![]() A decently sturdy engraved slate from Filmtools, like the one I have, costs about $55. Now, the iPad is certainly trumped in price by dumb slates and I think that is something that should be strongly considered when viewing the iPad as a suitable alternative for a physical slate. Plus, at the end of the day you don’t have just a slate - you have an iPad. Even factoring in the cost of an iPad, MovieSlate will tab a bill of approximately $550 at the low end and a little under $1,000 at the high end. MovieSlate costs $19.99 plus an in-app purchase to enable jam-syncs. Of course, I am comparing costs between the iPad and timecode slates which normally cost in the range of $1,000 – $1,500 plus the devices necessary to jam sync the timecode. The other advantage that the iPad has over traditional slates is cost. This convergence of tasks is very appealing in an industry that is always trying to streamline and save time. On a WiFi connection, multiple iOS devices running MovieSlate can even sync together. This means that all the information input onto the slate is already digitized to be emailed to various production personnel.Īlong with other apps that can record camera reports, MovieSlate does allow detailed optics settings to be recorded with each take (something I erroneously said was not available originally in this post.) With the iPad able to multitask now, it’s not out of the question that it could slate, do camera reports and be a hub for sending all of this useful information throughout the set. MovieSlate is able to record each time the slate is clapped and arrange the files into all sorts of exportable formats including CSV, HTML and a Final Cut XML file. To me, software slates like the one in Apple’s commercial, have two distinct advantages, one of which is the ability to record information and distribute it easily. I have a slate app on my iPhone that I keep in case I want a quick and dirty insert slate, but I have never used it as a primary clapperboard. They operate on platforms not necessarily designed for slating, but platforms that are designed to handle data, quick changes, and various different input methods. Software slates, like those on the iPad, are a relatively new tool in the arsenal of camera assistants. Perhaps that is why it is such an iconic tool of filmmaking - it is instantly recognizable due to its sustained form factor and long history within the business. After that, there are small slates for insert shots, larger ones for wides, some have colored sticks, some have reversible sticks, but for the most part the slate has stayed the same. The biggest shift for them has been from chalk to dry erase and then from “dumb” slates to slates that can display a jam-synced timecode. Physical slates have been around for ages and have largely remained unchanged.
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