The clapperboard or film slate is one of the most iconic symbols of the cinema. Although instantly recognizable as a beacon of the film realm, its fascinating history is lesser-known to the masses.
The clapperboard as we know it consists of a rectangular slate with a hinged piece on top that opens and shuts. The slate was first used in the silent era to identify the type of film stock used in each shoot. The clapper itself was invented by F.W. Thring, but it was sound engineer Leon M. Leon who brought the slate and the clapper together into the well-known symbol of film we know today.
The purpose of the clapperboard is to aid in the synchronization of picture and sound. The slate generally displays the date, the working title of the film, the names of the director and the cameraman, and the scene and take numbers. It was traditionally made of actual slate but evolved into whiteboards for the sake of practicality. The clapper consists of two hinged sticks with either black and white stripes, or more recently, calibrated color stripes. The sharp clap made by the sticks indicates when recording has started or stopped. The sound of the clapper, along with the information displayed on the slate, is used to match sound and movement in order to pair the right audio and video segments together.
The clapperboard is operated by the clapper loader or the second assistant camera (2nd AC). It doesn’t sound like much of a job, but Quentin Tarantino’s infamous clapper loader Geraldine Brezca puts a whole new spin on it.
Modern film sets have transitioned from using traditional clapperboards to the more practical and efficient digislates. These include an LED display of the SMPTE time code which is synced with the camera’s internal clock. This makes it much easier for editors to sync audio and video segments by matching their time codes. However, the manual clapper is still used as a backup for synchronization in case the technology malfunctions.
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