Using a Clapboard

D

DVX100Shooter

Veteran
I tried to search this site for past post about using a clapboard but came up empty. I want to use one when I shoot a video next month. The actual clap (sound) is what? Is that when the scene begins for editing purposes? Does the clap come before or after the Director yells Action? So what is the procedure? The Director yells Roll Camera 1st then the slate person puts the clapboard in frame of the camera, yells out the scene name and scene number, makes the clap sound, then the Director yells Action to the talent and/or background (extras)? I remember we had a discussion about using the clapboard on this site and I can't seem to find it on here.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

My understanding is that in the old days of film making, the visual image of the arm of the clapboard coming down (I don't know if they call it an "arm" or not) could be syncronized with the audio so that the video and audio for the rest of that scene could be aligned.

I was thinking of using one (I actually have a little one I got in the gift shop at Universal Studios about 15 years ago) if I ever have the luxury of getting a second DVX to shoot some scenes from two angles simultaneously. In post, the clap would allow me to very quickly sync the clips from the two cameras, by aligning the waveforms in the audio track. By contrast is event videography. I use between 3-5 cameras going at once and I tell my "crew" (that is, my teenage sons!) that for a wedding ceremony, etc. once the camera goes on, it doesn't go off until the ceremony is over. Then, in post, I only have to sync the clips once and I'm all set. However, doing a bunch of small scenes with two cameras would require resyncing (is that a word?) with every scene because you'd keep turning the camcorders on and off. Having a clapping visual/audio cue like a clap board would allow for very quick syncs.

That's my take on it, but I'm sure others have more.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

Director: Quiet on the set! "Roll Camera", "Roll Sound" - Soundman: "Sound has speed" - Clapper: "Titanic, Scene 4, take 12" sound "clap" Director: "and action"

The clapper is mostly used with sync sound.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

I find the whole process of moviemaking to be fascinating, from a technical point of view.

Our crew has evolved this routine:

Director: "Camera rolling" (Quiet on the Set is now understood)

Cam: "...Rolling" (Camera operator must verify the REC indicator is going)

Director: "Sound rolling"

Sound: "...Rolling" (We typically use DAT, sometimes it takes time to spin up, so everyone waits for the sound op)

Director: "Clapper"

Clap: "...Scene 34a, Take 5, ECU" (Clap operator pauses before announcing, in case cam operator, or director, or asst director must have the board moved to be in frame better)

Director: "...Dolly" (This is if we have some action which must start before the primary action happens, like getting the dolly moving)

Director: "...and Action"

Director: "...and Cut"

Our crew is fairly informal; if someone sees a problem which they know will break the scene, rather than waste time, several of us can call Cut at any time. This is Simply Not Done on many sets, but we find that this helps our shots/day ratio significantly.

It is easier to sync video and audio today with modern equipment, but a clapper still helps, both to solve sync problems, and to easily identify your scenes when you review your dailies.

When we do a multi-camera shoot, the clap operator may have to clap several times, in different positions. This makes it easy to sync multiple cameras as long as there is one sound recorder which captures all the claps.

You don't have to pay $70 for a professional clapper, BTW, you can construct one yourself with wood, paint, and shower sheet, which is the same stuff that dry erase boards are made of.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

As stated, though not as critical for use with synching sound in this day in age, it does help a lot with identifying takes.

Just make sure that whoever is running the slate understands focal length. On a short I did a while ago my crew was totally inexperienced and the person running slate kept sticking right in front of the camera. Most of it came out as just a big black blur.
And really be aware of this if you using autofocus(I know, why would you), it the slate isn't at the same focal length it will knock your focus and then you have to wait for it be reacquired.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

First, always slate your takes. This identifies them for you, the editor, the script supervisor, basically anyone who needs to know what roll, scene, and take you're looking at on set and in the editing room.

Here's a basic rundown of on-set procedures.

1. The 1st AD calls for quiet. Then he tells the sound guy (if you have one) to roll sound. For video productions where the mic feeds directly into the camera, this step isn't necessary. When the sound reels are up to speed, the sound guy says "Speed." Then the same happens for camera.

Sound goes first because sound tape is a lot cheaper to roll off than film.

2. When you're at speed, the camera assistant (or whoever happens to be available) slates the shot by holding the slate in front of the camera AND saying the scene and take number for the sound guy. For sound directly into the camera or non-sync sound shots, actually clapping the clapboard is not necessary. You should just hold the slate in front of the camera and say the scene and take number, then step out.

3. Once the shot is slated, the camera goes into position one (if it isn't already) and the director yells action, which cues whatever is supposed to happen in front of the camera.

4. When the shot is done, the director yells cut, which cues the sound and camera guys to stop rolling and lets everyone else know the shot is done.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

Actually, the clapboard is important in syncing sound with picture when shooting film. That's what we did when shooting with 16mm and 35mm film. The picture is captured by the film camera, while the audio is recorded separately on a DAT recorder. We then used the visual of the clapboard slapping down and the corresponding sound to sync the picture & audio together in post. Of course, for video, if you're recording audio into your camera along with the picture, there's no necessity to sync it.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

Sometimes the clap is used at the end of a take instead of at the beginning (I don't know how you call it in English : end clap ?). This happens for example when using animals which may be upset or stirred by the clap sound. In this case, the clapper presents the clap to the camera upside down, and makes his/her announcement after the clap, and not before.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

yup. its called a tail slate, and when you slate at the end, you hold the clapboard upside-down. Right-side-up if you slate at the beginning. its for editors to recognize where to look in the audio recording for the clap sound.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

"in the old days of film making"

Good lord, you guys are making me feel old! People still use film, ya know! I was a film editor for years before electronic editing came along. For those of you that are interested, here's the process: The slate carries the info the Assistant Editors need to library the footage, like scene #, take #, etc. You still need this info if you're shooting on tape. The "CLAP" is so the assistant editor can sync up the sound and picture. First he'll go through the roll on each of the dailies picture and mark the frame with and X where the sticks on the slate meet. Then he (or she!) will roll through the sound rolls on a gang with a sound head and listen for the "clap". He'll find the point at the beginning of the clap sound and draw a line, then count over 4 sprockets (on 35mm film, a frame is 4 sprockets wide) and draw another line, and make an X. Once the dailies rolls are marked up, he'll load both sound and picture into a sync block and roll up to the first slate mark on the roll. Lock the picture in the gang, pull through the sound roll to the matching X for the take. Lock the marked sound into the gang at the same point as the marked picture. He'll cut out the excess sound (there is always more sound than picture since sound rolls first) cut out the excess sound footage and toss it. He'll splice the sound back to the roll, the spin down to the next take and start all over again. Once a roll is in sync, he'll load a roll on to a machine that puts a number every foot on the edge of the film. Then he'll reset the machine for the matching sound roll to put the exact same number in the exact same place. That's how the editor keeps the picture and sound in sync once he starts editing the film.

This is a very abbreviated version of the syncing process, but you get the idea.

Dan
www.DVcameraRigs.com
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

Using a Slate is a must. Video or Film, Doesnt matter.

Although Video the audio is synced (well - a frame), during editing you can screw up the sync rather easy and its good to have the clapper to goto for sync rather than guessing it. My tip when working on Video is to have the clapper in frame before you start rolling, as when you log the clips your clips will be digitized with the first frame being the slate, so you can assemble very easy, as you can look at the thumbnails and pick and choose.

The orders given above on how to slate are correct, but a few things are missing, well at least from the way we do it up here.

First, the Director Blocks the scene with the actors, Operator usually uses this as a practice to realize camera moves.

1. AD, TAD, 2nD AD etc. yells "Rolling" really loud to shut everyone up.

2. Director says roll camera

3. Slate is raised into frame, camera record starts

4. Sound yells speeding to tell camera sound is recording

5. Camera Op says " Mark it" to tell AC to clap the slate

6. Slate is marked ( clapped )

7. Camera OP says " Frame " to tell director he is ready

8. Director says action....


Also, Tail slate as mentioned is updside down at the end of the scene if for somereason the AC forgot to slate, or the situation doesnt allow for an AC to be there (dangerous scenes, uptight nudity scenes, etc)

Be careful if you are slating next to the talent as the clap can be loud to the ear.

MOS is on slates and it is good to point to it. MOS means no sound is being recorded, and you dont need to clap the slate.
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

"MOS" = "mit out sound" and I think that's bizarre, considering. Blame von Stroeheim? Von Sternberg? Billy Wilder?
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

These days the actual clap is rarely used because of smart slates.  The audio recorder is generating timecode that is sent to the slate in large red digits.  When the audio rolls the  camera records the numbers and thus the audio and video are able to be synchronized.  When they do use the clap sound, the AC usually say's "Marker" right before he/she claps the board.  This helps differentiate the clap sound from any extranious noise on the set.  Also, the audio is almost always slated by the sound mixer after he rolls audio, but before they roll camera.  He'll usually roll the recorder, slate the take, then shout "speed".  No reason to waste film while the AC shouts out the take number.
I never use a slate on a single camera shoot, because it wastes too much time.  I note the timecode at the end of the shot I like (usually on the scene of the shooting script).  Then when I'm editing I just look at the tape and timecode number off of the script and digitize those takes. (don't ever lose your notes though, or you'll wish you slated)  
Slates can still be useful however.  Since we don't have the capability of feeding matching timecode to multiple cameras, the clapboard can be useful for us to sync them.  
 
Re: Using a Clapboard

Tail slate as mentioned is updside down at the end of the scene if for somereason the AC forgot to slate, or the situation doesnt allow for an AC to be there (dangerous scenes, uptight nudity scenes, etc)
Click to expand...

Yep, we do a lot of 'Tail Clapping' when we do our uptight nudity scenes.

:D
 
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