Clapperboard

Clapperboard

What is Clapper Board?

A clapperboard is a device used in filmmaking and video production to assist in synchronizing of picture and sound, and to designate and mark the various scenes and takes as they are filmed and audio-recorded.

Other names for clapboard, clapper, cue card, clacker, slate, slate board, slapperboard, sync slate, time slate, sticks, board, smart slate, dumb slate and sound marker.
When a movie's sound and picture are out of synchronization, this is known as lip flap.

History of clapperboard

The principal requirement of film stock identification during a day's shoot was the slate, in the silent era.

Before digital cinematography, sound films visual and audio tracks were recorded on separate media by separate equipment or devices. This technique helps them in sound synchronization with visuals. A crew member brings his hands together in one firm clap in frame before the removal of the slate and the shout, action. Later it is modified, two hinged aligned wooden pieces added to the top of the slate, hitting each other and produced a sharper sound.

The clapper as two sticks hinged together was invented by F. W. Thring who was head of Efftee Studios in Melbourne, Australia. He is also known as father of actor Frank Thring. A sound engineer Leon M Leon (1903–1998) improved the clapboard technology.

The release of Aretha Franklin's 1972 concert film Amazing Grace was delayed for 46 years due to young Academy Award nominated director Sydney Pollack forgetting to use clapper-boards, making the film impossible to edit until the advent of non-linear editing.