I have a love hate relationship with teleprompters. Part of me says not to use them because they make you look less natural on camera and when they don’t work properly, they can be quite frustrating. The other part says it saves you time when you have complicated scripts with lots of technobabble to recite and you’ve got to get it done.
I’ve found myself more in the latter category as of late doing more sponsored and corporate videos. In the past I’ve used very expensive teleprompter setups that require special rigging. I’ve used iPad teleprompters (several different brands) and lots of different apps to control them.
I stopped using a teleprompter a few years ago and the production quality increased because I was forced to memorize lines and deliver them more naturally.
Then I found this.
This is a minimalist and fairly inexpensive solution. It works with every lens that I’ve got. I can use it with my iPhone X, and I can even use it with my 6th gen iPod Touch. I have never used the remote that it comes with or the software they suggest. As with previous teleprompters, I have only used PromptSmartPro and its companion remote app. It listens to your voice, or you can use the brilliant remote app to control it.
What I don’t like.
While the way you install it is brilliant (I’ve never seen a teleprompter as easy to setup and use), that can get in the way. If your lens is a zoom lens that moves in and out, your camera can think it’s “stuck” and report an error, preventing you from filming. When this happens you have to shut off the camera, take off the prompter, turn on the camera so it’s happy, then re-install the prompter. I’ve had this happen a couple of times now.
The other problem is that because it is larger than the lens itself, it can make putting your camera (with it on) on a tripod or taking it off impossible. So you have to remove the prompter every time. Not a huge deal. It’s an “ok” sacrifice to dealing with a more cumbersome and heavy camera rail system.
Due to its size, you still have to be fairly close to the camera (unless your vision is 20/20). Don’t even think about being across the room with this thing.
The plate that holds your device isn’t the easiest to grab and pull down. In fact at times it can be a royal pain in the a$$. Why not add some sort of flip-down handle to it to make our lives easier?
SOLUTION: Add a pop-socket to the bottom of the spring tray, such as a metal ring type. Now you’ve got a pull down handle for it! Thank me by smashing the “Helpful” button, below.
What I like most
It’s very light and portable. It works just as well with my smaller iPod Touch 6gen as it does with my larger iPhone. I often find myself inside vehicles or in tight situations where a large camera rig with rails and a massive iPad teleprompter just won’t work. With the software I use, I can just sync it to Dropbox and import it into the PromptSmartPro app and I’m good to go.
For most of what I do, this is a braindead easy solution. Even though I told myself I wasn’t going to use a teleprompter anymore, I know it’s going to make my life easier. I’m still going to memorize scripts because it keeps that skill in check, but there are times when I resort to recording audio from the script on paper and then adding b-roll over my VO. In those situations, now I can just read from the prompter so I have usable A-camera footage in case the b-roll footage isn’t possible for client videos.