Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

GoGaslightYerself t1_iu5mdbb wrote

Reply to comment by Ma1 in TIL, in film, a clapperboard’s purpose is ensuring proper synchronization of audio and video in post-production. It provides a distinct “clap” along with a visual event for the editor to reference at the start of a scene. by PianoCharged

When I worked on some TV commercial shoots back in the early '90s, the cameraman also said "Speed!" when (I guess) the camera was up to "running speed" or whatever...this I guess was the signal to the talent that it was time to start the take ... is this just "a thing" with video cameras, or also with film cameras too?

2

sexytalk128 t1_iu5z0ob wrote

I think 'speed' means that the sound recording is in sync or at the same 'speed' as the camera recording. Here in the UK, the sound recordist tells the boom operator and they announce it, shortly after the 1st Assistant Director calls 'turn over' to get the camera to start recording.

2

devotchko t1_iu6btuw wrote

Older equipment (especially 1/4" sound recorders) were not capable of running at crystal sync speed right away. For this reason, they actually had a tiny flag that would appear in a see through window a moment after the recorder was activated. The recordist would not yell "speed" until after the flag would be visible (since only after this moment the audio would be capable of being in perfect sync with a camera).

2

Alias_The_Jester t1_iu6fabw wrote

Director here, they still yell speed. It’s to let everyone know the camera is going but has its roots in when old equipment needed to take time to get up to speed. Nowdays it’s a cue, for other cues to happen such as slating or if I want to cue background action to get moving or if I want the camera to move, that way you don’t get stilted action on screen.

2