If you have a script it is very important to know it thoroughly before shooting. You should know, for example, where the scene you are about to shoot occurs in the story and whether it has continuity with scenes before or after. Sometimes scenes occur which do not relate to others. Then your job is easier.
Marking Up Script
Read through the script for continuity, marking important junctions before shooting, so that you will be prepared in advance. Stage directions, entering and exiting, the substitution of stunt artists in place of the characters and vice versa are all worth noting, as are points in the script which are obvious indications for a change of angle.
Take this piece of dialogue, for example: ‘You think this pen is an ordinary one. But, when I remove the top, and unscrew the base, you will appreciate that it is an ingenious weapon.’ I would use a highlighter pen to mark this dialogue, as the director is quite likely to use a cutaway close-up of the pen at that point.
A-Z
When marking up the script, it is very useful to go through the scene you are about to shoot and mark each character’s dialogue with a different letter of the alphabet (if you get from A-Z and the scene has not ended, then begin again using AA, AB, etc.). Provided you mark up the script for the editor in the same way, this enables you to note very simply where any particular shot begins and ends – rather than having laboriously to write the ‘in’ and ‘out’ cues. It also means that you can pinpoint specific lines of dialogue very easily, for example: ‘Plane noise F-H’.
Keep Up to Date
By doing a little homework each night, while shooting is taking place, you can keep comfortably up to date with continuity. For example, Scene 4 has direct continuity with Scene 5 in that, let us say, two characters are shown in both scenes and there is no time gap. Today you completed shooting Scene 4. Scene 5 will not be shot for another fortnight. If, at the end of today, you sit down with the script and mark in pencil any continuity notes at the top of Scene 5, i.e. ‘John and Jill must enter frame right. John wearing blue sweater, green jeans and carrying suitcase in left hand. Jill wearing red/white jacket, blue jeans, red/blue striped blouse (two buttons open at neck) and carrying shoulder bag right shoulder’, then, in two weeks’ time, when you come to shoot Scene 5, you will have all the information at your fingertips and not have to scrabble about in the script in order to find the answers to the questions asked by the director.
Script Interleaved with Notes
The system I use is to carry the script with me, in story order, with the pages of continuity notes of the scenes already shot interleaved with the script pages. Likewise, I would keep any photographs of costume or props together with the script pages for that scene. That makes it easy to check on any continuity queries I might have, as all the relevant notes are together in one file.
Work Out a Fast Reference System
Work out your own system to enable you to check continuity points quickly from scene to scene.
When shooting the second scene (shown above as the second picture) you must be able to check the important points quickly – how the lady is dressed and which way she should enter frame.