Teleprompter basics
How to Keep Eye Contact While Reading a Teleprompter
Why your eyes give away that you are reading, and seven practical fixes (camera distance, line width, text position, and rigs) for natural eye contact on camera.
In this guide
Viewers decide whether they trust you in the first few seconds, and a lot of that comes from your eyes. When you read, two things give you away: eyes that look slightly below the lens, and eyes that scan left to right. Both are fixable.
Why reading shows in your eyes
The camera sees the angle between the lens and the thing you are looking at. The bigger that angle, the more obvious it is that you are not looking at the viewer. Distance and position are therefore everything.
1. Put the reading line right next to the lens
On a phone, the front camera is at the top. Set up your prompter so the line you are reading sits at the top third of the screen, as close to the lens as possible. Sentence-by-sentence styles help here because the active line stays in one place instead of drifting down.
2. Keep lines short
Wide lines make your eyes travel horizontally. Keep the text column narrow: five to eight words per line. Your eyes should move a centimetre, not the width of a tablet.
3. Move the camera back
The farther the lens is from you, the smaller the angle. Put the phone on a tripod at arm's length or more and increase the text size to compensate. This single change hides more eye movement than anything else.
4. Raise the lens to eye level
A camera below your eyes means you look down at it, and the text below the lens adds even more downward gaze. Stack books, use a tripod, or clamp the phone so the lens is level with your eyes.
5. Look up at the end of sentences
Glance at the next line, then deliver the end of the sentence straight into the lens. This is what news anchors do. The viewer sees a person looking at them at exactly the moments that matter.
6. Use a beam-splitter rig for long reads
If you record long lessons or talks, a beam-splitter teleprompter puts the text directly over the lens using angled glass. You look straight through the text into the camera. You will need mirror mode to flip the text. See our beam-splitter setup guide.
7. Know the script well enough to leave it
The best eye contact comes from not needing the words. Read the script aloud twice before recording. When the prompter is a reminder rather than a lifeline, you will look at it far less.
Quick diagnosis
| What you see in playback | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Eyes look down | Text below lens | Move reading line up, raise phone |
| Eyes move side to side | Lines too wide | Narrow the text width |
| Eyes dart constantly | Scrolling too fast | Slow down or use voice-follow |
| Stare looks fixed and flat | Reading word by word | Rehearse, read ideas not words |
On calls, too
The same rules apply on Zoom or Meet: keep the prompter window small and directly under your webcam. Our guide to teleprompters for video calls covers the setup.
Good eye contact is not about never looking at the text. It is about looking at the viewer at the moments that count.
Frequently asked questions
How far should I sit from the camera when using a phone teleprompter?
About an arm's length (60 to 90 cm) is a good start. Farther away, eye movement becomes less visible, but the text needs to be larger.
Why do my eyes look down in my videos?
Your text sits below the lens. Move the reading line to the top of the screen, closest to the front camera, or raise the phone so the lens is at eye level.
Is AI eye-contact correction a good alternative?
It can help on calls, but it sometimes produces an unnatural stare and can glitch when you turn your head. Getting the text close to the lens is still the most reliable fix.