How does a movie clapperboard work?

A movie clapperboard isn't just a placemarker; this device helps movie makers synchronize a movie's audio and video elements. Find out how a traditional movie clapperboard works, as well as a digital one, in this episode of BrainStuff.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of brain Stuff is brought to you by
Linda dot Com. Linda dot com offers thousands of engaging,
easy to follow video tutorials taught by industry experts to
help you learn software, creative and business skills. Membership starts
at twenty five a month and provides unlimited seven access.
Try Linda dot com free for seven days by visiting
Linda dot com slash brain Stuff. Welcome to brain Stuff

(00:23):
from how Stuff works dot com where smart Happens. I
am Marshall Brain with today's question, how does a movie
clapperboard work? If you have a video camcorder, then you're
used to having video and sound recorded at the same time.

(00:46):
The sound in the video are always synchronized because they're
recorded together in one place. When filming a movie, the
pictures and sounds are usually recorded separately. The picture is
recorded onto film or some kind of digital device ACE
and the sound gets recorded on tape or more recently,
into flash memory. Because they're recorded on two different devices,

(01:08):
you need a way to synchronize them. The clapper board,
that black and white board you see all the time
when people are making movies, is the traditional way to
handle the synchronization. The bottom of the clapper board is
normally a slate of some sort on which you can
write the scene and take number. This information helps identify
the shot during editing. Once the tape recorder and the

(01:32):
camera are rolling, the clapperboard operator places the clapperboard in
front of the camera so the camera can see it,
reads the scene, and take information so the tape recorder
can hear it, and then claps the clapper. During editing,
it's very easy to synchronize the visual of the clapper
clapping down with the clap sound it makes on the tape.

(01:55):
The digital slate is the more modern form of the
clapper board. The tape recorder, whatever it's made out of,
contains a time code generator. The timecode is recorded continuously
on a special track on the tape or in flash memory,
and the timecode is also displayed continuously on a large

(02:15):
led display on the digital slate. By showing the digital
slate to the camera before the action starts, the editor
knows exactly what the tapes time code is and could
synchronize it with the film. Sometimes a digital slate also
contains a clapper, but generally it's not needed. The digital
slate normally has a slate area because identifying each shot

(02:39):
is still extremely important during editing. Do you have any
ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send
me an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com.
For more on this and thousands of other topics, go
to how stuff works dot com and be sure to
check out the brain Stuff blog on the how stuffworks
dot com home page. Jack Threads has quickly become the

(03:04):
online shopping destination for guys. Here's why. Everything on the
side is up to eight percent off. They serve up
killer contemporary and street apparel, accessories and gadgets from brands
like Converse, Penguin, and Busted t s. Shopping is simple
and all styles are curated, so buyer's remorse just doesn't happen.
What's more, as a listener of brain Stuff, you can
skip the membership waitlist and get instant access at sign
up dot jack threads dot com slash brain Stuff