Caitlin Hall, the SA-based script supervisor

The Script Supervisor: AC Mag column

This column, “Crew Profile: The Script Supervisor”, written by Angela Cerasi of Peachy Keen Colour, was featured in the Australian Cinematographer Society’sAC Magazine“.

 

Watching a film we are suspended in disbelief of the story world. We journey with characters through ups and downs and can be moved to laugh, gasp and cry. The crew member charged with preserving this suspension of disbelief is none other than the continuity/script supervisor. To learn more Angela Cerasi interviewed Caitlin Hall, the SA-based script supervisor with credits including ‘After the Party’, ‘Doctor Doctor’ and ‘Cargo’.  

 

As the head of a department of one, you could be mistaken for thinking that the role is a lonely and solitary one. But Hall admits it is extremely collaborative, regularly working with the producer, 1st AD, director, DOP, sound, editor, props, art director, costume and make-up. It’s a lot more than recalling whether an actor drank from a mug with his left or right hand between shots. As Script Supervisor, you are the editor’s advocate on set and know the entire story, inside out. What shots/scenes can or can’t be cut if production is delayed, which lines of dialogue must be hit during an improv scene so that the story makes sense in later scenes. Understanding what you can get away with to keep an audience suspended in disbelief, (eg. Lighting inconsistency on a cloudy day) and what continuity elements will jolt them right out of the story (eg. Incorrect eyeline).

 

So how does one get into continuity?

 

Obsessed with movies, Hall remembers the game-changing exercise of doing a cinematography breakdown of Jane Campion’s ‘The Piano’ in her final year of high school. This inspired a creative arts degree at Flinders University, Adelaide, where she helped out on short films as continuity/script supervisor and also started a trajectory into the camera department. Hall worked as a video split operator and clapper loader on the Aussie classic, ‘McLeod’s Daughters’ and incidentally, one of the short films she had script supervised went on to have success at the Venice Film Festival. This got her name out in the continuity space and helped secure an attachment position with Melbourne-based script supervisor Sabi Paisa. The transition from film to digital meant the clapper loader role was being redefined, so Hall went with the opportunity to be a script supervisor.

 

What does script supervision involve?

 

During pre-production, a key task is to collaborate with the director to understand their vision and then analyse the script (Is the tone of the film going to be serious or playful?  Are we going to linger on characters or is the action moving quickly?) The shooting script is then read aloud and timed. This includes the big print (ie. action lines) which need to be physically acted out where possible. The producer and 1st AD need to know timings so they can schedule production. During this ‘Timings Breakdown’, the script supervisor looks at the logic of the script, working out the times of day and indirect and direct continuity between scenes (indirect means time may have passed and the character could have changed clothes/hair etc, direct continuity means it follows on straight after). There is communication with many departments at this stage, and also with the screenwriter if clarification or amendments is needed.

 

By the time production starts, the script supervisor knows the script intimately and has a seat at ‘video village’ or stays close to the director. Hall says directors like to work in different ways, some use her as a sounding board to confirm if they have enough coverage, other departments like props and costume use her as verification for their own continuity.

 

“Matching action” is a crucial task that ensures the suspension of disbelief for an audience. When a character moves during a scene, Hall marks it on her script and it must be replicated between takes and shots. If a character stands up during dialogue, then we cut to a camera angle where that character is still sitting, the human brain will reject it. The audience is jolted out of the story. Experienced DOPs know about editing and matching, this is the script supervisor’s main task on set and their ‘marked up script’ goes to the editor daily.  At the end of each day a Continuity Daily Progress Report is completed which lets the office know what scenes were completed and how much screen time was shot. For a 1hr commercial drama, there needs to be 48-53mins of screen time. The script supervisor will know if things are on track or if the action/scenes needs to be filled out or stripped back.

 

On working with DOPs:

 

Some of the wonderful DOPs Hall has worked with include Mark Wareham ACS (on ‘A Month Of Sundays’), Geoffrey Simpson ACS (on ‘Cargo’), Aaron Gully ACS (on ‘Beep & Mort’), the British DOP Steve Annis (on ‘We Bury The Dead’), and Geoffrey Hall ACS (on ‘RFDS’). I’ve enjoyed working with all of them, even if it’s just through watching and absorbing the different ways they (quietly or not so quietly!) go about crafting images, calmly communicating with their director, painting with light and camera angles, and setting mood and tone in service of the story – a particular shout-out here must go to Aaron Gully for his AMAZINGLY creative problem-solving skills when working with live-action puppetry on two seasons of ‘Beep & Mort’ and all of the additional challenges that brings!

 

I’ve enjoyed working with all of them, even if it’s just through watching and  absorbing the different ways they (quietly or not so quietly!) go about crafting  images, calmly communicating with their director, painting with light and camera  angles, and setting mood and tone in service of the story – a particular shout-out  here must go to Aaron Gully for his AMAZINGLY creative problem-solving skills  when working with live-action puppetry on two seasons of ‘Beep & Mort’ and all of  the additional challenges that brings!

 

Photo of Caitlin Hall on location in Wellington, NZ on ‘After the Party’.

 

Enjoy this article? If so let me know at angela@peachykeencolour.com.au or DM me at @angela_cerasi.   You can check out another of Angela’s crew profile columns for the AC magazine, on Focus Puller Phong Truong, here.