6 Great Places to Use a Teleprompter

There are many environments in which a teleprompter makes sense. Here's a breakdown of common possibilities.

1) Newsroom. Volumes of information being spoken, mis-speaks can result in inaccuracies costing reputations and possibly fines. A no-brainer investment.

2) Industrial movie. As I had posted with my Red Camera update, one industrial shoot had dozens of talented young people. Some had memorized the script, some didn't. The producer of the show said they felt the teleprompter had saved them from multiple takes. Producers don't need to tell you how great it is to save an hour or more at the end of the day, or to have to sacrifice quality of their content, just for saving on a prompter.

3) Live television, or live productions. A teleprompter can be a good visual signal as to where people are in the script, reaffirming communication between the producer and the talent. Literally it can help everyone who can see the output stay on the same page.

4) Webcasting. Webcasting is tricky: usually the content is point-of-view, like an opinion, but the talent is usually sitting about 2 feet from their computer, which makes it very intimate. If talent would get hip to better audio (i.e. using a decent wireless lapel mic) they could back off their computer, and their eye travel (motion from left-to-right) as reading would be drastically diminished. If you do use a prompter for webcasting, be sure to practice your controller motions so they are not distracting to you mentally or physically.

5) Quarterly sales events. These are good occasions for management to use a prompter because there are usually arguments made in terms of growth and decisions that are carefully worded. However: these same people that operate like sharks all year long, with Blackberries as their swords and spreadsheets as their shields aren't going to turn into the people you'd want to cast into the commercial for your product overnight. Either they tend to deliver a strictly-vetted statement or they just put up a few number sets usually to get them through. Either way, even if they don't *need* a prompter, having the information in front of them can help root them in a complex discussion of numbers and events. It'll be "there" for them, supporting them as they freely discuss complex ideas. These people think strategically and are usually blessed with some kind of edge. Let them keep it: don't go forcing anyone into a box.

The information in these things can get kind of list-y. Like, "We were up 9 percent in the first quarter, with 50% of our sales coming from 3rd tier vendors, an increase of 2-percent from the same time last year." Where the text is list-y, the talent should also be adding up the meaning of all that information over the course of their script -- what did that mean for the company's / their division's / their performance - are they sad, cool with it, or celebratory. It should add up and register within the individual without being forced, sales-y, or syrup-y.

6. Documentary interviews. You can take the video signal and using a teleprompter device, have the talent look directly into the camera in order to interact with the questioner. That's called an "Interrotron" setup, and is somewhat effective at getting direct contact with the camera because the talent is looking at someone's face splashed on the beamsplitting glass in front of the camera, while the camera just looks directly at the talent/subject. So there can be a greater sense of intimacy with the lens (and therefore, the audience). Just make sure the camera height and angle isn't forcing the subject into unnatural contortions with their neck and posture to look at the person. Eye-to-eye is likely what you're going for, with a flat facial plane for the talent to the camera lens.

7. Any live event (except theater pieces). Live events can put a prompter LCD off to the side, or the script at the foot of the stage, so that hosts and other readers can feel more free. A presidential style prompter can be fine, and let's not allow those insults to the teleprompter president degrade the value of a good presidential (glass on a rod) style prompter for speeches. (I've written about this topic in other blogposts here). Don't blame the prompter for what happens to our country!

I will modify the theater statement: I've been in shows where talent definitely would have benefitted from a prompter nestled in a piece of set furniture or offstage. Some people are in plays for reasons other than their ability to remember their lines, which is fine. Just give them some support and as a producer, don't let them hang out to dry without some kind of text in front of them. Perhaps an audio prompter would be even better but that may lead to unconscious "What? Please repeat that" statements that may throw the play off even more.

8. Training. A day of a prompter setup at your company can be great for feedback in a relaxed setting. People can become comfortable with *not* controlling how the script rolls, and engaging the operator in terms of what they need *before* the event. They'll know what to expect and how to manage it. The talent should be there, as well as their superiors, interacting to make sure the people are aligned with the corporate mission and message and they all are unified aesthetically through the live presentation of the words.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. In any of these cases, even cursory rehearsals can illuminate problems in communication and workflow that can be remedied before airtime. (I'm not assuming a national or local, or even hyper-local newsroom, where bascially yesterday's show was the rehearsal for today. I'm talking about intermittly produced shows, or one-offs.)

Thanks, good luck, and drop me a line if you have any questions or want to book me for something: WorldPrompter [at] Gmail [dot] com.

Updated Production Hub

Great new reviews & all my contact info:

http://www.productionhub.com/directory/edit/index.aspx?item=199102

New Partner! Atlantic TV

World Prompter is proud to announce our strategic alliance (eh, freelancing partnership) with Atlantic TV, and P., who is just about the nicest person one could ever have a cold-call with.

Thanks Atlantic! Here's to a bright and prosperous future together!

Thanks, Benjamin Moore!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone on the Benjamin Moore shoot - great fun!

Review from Estee Lauder Shoot

Ramin Fathie, Viceroy Films:

"Ian always handles our Teleprompter needs efficiently and accurately. In corporate settings, his calm and professional demeanor puts nervous executives at ease, helping to create results that are surprisingly natural. He is an asset on any production."

Prompters In Action

These prompters are outside of the WNET Public Channel building in New York City, just a block down from Julliard. Note the Autoscript logo:

More Notes on Working with the Autocue SS17

In terms of overall build quality it's a prompter whose lines give confidence.

However: there are these little silver things that sit in the rails that posts stand on - I've mentioned these posts in prior postings.

Those little silver things have little tongues that press them up into the roof of their groove so they don't fall out. OTOH in normal use, those little tongues are somewhat fragile and break: then the silver thing falls out of the machine.

Also: As I had mentioned in other posts, Autocue doesn't include an additional screw for the camera if the camera plate is mounted and the riser plate is used: that means you need two screws - one to screw the prompter rails into the camera plate on the sticks, and another to screw the camera actual onto the riser plate.

Be sure as a prompter operator to bring an extra set. I was lucky on one shoot to have a cameraman with an extra screw, and another with mechanic sense to find a regular metal screw that would fit, that bolstered the difference with nuts and washers.

Going to B&H to get the rest of the parts.

ALSO: If you're buying a case for it, the Pelican 1660 is a monster-widowmaker case. While the Pelican 1650 case seems ideal, I haven't proven you can cut the foam and set the prompter in there as of yet, in addition to the monitor.

Both Pelican cases are outstanding in their own right but the 1660 is really very, very large.

Beamsplitter

Here's a neat trick of the beamsplitter glass of prompters.

In this image, the beamsplitter appears as a mirror. But if you were to look at this beamsplitter on-location, it would appear transparent.

This is from the Benjamin Moore How to Paint industrial shoot in Ridgewood, New Jersey. See how in the reflection of the glass, you can see the floorboards? It's picking up the reflection of the 17-inch monitor mounted underneath, facing the ceiling with reversed text. (Which I fuzzed out in the photo.)

In the room, you're looking through the glass to the camera lens.

Lessons Learned on the Autocue SS17

I recently broke out an Autocue SS17 at an industrial shoot in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

The SS17 is plate-based.

Here's something you need to know about setting up your Autocue SS17.

It arrives pre-assembled: It takes just a few minutes to whip it out of its flat box and onto the sticks when you are familiar with it.

However, it's easy to run into this problem: the camera operator had mentioned several times that the prompter felt wobbly on the sticks.

Not a good sign. What was the problem?

Here's one problem that caused that situation:

The SS 17 comes with a series of posts, 1- and 2-lengths long, that screw into each other, to form 1, 2, or 3 post high platform riser for a camera with a longer lens that extends closer to the beamsplitter (the teleprompter glass).

In order to screw the lengths in, you firstly have to screw the male part into the female part -- that makes the post stand up.

At this point, you can't screw them in all the way, because of the following procedure: you need to place the plate over the posts and reposition the posts underneath the holes in the plate to get the correct alignment. Then you place screws in from the top to fasten the plate to the posts.

Got it? The posts are screwed in loosely to find the position under the plate. Then the screws go in to secure the relative positioning of all of it, together.

Problem is, you have to then go back under the plate, and finish screwing in the posts to their "fixed" position. Then finish screwing in the screws.

The operator was mentioning, rightly, that the posts were loose. But I thought I'd tightened the screws when I mounted the plate.

The user error was in not going back around after positioning all the parts and fastening it all together tightly. In order to get to the part of tightening the top screws, the bottoms might be loose at that point.

BOTTOM LINE: Make sure you go around the rig and tighten everything up, screws and posts alike, bottom and top, because initial setup requires doing the whole thing loosely first, then tightening all around again, bottom, then top.

ALSO:

The posts that are 1- and 2-lengths long: They're hard to unscrew bare- or glove-handed. Good luck, though, is that one of the sections has a hole big enough through the diameter that you can fit a screwdriver through it, and the torque from the screw driver instantly unlocks the screws. With bare hands, though, because the steel is plated and very smooth, and very hard to unscrew.

Also: There's only one screw that mounts to the camera plate. The camera plate we used had about a dozen screw holes of several widths in different positions.

An operator should carry two screws for the camera mount to the plate, so that there's more than just one possible point of failure. The steel just isn't "grippy", so all that steel-on-steel action, with the constant movement of the operator on the camera arm, winds up loosening the screw. Operators have a lot of faith in that one little screw, but because there's only one point of contact, the camera tends to rotate around the axis that's been formed, sliding around the pivot and needing readjustment. The prompter operator should carry a few extra screws to mount the plate to the camera shoe.

Your operator will admire your concern for their well-being.

How to Avoid Prompter Fail

World Prompter guy Ian McGrady thinks days like this should never happen:



Ian says:

My first job was at ABC News, World News Tonight. We were retyping the entire show starting about 2 hours before the show, cutting and pasting it practically as we ran upstairs.

Peter Jennings had a copy of the script at his desk. If the prompter failed due to wrong copy, or just plain eating the paper (it was basically turning the script into a conveyor belt beneath a camera) he was mindful of the copy and could seamlessly switch between his copy and the machine.

Although it makes talent nervous when the script disappears, "good" talent knows the script and the story in their mind: so if the prompter fails, they have a sense for thinking about what's going on, and can extravert their thoughts seamlessly.

Unfortunately the prompter falsely presents an illusion that people can talk freely especially when cameras are almost always zoomed in past the prompter.

Maybe as a function of truth in advertising cameras should always show when people are talking on prompters.

That aside, here's a good tip to avoid massive system failures like the one above:

1. Print the script.
2. Put in TURN PAGE blocks or markers that show where the physical script is printed
(the operator can provide the best marking - they should collaborate with the writer)
3. Producers should give talent time to rehearse while turning the pages and confirming the behavior for themselves until they're comfortable
4. Practice once with deliberate failure and switching so the talent feels comfortable in any circumstance, prompter or no
5. NOW you're ready to go live.

Nearer, the End draws... kind of

As technology seeks to replace workers, here's an example...

http://www.autoscript.tv/voice-plus

Autoscript's Voice Plus says it obviates the prompter operator.  I am wondering how deep the features set goes for skipping pages, resetting.

In a mildly slower envronment, like a single-camera one-man band corporate setup I can totally see it working. 

In a network newsroom environment, though, especially during a breaking news event, people are basically yelling information during tosses to VT or correspondents; I don't see it working there.  But it may have good applications in simpler environments.

Political Prompter Persecution Ploy Plotz: Steve Womack, Defunder of the People

The Arkansas Times' Max Brantley reports (from a reported acquaintance's blog) that U.S. Representative Steve Womack has dropped his pursuit of de-funding Obama's teleprompter, which is somehow eyeballed at $5 (m)illion dollars.

Representative Womack reportedly says he's dropping this campaign because he can't get an actual cost of the service and equipment, and in addition...

We're asking people to do more with less. And I think the president ought to lead by example. He is already a very gifted speaker and I think that's one platform he could do without.  -- U.S. REPRESENTATIVE STEVE WOMACK

If you look at Obama speaking with or without the prompter, aesthetically it doesn't make much difference.  He thinks in parentheticals, with lots of commas, like this sentence, and that isn't going to end, any time, soon, so you'll never really know just when those sentences, are going to end, even ones, like this.

Moreover, any time anyone is asking people to make do with less (which appears to be a current talking point) it seems prudent to keep the other eye open for who's going to be profiting from all this "making do with less".  High food prices precipitated food-commodities bubbles, which precipitated the revolutions in the Mideast.

While World Prompter does not have an official opinion on hyper-monetizing commodities, revolutions, talking points, or political parties, we are glad that this bit of political grandstanding about Obama's teleprompter is over.

World Prompter loves communication, and is in favor of taking away all teleprompters from all politicians, to let politics drift back into the hands of talented orators who at least were capable of being lyrical and having a good memory.  Imagine memory as a requisite for the practice of politics.

The British House of Commons offers many spirited examples of un-teleprompted political exchange:

So until U.S. lawmakers are willing to really take the gloves off - in this case, the teleprompter - let's let fair be fair. 

 

How to Spin a Prompter

The New York Observer's David Freedlander reports Biden taking the heat off of Obama's teleprompter.


Freedlander reports:


Vice President Joe Biden spoke at a $500 a head fundraiser for 250 big-wig Democratic donors today at the midtown Sheraton, hosted by east side Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, and made a few cracks...
[...]
Biden spoke mostly extemporaneously, and stopped midway through his speech and asked that the teleprompters flanking the podium come down.

"I am not using this thing. If you want to put it down, it's ok by me," he said. "You know Barack said, excuse me, the President said, 'Joe is learning to make a speech with a teleprompter and I am learning to do one without a teleprompter."'

Very clever and humble way to deal with the situation. Takes the heat off the legislation to defund the President's prompter, and makes light of Biden's loose-cannon nature. 

You know you want one...

Novel Prompter Application - Update from TeleprompterMirrors

My earlier post mentioned an inexpensive setup for people who basically laptop-prompt, like maybe a simple video blog.

Here is a response I received from Veronica at Teleprompter Mirrors which speaks further to the issue:

Hello Ian,

Yes our product works great with Macs. We actually have a software specifically for a Mac as well. If the computer does not open all the way, you just have to find a way to elevate the quickprompt itself above the keyboard portion as to not get the keyboard in the film. 

[That little block is located underneath the camera in this photo...]

There is a little DIY contraption you can build or using some books would suffice. You can find the DIY at this page: 

http://www.telepromptermirrors.com/teleprompterstand17.htm

Has anyone tried this?  Send your photos and your story!

I can see someone making some serious change off of a really nice stained wood setup.  If I were video blogging daily I would seriously consider it, or maybe like a nice Benjamin Moore color to warm it up even more.

Better is Better: Zen and the Art of Prompting

It seems like a basic skill set: put the file in the program, roll the prompter.  Up, down, back, go back to here.  But adding presence adds a lot.

The measure of a prompter operator, then, is in very small degrees of their attentiveness to their environment while rolling, as well as their presence in the room. 

And the question shouldn't be do they just not do anything wrong, but do they actually contribute the correct zeitgeist in their presence?  Does their presence, and those little moments of communication, really add something to the set, or the production floor?

Of course these are questions normally a hiring manager would answer... but you really have to consider what someone is bringing to the mix beyond the skill set.

Why is this important?

Because prompter part of the art of communication, and our world is rife with palatable and distasteful moments. 

So not just the prompter operator's skill and acumen, but their disposition, should add something.  They should be willing to lend supportive presence... not with a sense of "doing" something, but of allowing the best possible combination of production and talent events to conspire so that the talent, your point-person, can feel not just unencumbered by the machine and the operator, but supported in a kind of invisible, energetic way. 

That's what you want - someone who really can bring that into the room.  Even dumb stuff, like eating crackers quietly while someone's trying to read, can just add a really small negative to the room. 

The Politics of Defunding Obama's Prompter: World Prompter's Analysis

Waste. Of. Time.

This takes a committee of people to arrive at this now famous moment

http://www.losteyeball.com/index.php/2008/12/08/way-to-read-the-teleprompter/

You can't just blame the talent here.  The producer has to see it's just in the end a thin line between one story and the next.  The transitions have to be talent-proof.  The way some writers write, they just write the story and that's necessary in an environment where a producer just wants to slide stories around like blocks.

But the newscast isn't just the story - it's the flow and transitions as any producer will tell you, and that's the lyrical part of the job.

If you're a producer, you have an obligation to study the talent and know what they're going to do with the text.

If you're talent, you have an obligation to try to not find a catch-all style that "works for everything" because obviously it doesn't.  You can just click through channels and see who is "doing their style" and who has actually read and understood if not the entire story, the part that they're responsible for.

If you're the prompter, you have an obligation to indicate to the talent, very slightly, that a new story has come up but sliding the top of the next story to the top of the glass, and "imaging" (freezing) slightly - giving them a visual cue that a new story has come up. 

Prompting effectively is very much about very close communication through the tools.  Prompting isn't writing and it isn't reading - it's an idiom unto itself, and an operator has habits that they adjust for the talent. 

Don't just look at this anchor and say, "what a dope".  These things happen by committee and everyone is part of it.  Even the prompter.

iPad as a threat to teleprompers: what do you think?

Here's an interesting thread - says a senior official was avoiding using prompters b/c of cost, but tried this iPad app.

On the one hand, it might be great to have the script scrolling on an iPad/iTouch setup especially for public speaking where looking at a podium is totally acceptable. 

Sometimes, actors also need to have some dialogue placed for them, like if someone has to stand in - I can see this working really well.  I was on a production recently that could have used an iPad setup, placed neatly say, behind a vase, with the talent reading off of it.

Of course paper is the best/cheapest medium and sometimes, if the actor isn't on-book, you can just stick the pages in the talent's hands.  But you'd have to be careful that the actor isn't going to be self-conscious and trying to compensate for it.

Again - not ideal, but a possiblity.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/open-dv-discussion/491768-cut-notes-timecode-notes-ipad.html

Thinking about prompting

Wondering whether, with the availability to corporations of easily produced video and podcasts, whether there's an uptick on private ownership of prompters, and do the talent run it themselves?