The general feeling from news reporters was one of enthusiasm. I even had a small curious group of journalists, co-workers, come over and inspect the Autocue iPad teleprompter during my tests. I wanted to know if the glass could be subject to flare outside of a studio setting. Gathering Outsideĭuring my tests I took the teleprompter outside into various conditions to see how well it work. For the controlled, and the smaller projects, the app will work just fine. I feel like the Autocue app is best for environments with a little bit more control and less likely for sweeping changes a live news broadcast may experience. There you can update and change the teleprompter on the fly. Clearly, one is not going to have the luxury of a connected iNews system like an in-house newsroom may use. My producers and I did discuss what a longer script could entail which would be necessary for a whole news show at a remote location. I found the app easy to write in, but I am mostly working on short spots. The second producer had an iPad Mini on hand so the problem was solved quickly. I ran into a problem with 0ne of my producer’s who had an older iPad, might be original, and he could not download the correct app. For you to use your iPad Mini or iPad, you have to make sure your OS can download the Autocue app. This could have happened because I was using the closest available screwdriver, but that’s likely to happen on a shoot day too. In one set-up, while adjusting the camera platform’s height, I had mauled the screws simply because my screwdriver was popping out of the head. The only thing I could see changing with the equipment is the use of flathead screws. Then I took another thirty minutes to fine tune camera height, glass height, and balancing the teleprompter on my Miller Tripod. I had the teleprompter out of the box and on a tripod in less than thirty minutes. Mechanically, the iPad Autocue is rather simple. I only turned to the included USB stick with directions on it to check my work. Directions? I tend to turn to them only when I become “bewildered.” In seconds, I felt like I understood how to piece together the Autocue. I consider myself pretty apt with the technical. Compared to my memory of older, larger, teleprompters the smaller iPad version is much more portable. In the video below, you can see how small, but not too small, the iPad teleprompter is. Below, I have included the set-up video Autocue provides on their website. I could see myself keeping one of these in a pelican case at the ready without adding too much bulk or weight to the equipment truck. Everything else is easily folded to reduce space. The largest piece of the kit is the glass. The iPad teleprompter was about the perfect size to compliment a Blackmagic URSA Mini to give you an idea about its size. I’m used to large and bulky teleprompters. What I found was a little bit of a surprise to me. I took Autocue’s starter series iPad Teleprompter package for a spin to see just how easy it was to set up, and how likely I would be to use it often. With a little preparation, one can use a simple-to-use Autocue teleprompter to help their on-camera talent present the script with confidence. Depending on the on-camera talent, this can be a relatively smooth process of something more akin to a “time-suck.” This almost never goes smoothly and we have to break up the script into easily digestible chunks. There is not a single day I do not shoot at least one person who is looking straight down the barrel of my lens as they try to recite the script verbatim. We’re talking about commercials, news promos, and image spots. It saves time and time on set is a premium. Let me tell you why a good teleprompter can help you be better. I’m talking about teleprompters, specifically Autocue’s iPad Teleprompter. Nope, this review is about a piece of gear that helps you get a job done well. This gear is not defined by “K’s” or surrounded in the mysterious qualities of the glass found within. Then there is the gear that just makes a shooter’s life easier. Sometimes, new gear can even excite us shooters and help us reach a deeper well of enthusiasm. 4K, URSA Minis, Red Weapons, Vintage Lenses, and much more are inspiring pieces of gear which may help us do our jobs well.
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