BDC1: Clears the playfield then sets its attributes
The playfield is the lower two thirds of the screen - where the action happens.
clear_playfield clears it, then the bitmap is reset to $FF and three bands of attributes are laid in: two rows of plain sky, three rows of bright sky and eleven rows of the stage's ground colour. Both edge columns of every playfield row are then stamped black on black, which hides the road overdraw at the screen borders.