Adam Juniper dot com

If you’ve ever had to work with on-screen talent too busy to learn their lines, but haven’t had the budget for a teleprompter (or autocue), then why not build your own? And I don’t just mean having the laptop propped up near the lens displaying the words in sequence. While you can do this (and indeed there is browser-based app at CuePrompter which achieves this on Mac and PC), it’s much better to reflect the words the presenter needs directly in front of the lens using glass, just as a studio prompter does.

Teleprompter cutout

All that is required to pull this off is a sheet of glass, which you can swipe from a spare clip frame, and a sheet of thick cardboard to cut and fold to form the box. The card should be black on the inside to ensure no light is reflected onto the lens-side of the glass. Score the card along the fold lines (the outside), then put gaffer tape over them so they don’t tear when you fold them.

Note that the diagonal, the point at which the piece of glass will be attached (again, gaffer tape should do the trick), must be as tall as your screen, and wide enough to accommodate its reflection at 45 degrees. You can measure it, or do the maths yourself (this site is helpful) if you know your screen’s aspect ratio (most TVs are 16:9, most computer monitors 16:10, most old TV’s and monitors, 4:3). It flows like this:

1) Take diagonal measurement (this has always been the manufacturers’ favourite as it sounds bigger).

2) Find out the width and height using trig. To help, the angles for a 16:10 screen are 32 and 58 (and 90, obviously). For a 15inch screen, the base measurement is 12.72 inches.

3) With the base measurement as one of the shorter sides of a 90:45:45-degree triangle, you’ll need to work out the long one. This is the square root of 2(base*base) , or in the case of the 15-inch screen as close to 17 inches as makes no difference.

Now you’ve got your measurements, you can draw out the net onto a piece of card, cut it on the edges and score it on the fold lines.

Once constructed, it can be placed atop a laptop and keyboard (some Blue Tac to keep it above the keys is a good idea). The laptop, running your choice of prompter program that can do horizontal mirroring (Presentation Prompter is free for use up to 3 minutes, so a good choice if you’re getting started). You can copy-paste text straight from a script, edit it in normal view, then switch to mirrored playback. You can use the keyboard or a mouse to alter the speed, so it’s a good idea to have a quiet external keyboard  to hand.

I’ll publish a photo soon, but I’ve got to admit that my first version, though it did the trick, was less than attractive to look at.

Is it possible to shoot video with a Canon 350D (or Digital Rebel, 400D, 450D, or any number of pre-video SLRs)? Yes. They are all supplied with the necessary software and cabling to shoot time-lapse films.

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Is it fun? Yes. For the sake of a couple of hours not really being able to use your computer or camera you’ll be presented with a really neat little video clip that helps bring any project to life. In the example I admit that I just pointed the camera out of my window at my local corner shop, but even then the effect is enthralling; watching the shadows slowly creep across the ground, the vehicles shoot by, and — near the end — someone deciding to have a sit down next to the cake shop.

How is all this achieved? It’s actually terribly simple. All you’ll need is Canon’s original software, your USB cable, and the camera:

1) Fully charge your camera’s battery – sadly it doesn’t take it’s power from the USB.

2) Connect the camera and computer using the USB cable.

3) Set up the camera pointing towards your subject and launch the Canon EOS Utility. (If this is your download app, it might be wise to set a different target folder in Preferences.)

4) Use the mock LCD display to adjust your camera’s settings; click once on a setting icon, then use the left and right buttons beneath to pick a setting. (The camera’s physical control dial is set on Manual). Remember as you do this that the light will likely change over time – manual settings mean that you’ll see this reflected in your video getting brighter or darker.

5) Take a test shot by clicking on the Shutter icon big round one). You can then preview the file on your computer screen.

6) Choose Tool > Timer Shooting from the menu and set up the speed of your sequence. The delay time lets you set a pause (in minutes and seconds) before the first shot is taken. The Shooting interval, is the number of seconds between each shot. I went for 20, and 500 shots (though as it turned out my camera’s battery didn’t quite have that in it). When you’re ready, click start.

7) Click Start. A small delay time will allow you to retire without knocking your camera.

When you’re done, open QuickTime Pro (yes, sorry, Pro), and choose File > Open Image Sequence. Pick the first file and click OK. You’ll then be asked to choose a frame rate. 25 for Europeans, 30 for Americans, and 24 for film-lovers!

9) To create a movie file, click File > Export and allow QuickTime Pro to create one to your specifications. Use the options button to make advanced choices, including that to either crop or letterbox to preserve the aspect ratio, otherwise you’ll end up with a squashed picture (as I did here!).

And there you go, QuickTime automatically opens files that are sequentially numbered, and the camera automatically numbers it’s files sequentially. Until they’re exported, however, they’re not compressed into a traditional video format, so very hard to play on anything less than a supercomputer.

My site has been more static than a balloon that’s been rubbed against a jumper for four hours, but it’s time things changed. Rather than just advertising my services, it’s time for this site to offer something of use to everyone (well, everyone with a camera, camcorder, or who shares any other of my passions). To that end I’m going to start putting some fun tutorials upon this site, as well as my YouTube channel, starting with the world’s easiest and cheapest Teleprompter (or Auto Cue).