On-set practice
How to log takes on set
The hard part of logging takes isn't the writing, it's keeping three different counters, the slate take number, the camera's clip file name, and the sound file name, pointing at the same take. Most guides tell you to "write down the takes." Here's what actually goes in the log, who owns it, and where the mapping breaks.
There isn't one log, there are three
Search for "how to log takes" and most results describe a single generic log kept by a single generic person. On an actual set there are usually three separate logs, kept by three separate departments, that all have to describe the same take without contradicting each other:
| Log | Kept by | Its number | What it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continuity / daily log | Script supervisor, or the 1st AD if there isn't one | Scene, setup, take | Screen direction, action, print calls, timing, so the edit matches the script |
| Camera log | Camera department or DIT | Clip file name (e.g. A007_C0042) | Ties the card's file names to scene/take so the offload matches the shoot |
| Sound report | Sound mixer | Sound file name (e.g. SND_0091) | Ties audio files to scene/take for sync in the edit |
A one-person indie crew collapses all three into a notebook, and that's fine. The point isn't headcount, it's that scene/take is the only number all three logs share. Everything else, the clip name, the sound file name, is a different counter that has to be logged alongside it, not instead of it.
What actually goes on one line
- Scene / setupScene number and which setup within it.
- TakeThe take number as called at the slate.
- Camera clipThe file name the camera wrote, exactly as it appears on the card.
- Sound fileThe sound roll's file number, if sound is rolling.
- CallPrint, circle, hold, or no good. See our circle takes explainer for what these actually mean.
- One-line noteWhat was different about this take, in the director's or your own words, while you still remember it.
- Lens / sizeFraming and lens, useful for matching coverage later.
- MOSFlagged if the take was shot without sound. See our MOS explainer.
A real log line
Not an abstraction, an actual row from a daily log:
That line does three jobs at once: it tells the editor which file to pull (A007_C0042), it tells them why it's marked as a keeper anyway despite a technical flaw (boom shadow, noted, judged acceptable), and it gives continuity a heads-up for the next setup (mark position). Strip any one of those out and someone downstream has to re-derive it by scrubbing footage.
Where the mapping actually breaks
This is the part most guides skip entirely, because it only shows up once you've run a full shooting day: the take number on the slate and the clip file name on the card are independent counters. Under ideal conditions they move in lockstep, take 1 is clip 41, take 2 is clip 42, and so on. In practice they drift apart constantly, and a log that assumes they never will is a log that lies by the afternoon.
Common ways it drifts:
- False startCamera rolls, someone calls cut before action, the camera still burned a clip number. The slate never got a take called for it, but the card did.
- Card swap mid-sceneA fresh card resets or continues the clip counter depending on the camera, and if the operator doesn't say so out loud, the log silently goes wrong from that point on.
- MulticamCamera A and camera B are on the same take number but two entirely different clip counters. A log built for single camera will conflate them unless it has a column per camera.
- ReslateA take gets renumbered mid-setup (3 becomes 3A) because someone realized the count was off. If the log isn't corrected at that moment, everything after it is off by one against the card.
None of this is solved by writing faster. It's solved by logging the clip name at the same moment as the take, every single time, so the two counters are tied together at the source instead of reconciled later by ear.
Minimum viable log, if you have no script supervisor
Most solo and small-crew shoots don't have a dedicated script supervisor, and the honest advice most articles won't give you is: don't try to replicate a full continuity log by yourself while also operating camera. You will drop something. Log the four things that are expensive to lose and skip the rest:
Scene, setup, take
The one number every other log has to agree with. Non-negotiable, even on a two-person crew.
Clip name, next to the take
Not after wrap from memory. At the slate, or right after cut, before the next take rolls.
Print or no good
One word. You can add nuance in the edit; you cannot recover a missed call.
Anything an editor would otherwise have to guess
A line missed, a prop in the wrong hand, a take that's actually a different take than the slate says. Ten seconds now saves an hour of scrubbing later.
Where Clapper actually helps
The clip name gets written down for you, at the same tap that logs the take
Clapper is a phone-first take logger built for exactly the failure mode above. Pick your camera body and it numbers clips the way that camera does, so the clip name in the log always matches the card, even across a reslate or a card swap. Log the take, mark it print or no good, add a one-line note, and at wrap it exports a Premiere-ready XML, a CSV, and a PDF shot log the editor can open directly. It doesn't replace a script supervisor's continuity notes, but it keeps the one number that actually breaks logs from drifting.
Open Clapper →