Now that you generally know what to write on a film slate, it’s time to get specific.
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The film slate hasn’t existed for so many years — adapting to the ever-changing filmmaking landscape — without developing nuances and best practices for a few non-conventional situations.
For instance, how do you slate if a shot has no sound? Should you still clap the sticks? Or what if you’re recording sound in camera but want to get some wild lines or room tone — how should you slate those clips? Do reshoots slate the same way? Or pickups?
These are all questions that are important to answer before you encounter them. Slating well is all about consistency and if you try to tackle these issues as they crop up, you risk compromising the steady foundation you’ve built for the editor.
So I want to help you navigate these grey areas.
The 5 different slating scenarios covered below may not arise on every shot, but they’re common enough that you need to know how to handle them.
M.O.S. means to shoot without sound being recorded.
It’s said that the acronym stands for “Mit Out Sound,” “Minus Optical Strip,” “Minus Optical Sound,” or “Motor Only Sync,” but no one really knows and, frankly, the origin of the term is unimportant.
What is important is how you handle the slate to let an editor know there is no sound attached to a shot. There are several different methods to do this and it’s up to you to pick whichever one you prefer — all are fairly effective.
The easiest way to let an editor know there is no sound on a shot is to keep the sticks shut and place a big, fat “MOS” tag on top of the sticks. The sticks are one of the first things editors glance at to sync sound, so they will read “MOS” and know there is no sound to be synced.
This is my preferred method because it is fast and easy to do with one hand.
A subtle variation of the closed sticks method, this one involves placing your fingers over where the sticks meet. This shows the editor that there is no “clap” to be seen and thus no sound.
This is a popular method among many camera assistants: hold the slate with your fingers between the sticks. This lets the editor know you’re definitely not clapping them (unless you’re a masochist) and is widely-known as communicating an “MOS” shot.
One thing you see in all the example pictures above is the big, fat “MOS” tag on the slate.
It’s important when slating MOS to signify it visually since there is no sound.
That may mean you circle the “MOS” letters engraved on some slates or it may mean you use a tag. I prefer the tag because it’s easier to spot and you can place it wherever you want on the slate.
If you’re interested in making a tag like mine, you can pick up a P-Touch labelmaker or follow this DIY tutorial I wrote about making filter tags. Once you’ve made the tag, you put velcro on your sticks (prefereably in the black areas) and put velcro on the tag as well.
If you don’t care to have a fancy-smancy printed tag or you’re in a bit of a pinch, just grab some camera tape and write “MOS” in Sharpie and slap it on top of those sticks. It’s just as effective.
Finally, as a quick MOS tip, don’t hang too long in front of the camera. Editors only need one frame of your slate and since you aren’t calling out anything, you don’t need to dilly-dally in front of the lens.
A pickup is when you shoot only a specific part of a scene.
Directors usually choose to do pickups because they only need a certain line or to catch the tail-end of a lengthy dialogue. Whatever the reason, slating for a pickup shot is fairly easy: next to the Take number, write “P/U.”
Signifying this on the slate lets the editor know that particular take was a pickup and not to panic if the rest of the scene is “missing” from the shot.
Alternatively, a director may choose to do a “Series,” where the camera continues to roll as the scene or a moment plays out over and over again. Usually a series is shot for short one-liners or a particular action in which the director wants a lot of options.
In the same vein as pickups, you would write “SER” or “Series” next to the Take number. So the slate would read Take 1 SER. This lets the editor know that there are several “mini-takes” within the timeframe of the larger take.
Pickups and series are fairly common, especially on sets where time is extremely valuable, because they allow directors to focus their efforts on specific parts of a shot they deem most important.
Luckily, in terms of slating, they simply require the forethought to write a few extra letters.
A shot qualifies as a reshoot whenever you have to go back to a scene that was previously thought to be in the can. That can be on the same day, the same week, or several months down the road.
Reshoots are either a necessary evil to repair broken scenes or a welcome opportunity to fix problems that weren’t detected in production.
The problem reshoots pose to slating is that you are technically shooting the same scene as before — so do you continue slating at the last remaining take? That would make sense, but is impractical if you revisit a scene several weeks or months later when you might not know what the last take of each shot was.
The much more elegant solution is to put an “R” in front of whatever shots are being re-done. So say you are reshooting Scene 27A, it now becomes Scene R27A:
Continue that naming pattern for all the shots you have planned.
And if there are reshoots of the reshoots? I’ve never had it happen before, but I would double-up on the R’s so our example would turn into Scene RR27A. (That’s just my solution, however, so I advise you to check with the script supervisor on the best way to proceed.)
In this article, The Measurements You’ll Want for Visual FX Shots, I wrote:
Armed with the right kind of shot, a visual effects artist is limited only by their imagination (and maybe the budget, too). They depend on us crew on set to capture excellent footage so they can overlay their spectacular effects.
As a camera assistant, you don’t have to worry about how the shots are rendered, but you do have to do everything you can to help the visual effects artists get it right. And that starts by providing them with a little bit of information.
Visual Effects plates are a crucial piece of that puzzle for a lot of shots. And slating them so they can be easily found in post-production helps clear up a potential bottleneck of disorganization.
For those who may not have much experience with visual effects, a plate is a “clean” version of a shot without actors or motion. This allows visual effects artists to pull out background elements for rotoscoping, keying, or other blending effects. They’re not always needed or used, but they are great to shoot “just in case” and help immensely with certain shots.
In terms of slating, working with plates can be very simple or very complicated depending on the planned scope of the plates.
If you’re shooting only a few plates — and you’re shooting them at the same time you film the scene — it’s good enough to write the Scene number and then “Plate” under the Take column like so:
However, on more FX intensive shoots, it’s more prudent to come up with a better naming schema. This is best decided between you, the Visual FX supervisor (or whoever is embodying a similar role), and the script supervisor. It may look something like this slate from The Avengers:
As long as those in post-production know what the slating means and it can be traced back to the paperwork done on set by the camera department and script supervisor, that’s all that matters.
Ah, room tone: the most annoying, yet important, 30 seconds (or longer) you’ll experience on a set.
Room tone is the natural sound of a room as heard through a microphone. Usually sound mixers record it at the end of each scene, stopping the set for a brief moment as they capture a room’s auditory “essence.”
But as I mentioned earlier in the article, how do you slate this if you’re recording sound in-camera? To capture the tone, you have to roll the camera, but a clip without a slate can easily be discarded as an accidental roll — taking with it the valuable room tone.
I treat slating room tone much in the same way as I treat slating visual effects shots: I keep the scene number the same, but write “TONE” or “ROOM TONE” in the Take section of the slate.
An alternative is to just flip the slate over (to the all-white back) and write something like, “Interior Kitchen Room Tone.”
Most of the time this won’t be an issue for you, however, as sound mixers traditionally record their sound separately and won’t need the camera running to roll on room tone. In the event that they do though, you should be prepared to slate tone and have the clip labeled.
The hard part about slating has never been figuring out what to write on it for the most basic shots, but how to handle it when the shots become more nuanced as is the case with reshoots, pickups, MOS, plates, and room tone.
In the end, it doesn’t matter how you approach these scenarios so much as everybody knows the way you’re doing it and that it’s kept consistent for the entirety of the shoot. The methods I outline above are how I’ve been trained to slate these 5 types of scenarios, but they are in no way gospel.
And, in fact, you may work with a script supervisor who wants to take another approach. No problem!
As we’ll see in the final part of this series — 12 Real-World Examples of Film Slates — not every shoot slates the same and there are many ways to cram information on the clapperboard.
Read the rest of the posts in this Deciphering the Film Slate series:
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In this blog, we’ve compiled over 200 of the best trivia questions and answers across various categories, from history and science to pop culture and sports. Get ready to put your knowledge to the test and discover fascinating facts along the way
We have over 200 quiz questions in our collection, covering everything from fashion to geography to cuisine and drink, including questions about the Olympics and general knowledge trivia games.
There are also questions for kids and questions that range in difficulty. Are you able to respond to them all? Check your understanding and learn about the Nobel Prize too.
1. Question: How many of the Seven Wonders of the World are man-made?
Answer: 7
2. Question: In which city is Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting "The Last Supper" located?
Answer: Milan
3. Question: What is the third most populous city?
Answer: Istanbul
4. Question: Who formulated the equation "E=mc^2"?
Answer: Albert Einstein
5. Question: Which planet is known as the "Red Planet" in our Solar System?
Answer: Mars
6. Question: What is the largest internal organ in the human body?
Answer: Liver
7. Question: In which year was Microsoft founded?
Answer:
8. Question: How many elements are there in the periodic table?
Answer: 118
9. Question: What is the longest river on Earth?
Answer: Nile Rive
10. Question: How many megapixels is equivalent to the human eye?
Answer: Approximately 576 megapixels
1. Question: Who is the director of "The Godfather" film?
Answer: Francis Ford Coppola
2. Question: Who is the main character of the "Breaking Bad" series?
Answer: Walter White
3. Question: In which year was the animated film "The Lion King" released?
Answer:
4. Question: In which year did the final episode of the "Friends" series air?
Answer:
5. Question: What classic film from was directed by Quentin Tarantino?
Answer: Pulp Fiction
6. Question: Who is the author of the "Game of Thrones" series?
Answer: George R.R. Martin
7. Question: Which film series features the character James Bond?
Answer: 007 James Bond series
8. Question: Who is the main character in the film "The Shawshank Redemption"?
Answer: Andy Dufresne
9. Question: In which year did "The Simpsons" series first air?
Answer:
10. Question: What are the names of the two main characters in the movie "Titanic"?
Answer: Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater
1. Question: Who is not one of the founding members of The Beatles?
Answer: Pete Best
2. Question: Which Michael Jackson album, released in , is the best-selling album of all time?
Answer: Thriller
3. Question: What is the band of the song "Bohemian Rhapsody"?
Answer: Queen
4. Question: What musical instrument did Cem Karaca, one of the pioneers of Turkish rock music, play?
Answer: Bağlama
5. Question: Which famous rap artist starred in the film "8 Mile"?
Answer: Eminem
6. Question: Who is associated with the song "Rolling in the Deep"?
Answer: Adele
7. Question: In which year was the album "The Wall" by Pink Floyd released?
Answer:
8. Question: Who is the female artist with the most Grammy Awards?
Answer: Beyoncé
9. Question: Who is known as the "Deli" of Turkish rock music?
Answer: Teoman
10. Question: What is the full name of Mozart?
Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1. Question: Which country has won the most FIFA World Cups?
Answer: Brazil
2. Question: Who is the male tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles in history?
Answer: Roger Federer
3. Question: What is the name of the famous goal scored by Maradona in the World Cup?
Answer: "Hand of God"
4. Question: Where were the Summer Olympics held?
Answer: Tokyo, Japan
5. Question: What is the nickname of the Turkish national football team?
Answer: Crescent-Stars
6. Question: Who is the female basketball player with the most points in WNBA history?
Answer: Diana Taurasi
7. Question: In which sport is "Forehand" a type of shot?
Answer: Tennis
8. Question: Who is the Formula 1 driver with the most championships?
Answer: Lewis Hamilton
9. Question: Where were the Summer Olympics held?
Answer: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
10. Question: Who is the Turkish basketball player with the most "Sportsman of the Year" awards?
Answer: Hidayet Türkoğlu
1. Question: Who is the author of the novel ""?
Answer: George Orwell
2. Question: Who is the author of "The Lord of the Rings" series?
Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Question: Who is the first Turkish author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Answer: Orhan Pamuk
4. Question: Who is the author of the novel "Crime and Punishment"?
Answer: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5. Question: Who is the author of the "Harry Potter" series?
Answer: J.K. Rowling
6. Question: Who is the creator of the character "The Little Prince"?
Answer: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
7. Question: Who is the author of the novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls"?
Answer: Ernest Hemingway
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8. Question: Who is the author of the book "Women Who Run with the Wolves"?
Answer: Clarissa Pinkola Estés
9. Question: Who is the author of the novel "Don Quixote"?
Answer: Miguel de Cervantes
10. Question: Who is the creator of the Turkish literary character "Hacıyatmaz"?
Answer: Rıfat Ilgaz
1. Question: In which country was the first written constitution adopted?
Answer: USA
2. Question: In which year did World War II begin?
Answer:
3. Question: Who was the first Emperor of China?
Answer: Qin Shi Huang
4. Question: Which city was the capital of the Aztec Civilization in Mexico?
Answer: Tenochtitlan
5. Question: What is the capital of the Ottoman Empire?
Answer: Istanbul
6. Question: Which Louis was executed during the French Revolution?
Answer: Louis XVI
7. Question: Who is the navigator credited with discovering America?
Answer: Christopher Columbus
8. Question: In which war did the Battle of Hastings take place in in England?
Answer: Hastings Battle
9. Question: In which year did the Meiji Restoration take place in Japan?
Answer:
10. Question: Where and when was the Sumerian Civilization, where the first written texts were found?
Answer: Mesopotamia, 3rd millennium BC
1. Question: What is the highest mountain in North America?
Answer: Denali (Alaska)
2. Question: What is the capital of Switzerland?
Answer: Bern
3. Question: Which city is the largest in Australia?
Answer: Sydney
4. Question: What is the largest lake in the world?
Answer: Caspian Sea
5. Question: What is the largest island in Italy?
Answer: Sicily
6. Question: In which countries is the Amazon Rainforest located?
Answer: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela
7. Question: What is the largest island in the Atlantic Ocean?
Answer: Greenland
8. Question: What is the largest second continent on Earth?
Answer: Africa
9. Question: In which continent are the Himalayas located?
Answer: Asia
10. Question: What is the highest mountain in Turkey?
Answer: Mount Ararat
1. Question: Who is the artist of the painting "Guernica"?
Answer: Pablo Picasso
2. Question: Who is the author of the novel "Don Quixote"?
Answer: Miguel de Cervantes
3. Question: Who is the author of the novel "North and South"?
Answer: Elizabeth Gaskell
4. Question: Who is the playwright of the play "Othello"?
Answer: William Shakespeare
5. Question: Who wrote the novel "The Brothers Karamazov"?
Answer: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
6. Question: Who is the author of the book "The Little Prince"?
Answer: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
7. Question: Who is the author of the novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls"?
Answer: Ernest Hemingway
8. Question: Who wrote the book "Women Who Run with the Wolves"?
Answer: Clarissa Pinkola Estés
9. Question: Who is the author of the novel "Don Quixote"?
Answer: Miguel de Cervantes
10. Question: Who is the author of the book "One Hundred Years of Solitude"?
Answer: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1. Question:What is celebrated on February 2 and is also a film?
Answer: Groundhog Day
2. Question:What is the official national anthem of the United States of America
Answer: The Star Spangled Banner
3. Question: Which is the only vowel on a standard keyboard that is not on the top line of letters
Answer: A
4. Question: What was Twitter’s original name?
Answer: twttr
5. Question: How many stars are on the European Union Flag?
Answer: 12
6. Question: What’s the most popular drink in the world that is not alcohol?
Answer: Coffee
7. Question: What is often seen as the smallest unit of memory?
Answer: Kilobyte
8. Question: What does “HTTP” stand for?
Answer: HyperText Transfer Protocol
9. Question: Which planet is the hottest in the solar system?
Answer: Venus
10. Question: How many Lord of the Rings films are there?
Answer: Three
11. Question: Which animal can be seen on the Porsche logo?
Answer: Horse
12. Question: What does BMW stand for (in English)?
Answer: Bavarian Motor Works
13. Question: Which Williams sister has won more Grand Slam titles?
Answer: Serena
14. Question: Which country invented tea?
Answer: China
15. Question: Which bone are babies born without?
Answer: Knee cap
16. Question: Which planet has the most gravity?
Answer: Jupiter
17. Question: Which American state is the largest (by area)?
Answer: Alaska
18. Question: What is the smallest country in the world?
Answer: Vatican City
19. Question: What is the name of the world’s longest river?
Answer: The Nile
20. Question: How many Pyramids of Giza were made?
Answer: Three
21. Question: What is the national dish of Spain?
Answer: Paella
22. Question: “Adventure of Sherlock Holmes” was written by which writer?
Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle
23. Question: When was the company Nike founded?
Answer:
24. Question: What is the tallest building in the world?
Answer: Burj Khalifa
25. Question: Which mammal has no vocal cords?
Answer: Giraffe
26. Question: What is the slogan of Apple Inc.?
Answer: Think different
27. Question: How many stripes does Adidas have?
Answer: 3
28. Question: According to Greek mythology, who was the first woman on earth?
Answer: Pandora
29. Question: Fissures, vents, and plugs are all associated with which geological feature?
Answer: Volcanos
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