What a DIY teleprompter rig actually is
Every studio or DIY teleprompter rig uses the same three parts. A sheet of glass or clear acrylic sits at an angle in front of the camera lens. A flat screen lies below the glass and shows your script mirrored. A dark hood wraps the back of the glass around the lens so the camera records cleanly through the glass without catching stray room reflections.
What you need to build one
- A sheet of picture-frame glass or clear acrylic, sized larger than your camera lens.
- A frame or bracket to hold the glass at roughly 45 degrees in front of the lens.
- A flat screen, such as an iPhone, laid face up below the glass to reflect your script upward.
- Black card, fabric, or foam board to wrap the back of the glass and the lens so outside light stays out.
- A teleprompter app with mirror mode so the reflected text reads the right way.
Putting it together
Put the rig together in this order:
- Mount the camera on a tripod or stand, leaving space below and in front of the lens for the rig.
- Lay the screen flat, facing straight up, directly under where the glass will sit.
- Set the glass at a 45-degree angle between the screen and the lens so the text reflects toward you.
- Wrap the black hood around the back of the glass and the camera lens to block light from behind.
- Turn on mirror mode on the screen below and check the camera monitor to make sure the lens sees no reflections.
If building a rig is more than you need
A glass rig makes sense for a fixed studio camera. If you record on an iPhone, you can skip the glass and hood and read straight off the screen while the front camera records. Atrio is a free iPhone teleprompter app with autoplay, manual scroll, front-camera portrait recording, and mirror mode for glass rigs. Voice follow moves the script as you speak and is free for your first 3 sessions, then a one-time $14.99 in-app purchase unlocks it for life. No subscription. No ads. No account. If you want to test mirror mode in a browser first, try our free online teleprompter.
Once you have either setup ready, our how to read a teleprompter guide covers the distance, font size, and pacing that keep your eyes steady on camera.
Questions about building a teleprompter
- What angle does the glass need to be?
- About 45 degrees between the screen below it and the camera lens behind it. At that angle, the screen reflects straight up into your line of sight, while the camera looks straight through the glass at you.
- What kind of glass should I use?
- Picture-frame glass or a clear acrylic sheet both work. Plain glass or acrylic reflects enough of the screen to read. Without a semi-silvered beamsplitter coating, you may see a faint double image or lose a little light compared to dedicated teleprompter glass.
- Why does the rig need a black hood?
- The hood blocks room light from hitting the back of the glass near the lens. Without it, reflections from behind the glass bounce into the camera and muddy the shot.
- Do I need special software to run it?
- No. You only need a screen that can mirror its text so the reflection reads the right way from the front. Atrio includes horizontal and vertical mirror mode for teleprompter glass, so you can lay an iPhone flat under the glass and run your script with autoplay, manual scroll, or voice follow.
- Is a DIY rig as good as a commercial teleprompter?
- Not quite. Commercial rigs use semi-silvered beamsplitter glass and rigid camera mounts, which reduce ghosting and keep the glass aligned. A DIY build is a practical way to test a glass rig before buying hardware.