Why do you even need to reflect the monitor in a mirror? How about you just have the monitor and look directly at it? LCDs are thin and easily mounted.
He wants to look through the teleprompter at the camera. That's how they work.
Why do you even need to reflect the monitor in a mirror? How about you just have the monitor and look directly at it? LCDs are thin and easily mounted.
Because it's a camera mounted teleprompter, from what he's said, of the sort where to read the teleprompter, you're looking straight down the barrel of the camera - like this -
Otherwise, he wouldn't need the special glass - because the camera doesn't need to look through the teleprompter glass if it's not directly over the camera lens.
Thanks, good solution for personal use but not for professional: doesn't allow for jog/shuttle scroll controlling, meaning no instant response to read speed changes; no way to set markers to go back to for multiple takes of a section of a script; and doesn't work when you're on a golf course out in the middle of the desert that has terrible cell and data service.
That is actually probably what I'm going to do between now and when I can purchase real prompter monitors or the VGA mirror device. The teleprompt software I use can mirror the text for me, but it does it on both the laptop screen and the external monitor.
Wait, can't you just set it up as a dual monitor, and then run the teleprompt maximized on one screen, and whatever else on the laptop screen? All you'd need then are some long cables. I'm sure there is a reason I'm wrong, but it seems like a decent idea.
That's exactly how it works, if you've ever seen behind the scenes video of a news room you'll see a large hood with monitor mounted at the front of the camera. That monitor is the external monitor, and the teleprompt operator will be running the text from another computer with its own monitor. And in a non studio situation it's the same setup, just with more portable equipment. The problem is that if I mirror the text for the talent, then I have to read the text backwards to control the speed of the scrolling to allow them to read with good flow. And that's why I wanted a solution that would require a $500 box that I only plan on using for a couple of months before I have saved enough to get professional prompter monitors.
That's exactly how it works, if you've ever seen behind the scenes video of a news room you'll see a large hood with monitor mounted at the front of the camera.
I've spent quite a bit of time in various news rooms, nearly became a tv presenter(As in, got to the final stage of auditions, as one of the final two. They picked the other guy, because at the time, I couldn't afford to move to Sydney, and they didn't want to pay for it. It was a Blue Peter style show, if you fancy to know. Why? Because they were offering what was to me, at the time, an absolutely ludicrous sum of money to do it), and I do a fair bit of work with my partner-in-really-good-crimes Max, a Broadcast journalist. I'm quite familiar with how a teleprompter works.
The problem is that if I mirror the text for the talent, then I have to read the text backwards to control the speed of the scrolling to allow them to read with good flow.
I am absolutely sure that I've seen teleprompters which allow for that(Ie, It's mirrored on the display, and forwards on the screen, without reversing the display, and are halfway designed to work in exactly that fashion - I've run it off a hacked together mobile setup for LSTV once, when they needed a quick solution for a mobile shoot, and I guarantee you the prompter display was a regular LCD, because I "requisitioned" the parts from the LU tech department myself.(Side note - I'll ask for what program they used for the prompting, as I just started it up and threw random gibberish on the screen to make sure it displayed properly, without paying attention to what it was or how to work it in any detail - actually working the prompter for the talent was not my job.) What Program are you using? What sort of show are you doing?
If the LCD was mounted just above or just blow the lens would it make that much of a difference? It saves a fuckton of hassle.
It's away from where the camera is pointing, which makes the talent look disinterested, disengaged from the audience, and worst of all, not at the camera. It seems small, but it makes quite a difference.
EDIT - Got a response - apparently, they prefer Promptdog. It's sixty bucks.
I mentioned it earlier but didn't link to it, I use QPro from Autocue which has all the features I feel like I need except for the ability to flip the talent window without flipping the window I have to read off of as well.
And there are absolutely teleprompters that mirror the image without additional equipment, and they are capable of flipping the image horizontally, vertically, or showing it as seen on the computer.
I don't actually work on any particular show, I am a freelance video production tech, but my specialty is teleprompting. I've worked on infomercials, commercials, instructional videos, sports television coverage, as well as prompting for conferences with "presidential" style teleprompting setups.
I tried PromptDog last year and it failed to match the talent window to the window I was reading from, so I couldn't be sure I was seeing exactly what the talent was reading and I never pursued it further than the one shoot I tried it on. Having to make sure I correctly sized the windows on every single shoot I'm on isn't worth the savings.
I mentioned it earlier but didn't link to it, I use QPro from Autocue which has all the features I feel like I need except for the ability to flip the talent window without flipping the window I have to read off of as well.
I'm actually somewhat baffled they didn't think to include this, considering. If I remember correctly - I've only used QPro once or twice - but can't you tell it to output a smaller area of the screen as the prompter display, tell it to flip image vertically, and when it only flips the display output, you can still read the script off the regular screen, even though it's mirrored in the little display window? IIRC, you can still see the scroll rate and so on, even if you can't read the individual words. I'm relying on shaky memory here, so forgive me if you've already tried that.
Also, sorry for getting shirty at you - I'm an arsehole, sometimes. Some would argue often, in fact, some people in this very thread. My apologies.
I tried PromptDog last year and it failed to match the talent window to the window I was reading from, so I couldn't be sure I was seeing exactly what the talent was reading and I never pursued it further than the one shoot I tried it on. Having to make sure I correctly sized the windows on every single shoot I'm on isn't worth the savings.
We didn't have that problem, but we were working on a hacked together setup which would have been altogether different to yours, so that's obviously not a guarantee it works. I might send of an e-mail to see if they've had that problem, and if they know how to solve it.
All it needs to do is have large letters scrolling down the screen at a controllable rate? That's pretty trivial to do with JavaScript and HTML can be exported from a word processor if you don't want to learn to write it.
QPro allows me to do full screen automatically, as well as sizing the talent window to fit exactly where I might want it on my own. If it does allow for mirroring the output without mirroring the laptop display it's buried deeply in a menu somewhere that I haven't found in all the years I've used it. I'm not denying the possibility but I do find it unlikely, especially since spending $976 plus shipping, I read the manual all the way through. Unfortunately the user manual doesn't cover every single section of the menus which irritates me to no end considering I just paid so much.
I'm sure that Promptdog is decent enough and can work, but when I bill half the cost of the software I'm already familiar with for one day's work, it's hard to be willing to screw around with a program that doesn't even count for two hours of work at the day rate I charge.
All it needs to do is have large letters scrolling down the screen at a controllable rate? That's pretty trivial to do with JavaScript and HTML can be exported from a word processor if you don't want to learn to write it.
It also needs to be able to:
Have markers in the script that can be jumped forward or back to if the talent needs to redo a take.
Text size must be easily and quickly adjustable.
Text must be white on black background, as well as quickly changed to green, yellow, red, blue, or any variation of those.
It has to be adjustable speed with some sort of wheel control so that it can scroll at almost a dead stop all the way up to being able to scroll faster to allow talent to read at their own pace while I keep the text that they are about to read on screen.
There are many more features necessary to good teleprompt software but those are among the most important.
I see the obvious market in writing a networked teleprompting system. Bonus points if it uses speech recognition to alter scroll speed
Autocue has one version that is higher up than what I use which does allow for network control, but I don't think it can do speech recognition. I think the reaction time necessary for gauging the speed with which to scroll, combined with the need to be able to speed past large words that take up more of the screen and slow down to allow for many short words per line might be difficult to recreate in a software setup.
QPro allows me to do full screen automatically, as well as sizing the talent window to fit exactly where I might want it on my own. If it does allow for mirroring the output without mirroring the laptop display it's buried deeply in a menu somewhere that I haven't found in all the years I've used it. I'm not denying the possibility but I do find it unlikely, especially since spending $976 plus shipping, I read the manual all the way through. Unfortunately the user manual doesn't cover every single section of the menus which irritates me to no end considering I just paid so much.
Wait, I think I might know this - It's under system options, Prompt engine, Settings, layout tab. I think it's near the bottom, there was a checkbox for flip image vertically. Located under the cue marker settings and scroll refresh rate, I think. I'm absolutely not sure - the last time I used it was in 2009, and it was the previous year version, but I seem to have a vague memory of it, so it might be worth a look - I doubt they've changed it THAT much. I think. Like I've said, I'm really not totally sure.
I got a better idea. How about you memorize your shit instead of using a prompter. I'm an amateur, and I never need a teleprompter, or even note cards. In plays and other live performances people never need prompters. They memorize the entire thing. Marching bands memorize music and moves simultaneously. I'll probably never need a prompter in my entire life.
I got a better idea. How about you memorize your shit instead of using a prompter.
Because it's often written for you to be repeated verbatim without much of a pre-read.
I'm an amateur, and I never need a teleprompter, or even note cards.
You don't do anything even close to what people using teleprompters do.
n plays and other live performances people never need prompters. They memorize the entire thing.
They memorize one play. Not an entire new play every day.
Marching bands memorize music and moves simultaneously.
Marching bands have a memorized repertoire of acts: not new ones every performance. AND, most marching bands are shitty and have sheet music on the field anyway.
I got a better idea. How about you memorize your shit instead of using a prompter. I'm an amateur, and I never need a teleprompter, or even note cards. In plays and other live performances people never need prompters. They memorize the entire thing. Marching bands memorize music and moves simultaneously. I'll probably never need a prompter in my entire life.
/trollin'
Well trolled. I think it's most commonly used where there is little to no turnaround time between the content being written and the person presenting it. Breaking news situations? I guess the only other solution is to hire someone who can be a TV news personality and write their own stories on the fly, but that didn't exactly work for Ron Burgundy.
Well trolled. I think it's most commonly used where there is little to no turnaround time between the content being written and the person presenting it. Breaking news situations? I guess the only other solution is to hire someone who can be a TV news personality and write their own stories on the fly, but that didn't exactly work for Ron Burgundy.
I don't know about you, but I can read a news story once or twice and then report on it, especially if I just read it some minutes ago. If I had a 24 hour news network, I would have maybe 6 or 7 anchors. While one is on TV the others are reading stories. They rotate. No prompters necessary.
In all seriousness, there is an alternative technology that is much simpler. For the price of a VGA flipping hardware device or a prompter, you can just get a wireless earpiece.
They haven't updated it, and that does flip the prompt window, but it flips it both for me and for the talent, so I'll just be reading backwards until I get either a pro prompter monitor, or the vga mirror device.
Don't encourage that, I need to work. Seriously though, all it takes to really muck up a shoot where the talent has fully memorized the script, is for one producer or advertising agency writer to decide to change a few small parts of the script, and you go from a 10hr shoot to 14hrs pretty easily. The $450($650 for presidential style prompting) it takes to have a teleprompter on a video shoot greatly saves on the potential overtime paid to the rest of the crew if the talent can't get through the script easily.
I don't know about you, but I can read a news story once or twice and then report on it, especially if I just read it some minutes ago.
Yeah, with umms and pauses and without a script. Try following a script on news you're unfamilar with.
I'm too busy trying to recall all the GeekNights moments where Scott's memory has been put in question, and I've only been listening for a year.
If you're reporting on a wide variety of topics, some of the phrases you speak could be completely alien to you. Try reading a list of extremely foreign-sounding names that you've never heard of before and then repeat it 15 minutes from now, verbatim.
If I'm unfamiliar with the news, I shouldn't be reporting on it.
Sometimes, it's your job to tell people what has happened, without having any prep time yourself. This is where a teleprompter is handy.
Rote memorization takes more time than you think it does, and especially where public speaking is involved, it's more worthwhile to focus your efforts on the delivery instead of the content.
I can just read words on paper. I don't need a public speaker to focus on reading words to me - I need a public speaker to focus on presenting that information to me. This is why we use teleprompters.
They haven't updated it, and that does flip the prompt window, but it flips it both for me and for the talent, so I'll just be reading backwards until I get either a pro prompter monitor, or the vga mirror device.
Both Yay memory, and Cock. I assume you can't read the script right way around from another part of the program, and just eyeball the window to gauge the scroll speed? I honestly don't know at this point, that was my last resort option. At least, my 5AM no-sleep-for-two-days last resort.
If I'm unfamiliar with the news, I shouldn't be reporting on it.
Why not? You're perfectly happy to do so for so many other things. For a prime example, the Automated Killing Machines show. Or when you were saying we should just assassinate Gaddafi.
They haven't updated it, and that does flip the prompt window, but it flips it both for me and for the talent, so I'll just be reading backwards until I get either a pro prompter monitor, or the vga mirror device.
Both Yay memory, and Cock. I assume you can't read the script right way around from another part of the program, and just eyeball the window to gauge the scroll speed? I honestly don't know at this point, that was my last resort option. At least, my 5AM no-sleep-for-two-days last resort.
If I'm unfamiliar with the news, I shouldn't be reporting on it.
Why not? You're perfectly happy to do so for so many other things. For a prime example, the Automated Killing Machines show. Or when you were saying we should just assassinate Gaddafi.
/openly trolling
I haven't tried running it in extended desktop mode so I can't say for sure, but I believe this version of the software doesn't allow for dual display modes. I have had to sit off to the side of the talent and read off the same monitor they read from in the past, when I worked at the equipment rental house, due to a repurposed computer that we didn't realize was in such poor disrepair that it couldn't display on two monitors at the same time. That was fun to show up to a shoot and find out it didn't work properly until it was too late to get a replacement out to me.
You apparently have Zero reading comprehension. You've had it explained to you why this is a stupid and particularly bad idea - In short, that it's incredibly difficult to pull off if you do it in the quietest way possible, and no matter how you achieve it, it is (to directly quote myself) a grave breach of the Geneva convention, and would therefore essentially be a war crime. If you either can't read, or refuse to read, then that's your choice to remain willfully ignorant so you can continue thinking you were right. Or, of course equally likely is that you're trolling, but with your previously displayed level of understanding of pretty much fucking anything about the military - 4/5ths of 5/8ths of fuck all - that is a hard call to make. But of course, either way, you're going to ignore that you've been corrected - or at least told why it's a really bad idea, and in practice, unworkable and not realistically possible - and then repeat your idiotic position the next time it comes up. At least I had the good grace to forget that I'd previously said something before when I stupidly repeat myself, instead of remaining willfully ignorant so that I can repeat it without having to change my position.
I haven't tried running it in extended desktop mode so I can't say for sure, but I believe this version of the software doesn't allow for dual display modes.
Man, that sucks, doubly so if it won't work with extended desktop mode. I wish I could come up with some clever hack-y solution to the problem, but I got nothing that hasn't already been suggested right now.
Comments
Otherwise, he wouldn't need the special glass - because the camera doesn't need to look through the teleprompter glass if it's not directly over the camera lens.
Edit: Where that works great is when the camera is on a jib. From that distance you can't tell that they're looking a few inches away from the lens.
EDIT - Got a response - apparently, they prefer Promptdog. It's sixty bucks.
http://www.autocue.com/teleprompters-QPro
And there are absolutely teleprompters that mirror the image without additional equipment, and they are capable of flipping the image horizontally, vertically, or showing it as seen on the computer.
I don't actually work on any particular show, I am a freelance video production tech, but my specialty is teleprompting. I've worked on infomercials, commercials, instructional videos, sports television coverage, as well as prompting for conferences with "presidential" style teleprompting setups.
Also, sorry for getting shirty at you - I'm an arsehole, sometimes. Some would argue often, in fact, some people in this very thread. My apologies. We didn't have that problem, but we were working on a hacked together setup which would have been altogether different to yours, so that's obviously not a guarantee it works. I might send of an e-mail to see if they've had that problem, and if they know how to solve it.
I'm sure that Promptdog is decent enough and can work, but when I bill half the cost of the software I'm already familiar with for one day's work, it's hard to be willing to screw around with a program that doesn't even count for two hours of work at the day rate I charge.
Have markers in the script that can be jumped forward or back to if the talent needs to redo a take.
Text size must be easily and quickly adjustable.
Text must be white on black background, as well as quickly changed to green, yellow, red, blue, or any variation of those.
It has to be adjustable speed with some sort of wheel control so that it can scroll at almost a dead stop all the way up to being able to scroll faster to allow talent to read at their own pace while I keep the text that they are about to read on screen.
There are many more features necessary to good teleprompt software but those are among the most important. Autocue has one version that is higher up than what I use which does allow for network control, but I don't think it can do speech recognition. I think the reaction time necessary for gauging the speed with which to scroll, combined with the need to be able to speed past large words that take up more of the screen and slow down to allow for many short words per line might be difficult to recreate in a software setup.
/trollin'
/bitin'.
In all seriousness, there is an alternative technology that is much simpler. For the price of a VGA flipping hardware device or a prompter, you can just get a wireless earpiece.
They haven't updated it, and that does flip the prompt window, but it flips it both for me and for the talent, so I'll just be reading backwards until I get either a pro prompter monitor, or the vga mirror device.
@gundabad
<15' extends to most shoots not in studio as well.
@Apreche
Don't encourage that, I need to work. Seriously though, all it takes to really muck up a shoot where the talent has fully memorized the script, is for one producer or advertising agency writer to decide to change a few small parts of the script, and you go from a 10hr shoot to 14hrs pretty easily. The $450($650 for presidential style prompting) it takes to have a teleprompter on a video shoot greatly saves on the potential overtime paid to the rest of the crew if the talent can't get through the script easily.
If you're reporting on a wide variety of topics, some of the phrases you speak could be completely alien to you. Try reading a list of extremely foreign-sounding names that you've never heard of before and then repeat it 15 minutes from now, verbatim.
Rote memorization takes more time than you think it does, and especially where public speaking is involved, it's more worthwhile to focus your efforts on the delivery instead of the content.
I can just read words on paper. I don't need a public speaker to focus on reading words to me - I need a public speaker to focus on presenting that information to me. This is why we use teleprompters.
/openly trolling