Television crib

By Michael Zhitomirsky, Ludmila Berezentseva

Review contents:

Prompting: it is not only for the news Television crib Portable teleprompter ART-5 for studio and field shooting Acoustical prompter ART-9 Prompter systems from Autocue Company BDLAutoscript Teleprompters Software for TeleScreen-32 Pro teleprompters from DRS-DigiTrax Systems from Electronic Script Prompting Company Inteliprompter Software Engenius Prompting Mirror Image teleptompters Teleprompters of Stewart Instruments VSS-2 Teleprompter Color TFT LCD Teleprompting Displays and Software from Telescript Teleview Teleprompters The teleprompter of Vectorbox News system

All is a medicine, and all is a poison, and only the measure makes it by that or other

That time has passed, when the majority of the televiewers was perplexed: “How it is possible to speak such long texts being not knocked down, not spying in paper, and all time looking in the camera?” Now even the man who never was in shooting pavilion, is known, what is the thing named teleprompter. But not many people know, that this so widespread today and becoming already irreplaceable device for modern TV was created in a 1949 by one from the employees of Leningrad (in those times) TV.

So Russia by right can be considered as a native land of one more invention. It is true, that in present only some people know about it.

The inventor of the first teleprompter, which was firstly named “prompter text”, has become the director assistant of the Department of TV broadcast of the Leningrad committee of radio information (LCRI) Vladimir Pokorsky. Then the Department was located in a small private residence in the Pavlov street. Unconditionally, the design of that teleprompter was far from perfection: there were two rotated drums, on which the sheets of paper with announcer’s text were winded. This device was supplemented by a large lens increasing the text up to required size. But in three years Vladimir Pokorsky has improved his invention, which by the year of its appearance has received a title TC-52. Now it was the increased by lens typewritten text, fixed on a distance about 140 cm from eyes of the reader. “The TC-52 device enables the people, who appear on television program, to read the text of performances, not learning it, — wrote Vladimir Pokorsky on April 3, 1952. — As the sight of the presenter, using this device, will be at the level of the lens optical axis, the spectator will have an illusion of reading of the text from memory. It should brighten up the performance, make it easy to understand, than at reading on paper, when the eyes and face of presenter are lowered downwards”. But Pokorsky has not finished the improvement of his own child. To the teleprompter pre-image in this 1952 year he gave the state more approximate to that what we today have got used to see in shooting pavilions. Already in 1953 a new device falls outside the borders of the Leningrad TV and begin to be applied in Moscow and Kiev.

However popularity of the teleprompter, without which any TV studio does not work today, nevertheless, has not brought any popularity to the inventor, and today the Pokorsky family has become the property of historical archives.

So, what is the thing named as teleprompter? Here is how this term is interpreted by the explanatory dictionary:

Teleprompter — a device used in TV instead of the prompter text (cue card) and working as the prompter for the performer, located before the camera. Usually the teleprompter is installed on the camera and use either the TV set working in a closed system, or the long roll of a paper with words printed by such large letters, that they were visible to the performer.

The functional principle of the teleprompter is rather simple. Between camera lens and television announcer under angle 45° the translucent mirror with dichroic coating is located. From the one side a dichroic coating passes through a mirror a part of light beam from the announcer to the camera lens, that allows to shoot the announcer, and with other side, the text material presented on the monitor, located under the mirror, being reflected from it, is directed to eyes of the announcer, which sees this text and reads it, and the spectator this text does not see. The ratio of passed through and reflected light can be different. As a rule, it is equal to 50/50%. The principle of the teleprompter functionality is illustrated on Figure.

The principle of the teleprompter functionality

Theoretically the monitor is possible to arrange both above axis of the lens, and is lower than it. Thus the angle of the mirror fixing (-45° or +45° relative to the vertical) is only changed. But practically always the monitor locates below than the lens axis, as such layout provides the lower position of a centre of gravity of all system, and you see the centre of gravity is lower, the system is more stable.

In the article of Cris Lambert, opening the present review, it at great length is told about teleprompter evolution, and therefore there is a sense to settle on some topics that remained behind frameworks of this article.

Quick development of the computer technology results in more and more broad application of these techniques in TV studios. Also, the pocket computers (for example, Palm, Hand Era) appeared recently have begun to be used in the teleprompters. Due to the compactness and low weight they allow to create the very convenient teleprompters, which can be attached even to the smallest cameras, such as Sony DSR-PD170, Canon XL-1 and similar. The convenience is obvious: any text can be prepared on the pocket computer directly, and then this computer is put in a casing of the prompter and is ready for using.

Occasionally, but the audio prompters are applied too. In reality an audio prompter is wire of radio earphone, connected to a pocket audio recorder with the pre-recorded text, which repeats by presenter with a little delay. In his hand invisible to the spectator, is a control panel that allows reproducing the text by short fragments. It is natural, if is used an usual cable earphone, the only recorded text is accessible for presenter. If a radio earphone is used, to the announcer could be transmitted the text, which on a moment of the program beginning or the news block was in process of preparation.

To the operators working with the teleprompters, it is necessary to remember, that at their use the close up of a presenter is contra-indicated, because his eyes, running on a screen reading the text, presented on it will become visible at once. It is necessary to pay attention to the correct fixing of the prompter, that the text presented on the screen, will be located in a plane of the lens optical axis. If even rather small deviation will take place, the presenter will become to look hardly above or hardly below than camera, and it completely will destroy the effect of dialogue with the spectator.

And, at last, spoon of tar in a barrel with the teleprompters. As all on the Earth, the application of the teleprompter has the positive and negative points. The doubtless advantage is if not the quality increase of the TV programs, but the time reduction for their preparation and decreasing of stutters, failures in pronouncing of the text, etc. in the direct air.

The disadvantage is in the condition, that the TV employees, whose functions include the text pronouncing in front of the camera — announcers, presenters, reporters — in their own mass practically have forgot to speak without cribs. More exactly, they have not forgotten at all: most likely they simply did not learn to. What for? You see there is a teleprompter!

However ability of coherently and competently speaking without any prompting is an ability of logical and competent thinking. The presenters and announcers from old Soviet TV school had possessed the declamatory art, and even the driest texts was pleasant to listen from them.

For example, the announcer of the Soviet TV Igor Kirillov can teach each of us by Russian language. And in present time he can give the odds to much existent announcers. Without the teleprompters, which on Soviet TV were absent, he could almost four hours read the speech of the General secretary without any clause. If in the teletype the important message of TASS was appeared he could improvise in the direct air. As the practice shows that in case of slightest failure of the prompter many living announcers and presenters are simply lost.

Certainly, and among modern announcers and presenters there are specialists, which have not any need for the prompter. For example, Michael Osokin is seldom resorted to the help of the electron prompter.

Probably, the teleprompter should not serve for television announcer as a crib, without which he feels himself as the absolute helpless poorly advanced student who was not learned a subject. The availability of this device does not excluded the necessity to develop the memory, to increase the culture of speech, to study to leave the most complex situations of the direct air. In this case a teleprompter will turn from a crib hidden in the pocket to the tool in reality permitting to increase the TV program quality, for what aim it was invented.