How can I videotape a phone conversation?

[johnneumann]

Yeah ... I know ... that weird topic got your attention.

Only I'm not kidding. And I really need help on this because google had nothing for me after two hours of searching.

I'm doing a series of telephone conference calls with some training clients. I want to also videotape me doing these telephone lectures so I can turn around and later sell them as a DVD product. (I'd actually be doing the conference calls in front of a nice backdrop.)

The problem is in how to properly speak into a telephone and make a good looking video at the same time.

1) Wear a lapel mic to a camcorder while talking into a speaker phone. (No good. Speaker phones have lousy sound quality. People on the phone will complain.)

2) Wear a lapel mic and hold a phone up my head. (No good. It'll look goofy on the video.)

3) Wear a lapel mic and a headset telephone at the same time. (Getting closer, but a headset phone still looks goofy on video.)

4) Wear a lapel mic that somehow splits ... one path to the camcorder and another into the phone. (This is where my knowledge breaks down. Don't know of any such gadget.)

5) Wear a lapel mic to the camcorder and use the camcorders 1/8" headphone jack to route into the telephone. (Does that work? Again, don't know of any such gadget.)

I sent five emails to Shure, B and H, and others ... no reply.

Can anyone help me?

-JOHN

[jeffphilips]

My first question would be to ask is, do you really need to be seen or are you demonstrating something online?
Why do you need to film while on the phone? Can't you do the training without being on the phone?

[johnneumann]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply and the interest.

Yep, I need both. It's two distinct "products" being created at one time. First I'm putting out the live telephone conference call and then the DVDs of me speaking. It would be a lot easier to record CDs, I know ... but DVDs have a higher perceived value.

The folks who will eventually see the DVD will have no idea that these were once a live conference call. They'll just see video of me in front of a backdrop talking into the camera. What they won't know is that while these videos were being recorded, they were also a live conference call. The folks on the phone won't be recorded ... just me talking will go into the cam.

I've called Plantronics (a company that makes specialty phones) and several phone cord/gadget companies. So far I've got nothing. One fellow suggested physically cutting up a handset line and finding which colored wires serve as the "audio in" of the phone ... and hooking those up to the audio out of my camcorder. Sounds plausible, but it's kind of a Mickey Mouse way of going about this.

Still hoping for a more "professional" approach.

-JOHN

[jeffphilips]

The simple fix is the obvious, record the video when not on the phone.
I have a wired earpiece for my phone that is very tiny. Would hardly be visible and the audio would be good for your callers.
As far a lav and audio for the video, they make several lavs that look like a pin or a button on a shirt. The other option is to have a shotgun mic out of the shot just above your head.

[johnneumann]

You know, Jeff ... I think you found my solution. I hadn't thought about a overhead mic.

I just now came across some gadgets that allow for a headphone jack from a cam to go into the phone line. Hundreds of dollars for the cheap one, over a thousand for a good one!

Definitely not what I'm after.

I'm going to reverse this idea and look at a nearly invisible phone headset with an overhead mic.

Thanks for the suggestion.

-JOHN