Hear it pronouncedFlatbed editor
A flatbed editor is a type of machine used for the editing of a motion picture.
Film and sound reels are loaded onto separate motorized wheels, called plates. The plates can be moved forwards and backwards separately or interlocked together to maintain synchronized sound. A prism is used to reflect the film image onto a viewing screen, while a magnetic head reads the audio track(s). Larger systems have enough plates to edit multiple sound and picture tracks simultaneously.
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[ Process
[ Preparation
Most films are shot double-system, where the picture is shot on film while the sound is recorded separately. For convenience during the editing process, the sound is then transferred onto a Magnetic Track ("Mag"), sprocketed filmstock that has been coated with magnetic oxide instead of photo-sensitive emulsion and then recorded so that one frame of sound on the Mag equals equals one frame of picture. The Mag is then usually edge-coded, a process in which sequential numbers are stamped on the edge every few frames in order to facilitate finding a given location again.
[ Synching
Since they are shot separately, the editor must first synchronize the picture and sound. The editor loads one picture reel onto a film plate and its corresponding Mag reel onto a sound plate. He or she then advances the film to find the frame where the two parts of the Clapperboard came together. The editor repeats the process on the Mag reel to find the frame with the clap sound. Once found, he or she marks the frame on both reels as the synch point and switches the flatbed into Interlock mode. From then on, both picture and sound reels will be advanced or reversed by exactly the same amount in order to maintain synch.
[ Editing
When the editor finds a point to cut one shot into another, he or she marks that point on both the picture and sound reels, then makes the cut and splices in the next shot.
[ History
One of the first and most popular film editing machines was the Moviola . With it, one could manage a thousand-foot eleven-minute 35mm reel, but with difficulty because it did not have high-speed operation. European flatbeds came into more common use in the United States during the 1970s, although never completely replacing the Moviola.
By the mid-1990s, flatbeds were in turn becoming replaced by electronic non-linear systems such as Avid and Lightworks. As of 2007, flatbed editors are still used in some film schools for their educational value. Feature films in the United States now use electronic non-linear systems almost exclusively.
[ Brands
The two most common brands of flatbed editor, Steenbeck and K.-E.-M. (Keller-Elektro-Mechanik), were invented in Germany in the 1930s. There are also the Italian Prévost, the Dutch Oude Delft or Oldelft, the French Atlas as well as Moritone flatbeds. The U.K. produced the LEM, and America the Moviola flatbed and the exclusively 16mm Showchron of which approximately 400 were produced in 4. 6 or 8 plate configurations, 6 being the most common. (A few 35mm Showchrons were built, but never sold commercially.)
All these machines have a rotating prism rather than the "Maltese Cross" or geneva drive intermittent mechanism used by the American Moviola. The rotating prism allows the editor to move the film smoothly and continuously, reducing mechanical noise and film wear. It also makes high-speed operation feasible, and some machines can move the film at up to ten times standard speed. The trade-off for these advantages is a slight smearing of the image compared to the Moviola.
The use of multiple sound tracks, (up to three) and multiple picture heads (up to three) is a feature of thee KEM Universal, which has a modular construction.