Clapper Board

The clapper board is a device in which syncs the audio and visuals of a film production together. In professional filming environments, the director records the audio and visuals separately as it means both the visuals and audio clips will be much better quality. Most productions use a high quality video camera that usually does not record audio, while have plenty of boom microphones that pick up direct audio without much back music as the backing, ambient sound and sound effects will get added in after. Or if the film was a cartoon animation then you may use a studio mic to record someone speaking where you can further adjust the voice.

The clapper board has many different sections in which you write (usually with a white board pen) the information needed in that slot. Once you have written on all the information and details needed for the clip you are about to record and film, then you press record on both the video camera and the boom microphones and red out everything on the clapper board. The idea of reading out the clapper board is so that you can look back on both the visuals and the audio and know exactly which audio and video clips are which so that you can synchronise them up nicely. Some clapper boards may be slightly different but they are all roughly meaning the same things. Once you have read out the clapper board and have had it in front of the camera then you close the shutter of the clapper board at the top and the sound is where the clips should both be linked when editing. It also allows the director and team to know exactly when the clips are starting from. Here is what everything means on the clapper board:

Film - The title of your film or production

Scene - The scene number in which you are filming

Slate - The setup of the camera for each shot

Take - how many attempts it has taken to get that shot

Prod - The producer of the film

Dir - The director of the film

DOP - The director of photography

Date - The date at which you are filming on

FPS - Frames per second rate on the camera, usually 25

shutter - the shutter setting on the camera, how long it takes to get the shot

MOS/SYNC - shows the editor whether the sound should be synchronised with the visuals or not

INT/EXT - interior or exterior. Whether the shot is inside or outside