Editing Clapperboard

{{Short description|Device used to aid in the syncing of audio with a moving image}}
{{About|the equipment used during filming|the television program|Clapperboard (TV series){{!}}''Clapperboard'' (TV series)}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}

[[File:ClapperboardColor.svg|thumb|right|Digital facsimile of a  clapperboard]]

A '''clapperboard''', also known as a '''dumb slate''', '''clapboard''', '''film clapper''', '''film slate''', '''movie slate''', or '''production slate''', is a device used in [[filmmaking]], [[television production]] and [[video production]] to assist in synchronizing of picture and sound, and to designate and mark the various [[Scene (fiction)|scene]]s and [[take]]s as they are filmed and audio-recorded. It is operated by the [[clapper loader]]. It is said to have been invented by Australian filmmaker [[F. W. Thring]]. Due to its ubiquity on film sets, the clapperboard is frequently featured in behind-the-scenes footage and films about filmmaking, and has become an enduring symbol of the [[film industry]] as a whole.

==History==
[[File:Clapperboard.jpg|thumb|Clapperboard {{circa|1953}}]]
In the [[Silent film|silent era]] the principal requirement of film stock identification during a day's shoot was the [[Slate (writing)|slate]].

The clapper as two sticks hinged together was invented by [[F. W. Thring]] (father of actor [[Frank Thring]]), who later became head of [[Efftee Studios]] in [[Melbourne]], Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0861930/bio|title=Frank Thring|website=IMDb}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Fitzpatrick | first=P. | title=The Two Frank Thrings | publisher=Monash University Publishing | series=Biography | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-921867-24-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQvWBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA452 | access-date=13 February 2023 | page=452}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Sfetcu | first=N. | title=The Art of Movies | publisher=Nicolae Sfetcu | year=2014 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OUCDAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA853 | access-date=13 February 2023 | page=853}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Frankly Thring | website=Theatregold | url=https://theatregold1.mybigcommerce.com/frankly-thring/ | access-date=13 February 2023}}</ref> The clapperboard with both the sticks and slate together was a refinement of [[Leon M. Leon]] (1903–1998), a pioneer sound engineer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502499/bio|title=Leon M. Leon|website=IMDb}}</ref>

==Description==
The clapperboard combines a [[chalkboard]] [[slate]] or acrylic board with a set of clapper sticks across the top; one stick is fixed to the upper edge of the slate, while the other is attached to it by a hinge at one end. The slate displays the name of the production, the scene and "take" about to be performed, and similar information;<ref>{{cite web |last1=Soniak |first1=Matt |title=Why Do They Click That Board Thing Before Filming A Movie Scene? |date=4 December 2012 |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/31781/why-do-they-click-board-thing-filming-movie-scene |publisher=Mental Floss |access-date= 2015-12-27}}{{better source needed |date=October 2017}}</ref> a camera assistant holds the clapperboard so the slate is in view of the cameras with the clapper sticks already open, speaks out information for the benefit of the audio recording, then snaps the sticks shut.<ref name="Tomaric_Page_298">{{cite book |last1=Tomaric |first1=Jason J. |title=The Power Filmmaking Kit: Make Your Professional Movie on a Next-to-Nothing Budget |date=2008 |publisher=Focal Press |location=Burlington, Massachusetts |isbn=9781136060229 |page=298 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tNnzF21lBf4C&pg=PA298 |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref>

The shutting of the clapper sticks is easily identified on the visual track, and the sharp "clap" noise is easily identified on the separate audio track. The two tracks can later be precisely synchronized by matching the sound and movement. Since each take is expressly identified on both the visual and audio tracks, segments of film are easily matched with corresponding segments of audio.<ref name="Tomaric_Page_298" />

==Purpose==

Finding a way to synchronize visual and audio tracks was essential to traditional filmmaking because [[film stock]] reacts to light, not sound.<ref name="Tomaric_Page_298" /> During a film shoot, the audio track was always recorded by the [[audio engineer]] with a separate system on separate media (so-called [[double-system recording]]).<ref name="Tomaric_Page_298" />  (For early sound films, playback of the audio track was synchronized during post-production with [[sound-on-disc]] techniques; engineers later figured out how to directly add an audio track to a [[release print]] with [[sound-on-film]] techniques.) Failure to use clapperboards can prevent the [[Film editing|film editor]] from synchronizing the visual images on film footage with the accompanying audio recordings, as actually happened with the long-delayed film ''[[Amazing Grace (2018 film)|Amazing Grace]]''.<ref name="RollingStone">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/inside-the-46-year-journey-to-bring-aretha-franklins-amazing-grace-doc-to-life-756003/|first=David|last=Browne|title=Inside the 46-Year Journey to Bring Aretha Franklin's 'Amazing Grace' Doc to Life|date=14 November 2018|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|language=en-US|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502162055/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/inside-the-46-year-journey-to-bring-aretha-franklins-amazing-grace-doc-to-life-756003/|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Methods were later developed to directly record sound to film as part of a single system integrated with the film camera (so-called [[single-system recording]]), which was most commonly used with small formats like [[Super 8 film]].<ref name="Musburger_Page_180">{{cite book |last1=Musburger |first1=Robert B. |last2=Kindem |first2=Gorham |title=Introduction to Media Production: The Path to Digital Media Production |date=2005 |publisher=Focal Press |location=Burlington, Massachusetts |isbn=9781136053146 |page=180 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DwrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA180 |access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref>  However, single-system recording did not render clapperboards obsolete. First, single-system recording of sound-on-film is "decidedly inferior in audio quality" to traditional double-system recording.<ref name="Musburger_Page_180" />  Second, footage from single-system recording is difficult to shoot and edit.<ref name="Musburger_Page_180" />  Since the [[Tape head|sound playback head]] cannot block the [[Movie projector|projector]] gate and must be placed after the gate, the soundtrack must be offset by several frames (usually 28, 26, or 18 ahead) to maintain sync with the frame in the gate.<ref name="Musburger_Page_180" />  With such footage, [[Cut (transition)|cutting]] to the next shot when an actor's lips stop moving will risk cutting off their last syllable, unless the soundtrack is copied and edited on a separate system, and actors must be directed to pause to allow for such cuts.<ref name="Musburger_Page_180" />  Because of these technical limitations, the film industry has continued to use double-system recording for professional-quality film projects.<ref name="Musburger_Page_180" />

The development of videotape made single-system recording less inconvenient, since video and audio signals corresponding to the exact same point in time could now be captured and stored together as magnetic signals on the same medium.<ref name="Holman_Page_64">{{cite book |last1=Holman |first1=Tomlinson |last2=Baum |first2=Arthur |author1-link=Tomlinson Holman |title=Sound for Digital Video |publisher=Focal Press |location=Burlington, Massachusetts |isbn=9781135957025 |page=64 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgifdwCBbAkC&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=21 April 2025 |date=2013}}</ref>  Despite that, contemporary [[digital cinematography]] still relies upon double-system recording, which means that directors of professional-quality film and television productions still need to use clapperboards.<ref name="Holman_Page_68">{{cite book |last1=Holman |first1=Tomlinson |last2=Baum |first2=Arthur |author1-link=Tomlinson Holman |title=Sound for Digital Video |publisher=Focal Press |location=Burlington, Massachusetts |isbn=9781135957025 |page=68 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgifdwCBbAkC&pg=PA68#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=21 April 2025 |date=2013}}</ref> The main reason is that the audio features needed for quality single-system recording are found only on midrange or "prosumer" digital cameras.<ref name="Holman_Page_68" />  Low-end cameras omit those features for cost reasons.<ref name="Holman_Page_68" />  High-end professional cameras omit those features because manufacturers assume that a professional film crew will follow the well-established tradition of hiring a [[audio engineer|sound engineer]] (along with other sound specialists to form a sound department) who will bring along and use dedicated audio recording equipment.<ref name="Holman_Page_68" />

==Construction==
[[File:A Traditional Wooden Slate Clapperboard.jpg|thumb|A traditional wooden [[Slate (writing)|slate]] clapperboard.]]
A traditional clapperboard (i.e., a dumb slate) consists of a wooden slate with a hinged clapper stick attached to its top. A modern clapperboard generally uses a pair of wooden sticks atop either a [[whiteboard]] or a translucent [[acrylic glass]] slate (the latter being easily legible via the light coming through it from the scene about to be shot).  The clapper sticks traditionally have diagonally interleaved lines of black and white to ensure the camera can capture a clear visual image of the clap in most lighting conditions. In recent years sticks with calibrated color stripes have become available.

A digislate is a clapperboard with an inbuilt electronic box displaying [[SMPTE timecode]]s. The timecode displayed on the clapperboard will have been [[jam sync]]ed with the internal clock of the camera, so that in theory it should be easy for the film editor to pull the timecode metadata from the video file and sound clip and synchronize them together.<ref name="Holman_Page_68" />  When SMPTE timecodes actually work as intended, they relieve the film editor of the age-old chore of manually matching the exact frame in which the clapper sticks close to the "corresponding peak in the audio wave".<ref name="Holman_Page_68" />  This chore can be very "tedious" if "there is a large number of shots in a program".<ref name="Holman_Page_68" /> However, electronic timecodes can still drift during a long shooting day, so the clapper sticks on the clapperboard still need to be closed together in the traditional fashion, in order to ensure there is a way of manually synchronizing video and audio if matching the digital timecode fails.<ref name="Holman_Page_68" />

==Operation==
[[File:2009-06-23-flemming-by-RalfR-20.jpg|thumb|A clapperboard in use]]
The slate typically includes the date, the production title, the name of the [[film director|director]], the name of the [[director of photography]] (DoP) and the scene information — which follows two popular systems:
# American: [[scene (fiction)|scene]] number, [[camera angle]] and [[take]] number; e.g. ''scene 24, C, take 3'';
# European: slate number, [[take]] number (with the letter of the camera shooting the slate if using [[multiple-camera setup]]); e.g. ''slate 256, take 3C''.  Often, the European system will also include the scene number; however, a separate ''continuity sheet'' that maps the ''slate'' number to the scene number, camera angle and take number may be used if the scene number is not included on the slate. This is generally not as great a concern with short films, however.

A verbal identification of the numbers, known either as "voice slate" or "announcement", occurs after sound has reached speed. At the same time or shortly thereafter, the camera will start running, and the clapperboard is then filmed briefly at the start of the take; its two sticks are snapped sharply together as soon as the camera has reached sync speed. Specific procedures vary depending on the nature of the production (documentary, television, feature, commercial, etc.), and the dominant [[Clapper loader|camera assisting]] regional conventions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cybercollege.org/tvp059.htm |title=Studio TV Production |publisher=Cybercollege.org |access-date=2012-06-18}}</ref>

A clapperboard is generally used to identify all takes on a production, even takes that do not require synchronization, such as [[MOS (film)|MOS]] takes, which have no sound. When a slate is used to mark an MOS take, the slate is held half open, with a hand blocking the sticks, or closed, with a hand over the sticks.

===Operator===
The [[clapper loader]] (or 2nd AC) is generally responsible for the maintenance and operation of the clapperboard, while the [[script supervisor]] is responsible for determining which system will be used and what numbers a given take should have. While these are usually fairly obvious once a system has been agreed upon, the script supervisor is usually considered the final arbiter in the event of an unclear situation.

===Alternatives===
Sometimes a "tail slate" or end slate is filmed at the end of a take, during which the clapperboard is held upside-down. This is done when the slate was not captured at the start of the take due to the camera being set up for the shot in such a way that the board cannot be captured, for example when a specific focus or frame is set up and cannot be altered until the take is complete. Tail slates are also commonly used when the director makes the decision that clapping a slate at the beginning of the scene would be distracting to the actor, such as when filming a highly emotional performance.

<gallery widths="194px" heights="194px">
File:Clapperboard, O2 film, September 2008.jpg|A Denecke clapperboard containing [[LED]] display with [[SMPTE timecode|SMPTE Timecode]] and colored stripes on the sticks.
File:Хлопушка-нумератор.jpg|A clapperboard with a [[dry-erase]] display being used for a Russian-language film.
File:Clapperboardinuse.jpg|An [[acrylic glass]] clapperboard in use
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Slate (broadcasting)]], a title card listing important metadata of a television program, attached before the first frame of the program
*[[2-pop]]

== References ==
{{commons category|Clapperboards}}
{{Wiktionary}}
* ''The Two Frank Thrings'' – Peter Fitzpatrick&nbsp;— Monash University Publishing, 2012
{{reflist|2}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Film and video technology]]
[[Category:Australian inventions]]
[[Category:Film scenes]]
[[Category:Television terminology]]