Should I look at the camera or the screen in a video?

At the camera. Looking at the screen makes you appear to look slightly down to the viewer.

Do AI eye-contact filters work?

Some apps redirect your gaze in post-production. They can look uncanny on head turns; keeping the text close to the lens avoids needing them.

How to make eye contact with the camera while reading

Updated October 23, 2026 · Anthony Delmotte

Short answer. Look at the lens, not at your face on the screen. Keep the script as close to the lens as possible, with short lines, so your eyes stay within a few degrees of it. At arm’s length, viewers can’t tell the difference.

Why eye contact slips

On a phone or laptop, your own face is on the screen and your eyes go to it. From the viewer’s side, that looks like you’re glancing down. The fix is to give your eyes something to read right next to the lens.

Keep the text close to the lens

The smaller the angle between the words and the camera, the less your gaze drifts. On iPhone, the front camera is at the top: the prompter text should sit right below it, not in the middle of the screen. Hiding your own preview helps too.

Distance does the rest

The further the camera, the smaller the angle your eyes travel. At about an arm’s length, a few centimetres of text under the lens look like direct eye contact.

Short lines, big text

Your eyes move least when each line is short and readable without effort. Five to eight words per line is a good target.

Look up on purpose

At the end of an important sentence, look straight into the lens for a beat. It reads as confidence, and a prompter that waits for your voice won’t run away while you do.