This post was written by Clonia Charite (Film, ’20) about a Script Supervising workshop she led this semester.
Teaching a Script Supervising Workshop
At Ringling College of Art and Design, the Film department holds an annual boot camp early in the Fall Semester. I was given the opportunity to discuss Script Supervising with two other classmates – Jada Poon and Maria Beltran. Before I tell you about the experience, you have to know a bit about what script supervising is. A script supervisor is an individual in pre-production and production stages who oversees the continuity of the story.
My first experience as a script supervisor was in my Sophomore year on a Junior film set. Honestly, the only thing I knew about script supervising was to pay attention to the actors and make sure to jot down their actions. I was utterly wrong, that is just part of it. Due to my lack of knowledge, I wanted to know more about this particular job. Then, the email came as I was searching. In this same year -Spring Semester 2018 — the Film Department hosted a Script Supervising workshop and I knew I couldn’t miss it. This was the moment that I knew I loved being involved in the scriptwriting process no matter what stage.
Going back to the boot camp. I have taught other subjects before but teaching a group of people about a subject is really new to me—plus I’m not much of a talker let alone an explainer. Every round (there were many sections such as sound, camera, production design, etc.) of students that were coming to our presentation was more abundant than the previous one. Our performance was also becoming more concise and consistent.
Maria and I talked about the upcoming software for Script Supervising called ScriptE and being a script supervisor in the production stage while Jada talks about the traditional method (pen, paper, and script) as well as most of the pre-production.
Script supervisor’s main base is continuity, but also you have to be able to pay attention to details, transitions, wardrobe, setting, camera, etc. Think of it like this: the writer takes the hat of all the departments, but the script supervisor takes the hat for controlling everything is there for all of the departments.
The school does not offer Script Supervising classes yet, so it was an excellent opportunity to let others know about the importance of this role. In my senior year, I’m planning to script supervise some of the senior films to gain even more experience as I work toward my ScriptE certification.
