TellieField notes
How to read a script while looking at the camera.
The trick is not a better memory. It is distance. The closer your words sit to the lens, the more reading looks like eye contact. Here is how to set that up on a Mac, plus a few habits that make a script sound like you.
Put the words as close to the lens as you can
Your audience can tell you are reading by where your eyes go, not by the fact that you are reading. A script in a window halfway down the screen pulls your gaze down and away. A script an inch under the camera keeps your eyes almost exactly where they would be if you were looking at the person.
On a MacBook, the closest spot to the lens is the notch. That is why Tellie hangs your script from it. On a Mac with a separate webcam, put the text directly under wherever the camera sits. Tellie can live at the top center of any display, so with a webcam on top of your monitor, your words end up right beneath it.
Keep the column narrow
Wide lines make your eyes sweep left and right, and that sweep shows on camera. A narrow column, a few words per line, lets you read with tiny movements that look like you are simply paying attention. If you can read a whole line without moving your head, the column is the right width.
Make the text big enough to glance at
If you have to lean in or squint, the camera sees it. Size the text so a glance is enough, and cut the lines on screen to the few you need right now rather than a whole page.
Stop chasing the scroll
A fixed-speed scroll is the other thing that gives readers away: you speed up to catch it, or stall while it runs ahead. A prompter that follows your voice removes that. Tellie's Voice Follow listens to the words you actually say and keeps the line you are on at the same spot by the lens. Pause, and it waits. Answer a question, and it picks up where you return.
Write it the way you talk
- Short sentences. They are easier to glance at and easier to say.
- Notes to yourself. In Tellie, anything in square brackets, like [pause] or [smile], shows up as a cue and never waits for you to say it.
- Points, not paragraphs, where you can. If you know the material, mark the points you must hit and talk freely between them. Stagehand checks each one off when you make it, in your own words.
The scripting guide shows all three marks in two minutes.
Keep the script private
On a call, the script should be for you alone. Tellie is hidden from screen sharing and recording by macOS, so you can share your whole screen in Zoom, Teams or Meet and nobody sees the words. For a video, the same goes for QuickTime, OBS and Loom.
Still wondering
Can people tell when you are reading from a screen?
Usually by your eyes, not your voice. When the text is far from the camera, your gaze drops or drifts sideways. With the words right under the lens and a narrow column, the movement is small enough to look like normal eye contact.
Where should a teleprompter go on a MacBook?
As close to the camera as possible, which on a MacBook means at the notch. Tellie hangs your script from the notch for exactly that reason.
Does this work with an external webcam?
Yes. Put the text directly under the camera. Tellie sits at the top center of any display, so with a webcam on top of your monitor your script ends up right beneath it.
How do I keep my place if I pause or go off script?
Use a prompter that follows your voice. Tellie Pro matches the words you say to your script, waits when you pause, and picks up where you return. Every download includes Pro free for 10 days.
Will viewers see my script if I share my screen?
Not with Tellie. It is hidden from screen sharing, screen recording and screenshots, so Zoom, Teams, Meet, QuickTime, OBS and Loom never capture it.
Look at them, not at your notes.
Tellie puts your script an inch from your MacBook camera and keeps it off the screen share. Free to download, with Pro free for 10 days.
Download Free for Mac