production. But first, who are the key people in the production team?
The life of the ‘dogsbody’ can be interesting and rewarding.