Just before a film, or interview or whatever starts, there is a little machine called a “clapperboard” where someone says “3…2…1… action” and slams down the top 1/4 of the thing to the rest of it. What is it used for? It also has numbers on it and I guess indicates timing. What is the point of it?
In: Technology
It’s an easy way to synchronize sound and video when you’re editing the movie – and the writing on it usually lists the scene number and take numbers, so that people could easily say “Oh, scene 5 take 4 was great, we can throw out takes 1-3. Make sure to use take 4 in the final cut.”
The clapperboard is usually black and white striped because it makes it very easy to find the exact frame when the **clap** sound happens, because it would be the moment that all of the black and white angles lined up properly. You take the audio recording and synchronize it with the video starting at that moment, and you could be sure that all of the other dialogue and sound effects for the rest of the scene would match. Much easier than trying to read someone’s lips and match the sound that way, for example.
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