Cue mark

Most cue marks appear as either a black circle (if the physical hole is punched out on the negative used to make the projection print of the film), or a white circle (if the mark is made by punching a hole or scraping the emulsion on the positive film print).

The projectionist would start the incoming projector with the changeover douser (shutter) closed as the first mark (the motor cue) appeared; the second projector would be threaded with the incoming reel parked 8 seconds (12 feet) of countdown ahead of the start of the picture section.

Such newer platter-based projectors would eliminate the need for cue marks, but the marks are still present on modern-day motion picture projection prints, mainly for older theaters and studio screening rooms still using two-projector setups, and also to aid the projectionist in identifying reel ends during the splicing together of the reels onto a platter in newer theaters.

[citation needed] In past years, certainly up to the late 1960s, cue marks were applied to the composited camera original negative, but no longer.

In television, a similar idea is used to signal to a control room that a transition of some sort is about to occur on the broadcast (such as a commercial break).

The most common type of television cue dot is the IBA style, used only in the United Kingdom, which consists of a small square in the top right corner of the screen, with black and white moving stripes.

From the 1980s until the early 2000s, the cue dot was used extensively on the ITV and Channel 4 television networks in the United Kingdom as a commercial break was approaching.

Automation and playout servers led to this being phased out and it is now used only for some live presentations, especially those with regional opt-outs or variable ad breaks.

In recent years, ITV have reduced usage of the cue dot to sporting events and other live broadcast programmes.

The prevalence of digital television and the accompanying delays have made the use of cue dots to communicate with outside broadcast obsolete.

The dots are also used during coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships to warn other broadcasters that the BBC feed will be cutting to an interview intended for the UK audience only, so they should be ready to go to something else.