Rob Lowe’s latest piece takes the long way around to plead for less fussiness by the unions. I think. During the long trip he makes a point that seems automatic but maybe isn’t. He’s talking about what entertainers call continuity, the small details that some people notice immediately but most people don’t see at all.
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The first trick is knowing when you’re making wise choices and when you’re just being lazy. Knowing when it really doesn’t matter to the audience if the sandwich the hero is making suddenly looks half-eaten and when that kind of corner-cutting sends a subconscious message to the viewer that none of this is real. “It takes me out of the story,” is something the continuity side often says; I saw this mistake and now I’m out, the spell is broken.
My usual response to this is to say that I’ll sacrifice pretty much anything for the sake of a faster, funnier show. Faster, funnier, is what my side of the argument says. Keep the pace up, keep things moving, and no one has time to notice the things that suddenly aren’t there.
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My first thought was: Well of course. Entertainment is always a one-time experience. Salience. The nervous system only recognizes novelty and hungers for novelty. You watch a movie or a TV show or a stage play once, and that’s all. This is automatic and physically required by the presentation.
Second thought: Wait. Once and done was only physically required in early radio and early TV, and only because the recording media were too expensive. Even then, programs could have been recorded on wax cylinders or movie film for repeated showing. After tape, and then digital recording, the media were cheaper and easier, so most programs were recorded for repeat usage.
Once and done is technically true in the legittttimate theAAAAtah, but even there all performances were repeated endlessly and tirelessly. The mark of a successful show is a long run. Happy audiences return several times.
Phonograph records or CDs are also bought for the sole purpose of repeating. When you hear a song you like on the radio, you want to hear it thousands of times, so you buy the record.
Going back farther in time, once and done is IMPOSSIBLE with books. You buy a book for the SPECIFIC PURPOSE of reading it as many times as you want. Before digital, there was no such thing as a one-time book.
Here I can speak from experience. Durable books are a problem in the textbook industry. Once and done is the goal and purpose. Students who resell or pass along a copy to the next class are SINNERS who must be PUNISHED. Textbook publishers have developed all sorts of gimmicks to avoid reselling. The latest gimmick is right in my universe. The book includes a one-time code number or QR symbol, which can be activated only once. The code is used to access online resources like courseware. After the first purchaser has claimed the code, it won’t be reissued to another purchaser.
Early radio and TV wanted once and done for the same reason, and skipped recording (which was always physically possible) for the same reason.
And now we’re back to Philco’s motto.
SELL MERCHANDISE THAT DOESN’T COME BACK TO CUSTOMERS WHO DO.
Moral of the story: Continuity never didn’t matter. Details matter in every single form of entertainment, because every single form is repeatable, and the goal of every form is to create repetition.
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