ABSTRACT
A director is like an orchestra conductor whose challenge is being aware of many people’s work simultaneously. The assistant director marshals everyone to their starting positions, ensures that doors and windows seal out exterior sounds, and calls for silence on the set. The assistant camera calls out the scene number and says, “Tail slate” or “Board on end” then announces slate and take number and claps the bar, after which the director calls “Cut.” A big-name actor might be accorded that privilege, especially if the director is of lesser status, but ordinary mortals must keep the scene going until released by the director. A film shoot requires various logs and it’s crucial, especially for the arduous processes of syncing and organizing footage in postproduction, that they remain coordinated with each other and the slate. There are fancier, more automatic film-marking systems, such as the “smart slate.”
