The person on camera in a corporate video is usually there for what they know. It’s the head of HR recording the welcome for new hires, or the plant manager explaining a new safety rule.
They agreed to it in a meeting weeks ago and have dreaded it since. On the day they walk into a room full of lights, see a lens and four people watching, and their voice goes up half an octave.
Light and framing have their own guide, and so does reading a teleprompter. This one is about helping someone who isn’t an actor sound like themselves.
In short
- Most nerves come from not knowing what will happen, and a 15-minute call a few days before takes care of a lot of it.
- Build the text from phrases they’d say anyway, or give them three or four points instead of a script to memorize.
- Choose between an interview and a piece to camera per person, not per project.
- On the day, keep the room small, roll from the first take and start every note with what worked.
- When someone stays stiff on the prompter, switch to questions and keep the prompter for lines that must be exact.
A short call a few days before
Most nerves come from not knowing what will happen. A 15-minute call with the person who’ll be on camera, a few days ahead, takes care of a lot of it. Talk to them directly, not only to the marketing contact who booked the shoot.
Cover four things:
- What the video is for and who will watch it. A welcome for new hires needs a different tone from a message to the board.
- What they’ll say or what you’ll ask. For an interview, send the topics and keep the exact questions for the day. For a scripted piece, tell them the text arrives early and they can change any phrase that doesn’t sound like them.
- How the day works: where, when, for how long and who will be in the room. Say that the first takes are a warm-up and nobody expects them to be good.
- What to wear. Solid colors, something they’d wear to an important meeting, and a second option in the bag. The pre-production checklist has the rest.
Then ask whether they’ve been filmed before and how it went. Someone who had a bad time with a crew will usually say so, and you’ll know where to go gently. A testimonial call has another job, finding the story, covered in our testimonial interview questions.
Use their words instead of a memorized script
Asking someone who isn’t an actor to memorize a script is the quickest route to a stiff video. Remembering takes all their attention, so they think about the next word instead of what they mean. When a line goes, the whole take goes with it.
Build the text from what they’d say anyway. On the call, ask them to explain the subject as they would to a new colleague, and write down the phrases that come out on their own. A sentence they’d never say in a meeting, like “we’re excited to leverage our synergies”, will sound wrong however much they rehearse it.
For many people a few points work better than a full text. They know the subject and only need the order. Three or four points plus the one sentence that has to be exact, like a figure or a line from legal, often beat a page read word for word.
If a new phrasing touches a number or a promise, clear it with whoever approved the script before the shoot.
Interview or piece to camera, chosen per person
In an interview, the person answers questions from someone sitting beside the lens, and the interviewer’s voice gets cut. In a piece to camera, they talk to the viewer through the lens, usually with a prompter.
Choose per person, not per project. Someone who tells a good story when asked but turns formal when told to “present” will do better in an interview, because answering questions is something they do every day.
Someone who likes structure, or has to announce something exact like a policy change, may be calmer with the text in front of them.
A video with several employees can mix the two, as long as each person stays in one format.
If you’re unsure, plan the piece to camera and keep a few questions in your pocket. Dropping a script for questions is easy on the day. The reverse is much harder.
On the day, fewer people and a slow start
Keep the room small. Anyone not needed for the take waits outside, including the client contact, who can watch a monitor out of the person’s eyeline.
Colleagues are the hardest audience, since they’ll be having lunch together tomorrow. Close the door, and if the room has a glass wall onto the corridor, shoot facing away from it.
Talk before you roll. While the mic goes on, chat about something they know well, like their team or the project. People relax talking about what they’re good at, and you get to hear their normal voice.
Roll from the first take and say why: “We’ll do a couple to warm up.” Take two is often one of the best of the day, because they think it doesn’t count yet.
Leave water within reach and out of shot, since nerves dry the mouth. Stop for a few minutes when the voice tightens or the shoulders creep up.
Notes between takes that keep confidence up
Start with what worked, and be specific. “The way you explained the second step was exactly right, keep that” is believable. A “great!” after a take everyone knows was bad tells the person you’re managing their mood.
Then give one change, phrased as something to do. The teleprompter guide covers how to word notes and when not to stop a take.
Never discuss the take with the client in front of the person. Two people whispering by the monitor look like bad news, whatever they’re saying. Client notes come to you, and you pass on the ones that matter.
When you ask for another take, give a reason that isn’t a verdict. “One more, I want it a bit tighter” or “there was a noise outside” lets them go again without feeling they failed.
Think twice before showing playback to someone nervous. Few people enjoy watching themselves, and seeing the early takes tends to make the next ones worse. If they ask, show a good one.
When to drop the teleprompter
Some people read well from a prompter after a couple of takes. Others never will. Their eyes track along the lines, the voice goes flat, and the fourth take is no better than the first.
The clearest sign is someone who’s relaxed when you chat between takes and stiff the moment the text starts rolling.
When you see it, switch calmly. Tell them plenty of people speak better without text, then sit beside the lens and ask the questions that lead to each part of the script. Keep the prompter for lines that must be exact, such as a figure or a product name, and record them as short pickups.
An interview gives the editor more material and more joins to hide, so it takes longer to cut and needs a second angle or cutaways. Tell the client before you wrap, so the longer edit doesn’t come as a surprise.
How this works in RecReview
In RecReview, the teleprompter opens from the shoot plan, and each video block gets its text when you choose. “Use the task’s script” brings in the latest script without on-screen text, camera directions or speaker names, and “Type text” lets you write your own, even just the four points and the exact line.
When the presenter wants to say something their way, you edit the text on the spot and every screen gets the change.
Screens join with a QR code or a link, with no login, and each one has its own mirror setting. The operator controls the scroll and its speed from the laptop, so the text waits while the person thinks, and sets text size, margin, bold and alignment from the same place.
The presenter’s screen shows how much of the block has gone and how much is left, estimated from the script.
For a note during a take, the operator types up to 120 characters and the message appears in large type on an amber banner at the bottom of the presenter’s screen until it’s taken down. You type each one yourself, like “Lovely, a bit slower here”.
With the timer on, you can also hide the text and leave only a large timer, for someone speaking from memory who still has to keep to time. The teleprompter page has the rest.
