>>>Since I have a lot of questions, here's another - every episode of "TAGS"
has a person listed in the credits at the end with the title of "Script
Continuity". I've always wondered exactly what this means, since there are
a number of things in the scripts which aren't consistent.<<<
Joe, undoubtedly others will chime in on this. This question has been asked
before. My understanding is that this person is responsible for script
continuity only within a particular episode, NOT for continuity of scripts
throughout the season or throughout the series.
It's important for continuity to be achieved throughout the episode so that it
looks like a seamless whole. This was especially important on a one-camera set
like TAGS. Whereas shows shot live with a three-camera set-up (like "I Love
Lucy" and many others) have all their cameras shooting the same scene at the
same time, with a one-camera set-up, each scene must be shot multiple times to
get close-ups and long shots and for different camera angles. Each time the
same scene is shot, continuity must be preserved. The lighting has to be
consistent, the actors have to be wearing the same clothing, the action has to
be performed the same way, the props have to be the same, etc. The script
continuity person makes sure everything is the same from take to take so that
it's seamless when the film is edited and put together in a finished episode.
For example, let's say Aunt Bee walks into the courthouse carrying her purse.
She comes in the door with it in her right hand. Every time that scene is
shot, she has to have her purse in her right hand. However, it's probably
easier to reference when continuity has been overlooked. For example, in the
episode "Black Day for Mayberry," the two Treasury men sit waiting for Andy
bareheaded with their hats in their laps. Immediately after that, Opie comes
in and we see the men in the background, and they are wearing hats! (And at
least one of the men is different, but it's hard to tell if you don't know.)
In another episode (forget which one), Barney is seen coming out of the back
room of the courthouse without his badge on when he was wearing it earlier.
Later, it reappears, as if by magic. The continuity person should have caught
this but obviously didn't. Barney's reciting of the Preamble is another lack
of continuity. The scene was filmed both in close-up and in long shot.
In the close-ups, we see Barney's humorously messed up hair, but in the long
shots, his hair looks fine. His hair should have been equally messed up in the
long shots so that we can't tell they were shot at two different times. These
were goofs not caught at the time and thus appear in the finished episode.
Basically the script continuity person makes sure that everything in the
episode is done according to the script so that when it is all put together, it
is seamless and appears as though all the action has flowed naturally and
without discrepancies.
Hope this helps!
Thelma Lou
(Janet)
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