Continuity (fiction)

Port referred to in the art of film the coherent transition between two settings. Often connector is labeled with the English technical term continuity.

The connection must ensure that all the details from one setting to the next match one another. If this is not done, one speaks of a connection error. Typical connection errors are changes in position or posture of the actors, changes in clothing or equipment and jumps in the displayed time from one setting to the next. In action films are often observed that damage to vehicles or objects vary from setting to setting.

The problem of the connection arises because scenes of movies, for reasons of efficiency are not shot in the order in which they appear in the finished film. The order of shooting is normally dictated by the availability of actors, locations, extras and other resources. Two abutting in the finished film following scenes may therefore have been shot with a large time interval.

A typical continuity problem is, for example, the foam on beer glasses: The head of foam breaks down over time and can - even at the highest attention - be reconstructed not arbitrary. Such problems result - similar to that of the clock - mostly from the fact that (especially in dialogs) a scene is rotated successively from two camera angles or the need to " reshot " with slips of the tongue.

In film productions a person ( Script / Continuity ) is just so entrusted usually to avoid these errors. These usually pictures are taken from scenes, according to which when rotating the later connection scene props and the like. be appropriately arranged.