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.

On Set - Short Film Shoot

Last month I was on a fun shoot, and I wanted to write a little bit about it.

A friend of mine was pulling together a short film and asked if I would be interested in doing the costumes. Of course I said yes.

I can't say much about what the film is about, but it's a contemporary drama. We shot over the course of three days, but there was about three and a half weeks of pre-production that we crammed in before. The project is currently in the editing stage and will hopefully be released this summer.

Most people would think costuming a contemporary would be easy, but this was actually one of the most difficult projects I've costumed. Because of the way films are shot, there were around 10 costume changes per actor each day. And keeping track of costume continuity when there are that many changes is not a simple thing.

The other challenge in contemporary design is that everything is very subtle. When working on a period piece, or something more extravagant, it's easier to build someones character into their clothing. But when using "normal clothes", the character that is shown through their clothes is much more subtle.

I want to share more of the technical side of costuming for this project, but I'll save that for another post. For now, enjoy a few shots I snagged on set. I'll be sure to share the official BTS shots (and videos!) when they're released.