What do you call the colorful bars that come across a TV when they have to cut to a commercial quickly?

Question

I'm working on my end of the year French project, and my group is creating our own television show and filming it. It's basically a parody of Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, etc. So, the girl on the show starts sobbing, has an emotional breakdown, and pushed over the camera men.

I'm trying to get a picture of those colorful bars that would come across a screen at this point. There's a really loud high-pitched beeping noise. One of my friends says it's called an off-air signal, but I tried that and it's not what I'm looking for. Another friend said she knows they have it on TV Land sometimes.

Can anyone help? It would be most graciously appreciated!

Answer 1

Yes, it is called a test pattern. Here's a link to an extra-large JPEG that should work for you.

For the tone, it should be a sine wave 1000 hz in frequency. The closest way to get that easily would be to play a synthesizer B note almost 2 octaves above middle C.

Answer 2

I'll second the "test pattern".  That's what I've always heard it called and called it myself without getting confused looks.

Answer 3

I think it's called a test pattern/test card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_card

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMPTE_color...

Try reading about it in these 2 links, because I am not 100% sure.

Sorry that I am not too confident on my answer, but I hope that helps a little!