Having set up the production, you turn up on location on the first day of shooting and do … what? What is the first requisite for doing the job of continuity?
Before writing the continuity report you must observe what is happening in each shot. So the paramount requirement for the job is having the ability to observe, to notice things. But it is wrong to say ‘observation’ and leave it at that. One is observing things all the time – certain things make an impression and are retained in some form or another in the brain, while other things are seen, but in a generalised way, and no clear imprint is made.
Accurate Observation
No two people retain the identical impression of a scene or event. Eyewitnesses at a road accident, for example, are notorious for the diversity of their reports of the same collision. But you can train yourself, or be trained, to observe specific things accurately. Some workers on egg inspecting lines do nothing but watch eggs pass in front of a strong light, and they are trained to spot defects. Police officers are trained to give fast, accurate descriptions of people. They note certain things: height, build, colouring, clean-shaven or bearded, shape of head, clothes and so on. Likewise with continuity, there are specific things to observe and after a while it becomes second nature to note them.
Much of what you see throughout the day makes only the haziest imprint on the brain. You go into an unfamiliar room. Your eye is caught by a painting on the wall and you remember it afterwards with great clarity, while only having the vaguest impression of the rest of the surroundings.
Training in Observation
When looking at continuity in single-camera shooting you train yourself to notice not the random picture your eye happens to light upon but what is important for you to notice and record. Continuity is not an abstract exercise in getting it right. It is not a ‘spot the difference in these two pictures’ game. It is what you notice that is important. You will never notice everything that is happening within a shot and it is not necessary that you should, providing the things you do notice and write down are those which are important in order to preserve continuity shot by shot and scene by scene.
No two people retain an identical impression of a scene or event. Note the differences in the above pictures, which represent two eyewitness accounts of the same accident.