SMPTE Universal Film Leader

[Genixel]

Why not put tis video under the Creative Commons license so anyone can just download it whenever?

[fyos]

You should not see the 2 second or 1 second marker, but as the countdown passes the 2 second mark you may hear "2-pop" (beep at 1 kHz tone lasting exactly 1 frame and affectionately known at a "2-pop" in the post production world)

[MrAirbuster57]

whats with all those weird words in the beginning?

[123jujuyou]

This video helped me

[botboy217]

Does anyone know what font the numbers are?

[HomeoftheGoodGuys]

That SMPTE Universal leader film countdown can be found on my "Porky Pig" VHS tape from Star Classics. I got this at Goodwill over the weekend, but it's not that bad, but it has 4 cartoons that were originally taken from the original 16mm film stock onto a VHS tape. "Get Rich Quick Porky" also had the SMPTE film countdown when it stops at 3 instead of 2. "Have You Got Any Castles" also had a glimpse when it stops a 6. That was kinda strange to put these cartoons on a VHS tape.

[jakestooge34]

@HomeoftheGoodGuys I wonder if public domain DVDs have them on it.

[ElTuco84]

Where´s the beep?

[jamzies822]

Does anyone know what font this is in the beginning?  Thanks!

[MissJ1nsu]

YES.

[MadMovieMakers]

Sorry if the answer to this question should be an obvious one...and I'm really hoping it's a "yes"...but is this something that is considered to be "public domain" material? I'm getting ready to shoot a short horror film and would really like to incorporate this into the opening of the film.  Thanks!

[sonicfangamer2]

I was wondering what that junk of some sort is at the beggining before the countdown.

[airscrew1]

I've got a couple of reels of SMPTE leader. It is the negative stock so that when it is printed it gives a white numeral. I'm still using 16mm film to film stuff I want to keep. It's a lot harder than a digital cam but the cameras are bullet proof unlike these modern video plastic machines.

[TheFoldMusic]

so awsome! You just saved me 50 bucks!

[mca1218]

PICTURE START.

[kingofwaffles13]

world cup button ftw

[baggedyman]

How come it flashes images/words at the beginning? What is it for?

[MattLap28]

idownloaditxcoxuk change x to .

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[Rlotpir1972]

About every movie on a 16mm film will have that countdown.

[artman40]

Damn! Ended with a cliffhanger! Hope they make a sequel!

[thispolarnoise]

I tried the link and there was nothing there. : (

[NYz3R0dAY]

delete the space that separates cincinna and tus. link works for me

[anikal100]

how i download this?

[AboveConstruction01]

@anikal100

go to google

type in ONLINE YOUTUBE VIDEO DOWNLOADER

and there you go

or download programs

go to my channel i got a programm called IDM that allows you to download all the vids onthe Internet no joke!

[SPOOFqueens]

Yay! :)

I used this program I have to download this!

[thewirrow]

dude id seriously love to download this..been looking EVERYWHERE for ages to find sthng like this..and this is it! the download link doesnt work tho :/ got any other links?

[SonicEditingChannel]

Universal Leader is called that because it is used for 35mm and 16mm film prints and is still used today on film prints. The "2 pop" is the que for the projectionist to open the aperture or TV master control operator to "take" the show. The picture doesn't start at 1, but actually 0. SMPTE stands for Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, which establishes all technical standards for the film and broadcast television industry. The aspect ratio is the height and width of a frame.

[FrickenTrevor]

wheres the beep at every seconed and the slate?

[wilkes85]

Sometimes there's no beep, and sometimes there's only a beep at 2.

[dewoutwoody15]

does anybody know if there's a countdown to zero? they all stop at 3 or 2.

[tonydmyers]

It's supposed to stop right at 2.

[evolutionofmind]

@tonydmyers not with lead in chump

[Watcher3223]

Counts that stop at 3 is Academy and 3 counts represent two seconds.

Counts that stop at 2 is SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) and each count represents one second.

You are given two seconds before the actual start of the program for whatever you need to do to the film, which is why Academy stops at 3 and SMPTE stops at 2.

The 1 kHz beep is for synchronization; the sound must line up with the briefly visible 3 or 2 to ensure the sound stays lined up with the visuals.

[gordonfreemannr2]

I just found one here on youtube with countdown to ''0''. Don't know if it's what you're looking for though. Shall I send the link here? It will probably show up as a spam then =/

[Watcher3223]

I believe you're supposed to reply to "dewoutwoody15."

However, any leader that counts down all the way to zero is not a proper film leader.

[Marbles471]

That YouTube one that goes all the way to zero sure LOOKS authentic, though. I understand the technical reason it can't be a proper leader, but it clearly isn't some fake thing someone threw together on their computer. You can tell it's real. What it was used for, or how it was used, is what puzzles me.

[Watcher3223]

It may look authentic, but that does not mean that it is authentic.

If the universal leader head counts all the way down to zero, then it does not abide by the SMPTE 55 standard established by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

[natebot321]

Wow. You know your shit.

[Theevilonemwhaha]

@Watcher3223 Blimey.

[6906iceman]

@dewoutwoody15 yo dude i have Adobe premier pro CS3 and it have the "Universal Countdown" that want they call it =D

[airscrew1]

@dewoutwoody15 They stop at 3 or two to sync with the soundtrack.

[derick1259]

@dewoutwoody15 all of them stop at zero, thit just goes black for the rest of the two seconds. Cause if it carried on the film it will straight away go into the video, which is really annoying cause you would need a small amount of time to settle in.

[NorcrossMedia]

@dewoutwoody15 The sync is on 2.

[MrDannyk123]

@dewoutwoody15 so the film doesn;t start straigfht after the 3/2, there is always 2 seconds of black, which u can add in. hope this helps! :)

[StephenDelphi]

The aspect ratio is the height and width of the frame of film. 16mm is 3:4 or 3 units high by 4 units wide. 35mm is 1:1.85 or 1.85 times wider than high. HD video is 1:1.77 and NTSC TV is 3:4 as is 16mm film. Panavision or widescreen is 1:2.44. Sound speed for all film formats is 24 frames per second. 16mm film has 40 frames per foot and 35mm has 16 frames per foot. There are 1440 frames in 1 minute of animation and around 115,200 frames of animation in a feature film.

[StephenDelphi]

Type of and Aspect Ratio are labels that haven't been filled in by the film conformer. They seldom are. The 0000 and XXXX indicate the frame offset advance of the sound track from the picture which is indicated by the "bullseye" on the U-leader. The optical sound track is 26 frames ahead of the picture on 16mm. That puts the sound on the optical reader head at the same time the corresponding picture frame is in the aperture of the projector gate, which puts the picture and sound in sync.

[StephenDelphi]

Universal Leader is called that because it is used for 35mm and 16mm film prints and is still used today on film prints. The "2 pop" is the que for the projectionist to open the aperture or TV master control operator to "take" the show. The picture doesn't start at 1, but actually 0. SMPTE stands for Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, which establishes all technical standards for the film and broadcast television industry. The aspect ratio is the height and width of a frame.

[sasori598]

what does "type of aspect 0000" mean?

[ne014x]

Its stilled used everyday if you work in TV

[sourcerror]

Why does it end at 2?

[richard1963c]

They all do. 1 is the start of the picture

[ne014x]

All TV head real counters stop at 2 so you have enough black to mark in the video, Its a tech video thing

[sasori598]

splice here

[SirMoomin]

Taken from Adobe Premiere CS3... Comon?

[simplexalarms]

not from premiere, this one says SMPTE film leader (or something like that) the adobe one says Adobe universal leader. This is real

[hcaulfield1010]

They're still used in some schools to show educational films that aren't on video. I remember watching a film about Africa in 2000 or 2001, and last year (07) we watched a (surprisingly well acted for the 70's) film about descision making in sex ed.

[kndrule]

where u get this file?

[xBabyLolaBunny]

thanks! it's very good countdown ^^

[XsergiomooreX]

actually im 16 and we did watch films in class about animals and such

[ELTIGREROCKS10]

I already found the video so u wont be hearing from me!

[tempetiger]

I remember a countdown leader one time (probably a modification of this one) where an older lady would appear for about 1/2 a second on the "5" count on the clock. Do you remember that one?

[tempetiger]

Those film countdown leaders bring back such memories for me! I well remember them from elementary school in the '70s to my college days of the 80's. With this video of it, I can finally see what each section of letters and numbers at the beginning actually says.

Good work! Keep 'em coming!

[ra70s]

as Homer simpson said: "here comes 2!"

[Marbles471]

So many times would I see this in my 3rd grade classroom.

I'm 25. Unless other schools in other parts of the country were different, I seem to be among the last group of people to have routinely been shown films (as opposed to videos) while in elementary school. My sister is 7 years younger, and she says she never saw a projector in class.

[wiley207]

If you have Adobe Premiere Pro or its consumer-level counterpart Adobe Premiere Elements, you can easily create a countdown like that. It's almost the same, frame by frame, but it's called "ADOBE UNIVERSAL LEADER." For an old-film effect to add to it you'll need a special plug-in to do so.

[fromthesidelines]

THE "standard" countdown leader. More people have seen and identify with this one than any other SMPTE leader....

[Marbles471]

There's a strange variant someone else posted -- instead of going from 8 to 2, it actually goes from 10 to 0. (it's sure to be in the related videos bar on the right---it's the one that's 13 second long.)

[djsurf1]

or u could just get ur digital camara and film it...simple n u dont have to pay a thing.

[ilanilacha]

adn cant you share it for free. some don´t have a credit card....

[tonydmyers]

Guys, I think I was quite clear in the video description where you can get the damn video, so stop messaging me about it.

[jimp1102]

@tonydmyers

They're messaging you because your link is F'ed up...Look at it again-half of the address is not included in the link- If everyone just searches on SMPTE in the archive searchbox, they'll find it.

[SceneOneVideo]

@tonydmyers "The item you have requested had an error: Item cannot be found. which prevents us from displaying this page. If you would like to report this problem as an error report, you may do so here."

[ThePolishResistance]

Thanks, man! I was wondering about the old-time film countdown!

[LittleMisterSinister]

Hi. Is there any way you could email this to me or tell me where you got it? Thank you very much!

[romanthemusician]

I'd like to know where you got that... that's awesome.

[nojo191]

I think Discovery uses that on Mythbusters...