★ How To Use a Film Slate / Clapperboard ★ - Video Tutorial

[RustyScupperton]

Thanks VERY much. I am going to be doing a video shoot of a live jazz recording with 2 video cameras. But I have to use the audio that gets recorded separately by the audio producer and sync my video with his external wav files. You explained this wonderfully!

Thanks, John Thornton

[xXCrizahXx]

This helped a lot, Thanks :D

[JaqaiTV]

Hey man, thanks for posting this. Great effective simple overview.

[adambunion]

brilliant video

[serkerr]

buy a real slate. they're not that expensive.

[TheGuyInUrCloset]

Just wondering, I was filming a school project with a friend's uncle, and one of the things I forgot to ask is why on his camera, it would print diagonal black stripes over anything that was white, but these would only appear on the LCD screen, and nowhere else. Would these have the same purpose, or is there a different reason for these lines?

Thanks!

[jfreedan]

@TheGuyInUrCloset No, you're referring to "zebra stripes". It's a setting that allows you to see over or under exposed areas in your shot.

[JackThompsonVideo]

@TheGuyInUrCloset Another word for this you may be familiar with is "Highlight Warning" or in still photography, "The Blinkies"

[EkoJisBack]

missing original sound hehehehe no

[wiewiorpl]

Guy who came with the idea of aligning stripes for synching audio was pure genius...

[kent630]

M.O.S (em-oh-ess) supposedly derives from broken German-English for "mit out sound".

TIP: if you're slating without synched sound, grasp the slate with your fingers in between the clappers, resting the top clapper on top of your knuckles, and just briefly show the info to camera while recording. This way, the editor knows not to expect a clap and thus shouldn't be looking for an audio file.

[jfreedan]

@kent630 That's a good tip! Thanks for sharing!

[UnderTheRadarProd]

@kent630 M.O.S. = Motor Only Shot (as in the camera motor).

[feelgoodfactory]

He. Thanks for your Tutorial.

Is there a reason, why the "Clapper" have this Black/White Board?

[jfreedan]

@feelgoodfactory You mean the painted stripes? I explained in the video but it is so the editor can know how to synch up the audio with the footage when the audio and footage is recorded separately. When the editor sees the spike in audio, they simply line it up with the closed clapper. The lines help know the exact moment the clapper is shut.

[feelgoodfactory]

@jfreedan

I got that :-)

I wonder why the two bars are coloured like that. The editor don't need that for his audio/video syncing. They often use Black/White for Motion tracker, they have the most different colour contrast.

But tracking markers on a clapperboard, makes no sense to me...

[jfreedan]

@feelgoodfactory You don't use it for motion tracking. When the bars are lined up and form the correct shape, it means that is when the sound spike was made by the clapper. If you run the audio before or after, the audio wont be in synch.

[feelgoodfactory]

@jfreedan

Ah ok, thx :-)

[shapeworkstudios1]

@feelgoodfactory the black and white stripes, (sometimes color in pro ones) are to help "color correct the camera" or synch the image sensor, so you get the best quality possible. (kind of like those color correction sheets)the b&w ones where first used when they had b&w cameras, and they've just been used since. (they dont serve as much purpuse as they used to. The "clap sound" is also really handy if your camera doesn't have a mic jack,Then you can synch up the audio like jfreedan said,

[tereesha]

Hi i have a question. Aside from "scene", "take" and "roll" panel, sometimes there is "slate" panel in the clapperboard, what is that exactly?

[jfreedan]

@tereesha It might be for cases where there are multiple cameras shooting at the same time. You would use different slates to keep track of the different camera angles.

[tereesha]

@jfreedan Then what about shot? We got scene and take, why isn't there a shot panel in the clapperboard?

[jfreedan]

@tereesha There isn't really a standard configuration to clapperboards. There are a few basic things, like Scene and Take and such, but there are variations on other things. Technically the board itself is called the slate so I'm just assuming an actual part of the slate marked 'slate' is meant to identify which slate it is when multiple ones are used.

[jfreedan]

@tereesha The designer of the board may have called 'shots' a slate. If it's marked 'slate' in the same area that most clapperboards mark as 'shot', then just assume it stands for the shot #

[tereesha]

@jfreedan Thx, and yeah, that's what i think too, because in some photos i saw the slate panel numbers was reaching 3 digit, there couldn't be that many in a single production even in the case of multiple cameras, isn't it?

[rogergermine]

1st AC or loader will shout out "board on end" or "tail slate" and when the take is over the loader will slate it and anounce for sound, not the Direcrtor. There is no reason to have the format on the board as this is in the neg report. why would u have multiple cameras at differant formats,ur frame leader would not match.Not even film school can help u !!! if u were on my set,id fire u on day one while lighting the first shot

[jfreedan]

@rogergermine Thanks for the advice, random Youtube person with no movies on his channel

[rogergermine]

hay bud, get ur facts right,u clearly have no freaken idea what ur talking bout. ur 1st AC or loader will shout out "board on end" or "tail slate" and when the take is over the loader will slate it and anounce for sound, not the Direcrtor,u idiot.

[robbillo]

Silenzio! Motore! Ciac! Azione! 

[jinultimate]

director says, ACTION and CUT at the end

[DllusionDevin]

GHETTO.............LOL

[Federer2001]

It's called Tail Slate

[wastedwords4]

Tail slate.

[TansenExoFire]

Should also let them know about the two systems American and British

[FUIDB]

how do you use a slate when filming with two cameras? but only record sound with one camera?

[jfreedan]

@FUIDB Each camera has to be slated. That's why there is a space for writing Camera A or Camera B, etc

[bassistmike1987]

@FUIDB Or a common board, where both cameras see the same board

[FUIDB]

Great tutorial, but how do i use it if i record with two cameras and only record sound with one?

[legendofmatty]

I have been editing as an amateur for years and it is nice to learn this stuff. I am going to make my own Bootleg Clapper. thank you for your help!

[jfreedan]

@legendofmatty Your welcome!

[brianmcclane]

nice i do movies to lol

[ryanc519]

very interesting. Thanks for the info. By the way, do people use digital clapperboard nowadays?

[jfreedan]

@ryanc519 Yes, if you're made of money. The technology for smart slates is patented and it is synchronized with the timecode of the film. I don't know offhand how much the system costs but it's pretty expensive and used by the major studios. I made my own slate because the ones you buy are meant for either film stock (have sections for "roll") or tape-based video ("tape section), which I don't need because anything I use a slate for is going on my memory card based camera.

[jfreedan]

@ryanc519 I don't normally use a slate when I make my reviews because even if I don't record things in order, I can remember what takes I wanted to use by memory and there aren't really that many. But a feature film is more complicated, especially with the number of cuts I do during a scene. I know beforehand how I'm going to edit so I only shoot the shots I'm actually going to use. I don't do long takes at all and it reduces the "ruined shots" due to mistakes.

[RPGswagman]

Far out thats a huge ghetto clap board. It's a nice set up looking at it closing I think I could man that easy. The magnets down the bottom are a nice touch.

I was awesome with the clapper, time coding and continuity on a doco project where the crew was amazing and cooperative .

My film school crew on the other hand .... all I want to do with the clapper was hit half the crew in the backside of the head. XD

I do miss making videos properly when I get a decent computer it's back on! :D

[jfreedan]

@RPGswagman Film schools...to be perfectly honest have been mixed success for me. Before I went to the first school (Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI) I already owned my GL2 and had been teaching myself film-making via books and online tutorials. I -did- learn a lot about editing at school and get hands on experience, but I ended up teaching myself how to do assignments. I feel that is the problem with many classes; they give you an assignment but not how to do it.

[RPGswagman]

@jfreedan It was a mixed bag for me too. I actually didn't graduate due to some disagreements with other class members and the teacher who played favorites with the younger students and outright ignored me and the older students were quite artistic and very imaginative brilliant minds. As far as I see it I learn more when I set projects for myself and experience different techniques each time. So I definitely agree with you. I did have fun that year filming a band and a doco outside of class.

[jfreedan]

@RPGswagman But I agree, the forced group thing isn't the best way to handle things. I had a class where I was able to pick my own crew members and I think I put together a good crew that worked well together. I've had other classes where people just don't mesh well because 2-3 people all want to be the director. To be honest it's hard for me to stand back on those kind of projects where I'm not directing or producing because that's where my strength lies.