We have studied, in real time, the evolution of a thin (less than 200 Å) copper film deposited onto an oxidized silicon surface using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). We show that quantitative measurements of island size and shape as functions of time are possible and the results are presented. While the film texture is initially random, texture competition leads to an absence of the low energy (111) and (200) oriented grains for later times. It is also found that the film surface is composed of facets that increase in size with time. This behavior is explained in terms of facet coalescence.