A cue mark, also known as a cue dot, a changeover cue or simply a cue is a visual indicator used with motion picture film prints, usually placed on the right-hand upper corner of a frame of the film. Cue dots are also used as a visual form of signalling on television broadcasts.
A pair of cue marks is used to signal the projectionist that a particular reel of a movie is ending, as most movies come to theaters on several reels of film lasting about 14 to 20 minutes each. The marks appear in the last seconds of each reel; the first mark, known as the motor cue, is placed about 8 seconds before the end of the picture section of the reel. The second mark, known as the changeover cue, is placed about 1 second before the end. Each mark lasts for 4 frames (0.17 seconds).
Coded Anti-Piracy is a different kind of mark, used for watermarking to detect and prevent copyright infringement.
Famous quotes containing the words cue and/or mark:
“Good marriages are built on respectful disagreement and back-and-forth cooperation. We learn to cue each other, fill in for each other, forgive each other’s fumbles, celebrate small victories. We revel in the realization that we’re working on something bigger than both of us, and that parenthood is not only incredibly challenging but also incredibly enriching.”
—Susan Lapinski (20th century)
“It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits; it is evidently equally foolish to accept probable reasoning from a mathematician and to demand from a rhetorician demonstrative proofs.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)