Talk:Clapperboard

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Film: Filmmaking

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The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/27/282934889/clap-on-set-the-signature-sound-of-the-slate

But how does it work?[edit]

Can anyone explain how a clapping board with numbers on it is supposed to synchronize sound and picture? Sometimes, wiki articles overlook the most obvious things in search of minutia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.248.127.197 (talk) 02:52, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

On some film formats the audio is written out to the film material itself as a audio track, next to the frames - usually in the space allotted to perforations (so the film only has perforations on one side). A good example of this is most popular 16mm film before Super 16. Most modern 'cinema' film however does not have an on-film audio track; it is recorded separately. As you can read in the article, there's basically a sound reel that needs to spin up to speed (production is shifting to digital recordings, but the same issue holds), and then a film reel that needs to spin up to speed as well.. these speeds are synchronized with each other so that when the audio and video are synchronized at the beginning of the take, they will still be synchronized at the end of the take. However, you're still going to end up with two separate reels.. and the audio may have started recording on the reel at 4.89 seconds into its reel, while the video may have started at only 2.21 seconds into its reel. But how would you know those two numbers, so that you can match them together well? That's where the clapperboard (etc.) comes in. The clapperboard makes a sharp sound that shows up in the audio track as a spike, and visually can easily be distinguished from its open vs closed state as this happens across just a few frames. The first frame in which it is closed is matched up with the spike in the audio track; audio and video are now synchronized. Obviously, this isn't so much an issue when the take includes other sharp sounds that match up with visual cues quite nicely. However, these tend to be very few and between, and matching sound and video from e.g. human dialog alone is comparatively difficult. The clapperboard, providing the scene information as well as the snap sound + visual cue is really ideal for the task. 83.84.38.72 (talk) 06:20, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If anyone could add when they first came into use, that'd be ...useful :) --- Mike 19:23, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

a picture would be nice too

See Clapboard. -- Arwel (talk) 17:27, 29 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I know that "clapperboard" is the usual UK term, but I suggest redirecting this to Clapboard, which is basically a better article that contains all the information that's here and more. We should also move the TV series info to Clapperboard (TV series). -- Arwel (talk) 17:34, 29 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've moved the TV series information to Clapperboard (TV series) I'm not sure how the merge should be done though. -Typhin 17:16, 2 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A number of corrections and amplifications: Only 16mm news cameras used so-called single-system sound, with the audio recorded beside the images. All 16 and 35mm production cameras used "double-system" sound, recorded separately. Back when the sound was recorded by photographing the output of a photo-electric cell, the sound recorder and camera were synced by slaving their motors. When tape recorders replaced optical ones, the camera output a "control track" signal that was recorded with the sound. (Now, it's SMPTE time code -- at least in the U.S.) In post production, the audio and visual tracks had to be aligned by eye, ear, and hand, a process called (at least in Hollywood) "syncing the dailies." (The tape recording had been copied to a strip of magnetic film, perforated identically with the work print of the picture film.) 1. The film was placed in the picture head of a Moviola and run back and forth until the very first frame of stick-contacting-slate was in the gate (viewer). 2. The audio track was placed in an adjacent but independent sound head and reviewed similarly until the visible spike (optical recording) or first loud “PRP” (tape recording) was in the gate of the sound head. 3. The two heads were locked together to synchronize them. 4. The ganged picture and sound strips were slowly run in reverse into unwanted film for maybe a meter, and then the frame in each gate was marked (usually with a grease pencil). 5. The synced strips were again run in reverse until the grease pencil marks appeared; then each mark was punched with a paper punch. After that, picture and track(s) could be removed and stored, and then re-used when wanted, by aligning the punch marks in the Moviola gates.

In the 1960s and 70s I performed this tedious chore on both 16mm and 35mm dailies thousands of times.

RE the slating process: a truly macho clapper-loader (not called that in the U.S.) could operate the slate one handed. If the slate moved or the stick bobbled, the camera operator would call, “bad slate,” and the process would be repeated. When, for some reason, a shot had to be slated at its end instead of its start, the slate would be operated upside down. Jim Stinson (talk) 00:45, 28 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

European Slate number[edit]

Does anyone know how the european slate number works?

Is it incremented for each new take, or only for each new scene? How do they make sure each camera has a separate slate number?

129.215.62.144 11:03, 12 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's incremented for each new setup - anytime the camera changes position or lens, basically. If you're doing multiple cameras, then the slate number should be consistent across the cameras - the take number will be appended with a letter corresponding to each camera. Other units working separate from the main unit will usually have a separate slate numbering convention, usually either starting with a very high number, like 1000, or beginning with a letter (X is very popular). Girolamo Savonarola 19:53, 12 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Picture[edit]

The current picture mentions "Wikipedia". That's not appropriate. —Ben FrantzDale 21:36, 27 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Image:Clapperboard.svg --Indolences 03:19, 19 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Great. —Ben FrantzDale 03:31, 19 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Picture![edit]

Nobody has a good picture of a timecode slate?

I also think this article might be changed to Slate, since everywhere I've ever worked and heard it said, it's called a slate!

It has a lot of names. Clapperboard affords the advantage of not requiring disambiguation. I have some photos of digi-slates I've used, but none of them is of decent enough quality to add, unfortunately. Girolamo Savonarola 02:49, 19 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Action[edit]

So clapperboards aren't used to indicate that the take has begun? 169.233.59.10 (talk) 20:37, 5 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No. However, it's obvious that while the clapboard operator keeps the clapboard in front of the camera, the take has not yet begun. Furthermore, procedures may vary. For example, at a music video production where a timecode is used, the clapboard operator may choose to operate the clap as soon as the clap has achieved sync with the SMPTE LTC timecode from the music source (DAT player or whatever). The cutter will then know that he sees valid timecode when the clap is closed (and that timecode with the clap open may be unreliable). The clapboard will remain in front of the camera for maybe two seconds, to give the cutter a good view at the running digits. Note that timecode clapboards may be configured ina number of ways; for example, it might be configured to freeze the timecode numbers when the clap is closed.

It's not uncommon that the director observes the clapboard to see when sound, camera and timecode are "up to speed" and ready for the take, and then the director signals "action". --217.89.75.211 (talk) 15:37, 14 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

VTR[edit]

On a number of television outtakes, I've seen scenes shown with the clapperboard information left in. On the boards I've seen there is a line marked "VTR". What does this mean?Blozier2006 (talk) 16:38, 22 August 2010 (UTC)Bryce L.[reply]

Probably Video tape recorder. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.22.181.159 (talk) 18:13, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It means "Video Tape Recorded" - The date the show was recorded for future airing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.160.170.45 (talk) 23:51, 23 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Clapperboard for Decoration[edit]

Is this section not a blatant plug by a company selling Clapperboards for this purpose? This should be deleted imho. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.9.15.30 (talk) 11:07, 22 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]