Editing Continuity (fiction) (section)

==Continuity errors==<!-- This section is linked from [[Futurama]] -->
[[File:Continuity error in The Property Man.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A continuity error in [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s 1914 comedy short ''[[The Property Man]]''. In the first frame, Chaplin's character is seen carrying a trunk through a door, holding his hat behind him. In the immediately subsequent shot from the other side of the door, he is wearing the hat.]]

Many continuity errors are subtle, such as minor changes between shots (like the level of drink in a glass or the length of a cigarette); these minor errors often remain due to relative indifference to the final cut. While minor errors are often unnoticed by the average viewer, other errors may be more noticeable, such as sudden drastic changes in the appearance of a character. Productions will aim to prevent such errors in continuity because they can affect the audience's [[suspension of disbelief]].

In cinema, special attention must be paid to continuity because scenes are rarely shot in the order in which they appear in the final film. The shooting schedule is often dictated by location permit issues and other logistics. For example, a character may return to [[Times Square]] in New York City several times throughout a movie, but as it is extraordinarily expensive to close off Times Square, those scenes will likely be filmed all at once to reduce permit costs. Weather, the ambiance of natural light, cast and crew availability, or any number of other circumstances can also influence a shooting schedule.

=== {{anchor|Attempts to prevent continuity errors in film}} Measures against continuity errors in the film ===

Film production companies use various techniques to prevent continuity errors. The first would be to film all the shots for a particular scene together and all shots of consecutive scenes together (if the scenes take place together, with no break between them in the film's timeline). This allows actors to remain in costume, in character, and in the same location (and with the same weather, if shooting on location).

The second major technique is for costume designers, production designers, prop masters, and make-up artists to take instant photographs of actors and sets at the beginning and end of each day's shooting (once made possible by [[Polaroid Corporation|Polaroid]] cameras, now done with digital cameras and cell phones as well). This allows the various workers to check each day's clothing, set, props, and make-up against a previous day's.

The third is to avoid shooting on location entirely but instead film everything on a studio set. This allows weather and lighting to be controlled (as the shooting is indoors), and for all clothing and sets to be stored in one place to be hauled out the next day from a secure location.

The advent of advanced [[computer-generated imagery|CGI]] has helped alleviate the challenge of preventing continuity errors from reaching the final cut, as it is easier to "airbrush" the errant drink glass or cigarette than it once was, albeit still not necessarily trivial.

===Editing errors===
Editing errors can occur when a character in a scene references a scene or incident that has not occurred yet, or of which they should not yet be aware.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Pat |title=Script Supervising and Film Continuity, Third Edition |last2=Miller |first2=&#32;Pat |date=December 1998 |publisher=[[Focal Press]] |isbn=978-0-240-80294-7}}</ref>

An example of an editing error can be seen in the film ''[[It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]]'' (1963), where a scene of people climbing a slope at the start is seen from below and then replayed from above.

===Visual errors===
Visual errors are instant ''discontinuities'' occurring in visual media such as film and television. Items of clothing change colors, shadows get longer or shorter, items within a scene change place or disappear, etc.

One of the earliest examples of a ''visual error'' appears in [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s [[1914 in film|1914]] movie ''[[The Property Man]]''.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/films/keystones| title = Charlie Chaplin : Films}}</ref> Here, in a supposedly smooth step from one room to another, [[the Tramp]] loses his hat in one room, but it is instantly back on his head as he enters the next room. Rather "loose" plots and a lack of [[continuity editing]] made most early films rife with such errors.

===Plot errors===
{{main|Plot hole}}

A plot error, or a plot hole as it is commonly known, reflects a failure in the consistency of the created fictional world. A character might state he was an only child, yet later mention a sibling. In the TV show ''[[Cheers]]'', Frasier Crane's wife Lilith mentions Frasier's parents are both dead, and, in another episode, Frasier himself claims his father to have been a scientist. When the character was spun off into ''[[Frasier]]'', his father, a retired policeman named Martin, became a central character. Eventually, in [[The Show Where Sam Shows Up|an episode]] featuring ''Cheers'' star [[Ted Danson]], the inconsistency was given the [[retroactive continuity|retroactive]] explanation that Frasier was embarrassed about his father's lowbrow attitudes and thus claimed his death. This is a frequent occurrence in sitcoms, where networks may agree to continue a show, but only if a certain character is emphasized, leading other minor characters to be written out of the show with no further mention of the character's existence, while the emphasized character (usually a [[breakout character]], as in the case of [[Frasier Crane]]) develops a more complete back story that ignores previous, more simplified backstories.

===Homeric nod===
{{Wiktionary|Homer nods}}
A Homeric nod (sometimes heard as 'Even Homer nods') is a term for a continuity error that has its origins in [[Homer]]ic [[epic poetry|epic]]. The [[proverbial phrase]] for it was coined by the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] poet [[Horace]] in his ''[[Ars Poetica (Horace)|Ars Poetica]]'':<ref>Lines 358-359.</ref> ''"et idem indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus"'' ("and yet I also become annoyed whenever the great Homer nods off").

There are numerous continuity errors in Homer that can be described as "nods", as for example:

*In ''[[Iliad]]'',<ref>Book V Lines 576-579</ref> [[Menelaos]] kills a minor character, Pylaimenes, in combat. Pylaimenes is later<ref>Book XIII Lines 643-659</ref> still alive to witness the death of his son.
*In ''Iliad'' 9.165-93 three characters, [[Phoenix (son of Amyntor)|Phoinix]], [[Odysseus]], and [[Telamonian Aias|Aias]] set out on an embassy to [[Achilleus]]; however, at line 182 the poet uses a verb in the [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual]] form to indicate that there are only two people going; at lines 185ff. verbs in the [[plural]] form are used, indicating more than two; but another dual verb appears at line 192 ("the two of them came forward").

In modern [[Homeric scholarship]], many of Homer's "nods" are explicable as the consequences of the poem being retold and improvised by generations of oral poets. In the second case cited above, it is likely that two different versions are being conflated: one version with an embassy of three people, another with just two people. 
[[Alexander Pope]] was inclined to give Homeric nods the benefit of the doubt, saying in his ''[[Essay on Criticism]]'' that "Those oft are Stratagems which Errors seem, Nor is it Homer Nods, but We that Dream."

===Aging discrepancies===
The practice of accelerating the age of a television character (usually a child or teenager) in conflict with the timeline of a series and/or the real-world progression of time is popularly known as [[Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome]], or SORAS.<ref name="Rising Stars">{{cite web |url=http://tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3215940&fSectionId=434&fSetId=204 |title=Soaps' rising stars |first=Kim |last=Clayton-Millar |date=April 24, 2006 |work=Tonight |publisher=Independent News & Media |access-date=December 17, 2009 }}</ref> Children unseen on screen for a time might reappear portrayed by an actor several years older than the original.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bird |first1=S. Elizabeth |title=The Audience in Everyday Life: Living in a Media World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtkAqUHwtrIC&q=%22soap+opera+sudden+aging+syndrome%22&pg=PA135 |access-date=December 12, 2009 |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=0-415-94259-4 |page=135 }}</ref> Usually coinciding with a recast, this rapid aging is typically done to open up the character to a wider range of storylines, and to attract younger viewers.<ref name="Rising Stars"/> A recent example of this occurring is in the BBC's ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' series, in which Mordred is initially played by a young child in Season 4, yet suddenly grows up into his late teens in time for the start of Season 5, with the rest of the characters aging by only three years.

The reverse can also happen. On the television program ''[[Lost (2004 TV series)|Lost]]'', the character of 10-year-old [[Walt Lloyd]] was played by 12-year-old actor [[Malcolm David Kelley]]. The first few seasons took place over the course of just a few months, but by that point, Lloyd looked much older than 10. In his remaining few appearances, special effects were used to make him look younger, or the scene took place years later.

===Deliberate continuity errors===
Sometimes a work of fiction may deliberately employ continuity errors, usually for comedy. For example, in the [[Marx Brothers]]' classic film ''[[Duck Soup (1933 film)|Duck Soup]]'', at the climax of the film, the camera shows a [[shot (filmmaking)|shot]] of [[Groucho Marx]] speaking a line, followed by a [[cutaway (filmmaking)|cutaway]] shot of something else happening, followed by another shot of Groucho. Each time, Groucho's hat changes, usually to something more outrageous than before (a [[Napoleon]]ic hat, a [[Prussia]]n hat, etc.). The fictional Broadway play ''[[Rogers: The Musical]]'' that first appeared in the miniseries ''[[Hawkeye (miniseries)|Hawkeye]]'' (2021) depicts events that happened in the film ''[[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]]'' (2012), and contains intentional plot inaccuracies such as the inclusion of [[Scott Lang (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Scott Lang / Ant-Man]] who did not appear in the film.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-04 |title=How did MCU writers of 'Rogers: The Musical' know Cap's iconic catchphrase & those Avengers secrets? |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/hawkeye-rogers-the-musical-mystery-explained |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=[[Syfy]] |language=en-US}}</ref>