Regardless of whether the shoot is held in a studio, in an office or on the street, the same number 1 rule applies . . . safety first.
Look out for cables on the floor, light stands, hazardous rigging and awkwardly placed props.
Try to avoid contacting the lights. Bright and very, very hot!
Upon your arrival, the Director will acquaint you with all the details on how the set is actually set up and make all the necessary introductions with the crew.
For a shoot involving the use of a teleprompter, the crew will usually consist of at least four members. The teleprompter operator, the sound operator, the camera operator and the Director.
You probably won’t play a part in any of the technical matters and most of the tricky stuff will be for before you get there and after the shoot is done.
First port of call will be wardrobe and makeup. If you have any alterations or additions to the script though, make sure the teleprompter operator gets these as quickly as possible.
The teleprompter’s main job is converting a screen of computer output into a smooth, scrolling page of text to project into your screen. Teleprompters only have very basic editing functions, so the more time the operator has to make additions, the better. Individual words are fairly easy to edit, but if you need to add new text blocks or whole pages, then that new addition has to be physically entered, whether typed or copied from a source.
When the set is ready, the script is ready and you are ready, grab a glass of water (not too cold) and when the Director says “3-2-1″ . . . it’s time for action.
When you are ready to bring your presentations in-house, use professional teleprompter software . . . it will make a huge difference to the success of your production.