The teleprompter

A plan's on-camera script is written to be performed, which means it needs to be readable from a distance while you look into a lens. That is what the teleprompter is for.

The teleprompter is a URL

It opens at its own address rather than as a panel or a modal, and that is the feature: you load it on the phone that is pointing at you while the plan stays open on your laptop. It survives a reload, so a retake does not lose your place.

It shows the plan's on-camera script: the one written for a person to read aloud. It deliberately does not show the faceless voiceover script, which is written to be read by a renderer and sounds wrong in a human mouth. See what a content plan contains for the difference.

Reading

Press Play (or tap the words, or press Space on a keyboard). After a 3·2·1 the script scrolls past the line across the middle of the screen: keep your eyes on that line. Change the speed at any point and it takes effect straight away; the text size, mirroring for a beam-splitter rig and the shot list are in the same row.

Recording and saving your take

Press Record to switch to the camera. The script scrolls over the top of the picture, near the lens, so you can read while looking into it. Press the red button, and after a 3·2·1 the camera and the script start together. Press it again to stop.

You then see the take played back, with three choices:

• Retake throws it away and goes straight back to the camera.
• Save to plan uploads it and keeps it with this plan until you post it. It appears in the plan's Video tab, under the teleprompter, with Post it (opens a new post with the video already attached), Download and Remove. Once the post publishes, the file is deleted from TrendSuite, so Download it first if you want your own copy (see uploads and stock photos).
• Save to device keeps it on the phone or computer you filmed on. On a phone this opens the share sheet, which is how it reaches your camera roll.

Nothing you film is uploaded until you choose Save to plan. The text you read is not recorded into the video. If your browser can only record WebM (older Chrome), the review screen says so: Instagram needs MP4, so convert it first or record in Safari or a current Chrome.

Recording tips that actually matter

• Read a beat ahead of where you are speaking. The script scrolls; your eyes should lead it.
• Put the phone as close to the lens as you can. The further the prompter sits from the camera, the more obviously you are reading.
• A flubbed line is a retake, not a disaster: it costs you nothing until you save it.

Long-form scripts

TrendSuite no longer writes long-form (YouTube and LinkedIn) scripts. A plan made before that change may still carry one: it stays in the plan's Video tab, and you can read it and open it in the teleprompter like any other script.