Where else can I get exactly what I want when what I want is something weird?

If you’ve been following this blog, especially lately, you know that I’ve been doing a lot of video work. A bunch of it requires two cameras that create a pair of videos that must be synchronized. As I explain in my video about the setup, I was creating a sort of key frame for synchronization by clapping my hands between the two cameras, which face each other.

That’s not the way professionals do it. They use what’s called a clapboard. It’s the iconic black and white (usually) device that’s snapped together right after the director calls “Action!” Typically, it’s got spaces on it that are filled in with information about the scene being shot, including the date, take, and scene identifying data.

The real benefit of a clapboard is that when you snap it shut hard, it makes a sharp clapping sound. If your video clips have an audio track, this clap appears as a spike in that audio track. That makes it super easy to align the clips so both spikes appear one after the other. Perfect alignment, right up to the frame.

I decided I wanted one of these things.

Now, I live in a rural area. While Wenatchee is a nice little city nearby, it doesn’t have any shops that cater to video producers. This isn’t Los Angeles. Although we have a few video production companies in town — I’ve done some flying work for two of them — the demand for video equipment will never be enough for someone to open a shop that carries the equipment they need.

Besides, I had very specific needs. I wanted one that was small so it would fit in my video kit but not a toy or novelty item. I wanted it to work with dry-erase markers instead of chalk. I wanted it to be sturdy with a good snap.

So I did what most people in the U.S. do these days: I went to Amazon.com and searched for movie clapboard. And Amazon immediately showed me hundreds of search results.

To be fair, some of them were really off-base. A coffee mug with a movie clapboard on it. A novelty director’s party kit that included a fake Oscar, megaphone, and clapboard. A picture frame designed to look like a clapboard. Clapboard keychains. Pillow covers with a movie theme that included a clapboard.

But the vast majority of the hundreds of items listed were actual, usable movie clapboards.

I went through them. It took some time — but not nearly as much time as it would to find a brick and mortar shop that sold clapboards, get to it, make my selection (if they had what I wanted), and get home. I eventually found the one I wanted: Action Cut Board, Andoer Acrylic Clapboard Dry Erase Compact Size TV Film Movie Director Cut Action Scene Clapper Board Slate (whew!). It was $10.99 with free shipping.

I read the reviews with a grain of salt. Amazon reviews are notoriously untrustworthy. You have to read a bunch from “verified purchasers” to get a real idea of the pros and cons of the item you’re considering. Disregard the 5 star reviews that seem a bit too glowing and short on details. Disregard the 1 star reviews that seem too critical and short on details. You know the kind. The rest of the reviews were good enough. One mentioned the solid clapping sound. I think a few complained about the small size — which is actually a feature I wanted.

So I ordered it. It arrived in two days.

The clapboard really is exactly what I wanted, but I admit it did not arrive in perfect condition. Two of the nuts/bolts holding the clapboard on were a tiny bit loose; I tightened them. And the acrylic board that had been glued into a slot on the clapper part wasn’t exactly aligned. Fortunately, it also wasn’t glued in very well, which made it loose in the slot. I pulled it out and glued it back in with more glue and better alignment. What do I expect for $11, right?

I showed it off to my YouTube channel viewers at the beginning the AMA Livechat I did last night. I snapped it for them.

This is the kind of thing that’s impossible to find in brick and mortar shops unless you’re in a large enough city with a large enough market for a niche item like this. And that’s why I turned to Amazon. Although it’s often a pain in the butt to wade through the search results and quality is becoming a bigger issue every day as they allow more and more junk to be listed, I will almost always find exactly what I’m looking for, usually at a price that I’m willing to pay.