- Today I'm going to reveal a secret,
and, this isn't clickbait, sometimes, not all the time
but sometimes, I don't memorize every word
that I wanna say in my videos.
Sometimes, I use a teleprompter.
But the prompter doesn't have to be a word for word reading
of a script.
I use it as a guide to keep myself on track
while still allowing for that natural authenticity.
If you're not familiar with what a teleprompter does,
it's basically a one way mirror that sits at an angle
in front of your camera.
And then it reflects a display from below,
which is usually a script or sometimes directions
but it can also be images or even like a live monitor
of what's happening.
And that lets the person in front of the camera
read the information without taking their eyes
off of the lens.
This is the Glide Gear TMP 100
and no, this is not a sponsored video,
I just searched for prompters on Amazon and found this one.
I've been using the Glide Gear overhead rig
for about a year and a half and I really liked that
so I thought I would give this a try too
because they seem to make pretty good stuff.
So the best part though, about this prompter
is that it sells for about $200, which is a crazy good deal.
It's relatively easy to set up and it includes
a camera mount, the mirror, a blackout clock
to go around your camera's lens and a holder
for a smartphone or a tablet.
It's made out of all metal and glass
and it seems like it'll last a while,
I've been using it for about six months,
and it's held up great.
And just for reference, we use three
professional teleprompters every day at work
and each one of those costs $1700 individually
and granted they each have their own built in display,
they have a much larger mirror.
They have this super heavy duty camera mounting system,
but, they also require a separate person
to control the script from a connected computer
and even though they have more features,
and have a bit better build quality,
I honestly have never understood why those prompters
cost as much as they do.
So compared to $1700, $200 for a teleprompter is a steal.
Now, there are a lot of variables
that determine whether or not a teleprompter
would improve your workflow.
But for what I do, I've personally found it
to be a really huge help and I don't use it
on every single video but for technical tutorials
or review videos, like this one,
where there's like these all these specific points
that I wanna hit, it really does make a world of difference.
So like in the past, if I made something like a review video
that came out to eight to 10 minutes when it was edited,
the unedited, like talking part, like this,
would sometimes go for like 30 or 40 minutes.
And the first time I use this prompter,
that unedited footage came out to 11 minutes, like 11,
so it really saved a ton of time.
And, most importantly, it kept me on track
and made sure that I hit every point in the video
that I wanted to.
But, to be totally honest, the prompter itself
is really only half of the equation.
Good software is what actually makes it a usable tool
and I've been using an app called PromptSmart pro
that costs about $20 in app store,
and it works really well.
It's actually much more reliable than the software
that came with our pro more expensive prompters at work.
But the best feature of the app
is that it's voice activated, so that means
you can use the prompter as a one person crew,
and the script will advance at whatever pace you read,
that's just super duper helpful.
And you don't necessarily have to even write a full script,
you can just create bullet points and the apple will advance
the script whenever you say, a specific phrase
that's on the screen.
The app does sometimes stutter and freeze
so it can be a little bit buggy, but it works well overall
and what I've been doing is just writing my scripts
in the Notes app on my phone or my computer,
and then just pasting them into the prompter app
when I'm ready to film.
Even though this prompter does accommodate a tablet,
which sounds awesome, I actually do prefer to use my phone,
since the smaller screen of a phone, directs my attention
more specifically towards the camera lens.
So that reduces the chance that you're gonna notice
eyes moving back and forth, as I'm reading
and to be totally honest too, I try to just,
get the gist of what's on screen and then put it you know,
naturally into my own way of speaking
and not just robotically read word for word
what's popping up on the script.
But, making it less obvious that you're reading
off a prompter is important.
And if you've never used a prompter before,
it definitely does take a bit of practice.
It doesn't feel natural at first, just like,
sitting in front of a camera doesn't feel natural at first
and to be totally honest, I'm always a bit wary
of bringing new tools into my workflow
because I don't want to screw anything up.
But so far this one has been nothing but positive
and kinda like I mentioned earlier,
I don't use it for every single video, for example,
something like the Maverick mini review that I did
where I talked about this super cool little drone.
There's no prompter on that, I just had some notes
that I kinda went off.
Some other videos or tutorials
that I'm super well versed in,
I just like to be more conversational in style.
Even what I'm saying right now is not in the script,
I'm just sort of saying things that I want to say.
But there are definitely times and videos and projects
where the prompter is a total lifesaver.
So going off of that if you've never
written a script before, it's important to be careful
with keeping things natural sounding.
Sometimes we don't realize how different our language is
when speaking versus writing and I've heard people read
very well written scripts that sound completely unnatural.
So, if you're going to use a prompter,
be sure to write a script in a way that will sound natural
as you read it aloud.
This might mean sort of bending some of the rules of grammar
and language, to be a bit more authentic
because you do wanna sound like a genuinely
authentic human, and not some soulless robot.
(playful music)