Interrotrons

The first question for many is what is an Interrotron?

Essentially it is the use of a traditional prompter but instead of the words from the script the presenter sees the interviewer’s or director’s face.

This technique was pioneered by American film director Errol Morris in his film The Fog of War which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. He explains:-

“I put my face on the Teleprompter or, strictly speaking, my live video image. For the first time, I could be talking to someone, and they could be talking to me and at the same time looking directly into the lens of the camera. Now, there was no looking off slightly to the side. No more faux first person. This was the true first person."

Interrotrons have been used in this way very successfully and not just for “interviews”. A recent job used the monitors purely as a bright light to attract a baby’s attention and they have also been used with pets, with the owners face on screen, to get the animals attention down the lens. However the most typical usage is when working with the general public and shows like “24 Hours in A&E” are using this technique to get that open, easy & natural interview.