Placement
The exact placement of cues varies somewhat from lab to lab.
According to SMPTE-301 (Theatre Projection Leader), there shall be 4 frames of motor cue, followed by 172 frames of picture, followed by 4 frames of changeover cue, followed by 18 frames of picture. That puts the motor cue at frames 198–195 from the end of the picture section of the reel (12.34 to 12.15 feet; or 12-foot-6-frames through 12-foot-3-frames), and the changeover cue at frames 21–19 from the end (1.31 to 1.18 feet; or 1-foot-5-frames through 1-foot-3-frames). As of January 2005, most domestic United States release prints follow this standard.
According to SMPTE-55 (SMPTE Universal leader), there shall be 4 frames of motor cue, followed by 168 frames of picture, followed by 4 frames of changeover cue, followed by 24 frames of picture. That puts the motor cue at frames 200–197 (12.47 to 12.28 feet; or 12-foot-8-frames to 12-foot-5-frames) from the end of the picture section of the reel, and the changeover cue at frames 28–25 (1.75 to 1.56 feet; or 1-foot-12-frames to 1-foot-9-frames) from the end. Prior to January 2005, domestic United States release prints printed by Deluxe Laboratories (about half of domestic first-run major releases) followed this standard.
Read more about this topic: Cue Mark