I have received a project from an American organization called AIDSvideos.org, which produces videos to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. They want me to create videos in every major Indian language. They have provided twenty-seven different scripts in five Indian languages, making it a long-term project. My tasks include translating these scripts into various Indian languages and then producing the videos. Since there are twenty-two official languages in India, completing the entire project could take several years.

I recently made a Hindi video using one of their scripts for Sanjeevani Booti, but it didn’t turn out as expected. During that time, an American student named Allen Roda from New York University was staying with me and had a high-quality camera. We used his camera to film the video. Without a teleprompter, I had the script printed and placed it on either side of the camera for the speaker to read. While this setup seemed fine on the small camera screen, it revealed issues when played on a larger TV. The speaker’s eyes were constantly shifting from side to side as they read from the different pages, making the video look unprofessional. Therefore, I’ve decided to re-record it.

Ravikant

I am encountering additional challenges. Lane and I searched for teleprompter software and found some that worked well with English scripts. However, these programs do not support Hindi or other Indian languages. Without a teleprompter, recording long scripts becomes very difficult. The script is eighteen minutes long, and it is nearly impossible for anyone to memorize such a lengthy text and present it smoothly on camera.

Our camera setup

I was very excited about this project, but the lack of a suitable teleprompter has become a significant obstacle. The speakers are concerned that they won’t be able to remember the entire script. Additionally, I translated the script into Bhojpuri, which was challenging due to the language’s many regional variations and accents. I aimed to write in a simple Bhojpuri that would be understandable to a broad audience. I’m confident that the translation will work well, but I am still unable to start producing the videos. I hope Lane will find a solution to the teleprompter issue soon. Meanwhile, I am also reaching out to others and searching online for potential fixes. I am eager to get this project underway and am excited about its potential.

Allen Roda