today we’re going to show you how to
build a DIY teleprompter that will let
you read out a script while you’re
looking right at the camera guys believe
it or not almost everything that we’ve
said on this channel has been without
the use of a teleprompter some of you
may be surprised to learn that because
in my first videos I was awkwardly
staring straight at the camera rarely
blinking or interacting with my
surroundings it was a struggle for a
while I’d like to think I’ve gotten
better and don’t need to do that anymore
however we are going to show you how to
build a teleprompter because they can be
very useful here’s the basic idea
using foam core hot glue and a sheet of
acrylic we can help you make a
teleprompter that will fit to your
camera and smartphone so guys a lot of
youtubers and a lot of people on TV use
teleprompters they’re incredibly useful
they make it really easy if you have a
lot of bullet points you’ve got to hit
really fast well you’ve got to memorize
that unless you have a teleprompter
teleprompters aren’t for every situation
if you’re acting on stage or screen
something like that then you can’t be
looking right at the camera which is
where the cues are usually going to be
scrolling but for anything where you’re
really trying to just focus on the
camera itself maybe vlogging or a DIY
video that has a lot to say it can
really save a lot of time so you don’t
have to just sit and memorize lines
forever the supplies you’ll need to
build this are actually very simple
we’ve got a sheet of acrylic this is an
8 by 10 sheet I picked up at the
hardware store for like less than 4
bucks we’ve got a sheet of craft foam
this stuff comes from Hobby Lobby cost
about a dollar 50 this is the thickest
stuff they have you could get something
a little bit thinner but I like it with
the thicker version we have a hot glue
gun pretty much any hot glue gun is
gonna work and then we also have foam
core this is the stuff that’s paper on
the outsides in like a styrofoam middle
we’ve got a clicking razor blade very
useful because if search get too dull
you can just break the tip off and keep
using the rest of it pencil it’s good
for marking things and this piece of
paper which we’re actually just going to
fold and use as a 45-degree angle guide
the other things you’re going to need
are a camera to film with and a
smartphone to run the teleprompter app
this app that I’m using is the parrot
teleprompter app the parrot teleprompter
is a commercially available version
of what we’re building today it’s a bit
more sturdy than what we are going to
build today but it costs quite a bit
more as well the app power is free so
that’s what we’re gonna be using with
our DIY version before we started this
build I reached out to a friend of mine
named Brigham who actually invented the
parrot teleprompter and I asked him some
questions about his design and invention
process so we could know what we were
getting into so the design itself is
actually deceptively simple but there
are some few basic things that you
really want to keep in mind when you’re
building one of these to make it
actually flawless one of those things is
the angle of your acrylic to make sure
that everything is actually lining up
correctly the other thing that you
really need to take into account is the
vignette you don’t want your camera lens
to catch the side of the box of the
teleprompter itself we’re going to want
to build this custom to our camera in
our phone every phone is going to be
different a lot of cameras are going to
be different you can see this right here
is the camera that our cameraman Mark
usually uses he’s currently using our
emergency backup camera so we can see
his primary camera and so we have to
build onto this so that it all works
smoothly so to start off we’re just
gonna cut some four inch strips of our
foam cork that’s a large enough size
that we can cut it down to what we need
but we won’t end up with any pieces that
are too small the first piece that we’re
gonna want to cut out of these that’s
actually going to be part of the body of
the teleprompter is gonna be the pieces
that hold our foam this is going to be
the basic idea here is we’re just gonna
have a slit a rectangular hole cut into
this that our phone fits in nicely and
that’s gonna hold it in place and just
generally do everything we want to in
terms of keeping our hardware where we
need it
[Music]
aha I measured correctly that’s actually
quite snugged as you can see it’s not
falling out like that that’s pretty good
thing and trim this I’m gonna give
myself too much space here it’s not
gonna be this tall this is just moving
on and now we need to build another one
exactly like that got our two pieces
that hold the phone however with my
particular phone I have the camera that
sticks out it’s it’s not quite flush
with the rest of the phone body and I
want it to fit just right so I’m
actually gonna cut that notch out as
well and I’ll show you why
so you can see here the width that the
teleprompter text runs at and we want t
encase it at about that width and so we
want this side to get in a little bit
closer but right now it’s bumping into
my camera so I need to cut a notch so it
doesn’t do that how did I do
so obviously we’re going to cut these
down to size but the next step is going
to be to cut some 45 degree angle slips
into the side that’s going to be what
holds our acrylic piece in place piece
of paper folded across diagonally should
give us a perfect 45 degree angle here
is where we’re going to want our piece
of acrylic we’ve got the piece of paper
and I’m just gonna set that right onto
the screen of the phone and then this
line when we can mark on the other side
we’ve got our 45 degree angle lines and
now we need to cut out a small slot the
same thickness as our acrylic sheet we
had the lines drawn longer than they
needed to be we don’t need to have this
extend all the way down off of the foam
core we’re gonna have it stop right here
a little bit above the height of the
phone we can see that it’s maybe five
millimeters above the height of the
phone screen and on the other end it
doesn’t need to extend all the way to
the end of the phone screen either so
we’re just gonna cut it off right about
here and all the light from the phone
will be shining up this direction this
is actually an interesting demonstration
right here about how exactly a
teleprompter works so our camera will be
filming this direction so we’ll have the
lens of the camera will be about right
here filming out here this is where the
person being filmed is bones Green is
down here pointing up the acrylic is
reflective but not as much as a mirror
so light coming off of our phone the
text that’s being written on it is going
to bounce up some of it is going to go
right through the acrylic and it’s just
gonna keep going that direction but some
of the light is gonna hit the acrylic
pane and at a 45 degree angle it’s going
to bounce off and remember this is where
we are over here so we’re going to be
able to see what’s on the phone screen
as it bounces off this way but because
of the angle the camera isn’t going to
see any of that light the phone isn’t
going to bounce light off the acrylic
this direction that just doesn’t happen
it’s only going to go either straight
through the acrylic or bounce off the
45-degree angle out towards us so a tip
for you if you’re ever cutting mat for
something that needs to look is really
really pretty make sure that you’re
cutting inwards you don’t want to ever
cut outwards towards the map you’re
gonna be keeping might end up with like
a ask or mark that you don’t want in
this case it doesn’t really matter but
for future efforts so you cut towards
the piece that isn’t going to matter so
now to know what size of acrylic we need
we’re gonna measure the cuts we’ve
already made now what we also have to
take into account is how far apart we
want these and again that depends on the
phone you’re using so we’ll start by
just cutting a four inch wide strip of
acrylic kind of like we did with our
pieces of foam core and we’ll then chop
it down to the right width after cutting
acrylic is more like scoring and
breaking acrylic you don’t slice all the
way through it you cut a deep enough
line that it’s slightly weaker there and
then you snap it over the corner of
something sharp
all right run several cuts down through
there and I mean I haven’t even cut one
quarter of the way through but it’s
enough weaker that I can now take the
acrylic put it over the edge of our
bench here very nice it just snaps
pretty clean in theory this now fits
into the slot we just cut so you want
just a little bit of extra acrylic on
the sides so we can adjust it as
necessary so I’m just lining up with one
screen
unfortunately acrylic overtime will get
scratches and dust on it unlike glass
but it is a lot easier to cut yeah we
don’t really need any height above the
top of the reflecting screen so let’s
mark right there and then cut both of
these posts off of that heights
[Music]
so if you have the tools for and if you
know how to cut glass you could use a
glass screen it would last a little bit
longer but acrylic is very easy to cut
very easy to handle cheap let’s measure
to put a roof onto this and before we
start gluing all the pieces together
there’s one more step one take we talked
about how we wanted to avoid then
getting that’s when there’s something on
the sides that’s showing up on screen
and I’m simulating it by just giving
myself blinders at the moment if these
are on the edge of the lens and they’re
too far forward then you’re gonna see
them on the sides and you’re not trying
to record this you just want it to be
there holding stuff so to make sure that
we don’t get any vignette in any
blocking of the visual we’re also gonna
cut out just a little bit of a curve
shape into these to try and minimize any
accidental encroaching on the sides
there you go and you normally will not
see that in movies but a really easy
example turn on your camera phone and
just put your hand to the side you’ll
see it in a situation like this less is
more
measure for the back
[Music]
before we attach the back however we
need to add something else we’re going
to have this back attached to the lens
of the camera and not just through the
foam we’re gonna be using our craft foam
as a collar that fits around the lens
because that way you won’t just be one
ringing around the lens but actually a
bit more of a collar here’s a one and a
half inch strip of our craft foam now
we’re just gonna measure around the lens
glue that into a circle that fits right
around it
[Music]
nice now there’s our back piece there
you go now we want to trace out same
shape the size of the foam not just the
lens but the foam itself that’s what’s
gonna be glued to this piece of foam
core the really nice part about working
with foam core and foam is it’s usually
pretty forgiving so even if it isn’t a
perfect circle I’m still gonna work
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
teleprompter box is mostly built there’s
one more thing that we might want to do
we can see how nicely it fits right over
that lens beautiful and the last thing
that we want to add on is a little bit
of support because the box itself is
actually quite lightweight once I add
the phone it’s gonna get a little bit
heavier and it can start to droop a
little bit and aside from that you’re
really putting more weight on the end of
the camera which is gonna make your
hands tired if you’re holding the camera
so we just want to add a little bit of
support on this one we’re gonna do is
we’re just gonna have a piece that
extends off of the bottom and rests up
against the base of the camera so if it
does try and tip it all its leverage is
pushing up against the bottom of the
camera bases should Center the weight so
it’s all much easier
and see what it looks like through the
teleprompter and you can see what it
looks like
from the other side through the camera
there’s our cameraman look it’s not
Grant’s wife so now we want to challenge
each other so the plan here is we are
both going to put something on the
teleprompter for the other person and
not tell them what its gonna be and then
see how it looks yeah well she does that
I want to talk a little bit about what
we’re seeing in that lens you may have
noticed that every letter is slightly
doubled it’s like there’s a shadow
behind the letters and that’s because
our acrylic has two sides that are
reflecting it’s not a very thick sheet
of plastic but the letters are
reflecting on one side of the acrylic
and then they’re reflecting off of the
back of the same side of the acrylic so
you do get a slight ghosting effect if
you’re using a professional-grade
teleprompter they have a few ways to get
around this one is by using piece of
glass and it will usually be a little
bit thinner and it’ll have a special
reflective coating applied to it in just
the right spots in just the right
amounts so that it reflects the words
nicely but you can still see through it
and you don’t get that doubled ghosting
effect this however works pretty well
for a cheap version you can throw
together and if you have decently large
text it’s not a big distraction good New
York I don’t know what it is I’m about
to read but I’m gonna give it a shot a
long time ago in a galaxy far far away
it is a period of civil war rebel
spaceships striking from a hidden base
have won their first victory against the
evil Galactic Empire that’s a nice title
crawl just spill right over there look
if you had one shot one opportunity to
seize everything you ever wanted one
moment would you capture there just let
it slip his palms are sweaty arms are
heavy there’s vomit on his sweater
already mom’s spaghetti he’s nervous but
on the surface he looks calm and ready
to drop bombs but he keeps on forgetting
what he wrote down the whole crowd goes
so loud I think we can do this
really I give you star wars you give me
mmm that song won an Oscar we went ahead
and modified one of our teleprompter
builds and now we just have this nice
little thing that we can drop a
smartphone into and use the built-in
camera on that it’s gonna do the same
thing you can film through the back
stays in place you can see everything
that the camera sees
thanks my friend Brigham for sharing
your experiences and what you learned as
you’re designing and inventing this
thing it’s a really cool version guys if
you aren’t going to be using this DIY
version if it’s something you think
you’re gonna use a lot every day or for
lots and lots of videos it’s probably
worth investing in a professional-grade
version rather than the DIY it’s got
some advantages but this is definitely
going to work if you’re just gonna be
using it occasionally
hey guys that’s all for today but you
know we’ve always got more for you to
see if you hit that box up at the top it
will take you directly to our last video
you should check that out the other box
will show you what YouTube thinks you
should be watching next and if you hit
that bottom in the middle you’ll be
subscribed to our channel so you never
miss out on the fun don’t forget to ring
that Bell and we’ll see you in the next one talk to you then
build a DIY teleprompter that will let
you read out a script while you’re
looking right at the camera guys believe
it or not almost everything that we’ve
said on this channel has been without
the use of a teleprompter some of you
may be surprised to learn that because
in my first videos I was awkwardly
staring straight at the camera rarely
blinking or interacting with my
surroundings it was a struggle for a
while I’d like to think I’ve gotten
better and don’t need to do that anymore
however we are going to show you how to
build a teleprompter because they can be
very useful here’s the basic idea
using foam core hot glue and a sheet of
acrylic we can help you make a
teleprompter that will fit to your
camera and smartphone so guys a lot of
youtubers and a lot of people on TV use
teleprompters they’re incredibly useful
they make it really easy if you have a
lot of bullet points you’ve got to hit
really fast well you’ve got to memorize
that unless you have a teleprompter
teleprompters aren’t for every situation
if you’re acting on stage or screen
something like that then you can’t be
looking right at the camera which is
where the cues are usually going to be
scrolling but for anything where you’re
really trying to just focus on the
camera itself maybe vlogging or a DIY
video that has a lot to say it can
really save a lot of time so you don’t
have to just sit and memorize lines
forever the supplies you’ll need to
build this are actually very simple
we’ve got a sheet of acrylic this is an
8 by 10 sheet I picked up at the
hardware store for like less than 4
bucks we’ve got a sheet of craft foam
this stuff comes from Hobby Lobby cost
about a dollar 50 this is the thickest
stuff they have you could get something
a little bit thinner but I like it with
the thicker version we have a hot glue
gun pretty much any hot glue gun is
gonna work and then we also have foam
core this is the stuff that’s paper on
the outsides in like a styrofoam middle
we’ve got a clicking razor blade very
useful because if search get too dull
you can just break the tip off and keep
using the rest of it pencil it’s good
for marking things and this piece of
paper which we’re actually just going to
fold and use as a 45-degree angle guide
the other things you’re going to need
are a camera to film with and a
smartphone to run the teleprompter app
this app that I’m using is the parrot
teleprompter app the parrot teleprompter
is a commercially available version
of what we’re building today it’s a bit
more sturdy than what we are going to
build today but it costs quite a bit
more as well the app power is free so
that’s what we’re gonna be using with
our DIY version before we started this
build I reached out to a friend of mine
named Brigham who actually invented the
parrot teleprompter and I asked him some
questions about his design and invention
process so we could know what we were
getting into so the design itself is
actually deceptively simple but there
are some few basic things that you
really want to keep in mind when you’re
building one of these to make it
actually flawless one of those things is
the angle of your acrylic to make sure
that everything is actually lining up
correctly the other thing that you
really need to take into account is the
vignette you don’t want your camera lens
to catch the side of the box of the
teleprompter itself we’re going to want
to build this custom to our camera in
our phone every phone is going to be
different a lot of cameras are going to
be different you can see this right here
is the camera that our cameraman Mark
usually uses he’s currently using our
emergency backup camera so we can see
his primary camera and so we have to
build onto this so that it all works
smoothly so to start off we’re just
gonna cut some four inch strips of our
foam cork that’s a large enough size
that we can cut it down to what we need
but we won’t end up with any pieces that
are too small the first piece that we’re
gonna want to cut out of these that’s
actually going to be part of the body of
the teleprompter is gonna be the pieces
that hold our foam this is going to be
the basic idea here is we’re just gonna
have a slit a rectangular hole cut into
this that our phone fits in nicely and
that’s gonna hold it in place and just
generally do everything we want to in
terms of keeping our hardware where we
need it
[Music]
aha I measured correctly that’s actually
quite snugged as you can see it’s not
falling out like that that’s pretty good
thing and trim this I’m gonna give
myself too much space here it’s not
gonna be this tall this is just moving
on and now we need to build another one
exactly like that got our two pieces
that hold the phone however with my
particular phone I have the camera that
sticks out it’s it’s not quite flush
with the rest of the phone body and I
want it to fit just right so I’m
actually gonna cut that notch out as
well and I’ll show you why
so you can see here the width that the
teleprompter text runs at and we want t
encase it at about that width and so we
want this side to get in a little bit
closer but right now it’s bumping into
my camera so I need to cut a notch so it
doesn’t do that how did I do
so obviously we’re going to cut these
down to size but the next step is going
to be to cut some 45 degree angle slips
into the side that’s going to be what
holds our acrylic piece in place piece
of paper folded across diagonally should
give us a perfect 45 degree angle here
is where we’re going to want our piece
of acrylic we’ve got the piece of paper
and I’m just gonna set that right onto
the screen of the phone and then this
line when we can mark on the other side
we’ve got our 45 degree angle lines and
now we need to cut out a small slot the
same thickness as our acrylic sheet we
had the lines drawn longer than they
needed to be we don’t need to have this
extend all the way down off of the foam
core we’re gonna have it stop right here
a little bit above the height of the
phone we can see that it’s maybe five
millimeters above the height of the
phone screen and on the other end it
doesn’t need to extend all the way to
the end of the phone screen either so
we’re just gonna cut it off right about
here and all the light from the phone
will be shining up this direction this
is actually an interesting demonstration
right here about how exactly a
teleprompter works so our camera will be
filming this direction so we’ll have the
lens of the camera will be about right
here filming out here this is where the
person being filmed is bones Green is
down here pointing up the acrylic is
reflective but not as much as a mirror
so light coming off of our phone the
text that’s being written on it is going
to bounce up some of it is going to go
right through the acrylic and it’s just
gonna keep going that direction but some
of the light is gonna hit the acrylic
pane and at a 45 degree angle it’s going
to bounce off and remember this is where
we are over here so we’re going to be
able to see what’s on the phone screen
as it bounces off this way but because
of the angle the camera isn’t going to
see any of that light the phone isn’t
going to bounce light off the acrylic
this direction that just doesn’t happen
it’s only going to go either straight
through the acrylic or bounce off the
45-degree angle out towards us so a tip
for you if you’re ever cutting mat for
something that needs to look is really
really pretty make sure that you’re
cutting inwards you don’t want to ever
cut outwards towards the map you’re
gonna be keeping might end up with like
a ask or mark that you don’t want in
this case it doesn’t really matter but
for future efforts so you cut towards
the piece that isn’t going to matter so
now to know what size of acrylic we need
we’re gonna measure the cuts we’ve
already made now what we also have to
take into account is how far apart we
want these and again that depends on the
phone you’re using so we’ll start by
just cutting a four inch wide strip of
acrylic kind of like we did with our
pieces of foam core and we’ll then chop
it down to the right width after cutting
acrylic is more like scoring and
breaking acrylic you don’t slice all the
way through it you cut a deep enough
line that it’s slightly weaker there and
then you snap it over the corner of
something sharp
all right run several cuts down through
there and I mean I haven’t even cut one
quarter of the way through but it’s
enough weaker that I can now take the
acrylic put it over the edge of our
bench here very nice it just snaps
pretty clean in theory this now fits
into the slot we just cut so you want
just a little bit of extra acrylic on
the sides so we can adjust it as
necessary so I’m just lining up with one
screen
unfortunately acrylic overtime will get
scratches and dust on it unlike glass
but it is a lot easier to cut yeah we
don’t really need any height above the
top of the reflecting screen so let’s
mark right there and then cut both of
these posts off of that heights
[Music]
so if you have the tools for and if you
know how to cut glass you could use a
glass screen it would last a little bit
longer but acrylic is very easy to cut
very easy to handle cheap let’s measure
to put a roof onto this and before we
start gluing all the pieces together
there’s one more step one take we talked
about how we wanted to avoid then
getting that’s when there’s something on
the sides that’s showing up on screen
and I’m simulating it by just giving
myself blinders at the moment if these
are on the edge of the lens and they’re
too far forward then you’re gonna see
them on the sides and you’re not trying
to record this you just want it to be
there holding stuff so to make sure that
we don’t get any vignette in any
blocking of the visual we’re also gonna
cut out just a little bit of a curve
shape into these to try and minimize any
accidental encroaching on the sides
there you go and you normally will not
see that in movies but a really easy
example turn on your camera phone and
just put your hand to the side you’ll
see it in a situation like this less is
more
measure for the back
[Music]
before we attach the back however we
need to add something else we’re going
to have this back attached to the lens
of the camera and not just through the
foam we’re gonna be using our craft foam
as a collar that fits around the lens
because that way you won’t just be one
ringing around the lens but actually a
bit more of a collar here’s a one and a
half inch strip of our craft foam now
we’re just gonna measure around the lens
glue that into a circle that fits right
around it
[Music]
nice now there’s our back piece there
you go now we want to trace out same
shape the size of the foam not just the
lens but the foam itself that’s what’s
gonna be glued to this piece of foam
core the really nice part about working
with foam core and foam is it’s usually
pretty forgiving so even if it isn’t a
perfect circle I’m still gonna work
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
teleprompter box is mostly built there’s
one more thing that we might want to do
we can see how nicely it fits right over
that lens beautiful and the last thing
that we want to add on is a little bit
of support because the box itself is
actually quite lightweight once I add
the phone it’s gonna get a little bit
heavier and it can start to droop a
little bit and aside from that you’re
really putting more weight on the end of
the camera which is gonna make your
hands tired if you’re holding the camera
so we just want to add a little bit of
support on this one we’re gonna do is
we’re just gonna have a piece that
extends off of the bottom and rests up
against the base of the camera so if it
does try and tip it all its leverage is
pushing up against the bottom of the
camera bases should Center the weight so
it’s all much easier
and see what it looks like through the
teleprompter and you can see what it
looks like
from the other side through the camera
there’s our cameraman look it’s not
Grant’s wife so now we want to challenge
each other so the plan here is we are
both going to put something on the
teleprompter for the other person and
not tell them what its gonna be and then
see how it looks yeah well she does that
I want to talk a little bit about what
we’re seeing in that lens you may have
noticed that every letter is slightly
doubled it’s like there’s a shadow
behind the letters and that’s because
our acrylic has two sides that are
reflecting it’s not a very thick sheet
of plastic but the letters are
reflecting on one side of the acrylic
and then they’re reflecting off of the
back of the same side of the acrylic so
you do get a slight ghosting effect if
you’re using a professional-grade
teleprompter they have a few ways to get
around this one is by using piece of
glass and it will usually be a little
bit thinner and it’ll have a special
reflective coating applied to it in just
the right spots in just the right
amounts so that it reflects the words
nicely but you can still see through it
and you don’t get that doubled ghosting
effect this however works pretty well
for a cheap version you can throw
together and if you have decently large
text it’s not a big distraction good New
York I don’t know what it is I’m about
to read but I’m gonna give it a shot a
long time ago in a galaxy far far away
it is a period of civil war rebel
spaceships striking from a hidden base
have won their first victory against the
evil Galactic Empire that’s a nice title
crawl just spill right over there look
if you had one shot one opportunity to
seize everything you ever wanted one
moment would you capture there just let
it slip his palms are sweaty arms are
heavy there’s vomit on his sweater
already mom’s spaghetti he’s nervous but
on the surface he looks calm and ready
to drop bombs but he keeps on forgetting
what he wrote down the whole crowd goes
so loud I think we can do this
really I give you star wars you give me
mmm that song won an Oscar we went ahead
and modified one of our teleprompter
builds and now we just have this nice
little thing that we can drop a
smartphone into and use the built-in
camera on that it’s gonna do the same
thing you can film through the back
stays in place you can see everything
that the camera sees
thanks my friend Brigham for sharing
your experiences and what you learned as
you’re designing and inventing this
thing it’s a really cool version guys if
you aren’t going to be using this DIY
version if it’s something you think
you’re gonna use a lot every day or for
lots and lots of videos it’s probably
worth investing in a professional-grade
version rather than the DIY it’s got
some advantages but this is definitely
going to work if you’re just gonna be
using it occasionally
hey guys that’s all for today but you
know we’ve always got more for you to
see if you hit that box up at the top it
will take you directly to our last video
you should check that out the other box
will show you what YouTube thinks you
should be watching next and if you hit
that bottom in the middle you’ll be
subscribed to our channel so you never
miss out on the fun don’t forget to ring
that Bell and we’ll see you in the next one talk to you then
Please follow and like us: