Creation of Clocks/Slates and use of Bars/Tones

[joobny]

Hi all,

As some of you may know from my other post (which I've received some great help on, by the way), I'm involved in the production of my first TV ad.

I think I have most of the technical specifications understood, but I've never created a slate/clock before. Are there any templates available that I could use? If not, what sort of guidelines should I follow for creating one?

Also, I've seen that there is an option in Premiere Pro to create bars and tones but they don't seem to be very customisable. Surely there's a bit more to it than just setting the frame rate and dropping it into the timeline?

Many thanks in advance,
Jonnie.

[Baldrick]

Moving you to our editing section.

[smrpix]

there is an option in Premiere Pro to create bars and tones but they don't seem to be very customisable.

Um, that's kind of the point. Bars and tone are a standard to calibrate your video.

However, once you create the media you can apply whatever premiere goodies you want to it.

A fairly common standard is 1 min of bars and tone starting at 00:58:30:00
Aprox :15 slate
:10 countdown (can be on the slate) starting at 00:59:50:00
:02 black at 00:59:58:00
Program starts at 1:00:00:00

Ask your stations what they want.

edit: just noticed you were in Scotland, they may prefer to have program start at 00:00:00:00 -- adjust accordingly.

[Cornucopia]

Most don't like that as it makes the hardware have to know exactly what to do correctly when traversing the 23:59:59...00:00:00 border (and some of those devices are still DUMB). Starting program at 01:00:00 avoids that.

If you are talking about "customizing" the graphical style of the countdown and/or slate info, yes there are templates out there, but the whole point of being pro and getting someone's attention with your style is by being unique, right? So, creating something from scratch is preferable.

Scott

[budwzr]

...the whole point of being pro and getting someone's attention with your style is by being unique, right? So, creating something from scratch is preferable.

Scott

Amen, brother.

(non-pro)

[joobny]

there is an option in Premiere Pro to create bars and tones but they don't seem to be very customisable.

Um, that's kind of the point. Bars and tone are a standard to calibrate your video.

However, once you create the media you can apply whatever premiere goodies you want to it.

A fairly common standard is 1 min of bars and tone starting at 00:58:30:00
Aprox :15 slate
:10 countdown (can be on the slate) starting at 00:59:50:00
:02 black at 00:59:58:00
Program starts at 1:00:00:00

Ask your stations what they want.

edit: just noticed you were in Scotland, they may prefer to have program start at 00:00:00:00 -- adjust accordingly.

Thanks again for the reply. I'm in Scotland, but I'm preparing the ad for broadcast in California. I'll speak to the specific stations once the ad agency I'm dealing with has told me who they are going to be.

Most don't like that as it makes the hardware have to know exactly what to do correctly when traversing the 23:59:59...00:00:00 border (and some of those devices are still DUMB). Starting program at 01:00:00 avoids that.

If you are talking about "customizing" the graphical style of the countdown and/or slate info, yes there are templates out there, but the whole point of being pro and getting someone's attention with your style is by being unique, right? So, creating something from scratch is preferable.

Scott

I'm not really talking about "customising" the graphical style of the countdown/slate info so much as creating it in the first place. I don't know where to start with creating a broadcast clock which is why I'd prefer a template.

Any idea where I could get a clock template for Premiere/After Effects?

I've had a search but haven't been able to find anything.

Thanks again.

[Cornucopia]

Nothing? Geez, I did a Google search on "broadcast slate template" and the first link: http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/21/860032 is pretty clear about what to do.

Bars & Tone should be a stock tool in EVERY installation of Premiere, and probably AE also. Here is a sample "clapper slate" pic, which you could use as a backdrop with which to use your Titles tool to fill in the pertinent program info (overlay). Probably want to edit it first to include the necessary info headings (timing, etc). This was just a quick-n-dirty kludge of a web pic, modified to fit 16:9 AR. Use whatever you want, so long as it has the info needed by the targeted agency/station. Don't forget the 2-pop, either. All pretty standard for broadcasted program masters.

Scott

[joobny]

Thanks Scott, that info is reminiscent of that which smrpix posted. I didn't realise a slate could be anything that you want it to be (visually), I thought there might be some specific requirements.

However, I still don't know how to create the countdown clock. Say it has to be 10 seconds - can I simply put, 10, 9, 8... etc on the screen until the ad starts? Or does the visual representation of the clock need to exist too (with hands counting down)? That's what I don't understand how to create.

Thanks,
Jonnie.

[Cornucopia]

Either one would work. There is a stock one (crappy looking) that comes with every installation of Windows (in the WINDOWS folder), which you could put in reverse (unfortunately, it counts UP). But there should also be, along with the B&T tool in Premiere, a Countdown tool as well. At least, was always there in earlier versions...

Make sure you put in 10 sec, but make the last 2 sec just show BLACK & SILENT, with 2-pop & the "2" showing in that 1st frame prior to the remainder of the 2 seconds. Read up on 2-pop here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-pop. You can create this yourself with 1kHz sinewave tone.

Scott

[joobny]

Thanks for the help again. I went about creating my own clock in After Effects.

For the purpose of a test, I created this "30 sec ad template" in After Effects and Premiere Pro CS6. Obviously the slate info could change depending on what each network wanted.

Bars and tone for 5 secs, clock for 28 secs, 2-pop and black screen for 2 secs, 30 sec ad, 5 secs of black frames at end:



Do you think this sort of thing will be acceptable to broadcasters?

On another note - I didn't realise Ad-ID's had to be licensed to each agency until today. Do broadcasters always look for them or are they optional?

Cheers again.

[Cornucopia]

5 sec of B&T is a llttle rediculous. One needs to be able to RUN the B&T while they are making adjustments to calibrate to their system. Most requirements state 1 minute of B&T. When I was doing that stuff daily at a dupe house head-end, I could get it adjusted in 10-15 sec. But 5?

Most people I know don't have the CLOCK superimposed along with the SLATE (too many things to be looking at at once?), but if you like it and it follows the target's guidelines, fine. Note: the countdown is really only supposed to be the last 10 sec before program (with only 8 of it showing the visual, the last 2 being BLACK). Anything more than that is wasted.

5 sec black at end SHOULD be fine, but IIWY, I would put in more like 10-15 sec, so there isn't any problem with timecode discontinuity. For long programs, some people like a tail-end 2-pop added as well.

Unless I'm mistaken, AD-ID's really only come into play with regional or national or international distribution (kind of like ISRC or ISBN...). If you are sending to just local station(s), not having one shouldn't be a problem.

You really should ALWAYS, ALWAYS check to find the guidelines of the actual target agencies/stations. Follow them to the letter, and (politely but firmly) bug them about any uncertainties or inconsistencies in the spec. Get it exactly hammered out, probably getting the real info from a tech/engineer (not a marketing/sales person).

Scott

[joobny]

5 sec of B&T is a llttle rediculous. One needs to be able to RUN the B&T while they are making adjustments to calibrate to their system. Most requirements state 1 minute of B&T. When I was doing that stuff daily at a dupe house head-end, I could get it adjusted in 10-15 sec. But 5?

Most people I know don't have the CLOCK superimposed along with the SLATE (too many things to be looking at at once?), but if you like it and it follows the target's guidelines, fine. Note: the countdown is really only supposed to be the last 10 sec before program (with only 8 of it showing the visual, the last 2 being BLACK). Anything more than that is wasted.

5 sec black at end SHOULD be fine, but IIWY, I would put in more like 10-15 sec, so there isn't any problem with timecode discontinuity. For long programs, some people like a tail-end 2-pop added as well.

Unless I'm mistaken, AD-ID's really only come into play with regional or national or international distribution (kind of like ISRC or ISBN...). If you are sending to just local station(s), not having one shouldn't be a problem.

You really should ALWAYS, ALWAYS check to find the guidelines of the actual target agencies/stations. Follow them to the letter, and (politely but firmly) bug them about any uncertainties or inconsistencies in the spec. Get it exactly hammered out, probably getting the real info from a tech/engineer (not a marketing/sales person).

Scott

Thanks again for the reply. I only put 5 secs of bars and tone at the start and 5 secs of black at the end as an example - I cut them down for the purposes of getting opinions on the clock/file structure.

Some good advice there, again. Apologies for being so persistent - I still haven't been told who the broadcasters/stations are so I can't work to specific requirements just yet. I'm just trying to have all the basics figured out so I'm in a better position to tackle a spec sheet.

Thanks again,
Jonnie.