In box: readers' letters (page 2)

Slap the Clackers

Great article. I will be showing it to my class this week! I teach filmmaking at a high school. We use Mini DV cameras and edit on Final Cut Pro. A problem we run into is that the audio is not always perfectly synced with the video. Since we show our movies at a big festival in an auditorium with 500 people, if the audio is even a few frames off, it is very noticeable (not to mention downright embarrassing). To solve this problem, we purchased decorative movie clackers at a party store (cost $2). Just one "clack" before every scene and we are able to sync the audio perfectly.
Michael Alan

Time Adjusting

Sometimes when I'm editing to a particular song, I like my clips to fit to the music a specific way. Sometimes, though, the clip I want to use is either too long or too short for the space. When this happens, depending on how the clip is shot, I either slow down or speed up part of the clip to make up the time or to make the clip shorter, so that it fits the desired space in the song. Depending on the subject and how the clip is shot, this can be unnoticeable to the viewer. It doesn't work in all cases, though; some clips with fast-moving subjects may make this trick/technique a little more challenging to pull off, but hey, you never know till you try.
Justin Vandergaast
JVG Filming
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada