Continuity Photos | What they are and why you need them

Continuity photo's are taken of an actor (or actress) once they are in their final costume, hair, and makeup to maintain continuity throughout a shoot. They are taken to document each individual look to maintain consistency since sometimes shooting a single scene will take place over several days. Depending on the shoot it could be days, weeks, or even months if you have to come back to a scene for pickup shots or re-shoots.

Usually I prefer actors to go through hair and makeup before getting into their full costume (though like everything, it depends on the shoot and what the specific costume needs are). I'm typically the last person working directly with the actor before shooting a scene, so once they are screen ready I'll ask them to step aside and snap a quick photo.

You can use your phone or an actual camera, but you want to be able to access the photo's immediately. If you're working with a team it's easiest to take a few minutes to get the photo's printed at the end of the day and put them in your Wardrobe Bible for the shoot. That way everyone has easy access to them along with the rest of the wardrobe notes.

On most of the shoots I've worked on I'm the only one running wardrobe and since they've been smaller shoots I've keep them in a dedicated album on my phone instead of getting them printed.

One of the continuity shots from "Broken" (2019)

The purpose of these photo's is to create a consistent look throughout the film. Because films are rarely shot in chronological order, it's common to shoot part of one script day in the morning, then a bunch of other scenes, and maybe later that same day or several days later, come back to that first script day where the actors should be in the same outfit.

These photo's provide a reference for how everything was worn, exactly how the hair and makeup looked, as well as show how certain pieces were worn. For example if a collar was flipped up or laid flat, pants were tucked into the shoes or left over top.

All about Breakdown Plots and Costume Continuity

In my last post I talked a little about about the challenges that come with costuming a contemporary film, the biggest being keeping continuity. There's more to costuming a film of any size than just picking out clothes.  Since films are not shot in chronological story order it's easy to get confused, which is why you need to properly document everything.

The process of breaking down costumes and plotting them takes several steps, but today I'm going to be focusing on after you know what everyone is wearing and documenting it all, scene by scene. This is called a Breakdown Plot or Costume Plot.

Below is a screenshot of the form I created and use. Since this document is specifically for shooting, I won't fill it out until after I get a copy of the strip-board from the Assistant Director, and I will fill it out in the order that we will be shooting, creating a separate page for each shooting day.

Because this might be a little confusing without anything filled out, I've created a mock breakdown to help explain it all.

At the top is the production title, then below it is the characters name and at the other end of the same row is the actors name.

Now, onto the next row. "Scene" is pretty simple and self explanatory. The next is "Day", which is the story day. I'll indicate whether it's day or night next to it with D or N. That isn't as necessary, but it helps me keep everything straight in my mind.

The next column over is the "Scene Information". The top row will be the location heading, and below can also be a short description of what happens in the scene. Below all that, in bold, is the costume information.

This is where you want to put a simple description of what the character is wearing in that scene. If a character wears the same base throughout, you only need to put accessory details here. The base costume information will be noted in the Long Description.

When you are noting the accessories, be sure to write out the details. Below you'll notice when the jacket is worn I made a note whether the hood was up or down. The goal of these notes should be that anyone can come on and understand them and keep everything looking the same. This is especially important on larger projects when you may not be returning to shoot the rest of a scene for several days/weeks/months.

Next over is the "Long Description", which I already started to talk about. This is where you put all the details. List out every piece and describe it. You don't want to leave it at Red Blouse, because there may be two or three or more red blouses, so make sure you note the specifics (and also label you wardrobe pieces before getting to set).

Once my Breakdown Plots are done, they get printed and put into my Wardrobe Bible, which stays by my side on set. When I get to set I'll take a look to see what pieces need to be ready first, and get to work unpacking and prepping.

There are several different ways to document costumes before and during shooting, and breakdown plots are so important for staying organized.