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Proper Slate Technique


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I film wild bears on bluescreen. Getting a slate means sneaking out in front on the camera, and trying not to be eaten by my "actors." Always a hair raising experience.

 

Sorry to spring this on you, but Dee's likely to if I don't. . .

 

That must be one bear of a job :P

 

I'm sure the bears really go for the 69 take(s) two soft S :unsure:

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One other thing about tail sticks. This has been debated for a while now that we have been using TC slates for some time. Since it's all about the numbers, stick the slate in right side up, clap them THEN FLIP IT over. Editors will love you for it as all they want to do is find the timecode. When using dumb sticks you can do it old school and stick it upside down then flip it and same goes for tail IDing something.

 

Rob Koch

1st Assistant- NY

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One other thing about tail sticks. This has been debated for a while now that we have been using TC slates for some time. Since it's all about the numbers, stick the slate in right side up, clap them THEN FLIP IT over. Editors will love you for it as all they want to do is find the timecode. When using dumb sticks you can do it old school and stick it upside down then flip it and same goes for tail IDing something.

 

Rob Koch

1st Assistant- NY

 

I was taught this way too. Of course, this is just because NLE editors are lazy in every way. Old school workprinters didn't need the kid gloves for tail sticks :P

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You know what old school is? It's editing the negative directly in front of the window with a pair of scissors. My o my.

 

I thought it was editing nitrate film OCN by candle-light in one hand, with lit cigarette in the other. . .

;)

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And if you are shooting digital and recording sound in-camera, clapping slates serves no purpose other than ego.

 

I have had several experiences where in-camera recorded sound got off-sync somewhere between the shoot and the editor's computer and it was nice to be able to back it up the couple frames it was off by using the sticks.

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  • 1 month later...

I'll add a few things

 

I was told o always enter frame with the sticks open until you actually slated the take.... this way it's visually clear to the editor when a slate has or will happen.

 

On a P2 shoot the slate should be in frame before the camera in in record.. this way the editor has the slate at the top of each clip for ease of log and transfer of the clip.

 

Someone said it earlier.. get out of the shot ASAP.

 

Verbally call every shot. I've gotten thank you calls from editors because some piece of sound equiptment failed and they had to line audio to each take manually... just saying "mark" helps no one. "Scene 5 Take 2" makes things easy.

 

Also, check with the script supervisor on how they want to mark the slate... it's their notes that mater... those notes are what the editor goes by.

 

Always wait for the DP to ask for the slate.. he/she may want to check the frame, look at lights. In my world it's... roll sound.. "speed" ... slate in... that's when my job begins

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  • 2 months later...

A lot of good advice. One thing that hasn't been said is DON'T HOLD THE SLATE WHEN YOU ARE NOT USING IT. There are a lot more things a 2nd AC does than slate. A 1st AC can't hand you a piece of equipment if your hands are holding a slate. Place it in a safe place and pay attention to what's going on.

 

Also, don't bring the slate in until right before the camera rolls. The DP and operator are always checking the frame, so it's hard to do when there's a slate in the way.

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Here's some good tips on how to slate ;)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVHg3PxSblI

 

I am going to sue the pants of whoever made this.

 

I only want to ad that slating is obviously very important. Always slate at the beginning if you can. The editor is part of the team. Respect that. We all have ajob to do. Timecode does not have to be clapped. Clapping is a back up. Wouldn't you rather have a back up? I just went through and consolidated what I thought was important. If you as a 2nd want to cut and paste, clean up, edit or number it, use it as a guide because it is all useful information that you really only know from experience. I would also like to add that if you have to slate yourself as a first, watch the fat of your palm. It hurts and muffles the clap. And keep your face out of the shot. Nobody wants to see your face in dailies. You aren't an actor. Listen for the camera to beep when it comes up to speed.

 

hold the slate still for a second after you clap. then take it away.

 

place the slate in the right positions for different lenses. (ie 5ft away for 50mm, 2ft for 20mm, 100ft for 100mm, etc.)

 

don't clap too harsh when the slate is close to the actor's face. call 'soft sticks' instead of slate or mark

 

write the correct number clearly. It's always nice for the post people to have a readable slate.

the slate should be synced or "jammed" with the sound recorder

If your doing tail slates, then clearly announce after 'tail slate' and hold the sticks upside-down as they enter frame. Hold for a second then turn it right side up and mark it.

If you hear the words "Second sticks" yelled out, they are calling you back for a re-slate.

 

Also, if the take is MOS (without sound) you can either firmly hold the slate by the top keeping the sticks closed against each other, or open the sticks and hold the slate from the top, sandwiching your hand between the sticks. the visual holding of the slate reconfirms the MOS status which should also be marked on the slate.

Get the %@#* out of the shot! And don't take the scenic route out of the frame after slating.

Don't put the slate into frame until right before you're going to hit the sticks. It's very annoying for the operator when he/she is trying to make last minute adjustments and the 2nd keeps sticking the slate in before camera is ready to go.

focus on the slate if I know the slate will be way out of focus then quickly roll it back to my 1st mark.

If you're on a long lense and there is a filter in the matte-box, you stand at the correct distance (e.g: 25' for 250mm lens) and then find your reflection in the filter so you can see your face. Then pull the slate up to where your eyes are and there you have the perfect spot for the slate.

Operators hate having to reframe for the slate. Keep an eye on rehearsals so you know where the shot starts and where to stick the slate without making the Focus Puller say "camera left a bit.... up a bit" etc. It's very frustrating when you have a Loader who cant put the slate in the right place.

Sometimes if its a very critical pre-frame for both Operator and focus, it's easier to just do a tail slate.

It is the Focus Puller's responsibility to have in-focus slates.

 

If you are using a timecode slate make sure the brightness of the numbers is set correctly. If you are using a fast stock like 500T you may need to grab a strip of .3 or .6 ND gel from the Lighting Dep. to knock it back.

 

Also, where you can you should always bring the slate into frame from the bottom, and take it out from the top.

This helps the Editors when scrolling through rushes at high speed. Sticks should always be open when you first bring the slate into frame.

always check your escape route and the place to go after slating. make sure you are not blocking a light and that you are not in a reflection of glass or something else. also make sure you don´t place in the eyeline of an actor and don´t watch the action, you could catch glimpses. and watch the boom operator during rehersals. maybe he has to go just where you wanted to hide...

for very difficult long lens stuff i used to have a casio mini monitor i held with my lower hand behind the slate. you will always be perfectly in frame with that. i would also recommand for long lens stuff to slate over a mark from the 1st ac so its easier for him to put the slate in focus. just take the one that is closest or a little further from your estimated slat position.

be careful not to run out too quickly after slating

tilt the slate slightly downwards as custom faceplates can be very reflective, and if the Op/AC says "tilt", that's what that means. Be aware of how much light is on the slate. Sometimes you can tilt it left or right a bit to catch some light, and sometimes when outdoors you may need to shadow it with your body to waste some light. Always have a flashlight handy just in case.

Finally, be aware of where the boom op's mic is and turn your head to verbally slate into the mic in your appropriate "indoor" or "outdoor" voice, and then look right back at the 1st for visual cues to adjust the position of the slate. Directions given by the 1st ("left, "right") are always camera left or camera right.

 

Also, when tail slating I've learned not to turn and walk away while verbally slating after marking, as is pretty instinctive. Stay there and call it out with your head turned to the mic.

 

Oh, and if you're slating letters, please, for the love of God, stick to the standard phonetic alphabet and don't throw in your own dirty words. "21-Boobies, Take one" gets really old fast and is unbelievably unprofessional and distracting.

Be sure to hold the thing steady when banging the sticks--it's easy to wobble the slate once the stick goes down. They need to see the frame where the sticks close--if it's moving it could be blurred.

Sometime with animals, kids and the occasional very intense scenes ask about getting a head id of the slate and doing tail sticks... and for god's sake don't use your outside voice if you don't have to... tell the boom guy your gonna do soft sticks. Nothing worse than getting the evil eye and blamed for an actor that just can't cry or the squeamish dog running off the perfect mark that took ten minutes for the wrangle to set it.

he smart AC's will yell "Tail sticks!" the moment cut is called as they are walking in to clap 'em.

 

And if you are shooting digital and recording sound in-camera, clapping slates serves no purpose other than ego.

trying not to be eaten by my "actors.

Also it can be very helpful if the clapper is in some cooperation with the sound recordist with regard to such details like sound roll number and microphone channel. To be noted on the slate

One other thing about tail sticks. This has been debated for a while now that we have been using TC slates for some time. Since it's all about the numbers, stick the slate in right side up, clap them THEN FLIP IT over. Editors will love you for it as all they want to do is find the timecode. When using dumb sticks you can do it old school and stick it upside down then flip it and same goes for tail IDing something.

CYA and stick a slate in the shot and clap it so they don't come after camera dept.

 

Redundancy is the best protection from Idiocy.

I was told o always enter frame with the sticks open until you actually slated the take.... this way it's visually clear to the editor when a slate has or will happen.

 

On a P2 shoot the slate should be in frame before the camera in in record.. this way the editor has the slate at the top of each clip for ease of log and transfer of the clip.

 

Someone said it earlier.. get out of the shot ASAP.

 

Verbally call every shot. I've gotten thank you calls from editors because some piece of sound equiptment failed and they had to line audio to each take manually... just saying "mark" helps no one. "Scene 5 Take 2" makes things easy.

 

Also, check with the script supervisor on how they want to mark the slate... it's their notes that mater... those notes are what the editor goes by.

Always wait for the DP to ask for the slate.. he/she may want to check the frame, look at lights. In my world it's... roll sound.. "speed" ... slate in...

DON'T HOLD THE SLATE WHEN YOU ARE NOT USING IT. There are a lot more things a 2nd AC does than slate. A 1st AC can't hand you a piece of equipment if your hands are holding a slate. Place it in a safe place and pay attention to what's going on.

 

Also, don't bring the slate in until right before the camera rolls. The DP and operator are always checking the frame, so it's hard to do when there's a slate in the way.

Edited by Tom Jensen
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I have had several experiences where in-camera recorded sound got off-sync somewhere between the shoot and the editor's computer and it was nice to be able to back it up the couple frames it was off by using the sticks.

 

I'll second that, as far as I'm concerned the TC is only a guide- a good one but just a guide. That is the rule I tell my assistants. On a multicam shoot if there is one day when all the digislates are bang on I'm amazed, plus as soon as you move to cameras with seperate recording devices you have a lot of room for various offsets and all digislates drift and in my experience are never jammed frequently enough. You would not believe the amount of issues I have seen over the years with digislates, though not as many as incompetent slating. My biggest hate is when someone claps and moves the board out imediately, not realising that their movement blurs the slate and so you cannot accurately see the clap! I have seen it on so much footage, even with experienced AC's - especially at the end of the day, which is unsurprising. Poor slating can waste hours in the edit room and I have been known to walk onto set and scream blue murder at a camera crew after witnessing endless slate **(obscenity removed)**ups on rushes!

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It's more a comment on set discipline, but I've lost count of the times I've seen people walk in front of the slate just as it's clapped, or the 1st AD choosing the moment the AC announces the slate number to yell across set at someone. It's often not given the respect it deserves, but for me the moment that board comes out it's time to be quiet and start paying attention.

 

ACs be aware, the set itself conspires against you in your task of getting that shot marked properly.

 

;)

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It's more a comment on set discipline, but I've lost count of the times I've seen people walk in front of the slate just as it's clapped, or the 1st AD choosing the moment the AC announces the slate number to yell across set at someone. It's often not given the respect it deserves, but for me the moment that board comes out it's time to be quiet and start paying attention.

 

ACs be aware, the set itself conspires against you in your task of getting that shot marked properly.

 

;)

 

It's amazing how often the fingers of talent find their way into the open sticks. It seems to happen doubly often when you're doing car work, for some reason.

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  • 2 years later...

The first thing I do after slating (other than getting out of shot of course) is marking up for the next slate. This means two things 1) I am immediately ready to go again after cut and 2) I am free to carry on doing my other 2nd AC jobs

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The first thing I do after slating (other than getting out of shot of course) is marking up for the next slate. This means two things 1) I am immediately ready to go again after cut and 2) I am free to carry on doing my other 2nd AC jobs

 

I usually just wipe the take number with my finger, so I know what take we JUST did. Sometimes, if I'm writing the next take number, then need to go do something else between takes, I'll come back to the slate not remembering if the number on the slate is the previous or next take. So I just don't write the next take number until we're about to go for another. On set there are too many things to think about, I'd rather just have a quick identifier of what we've already done.

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I usually just wipe the take number with my finger, so I know what take we JUST did. Sometimes, if I'm writing the next take number, then need to go do something else between takes, I'll come back to the slate not remembering if the number on the slate is the previous or next take. So I just don't write the next take number until we're about to go for another. On set there are too many things to think about, I'd rather just have a quick identifier of what we've already done.

 

For variety and since every assistant does it a bit different, I'll tell what I do. I put the next take on the slate immediately after I mark a take. I update the camera report during the take, usually, to reflect what I just marked. This means that my camera report always has what takes have already been shot and the slate is always ready to go again immediately.

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  • 1 month later...

Is there a particular reason why a 2nd AC might spin the board after clapping? or is that just if you're bored/having a laugh.

 

Was just curious after watching the following hilarious video about slating, and noticed that on some takes the board was spun upside down after the clap...

 

 

Best,

 

Owen

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