Teleprompter glossary: the terms video creators use
Quick answer
A teleprompter glossary explains the words used for prompting and recording: beam splitter, eye line, words per minute, scroll speed, cue, take, jump cut, aspect ratio and SRT. Each term below has a one or two sentence definition, grouped by hardware, reading and speech, and recording, followed by Telepromptia's own feature names.
Teleprompter gear and video editing come with their own vocabulary. This glossary gives each term a short, plain definition, grouped by what you are doing: choosing hardware, reading a script and recording the video. The last section covers the names used inside Telepromptia.
Key takeaways
- Hardware terms describe how text reaches your eyes: beam splitter, hood, confidence monitor and mirror mode.
- Reading terms describe your delivery: eye line, words per minute, scroll speed and pause markers.
- Recording terms describe the footage: take, retake, jump cut, aspect ratio and captions.
- Feature names such as EyeLock and FlowSync are Telepromptia's own and are explained at the end.
What do the hardware terms mean?
Teleprompter
A display that shows a script to a speaker who is looking at a camera. See what a teleprompter is.
Beam splitter
A sheet of glass that reflects part of the light and lets the rest pass through. In a teleprompter it reflects the screen toward the speaker while the camera sees through it.
Hood
A shroud around the glass that blocks stray light from entering the lens.
Confidence monitor
A screen that faces the speaker and shows the script or notes. It is usually placed below or beside the camera or on a stage.
Mirror mode
A setting that reverses the text left to right, so that it reads correctly in the reflection of a glass rig. Leave it off when you read straight from a screen. The mirror mode guide has the details.
What do the reading and speech terms mean?
Eye line
The direction of your gaze compared with the lens. Looking at the lens reads as looking at the viewer, so the goal is to keep the eye line close to it. See looking at the camera while reading.
Words per minute (WPM)
The number of words you speak divided by the minutes it takes. It sets how many words fit in a video. The reference table lists common paces.
Scroll speed
How fast the script moves on the prompter. Set it by your own pace, a little slower than you speak.
Voice following
A mode in which the script moves according to the words you say and waits when you pause. It differs from voice commands such as "start". See how it works.
Cue
A note in the script that tells you to do something or to wait, such as a pause or a change of slide. Put cues in square brackets so they stand out.
Pause marker
A mark in the script where you plan to stop. In Telepromptia's editor you type // for a pause and put asterisks around a word to stress it.
Target length
A planned duration for the script. Telepromptia lets you pick 30, 60 or 90 seconds and sets the scroll speed so the script lasts that long.
What do the recording terms mean?
Take
One recorded attempt at a section of the script. Recording in short takes keeps energy up and limits the cost of a mistake. See recording a long script in takes.
Retake
A new take of a section or a sentence that replaces a bad one.
Jump cut
A cut that makes the subject seem to skip ahead in time while the camera stays in nearly the same position. It is common in vlogs and short videos.
Aspect ratio
The ratio of a picture's width to its height. Vertical video for phones is 9:16, and standard horizontal video is 16:9.
Headroom
The space between the top of your head and the top of the frame.
Captions
Text that shows the speech in a video, synchronized with the audio. They help viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing and viewers who watch with the sound off.
SRT
A plain-text caption file with numbered entries and start and end times. You can upload it to a video platform, or burn the captions into the picture instead.
Burned-in captions
Captions drawn into the video image, so they cannot be turned off.
What are Telepromptia's own terms?
EyeLock
A layout that shows a few words of the script on a dark panel right under the front camera.
FlowSync
Voice-following scroll with on-device speech recognition (Pro).
MagicRetake
Re-recording a single sentence while keeping your other takes (Pro).
OneTake Studio
The part of the app where takes are assembled into one video, trimmed and previewed before export.
Common questions
What does mirror mode mean on a teleprompter?
It reverses the text left to right so it reads correctly in the glass of a beam-splitter rig. Do not use it when you read straight from a phone.
What is a good words per minute for a teleprompter?
Slightly slower than your own speaking pace. Many people speak at roughly 130 to 160 words per minute, but measure yours.
What is the difference between captions and an SRT file?
Captions are the text shown with the video. An SRT file is one way to store them, so a platform can display them. You can also burn captions into the picture.
Sources
- A Brief History of the Teleprompter (Smithsonian Magazine): the history of the teleprompter, from a motorized roll of cue text in the late 1940s to text reflected on angled glass.
- Captions/Subtitles (W3C Web Accessibility Initiative): what captions are and who they help.