The Teleprompter: Game Changer or Time Waster?

[00:00:00] Tim: If you're a content creator, you know how this goes. Recording day can be a real struggle. It's tough to remember all the lines, say those lines accurately, add some hand gestures and voice inflections to keep things interesting, and try to look good on camera all at the same time. 

[00:00:14] After all, I'm not really an actor.

[00:00:16] That's why I was so intrigued when I heard about the potential for using a relatively inexpensive teleprompter as a video content creation tool. This made a lot of sense to me, because one of the biggest challenges I've had in creating video content has been in remembering my lines and recording them in a way that doesn't involve a bunch of stops and starts.

[00:00:34] So this seemed like the perfect solution. However, there are a few things you're going to want to know before you try this out yourself. In this episode, I'm going to tell you about the device I got, the software and accessories needed to make it work, the potential benefits of using a teleprompter, and some of the challenges that you might encounter along the way. So stick around, and let's get into it. 

[00:00:53] So the device I got is called the Little Teleprompter. It's basically a little black box with a two way mirror, which will reflect the script back towards you without those words showing up in your recording. The idea is that this lets you look right into the camera as you're doing your delivery, making it much easier to remember all your lines and complete larger segments of the delivery.

[00:01:15] To do the initial setup the way I'm using it here, you'll need a tripod stand with a screw top where you can attach the base of the little teleprompter. Then you're going to add your camcorder or digital camera behind the flat side of the teleprompter and line up the lens so you have a clear view through it.

[00:01:30] Next, you want to add an external mic for sound quality. Be aware that some camcorders require you to have a mic that has its own battery power source. And finally, you'll add your iPhone to the tray in front of the glass, so the words you want to read can be projected back towards you. The software I'm using for the iPhone is called Teleprompter Premium, and it's specifically designed to work with mirrored teleprompters, such as the one I have.

[00:01:52] You can get a one-year subscription for it for about $60 right now. The cost of a starter teleprompter is around $100. The cost of a basic camcorder is about $150 to $200. And on top of that, if you need the external mic and the tripod, the total cost will come to around $400. 

[00:02:09] Once you have everything set up, the best way to film is to talk through as much of the script as possible without pausing. Do that two or three times. This will give you several takes from which you can splice together the best ones in editing. This is a lot more efficient than the start stop method that many of us use as beginners, where we memorize a line or two, deliver it, stop recording, then check it, then redo that line or two a couple of times before we finally get to a good take.

[00:02:37] If you can film in larger blocks, there will be much less time wasted between clips and you can focus a lot more on getting the actual filming done. 

[00:02:45] And although the teleprompter is a little bulky to move around from one place to another, you can use it to film different angles within the same room or within the same general area to keep things visually interesting. With programs like Filmora, you can also just swap out the background for something different. Just like this. In addition to that, you can film a few shorter clips with you walking around or doing something in b roll to add even more visual interest. 

[00:03:11] So if all this works as planned, the teleprompter could be a brilliant tool for speeding up your entire filming process as well as improving the quality of your delivery by making it more seamless. 

[00:03:21] Having said all this, like me, you may find that there are some significant challenges to getting this to work. The initial setup is one of the most challenging aspects of working with a teleprompter for the first time. In order to look natural, you have to have the teleprompter set up at perfect eye level. Otherwise, it's going to look like you're looking off to the side or above or below your viewer, making you look unnatural on camera. 

[00:03:45] You also have to have the teleprompter set up the right distance from yourself, so the right size within the screen, and where your eyes are focusing or any movements in your eyes as you're looking at the words are not so obvious to your viewers. For that, I've heard it's recommended to have the teleprompter positioned about 5 feet away from yourself, which seems about right based on my experience. 

[00:04:07] Once you have all the equipment set up, the next challenge is to get the teleprompter app optimized in a way that's best for your use. You see, you need to set the margins and the scrolling speed ideally to the pace that you normally talk at, which is going to take some playing around with.

[00:04:24] And if you don't have that figured out, again, your eyes are going to move too much, or you're going to lose your place in the script because it's scrolling too fast or too slow. And because this is different for everyone, I can't even really give you any guidance about what will work best for you. It's just going to be a painful process of trial and error.

[00:04:43] The third challenge is audio, and as I mentioned in my camcorder video, I had quite a few challenges getting the audio setup to work right with the camcorder and teleprompter setup. And even with the boom mic that I have installed now, the quality of that audio is a lot more tinny than I would like it, and still not as good as my USB condenser mic here or even my little lavalier wireless mic which I use with the cell phone video filming right now. 

[00:05:14] And what I'd recommend now is actually a wired lapel mic that gets a lot closer to where you're speaking. Just remember that the wired lapel mic has to have its own power source when used with certain camcorders.

[00:05:26] So where does this leave us? Well, at the end of the day, I would say the teleprompter is not a game changer in the short term, but it's not a total waste of time either. Let me explain. 

[00:05:38] In the short term, I'm still better off memorizing shorter clips and then splicing b roll in between those clips in order to deliver things, at least from an efficiency perspective, but probably also from a quality of delivery perspective because this way it looks a lot more natural the way I'm talking to the camera.

[00:05:58] The thing is, even after working with the teleprompter for a decent period of time, it has taken me a fair amount of time to get even the shortest usable clips out of that process. And this is a little hard to admit because I was pretty sure this innovation was going to be on the game changer side of the equation.

[00:06:18] So what are the positives that we can take away from this? Well, I'm not gonna say don't experiment or do tons of research to know 100 percent for sure before you try anything new. Because there will be a lot we don't know if we don't try. This is especially true when it comes to something as complex and personal as content creation.

[00:06:38] There are a lot of answers we just can't find out through secondary research. We have to experiment and experience the process or tools ourselves to know. And this is coming from a research guy. Having said that, it's fair to say that you have to be a bit strategic in where you do these deep dive experiments.

[00:06:55] If you try to do them in too many places, it's going to hurt your consistency, which is ultimately going to harm your channel's momentum. So you have to pick a key pain point that you want to focus on, and for me, the efficiency of the filming process was definitely a key pain point. This is where I've still gotten a couple of benefits from this process.

[00:07:16] Number one, by figuring out my best processes for filming, both indoors and outdoors, I can now focus on refining those in the future. So for me right now, that includes using the DJI Action Cam for outdoor footage, and then using this studio setup inside for indoor footage. The thing this also helped me realize is that I need to break down and get a legit DJI Action Mic to go with the DJI Action Cam so that the quality of the outdoor audio can match the quality of the indoor audio in future videos.

[00:07:53] Secondly, the other thing I learned by using the teleprompter is that you don't need to worry about every little flub line when you're filming your A roll. Even if you have the script right there, right in front of you, and you're reading from it directly, there are going to be mispronounced words. There are going to be little errors that you make along the way.

[00:08:12] So there's no need to try and be a complete perfectionist. In fact, it's probably better if you just try and speak naturally, and that's going to seem a lot more authentic for your viewers and for your overall delivery as well. The other thing I figured out is that you don't need to stop and start the camera every single time that you do make a mistake.

[00:08:34] I'm going to take a cue from Hollywood here, and keep the cameras rolling. Just reset yourself. Do it over again, and then you can cut out the parts that didn't work, instead of all this little stopping and starting, which is actually a lot less efficient than, again, just keeping the cameras rolling and splicing things together later on. 

[00:08:57] So that's where I'm at in my approach to filming right now Despite some bumps along the way. I think I've made some real progress in refining filming processes that will work for me And I'm not gonna say that the teleprompter is a total bust I think it's just important to know that it's not a game changer in the short term It is like a lot of other things gonna take practice and time in order to learn how to use that particular tool effectively, so I'll probably continue to work on that in the background.

[00:09:30] And I think for me, part of the problem with the teleprompter is that I've been so trained to present without a script. You see, as a teacher, when I started out, if I had a script there, I would tend to read from it. And of course, that's not a very engaging teaching style at all. So I had to break myself of that habit, and I worked very hard to do that.

[00:09:49] And so, in a way, being able to speak extemporaneously could be one of my advantages as a video content creator and I should try and focus a little bit more on that in the future. I just hadn't realized this myself yet and it's going through this process with the teleprompter that helped me to get there.

[00:10:10] I hope you found this helpful. My goal in this content and a lot of the other things that I create here and for social media is that I can take what I'm learning and it'll help you to reduce your learning curve. And so in this way, we can both produce better content. And if you do have any tips that you'd like to share from your experience, I'd love to hear those in the comments, drop me a line there.

[00:10:33] If you found this helpful, hit that subscribe button. And until next time, we'll see you in the next episode.