Entertainment Technology News

Continuity Pro - 'Paper-Free' Continuity for Film Professionals

By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted Jul 25, 2012, 11:23

(London, UK) - Make-up, Costume and Art Department � all areas requiring huge amounts of data collection, organisation, accuracy and outstanding attention to detail. Well, to coin a phrase, 'Now there's an app for that �'

Everybody in film and television, at whatever level, will be aware of the mountain of notes and photographs that builds up over the course of a project. Furthermore, they'll recognise the difficulty of updating, sharing and preserving those vital records. Not to mention the frustration and cost caused by slow, static and temperamental photo printers, the time spent in a dark studio, or at the end of a long day laboriously cutting and sticking photos into a bulging lever arch, the weight of which adds to an already heavy collection of set bags.

Continuity Pro harnesses the power and convenience of the iPad to collect, collate, preserve, backup, display, modify and share continuity data in all its forms. All notes and photographs are available immediately and where they're most needed rather than back at the trailer or production office. This simple app allows standbys to make the most of any down time on set to create their continuity notes immediately for instant reference.

A quick snap with the internal camera or a high resolution shot from your digital camera and all photographs are imported, saved and displayed, enabling you to zoom in for greater accuracy and ease of replication.

Diarised, searchable pages of linked notes and pictures can be shared via wi-fi or Bluetooth, and the whole day's work can be safely backed up to iCloud whilst you sleep.

Search by actor, scene, set or story day � or opt for a quick view to see a strip of photos in scene order on one page. This function clearly demonstrates the progression of one character's look and how the various sets work in order throughout the whole film. The whole app and each project is password protected so no one can access sensitive photos.

Continuity Pro is the brainchild of Cate Hall, an experienced professional makeup artist. The app has already transformed her working day, and made her significantly more efficient.

'When on the first day of a six week shoot my photo printer refused to read my SD card I felt determined to run continuity on my iPad. I was already using it to annotate the script, schedule and call sheets, but was amazed to discover that no app existed to help costume, make up and art department. I realised very quickly that even by using a bunch of different apps I was already saving so much time, money and energy.

This got me thinking: imagine what could be achieved with an app specifically designed for our needs? No more losing that vitally annotated call sheet, no more searching for pens or panicking because the correct sheet isn't in the folder. Seeing how easy life had become, the costume standby on the same job went straight out and bought an iPad. Furthermore other film professionals I've spoken to have said that they will buy an iPad just to use the app! Producers have also responded positively, relieved that in future archiving a continuity file will involve saving it on the internet or at most a DVD.�





Resources:

www.continuitypro.biz