Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [111]
Develop a system that works for you. Mark your copy in such a way that the main points and buzz words leap out at you. As you become more experienced, you will automatically prepare your original script to include markings that you understand. Experienced broadcasters can gallop through prompter copy with varying speed and emphasis, easily interpreting the meaning of the material in a natural, conversational manner.
Rehearsing Prompter Copy. Always rehearse reading your prompter copy in advance. You have to know what to expect, and the prompter operator needs to gauge your pace and style. You need to feel confident that the operator will maintain the right speed for you. Remember, the operator is supposed to keep the line you are reading near the middle of the screen. There is a small arrow on the monitor that indicates the line you are reading, so both of you can anticipate what is coming next.
The prompter operator wears earphones that connect him or her to the director in the control room. He can thus be helpful to you if there is a problem. For example, you may have a bright light shining in your eyes that makes it difficult to see the copy without squinting. The prompter operator can tell this to the director. Or the prompter may be positioned too close, too far away, too high, or too low.
As you rehearse, practice pronouncing any foreign or difficult words, or proper names with which you may be unfamiliar, asking for help if you are questioning any pronunciation. Look for tongue twisters, onomatopoetic words, or words you habitually mispronounce. Now is also the time to change any grammatical mistakes that have crept into the copy, or sentences that are too long or convoluted.
After rehearsal, you may wish to make last-minute corrections on the final roll of copy. Be sure the corrections are easy to read and not confusing because of crossed out words and miscellaneous markings. Use a heavy black pen, and make the corrections the same size as the print. Rather than risk an unreadable script, cut the corrected piece out, and replace it with accurate copy.
Reading Prompter Copy. Your goal is to read the prompter copy as though you were saying the words in a conversational manner. It is easy to sound dull, monotonous, and stilted on camera. Understand that the prompter is not your master; it is only a helpful device that eliminates the necessity to memorize your material. It supplies you with words, and you give them their meaning. You employ the principles of good speech, such as changing the pace, pitch, and range of the voice, plus pausing in the right places.
As mentioned previously, you should keep a copy of your script in front of you the entire time you are on camera. This enables you to anticipate the next piece, to glance at it in its entirety to gauge its length, and to check the timing sequence, as necessary. Also, if the prompter should fail during the broadcast, you can rely on your own script copy in the emergency to continue the program. Thus, you should turn over the pages you are reading from the prompter as you finish with them, so that if the prompter fails, you can find your place on the script as quickly as possible.
You may feel that you develop a glassy-eyed stare when you read prompter copy for a long period of time. To avoid this, occasionally shift to your written script. Look down and purposely read from your written