I got this idea when browsing around for a good (and cheap)
slate/clapperboard a while ago and came across the
EasySlate by
Vortex Media, but I found it too
pricey. So I made my own!
You just print the images (scalable vector images in .svg format) and
laminate them and *boom* just like that, "free" slating for the poor
students out there. Because $50 is a lot of ramen!
The difference between my Cheap Slate and the vortex media EasySlate is not
just that mine's FREE (well, besides paper and lamination and such). But
mine also comes in a scalable vector format, designed to fit a standard
"A-size" (ISO-216)
paper! So you can print them onto an A5 and have it portable, like the
EasySlate. Or you can print it onto an A0, in case you need to shoot it
like, overseas or something...You just zoom in and... yeah... Never mind.
Oh yeah, unlike the EasySlate, you have to provide your own dry
erase marker, sorry.
The files also come in .eps format and other formats can be provided by request.
And before we continue, I have a couple of photos here as a demo of the
finished product (although, I used way too thin paper and due to lack of a
proper lamination machine dealy, several layers of packing tape! Then
again, this is only a test... And it works!)
Dry erase marker and roll of 2" gaff tape provided for size comparison.
(And for the record, that is the worst piece of shit gaff tape ever... I
want a roll of Permacel 665 damnit!)

Click for the full version. (Huge! 3.5MB!)

Click for the full version. (Huge! 3.5MB!)
The Interview Cheap Slate, modeled after the EasySlate interview slate.
I just found the idea of a whole slate dedicated to news/documentary
purposes completely kickass.

Click for the full version.
The Production Cheap Slate is just a regular "Hollywood-style" film
slate (with added audio fields, due to the fact that we poor people use
digital video cameras with built in audio processing, which we almost
always use. ..And partly due to me feeling bad for the sound guys that
don't get to be on usual slates.)

Click for the full version.
Backfocus card/chart or "star-chart" as some people call them. (But it's
really a
"Siemens star").
Great for digital video work. If you have a camera that supports manual
focus and has a "push AF" (AF meaning, auto-focus) button. You just place
the card where you want the focus, and push the button, your camera is now
focused and the manual mode wont muck up the shot if someone were to walk
in front of the camera or something.

Click for the full version.
And no, I didn't make a "Notes" slate, I prefer to just, leave one side
white, and you get a notes side And a white balance card! Yay!
If you truly do want me to make one, or just want comment on the project,
drop me a line at
xles[at]mirakulix[dot]org.
--- This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
Unported License. ---
(They seriously couldn't have come up with a shorter name? I knew I
should've gone with the GNU GPL...)
If you want, you can read the whole license.
(Now in a terminal friendly 80ch wide version!) Not entirely sure WHY
you'd subject yourself to that, but hey, it's all good I guess.
"This document was successfully checked as HTML 2.0!"
-The w3c validator kicks ass.