It apparently took James Cameron just 4 days to write the initial draft for “Alien 2” and after the huge success of The Terminator in 1984 Fox were keen to have a sequel to Ridley Scott’s classic made. Inspired by the events of Vietnam, (technologically advanced, highly trained soldiers left out of their depth by the unfamiliar terrain and conditions), the second movie of the franchise was action driven rather than creepy suspense of its predecessor. It was wildly successful and still enjoys a fervent following.

One of the basic and best known tools of filmmaking and also one of its iconic symbols is the clapperboard or slate. This is the instrument that allows the editor to exactly sync the sound and image together. The board also carries vital information like the scene number, the take, film stock, unit, date and camera designation/angle (important when a scene is filmed from multiple angles at the same time, commonplace on action movies). The information is written on the board by the clapper loader under the ultimate supervision of the script supervisor. The board also has the name of the production, the director and the director of photography.