Script supervisor

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A script supervisor (also called continuity supervisor or script) is a member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including dialogue and action during a scene. The script supervisor may also be called upon to ensure wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, makeup are consistent from scene to scene. The script supervisior keeps detailed notes on each take of the scene being filmed. The notes recorded by the script supervisor during the shooting of a scene are used to help the editor cut the scenes together in the order specified in the shooting script. They are also responsible for keeping track of the film production unit's daily progress.

Contents

The script supervisor credit is typically in the closing credits of a motion picture. The script supervisor is a department head and play a crucial role in the shooting of a film. It is the script supervisor's job to monitor the camera shots, ensuring the dialogue and action match the corresponding pages of the shooting script. This oversight seeks to maintain coherence between the scenes. [1] [2]

The script supervisor is the editor's and writer's representative on set, as well as being the right-hand aide to the director and the director of photography. It is the script supervisor's job to make sure that the film can be cut together after shooting has concluded. In that sense, they back up every department, monitor the script during shooting, and make sure that errors in continuity do not occur that would prevent the film from being able to be compiled smoothly in the editing room.

In pre-production, the script supervisor creates a number of reports based on the script, including a one-line continuity synopsis providing basic information on each scene such as the time of day, day in story order, and a one-line synopsis of the scene. These reports are used by various departments in order to determine the most advantageous shot order and ensure that all departments, including production, wardrobe, set dressing, hair and makeup, are in sync in regard to the progression of time within the story. The script supervisor may also time the script, which is of enormous benefit for the director and the producer, and will often attend a table read or read-through with the cast.

Responsibilities

During production, the script supervisor acts as a central point for all production information on a film shoot, and has several responsibilities:

The script supervisor is the primary liaison between the director (who decides what scenes are to be shot) and the editor (who is usually not present during actual filming but needs to have exact records of the filming in order to do the job of cutting the film together). The script supervisor is generally considered as part of the director's team. There is usually only one script supervisor on a given film production. However, on big studio productions, the Main Unit script supervisor will have an assistant and there is usually a Second Unit script supervisor.

Earlier terms

Up until the late thirties and early forties, the script supervisor in the American film and television industry was typically called the continuity clerk, script reader or script girl and often there were two people doing the job. One was the "continuity clerk" and one was the "script girl". Individuals performing such duties were either credited with these titles or, more often, not credited at all. During this span of time, many script supervisors were indeed women, a fact that originally spawned the title "script girl." However, over the years, script supervisor positions throughout the American motion picture industry became more thoroughly integrated and formed a better balance among men and women. This fact, coupled with producers' desire to promote gender neutrality in a position that was increasingly taken up by men, produced the gradual change in nomenclature. The gender-specific term has disappeared from film and television credits, but sometimes appears in everyday speech.

History

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences credits Sarah Y. Mason as the first script supervisor, having invented the craft of film continuity for director Albert Parker and the film Arizona in 1918, for which she was credited as "Continuity Girl." [3]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Miller, Pat P. (1999). Script Supervising and Film Continuity (3rd ed.). Burlington, Massachusetts: Focal Press. pp. 7–9. ISBN   9780240802947 . Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  2. ↑ "Career Information". getinmedia.com.
  3. ↑ The Official Tumblr of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. "Sarah Y. Mason Seen Here at the Typewriter
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