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Being the continuity and script supervisor role on this film there wasn’t much for me to do in the pre-production week. I attended the full cast and crew meetings to ensure I built up an understanding of the script and film and keep myself up to date with the progression of the film. I also looked over the script to identify main points in the script where continuity could become a problem, looking at mainly busy scenes with multiple props, cast members and movement within. The scene that was my main focus for being ready with my continuity eye was the very beginning scene as it was decided early on that this would be one long continuous shot moving around lots of cast members and props. This meant that everybody had to be on their marks, props had to be where they were supposed to be, and actors had to be ready and waiting for the camera as one false move, delayed reaction or mistake with a prop would ruin the whole take. Before pre-production finished, I made sure to sit down with the cinematographer to discuss the script and compare my selection of likely continuity errors with hers and collaborate a list of things that we would need to look out for in each scene in preparation for the coming production weeks.

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From the start of the Production period I decided to take on filling out a set of logging sheets for the editors to keep myself busy, give them a second set of logs to make the editing process easier, keep track the shots for the director so we captured everything we needed to. This also meant that, on days the editors can’t be on set, I can complete the logging sheets for them. We began the first production week in Castlefield with an easier shooting day, just one continuous shot of one of the main characters coming through the front door of her house and walking into the living room. In terms of the actual shot, continuity wasn’t too problematic but it was essential that I collected some pictures of the way we had set up the room, where props had been placed and what actors were wearing as we were planning to come back to the location as we only had the necessary equipment till midday. We then shot a quick scene in a carpark during the afternoon. Being an external shot there wasn’t much to the set design so I mainly focused on the actors and the main prop which was a box of papers which would be used again in a future scene so I kept pictures of that too alongside logs from the day as a whole.

We then moved onto a dinner scene the following day which was quite problematic in terms of continuity. My main focus was on the dinner table, I had to ensure that the food looked the same in each shot, the cutlery and plates were in the same place, the glasses were filled etc. Something that I was initially missing however was Robyn’s hair in different shots but thankfully out cinematographer Rachael pointed it out. She showed me the best shot of the first shot that she had taken so that I could ensure Robyn looked the same in all of her shots. I also noted down the pattern in which the actors ate and drank so I could almost choreograph them to follow the same pattern in the different shots.

During the middle of the first week we shot the opening continuous shot which I had prepared for in the pre-production week. We took 2 days to shoot the shot due to the complexity of the shot. Even though it was just 1 shot it had to be perfect so took a lot of work and a lot takes. I managed to go around and get pictures of the set, watch where the cameras path would pass and worked with the props team to set up all of the space that would be in the shot. I also was asked to be an extra playing the piano at the beginning of the scene which I enjoyed but after the camera pans past me at the start of the shot I am able to keep an eye on continuity from the piano and complete my logging sheets while the rest of the shot is filmed. The flow worked well, and we managed to get the shot on the Wednesday but the whole team agreed we should use the most of our time and go back to see if we could get the shot to the best of our ability the following day. Actual continuity wasn’t too much of an issue in this scene in the end as it was just one shot that moved through the set so there wasn’t much risk of anything changing in the scene so I took on a role helping choreograph and set up the scene to fill it up and make the set look dressed and relatable to the film.

We finished the first production week with a very busy day, possibly the busiest of the film as the day was near 12 hours. However, everyone banded together and remained professional and tried to make it as fun as we could, a small crew was there for the longest time (of which I was part of) and we actually had a very fun and productive night, the best kind. However, I lost my phone which caused a huge problem in being able to take continuity pictures, so I had to use someone else’s phone to collect the pictures. I thankfully found my phone before I left so, I didn’t lose the continuity pictures on. It was a busy day for me as there were many continuity issues that could arise. There was the positioning of the actors as they were in a bed and there was multiple shots of them in bed so the quilt had to be where in the same position, they had to be sat together the same way so I had to keep a keen eye on the actors themselves. Then there was an alarm clock that was being used to show different passages of time, so I was in charge of ensuring the time was the same and set to the correct times in different scenes. I also had to keep resetting the clock to the right time between takes of shots to make sure if they had to cut between different takes it would be the same. Another job was ensuring I noted down the different setups of the bedroom in terms of props, noting down on my logging sheet how the set was dressed. It was a very busy day for me, but the moral of the team was high, and I came away from the set feeling fulfilled.

The second production week took us back to Castlefield to film the rest of the scenes set there. We then proceeded to film a few scenes stretched over 2 days which required a lot of comparing of pictures and notes to ensure different scenes matched up as we were filming multiple scenes that were placed at different points in the script so there was a risk of confusing scenes in the edit. I managed to keep my notes on track however and we were able to differentiate between the real world and fake world scenes. There were a few minor costume changes like jackets and bags that I was able to keep on top of, making sure they were ready when it was the necessary scene as most of the crew that weren’t needed were sent away as the space was too small for a full crew to be in so I took over making sure the actors had what they needed when they needed it. Both shoots went well, and we were able to capture what we needed. Both days included props and costume from previous shoots and I was able to correctly match them with pictures that I had taken previously which I was commended for so I felt happy in my role at this point as it was completely new to me but people were acknowledging that I was trying.

The later shooting days of the week included an office scene which was filled with props so again a busy day for me. It too contained props previously used so my continuity pictures came in very handy here. There was also quite a lot of movement for the actors and key moments throughout the scene that all needed to be captured in the same way which, compared with this scene having the highest number of shots, was difficult to keep record of. However, I did my best handling it and I feel as though the shots matched and were effective enough to be used. The last shooting day was nice and relaxed as we were shooting in a coffee shop so the set had already been dressed and the actors weren’t working with anything but cups of tea so I only really had to ensure that their cups were the same fullness throughout. I also helped the extra that was posing as the waitress in the background choreograph a movement around the staff area so that she would be in the same place in all of the different shots completing the same task as to ensure continuity.