Scene/Take Number

Bill Clar

Bill Clar

Well-known member
I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. I'm still feeling my way around here.

My question pertains to the use of a clapboard and labeling your shot and take number. How do you label the varied shots in a scene?

For example, I have a scene that I'd like to put together with four shots. Should I label each shot with a subsection like "Scene 5, Shot B, Take 2" or do I only concern myself with the take number, "Scene 5, Take 6"?

Thanks for any info you can give me.

Bill Clar
 
basically an example shot log would look like this for each shot, or camera set-up:

scene 5, take 1
scene 5, take 2
scene 5, take 3
scene 5A, take 1
scene 5A, take 2
scene 5A, take 3
scene 5A, take 4PU (means you are "picking up" the take in the middle of the scene)
scene 5B, take 1
scene 5B, take 2
scene 5B, take 3
 
You'll end up finding a style that fits you. Hitchcock, I'm told, made the whole movie before he ever rolled a foot of film. Roman Polanski doesn't like to storyboard. He prefers to walk on the set and shoot from the hip as it were.

As with anything in the arts, I think you need to learn what's standard then adapt it for yourself. Don't be afraid to change something to make it fit you and what you're doing better.

The longest movie I've made is 28 minutes so this may not work for a feature length. It's a conglomeration of what I've read and what I've learned by doing shorts and super shorts.

What gets put on my slate is a combination of things. The script is broken down into scene numbers. Each scene is broken down into a storyboard. The template I use for my storyboard fits on 8.5x11 paper and I have six panels on each page. The template also has room for notes, dialog, and shot boxes. I make the story board then check the corresponding box (i.e. CU for close up, MS for medium shot). These story boards get cut out and placed in the most efficient shooting order (exteriors first, wider shots first and so on). My script supervisor takes the stacks on location or on set. When its time for the slate she knows what scene it is and what kind of shot it is. Which take we're on is just a rolling number but it's important to note that I give the script supervisor a nod when I want him/her to take note of a take I like or if there was a blooper. Makes things easier when you edit.

So a standard slate for the sixth take of an over the shoulder shot in scene four looks like this: SC4 | TK6 | OTS

On location and in the middle of filming, I or someone else will make a comment on how a different shot would look better so we either dump the shot planned or shoot them both.

All extra shots end up on the slate looking like this: SC4 | TK6 | EX OTS

Extra shots have their own list and I record tape time with them. My crew thinks that the 'EX' stands for extra but in my mind it has always stood for extemporaneous.

Like I said, there's the usual way and then there's your way. Do what works for you.
 
cygnet74 said:
basically an example shot log would look like this for each shot, or camera set-up:

scene 5, take 1
scene 5, take 2
scene 5, take 3
scene 5A, take 1
scene 5A, take 2
scene 5A, take 3
scene 5A, take 4PU (means you are "picking up" the take in the middle of the scene)
scene 5B, take 1
scene 5B, take 2
scene 5B, take 3
Click to expand...

Correct across the board. The only other things worth mentioning would be if you miss a slate at the head of a take (or if your sound sync might be slipping) you may need a tail slate. Same as a head slate but the slate is held upside down to indicate that its a tail.

Also, if you are going to run a number of passes without stopping the camera, then you would slate it as a series. Here the slate would read:

Scene: 5C
Take: SER
 
Yeah, slating is good, especially if you aren't editing the film. I'd be pissed if I was editing something someone else shot and they never slated. That having been said, I never slate my films I am also editing, as I remember pretty well where everything is. I will slate however when I shoot my first feature... that's just too many darn takes and angles to keep track of.
 
Hey,

This is my take on it. Your master shot would be say scene 5 and then let's say you have a medium shot you can call that 5a, and then you have a CU call it 5b and so on. It is pretty easy to understand. There is nothing technical about it really. This is how I plan to do it on my shoot next summer.

Chris
 
I'm getting close to the end of Post on my 50+min DV film. There were 11 hours of tape! And it was all legit takes and retakes.

For the shoot, I used a white plexi erasable slate that my wife got me as a surprise gift, and (once I found the specific dry erase marker that didn't actually stain it permanently) it worked great. During filming, my wonderful AD did all the slating for us, and an outstanding job at that.

The slate has 3 slots for Roll, Scene and Take.

Roll # definitely came in handy. I use a Firewire connected laptop with DVRack as my monitor, then each night transfered all the files from its hard drive onto my editing drive, so the tapes became backup. I forget why (everything's a blur with my brain in post), but I had some weird issues where a scene file got chopped up. Being able to identify which original tape (roll) the scenes came from made it super easy to re-pull the shots from the tapes.

Scene # was the script scene (24, 24A, 35, etc.). And then my trusted AD just kept incrementing the take counter for each shot or re-take until we moved on to the next scene.

For Take #, we didn't track shot angle numbers separately. No point. 3 tries from one angle got Takes #1-#3. 4 more tries from a second angle got Take #4-#7, etc.

During editing, everything was very obvious, so it's no issue at all. I suppose you could track the different angles as 1a-3a and then 1b-4b, etc., but I'd find that very confusing, especially when you mix it with scene #'s that will have A, B, C, etc. on them. I could see it making a difference if I had 20 different shot angles of the same scene... but really, for a handful of different shot angles, just sequencing the Take #'s is easy... breezy... (cover girl!).

The bottom line is, do whatever works for you. I've seen pro slates with every combination of technique imaginable. As long as your editor (even if it's you) can make sense of it all later, that works.

I did have to do some minor retakes on my own (crew off doing other projects), and didn't slate those. Fortunately it was easy to work with as one or two scenes, but it would have been a nightmare if I had 11 tapes with not a single slate to tell me what went where (and particularly, how to name my raw source files for editing purposes).
 
I personally have used the "British" system up to now. That's where you number the shots as you go along and add the take number. So the first take of the first scene you shoot, regardless of where it is in the script, is #1-1. Take 2 would be #1-2. Next shot, #2-1. Etc. Etc.

You do have to log it, but you should be logging anyway. It's a easier when you get to post, too, in my opinion. I am sure I will revert to the "American" way when I shoot something bigger, but for the shorts I've done, this has worked for me.


John G.
 
Another nice thread to read!

I need to develop a system for slating... I slated for an 18 minute promotional video I made once and I didn't even pay attention to any of it in post. Then I shot my Horrorfest entry without slating anything.

Both times I was my own editor and just knew the shots so well. But I definitely want to start and developing slating skills.

Thanks for this information!

Ted
 
Thanks everyone for the help!

Currently, I'm going through the script and marking each unique shot with an incremental count. When I'm done, I'll know how many total shots I have which will help with scheduling. I'll use that shot number on the slate.
 
Do this.

Get - A slate, Velcro, A dry erase marker, 2 Rubber Bands, a small piece of PVC or styrene, a pen, and microsoft word.

Then - do a 2-up in word of a tape/take log page. print them out on cardstock. then cut them up, and fit them on the piecce of PVC, with about 1/8 extra room all around on the PVC. put a rubber band at the top and bottom of the piece of PVC. Attach your stack of cards under. get your marker, and the "Clipboard" you just made, and velcro them to the back of your slate. it ought to look something like this.

1012294gs4.jpg


Oh, and take some gaffers tape and felt, and wrap it around the marker lid and you have yourself a nice dry eraser.
 
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