Location work can be very tough. You will undoubtedly feel many times that there are easier ways of earning a living as you stand half-frozen and soaked to the skin in a field at three in the morning trying to shoot a group of sheep who refuse to cross the field from left to right. Or when you are lost in a mist on the hills with a director who has lost the map, lost his and everybody else’s way, and, even more important, lost the location caterers who are somewhere down in the valley.
Continuity itself is hard work. It requires an immense amount of concentration, not only when shooting is actually taking place, but when nothing is apparently happening and most of the unit appear to be idling around. Most of them are idling around, but if the director and cameramen are working, then you must be working too.
Continuity also involves marking up scripts for the editor often into the small hours while everyone else relaxes, enjoyably fraternising with the local populace.
If, however, you feel I have drawn too black a picture, do not forget that if you do prove to be one of those strange people like myself who love the work, and find continuity a most satisfying job, you will find like-minded people on every new unit.
And the discomforts? … Well they do make for good after-dinner stories.
‘… you see, there I was, standing quietly watching the action, when I felt something tugging my hand. And it was this goat we’d borrowed from the local farmer to use as dressing. You know what it was up to? It was quietly eating my continuity notes in a contented sort of way …’.
1. Shooting can be frustrating
2. It can be annoying – when the director has lost the way
3. It can be hard work – typing at night when everyone else relaxes
4. But it does provide good after-dinner stories