where can I find a countdown clock?

[Frank Otto]

It’s correctly called an “Academy Leader” and only lasts 10 sec. The last two seconds are black with a 1000khz tone blip at 1.

Do a search for Countdown leader, film countdown, academy leader, acadedmy countdown.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

In Britain they use a 30 second countdown (I can’t imagine WHY, you would never need to “cue-up” a tape thirty seconds ahead of the program.)

In the USA traditionally you only use a 10 sec. academy leader countdown, as Frank described.

A 7 to 10 sec. pre-roll used to be REQUIRED when rolling in a video tape (2″ wide tape). Now, tape can be on a virtual “zero-time” dead-roll, so even the 10 sec. countdown is unnecessary.

I noticed you did not mention a SLATE in your list.

You do need a slate that tells the name, length, audio format, etc. of the spot or program.

Many times the slate info is keyed over the countdown leader (or the coundown is squeezed into a box next to the slate info.)

No real RULES for this.

[R. Hewitt]

A 30-Sec and often longer lead-in was used when a station was feeding to the transmission network. This enabled each station on the network to be fully aware that the next programme was rolling and acted as an additional countdown to the end of their local inject.

[Martin Banks]

Thanks for all your help. I had to do it last night, but I didn’t find a specific countdown timers, so what I did was some colour bars, a slate with the title, director and producers, then a 10 seconds clock with the last 2 seconds of black.
Thanks again,
Martin

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

[Martin Banks] “what I did was some colour bars, a slate with the title, director and producers, then a 10 seconds clock with the last 2 seconds of black.”

YOU DID WHAT…. ?????

(Just kidding.)

Hope your project is well-received.

[Del Holford]

PBS shows (and APT as well) require 20 seconds of slate. The first ten are program info as described above and any program segment lengths. The last ten seconds have a countdown clock with audio at 0 reference (-20 digital) for 20 frames, then -20db (-40 digital) for ten frames for each second. They go to back after 8secs 8 frames. I have built this on my NLE and import the clips and use the text module to fill in the blanks.

For live shows in our studio we use the character generator’s countdown clock function. For some satellite feeds of live programs we use the same function for longer countdown clocks (like a 2:00 local insertion) so the time to next segment is visible on the satellite feed.

Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS
Charlotte Public Television

[James Ewart]

The guy asked where he might download a brodacst clock and there has been every possible answer except the answer to his question. And then somebody derides him for his improvisation…have you guys no hearts? The google search that somebody else helpfully suggested, I tried, and it came up with no solutions. And there is a big difference between academy leader and countdowns and a proper broadcast clock

Here’s a site for a PAL one and there is a guy selling them on ebay.

https://www.courtyard.co.uk/cy250.htm

or

https://peterwiggins.com/motiondownload.htm

or on ebay

https://cgi.ebay.ca/BROADCAST-COUNTDOWN-CLOCK-perfect-for-Avid-FCP-ect_W0QQitemZ7588958582QQcategoryZ3319QQcmdZViewItem

[James Ewart]

The guy asked where he might download a brodacst clock and there have been every possible anser except where he might do so. And then laugh at him for his imporovisation…have you guys no hearts? And then the google search that somebid suggested I tried, and it came up with no solutions. And there is a big difference between academy leader and countdowns and a proper broadcast clock

here’s a site for a PAL one and there is a guy selling them on ebay.

https://www.courtyard.co.uk/cy250.htm

or

https://peterwiggins.com/motiondownload.htm

or on ebay

https://cgi.ebay.ca/BROADCAST-COUNTDOWN-CLOCK-perfect-for-Avid-FCP-ect_W0QQitemZ7588958582QQcategoryZ3319QQcmdZViewItem