Home teleprompter?

June 13, 2022 7:13 PM

Can you recommend a device and software to create a home teleprompter that’s easy to set up and use alone?

Helping a friend who needs to do some work videos at home. Looking for:

Software - she needs to send a Google Docs script to the teleprompter software easily, and have it scroll on an old iPhone or iPad

Gadget - mount a reflector gadget on a tripod and mount the old iPhone or iPad on that gadget, so the script is reflected over the camera lens. The gadget needs to have a remote control for easy control of the scrolling.

End product - Shoot a video using the camera on her new iPhone, while using her old iPhone as the teleprompter.

Gear she has - 2 iPhones, iPad, tripod (happy to upgrade the tripod if needed).

It’s a work expense, so money isn’t really an object. Ease of use is important. One-person operation of the teleprompter is also important!

Thanks for any advice!

posted by nouvelle-personne to Technology (6 answers total)

This is kind of cool: https://telepromptermirror.com/telepromptersoftware.htm
posted by rmmcclay at 7:52 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

I recommend using an iPad not an iPhone for the prompter. You need the text to be legible while also having enough text so the reader can anticipate the next bunch of text.

Prompter: Caddie Buddy worked well for me
Software: PromptSmart for iOS

I’d get at least two lights (key and fill with some white scrim to soften the light) and a decent wired or wireless lavalier mic. Adjustable temperature lights are nice. Really depends on the look you want whether to go warm or cool for the lights if you need to choose. Cool is daylight, warm is like candle light/filament bulb light.

Ample light and good audio are important for a professional quality video.
posted by plasticbugs at 8:03 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

You might be interested in some of the recommendations here: Stream Like a CEO
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:42 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

It depends on the final quality of the videos needed, but I've been having success at work making videos using BIGVU, which turns the phone/tablet itself into a teleprompter, so you look directly at the phone / tablet screen and read, and the camera on that side picks you up. We're using mini-tripods, relatively cheap lavalier mics with long cords, and lightning adapters to turn phones into small cameras. The quality is not 4K/Hollywood, but it's good enough to make professional-looking work for chiefly internal audiences.

I have not used any of the extended editing features to date -- we do our own titling and editing in third-party software after exporting the videos -- but the teleprompter portion is smooth and easily adjusted to people's reading speeds. I loathe subscription-based apps/software, so it says a lot that I'm sticking with this.
posted by Shepherd at 3:01 AM on June 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

Technology Connection has a video on how he does his home telepromptering for his videos that seems like it covers a lot of the basics.
posted by Kyol at 5:37 AM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

At the school where I teach Broadcasting, we've used an older model Ikan prompter. In our case a student runs the prompter for the reader so no remote is needed.

But I see now that the newer models have a remote so it can be run by the reader. Plus there are different sizes depending on the size of the iPad/tablet.
posted by Zedcaster at 9:04 AM on June 14, 2022