Concept in Definition ABC

The term racord or raccord is commonly used in the world of movie theater. It is about the correct temporal or spatial continuity between two blueprints in a row. In other words, it consists of correctly ordering the sequences of a shoot, in such a way that there are no contradictions between one sequence and the next.

The fact that the racord exists is due to a compelling reason: in the cinema, a film is not recorded based on the chronological sequence established by the scriptInstead, it is recorded according to the shooting plan. In this way, two shots that are joined in the script can be recorded at different times and so that there are no mismatches between the two shots, a professional detect any detail that may break the continuity of the scene. The professional who takes care of the racord is the script.

The role of the script in a shoot

The script has to carefully observe what is in one shot of a scene so that no strange or contradictory details appear in the next shot. There are several examples that illustrate what the racord is:

1) if an actor looks to the side, in the next shot he has to look in the same direction, 2) if an actor wears a clothing in one shot, in the next the clothing has to appear exactly the same and without any details different,

3) if there is a type of light in one socket, the next one has to keep the same intensity of light and

4) if the makeup and an actor's hair appears abruptly altered between one shot and another, a failure occurs that the script should detect.

These examples are some of the most common. The script takes care of the racord and this implies that there cannot be any element that breaks the continuity of the cinematic story.

Racord failures in film history

There are movies, even great movies, in which there have been curious failures in the racord. Among them we can highlight some:

1) in "Pretty Woman" Julia Roberts appears eating a croissant and then she eats a pancake,

2) in "Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone" the protagonist is sitting next to a character and then he appears seated with another different character,

3) in "One of Ours" an actor is smoking a cigar and suddenly he stops smoking it,

4) in "Jurassic Park" there is a contradictory detail between two successive actions when a dinosaur hatches from the egg and 5) in "With death on the heels" a child who appears from the crowd covers his ears before there is a Shooting.

In the jargon filmmaking it is said that in a scene has "jumped the racord", which means that there is a goof in the film.

There are moviegoers who have the habit of looking for possible failures in the connector and for this reason some of them have become "glorious moments" in film history.

Photos: Fotolia - Spectral / Aleutie

Themes in Racord