Why do you need a teleprompter? This is not for everybody however I think it is necessary to have it as a backup just in case. For example there’s been times where I’ve been on interview style shoots for corporate videos and the issue was not everybody’s comfortable on camera. Especially if they’re trying to remember what they’re going to say so ended up happening was a couple of times with many many different clients is that once they’re speaking they’re so concentrated at looking into the lens and they’re just lost or getting nervous they’re not comfortable with their delivery and you know they pretty much keep forgetting what they want to talk about. I’ve been on shoots where we brought a teleprompter and we would read through it because they have the script written out exactly what they want to say and all they have to do is just read. The only thing is with trial and error they have to put the speed where they’re most comfortable with so you know some people read very fast some read very slow.
The thing is once you guys find the right speed that’s it, it’s just going to take maybe a few takes. It’s mainly because of their delivery and their posture and are no longer afraid and nervous or anything when it comes to saying what they need to say. Now they’re no longer looking at a lens now they’re just seen the words because the lens is just hiding behind that reflector. I also want to talk about the the app and the actual hardware for it. I worked with two the first one I want to talk about because there’s not much to talk about I don’t even know what the brand is. It was like this cheapy choppy one and the reason why it was cheap was because the holder for the iPad it was just too little bars and you know it didn’t feel secure and there was a bunch of times with the iPad or the phone it would practically fall off. Don’t get anything cheap especially something like this it felt like too flimsy sticks from the center that’s going to hold it like make sure you have something that it’s like a base. The other one I fell in love with is the one that I worked with is One Take Only Pad Prompter and it’s for a 15 mm rail rig. It comes in two different prices at the lower its $269 and the higher-end which I recommend it’s $375 you can find it at Amazon, Adorama or at B&H. The reason why is because it comes with another attachment which pretty much allows you to do height adjustments and that’s very necessary because it depends what you shoot with. If you have a DSLR or a Cinema Camera you know not all cameras have the same height. This this is very necessary and it’s cool because it comes with a little covering that goes over the lens so it’s blocking everything out not allowing any light to to leak in and the whole rig folds so you just take apart the rail for the part where the iPad sits on it’s a nice flat platform so you don’t have to worry about your iPad falling off or anything. It does not fit every size, I don’t really remember exactly which is the biggest iPad to use but you definitely cannot put an iPad Pro on it. I would definitely stick to the mini iPads or regular sized iPads.
The build quality is very good, its sturdy but it is glass so it’s not like you could just toss it around, it came with a protective carrying case. You can just safely put everything away inside. I have also downloaded this one app it’s a free version you can get the paid one unfortunately when I was looking up the reviews for the paid one it seems like there were people that were disappointed. The free version is called teleprompter light and it’s very simple for example for those that have Apple products I wrote on my Google Docs and copied and pasted it to my notes app and then I air dropped it from my iMac to the iPad. You can also email it to yourself but every situation is different. If you don’t have the luxury of having your Macbook to airdrop while on set you will have to figure out another way. You can also type it, hopefully you don’t have a super long script. You can adjust the speed on it I don’t really remember exactly all the features that it has when you get the the paid version which is like $8 but it definitely looks like you could drop box files right into the app. I do want to talk about the one that I worked with and that one is Promptsmart Pro and it costs $19.99. Its a bit more pricey but it is a pretty good app this one you can adjust the speeds with a remote if I’m not mistaking. For those people that don’t always want to be all up on the iPad because you have to get in there and control or reset the script.
It also has a voice tracker which is pretty cool, however this depends on the individual who is being filmed because some people that I have worked with wanted to try it and it was a bad experience. This all depends how fast or slow they’re reading because if its going quick it can be throwing them off. It’s not poor programming on the app it really depends on the individual if you think about it. You know the idea sounds good but it can eventually mess you up with your pace. You can adjust the the speeds of it and this is very beneficial for when you’re doing interview shoots. So this has been my experience with the apps and hardware and I hope this is helpful for your next shoot.