Dallas Prompter

We prompted a recent video shoot on a golf course. Working in that environment presents special challenges for teleprompting, and you need to be prepared for them.

Here's short post I wrote about it.

Dallas Prompter on Google About a week ago, we prompted a video shoot on a golf course. In spite of the hot day, it was a nice change from green screen and corporate interiors. It also gives us a chance to highlight the special prompting items we brought to this production. Obviously, building a prompter on a jib is unusual,...

When I started Dallas Prompter (back in the mid-80's), I numbered my first invoice with 1000. Since then I've been working my way through four digit numbers and I'm on the verge of having used them all. I just wrote invoice number 9989. Ten more and I'll hit a five digit milestone. How about that?

Last week I was set up Front Of House, waiting for Al Pacino.

Our presidential prompters as seen on a recent show.

Over the weekend, I served as prompter op for President Obama when he spoke at a political rally in Dallas.

I took this photo of the staging and presidential glass before they opened the house.

It's a bit dark, but if you're a prompter nerd like me, you might notice these are rise & fall motorized presidential prompters, the same equipment we have at Dallas Prompter.

And in case you're wondering ... no, I didn't get to meet him, or even lay eyes on him. We set up the prompter laptops in a small room next to the stage, and that's where I was waiting when he took the stage.

I'm testing my new pair of motorized rise & fall presidential stands. (They arrived last week!) This is the bare stand, without the usual accessories. With this system, we can remotely adjust prompter mirrors for presenters of different heights. In other words, short presenters don't have to stand on a box.

Our contribution to Throwback Thursday: a 2004 event held in the Great Hall of the Apparel Mart.

This was after they closed the building, and shortly before it was demolished. During the event, the emcee bragged about their cigar bar. You could smoke ci**rs in the Apparel Mart because it was no longer a public space and the Dallas smoking ordinance didn't apply.

The stage was solid white instead of the usual black drape. We even had white surrounds on the prompter monitors. Look closely, and you can just make out a clear plexiglass lectern and our presidential mirrors & poles.

Do you have a story or memory of the Great Hall?

As the State Fair of Texas kicks-off, our tech Renee is prompting some auto show press conferences.

In this photo she's standing next to a large downstage prompter monitor (with a greeting she created).

The State Fair opens on Friday and continues for three weeks.
Do you have plans to attend?

Last week, we demonstrated our iPad prompter on a Wooden Camera shoulder mount system. It was nice to have a Canon C300 to work with. Many thanks to my friends at AMS Pictures for their help. (And for taking this picture!)

A wide angle lens on a jib arm gives you some interesting effects: the camera seems higher and a small set looks enormous. However, a wide lens will vignette when paired with a standard prompter.

This week we solved that problem by attaching our prompter monitor to the arm, and it's working well.

Do you have a story about a prompter on a jib? We'd like to hear about it.