Film Clapperboard with Timecode and a Take Log

Online tool for the film set: a phone or a tablet becomes a clapperboard. The board carries the production, scene, set-up and take, with time-of-day timecode running below them. On a press the screen gives a white flash and a short beep at the very same instant — in the edit they are used to line up the picture with the sound from the recorder. Every clap goes into the take log, which is saved as a report.

How to use the clapperboard on a shoot

4 steps
1
Fill in the board

Production title, scene, set-up and the frame rate of the camera.

2
Clap the board before the take

Hold the screen up to the lens and press “Clap” with the camera and the recorder rolling.

3
Stop the take and circle the good one

“Cut” logs the length of the take and sets up the next number.

4
Save the take log

A PDF report for the crew or a CSV table for the edit.

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Mark every take with a flash and a beep — and get a finished log of the shoot

25fps
Production title
Roll1
Scene1
Take1
Director—
Camera—
Date—
INTDAYSYNC

Hold the screen up to the lens and press “Clap”: a white flash and a short beep go off at the same instant. Space bar — clap, C — cut.

What’s on the board

Set the same frame rate as in the camera: the frame count in the timecode depends on it. At 29.97 and 59.94, frame numbers are skipped by the drop-frame rule so that an hour of timecode equals an hour on the clock.

Setting
Time of day

Take log

Every clap is logged here: scene, take, timecode. You can circle a good take and add a note to any of them.

    Sort the footage

    Load the clips shot with this clapperboard in frame: the code on the board is read from the first seconds, and each file gets its scene, take and a name.

    Choose the clips you shot
    Several at once is fine — they are only read, the files are not changed
    MP4, MOV, WebM ·
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      Features

      Flash and beep at the same instant
      A one-frame tone with a sharp attack and a white screen for 0.12 seconds. The flash is shown at the moment the sound leaves the speaker, not when it was requested — the output latency is measured and subtracted.
      Timecode at eight frame rates
      23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second. At 29.97 and 59.94, frame numbers are skipped by the SMPTE drop-frame standard: an hour of timecode equals an hour of real time.
      Scene, set-up and take by the rules of the set
      The next take is plus one, the next set-up is the next letter and take 1, the next scene is the next number. The letters I and O are skipped: from a distance they read as 1 and 0.
      Take log
      Every clap is logged with its timecode and the length of the take. A good take is circled with one button, and a note can be added to any take. The log is saved as a PDF report and a CSV table for the edit.
      Sorting footage by the code on the board
      The board carries a QR code with the scene and take number. Load your clips — the code is read from the first 15 seconds of each, and you get a list: which file belongs to which take and what to name it.
      Full screen, and the screen stays on
      The board expands to full screen with large digits, and the device does not go to sleep while a take is rolling. The log is written in the browser after every clap and survives a closed tab.

      Questions about the clapperboard and timecode

      How do I sync sound from a separate recorder with the clapperboard?

      In your editing program, find the first white frame of the flash in the clip and the sharp start of the beep on the audio track, and line them up. The flash and the beep come out at the same instant; the volume on the phone has to be high enough for the recorder to pick the beep up.

      Why shouldn’t I connect a Bluetooth speaker?

      A wireless speaker delays the sound by tens or hundreds of milliseconds, and the browser does not know that delay. The flash then leads the beep by several frames. Use the speaker of the phone or tablet itself — its latency is measured.

      What frame rate should I set on the clapperboard?

      The same as in the camera settings. It determines how many frames there are in a second of timecode: at 25 the count runs to 24; at 29.97 it runs to 29, with two numbers skipped at the start of every minute except every tenth.

      What if the camera didn’t pick up the code on the board?

      The code is read when the board fills a good part of the frame and is in focus: bring the screen closer to the lens and turn up the brightness. If the code is not found, the scene and take are still visible in the first frames of the clip, and the timecode is in the log.

      What does MOS on the board mean?

      It marks a take that is shot without recording sound. In this mode the clapperboard gives only the flash, and the take is labeled MOS in the log and the report — in the edit nobody will look for it on the audio tracks.

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