Editing Tips for Dynamic, Engaging Video
The real magic of video creation doesn’t happen when you’re filming – it happens in post-production. The way that you edit a video can completely make or break the overall effect that it has on viewers and this is crucial to recognize before you start filming even.
Poor editing can make a video much less engaging and even unprofessional-seeming. Likewise, not considering your editing while you’re filming can end up wasting a lot of your time as you struggle with large amounts of footage and no plan.
Read on to discover some tips then that will considerably help with your video creation efforts…
Film Lots, Cut Lots
The first tip is to film a lot.
If you are creating b-roll (footage that you will use to bulk up your video), then you should always recognize that you need much more than you think you do.
Meanwhile, when filming regular video, it’s very important that you film a lot and leave pauses both before and after your content. In other words, make sure that you start filming and a little before you begin speaking. This will help to give you more room to cut and to edit and you’ll avoid losing audio or making your video look awkward with a sudden jump.
But while you’re going to be filming plenty of extra footage, it’s also important that you then cut out a lot of footage – and probably more than you think you need to.
This way, you’ll avoid having long videos of people statically talking at the camera and your video will seem like it is constantly moving.
In fact, another tip is to make sure you never have any long periods where nothing is moving. You should always have the subject moving and talking or the camera moving. Still shots and gaps in between will only break the flow and the momentum!
Make Things Easy for Yourself
Editing video is a thankless task. The solution is to make life easy on yourself by approaching your video creation in a logical manner.
For example, one thing that can help is to break your video up into shorter clips and try moving around in the shot in each part. This makes it easy to identify at a glance when a take went well and to see where each clip ends. It also creates a more dynamic ‘jump cut’ style of filming and prevents it from feeling jarring when you go from one post to the next.
Another tip is to try clapping at the start of new takes. This makes it easy for you to see where the take ends and starts at a glance when looking at the audio track – because you can see the spike. Fun fact, this is why directors use ‘clappers’ – it’s to help the editing process later on!
Think ahead and have a plan of action when you approach your filming and your editing – that way it will be much easier for you to put together something amazing in record time!
How to Create Amazing B-Roll for YouTube
Depending on what it is that you’re intending on featuring on your YouTube channel, there’s a good chance that you’ll find yourself in need of B-roll. B-roll simply means footage that you capture and then overlay into your video while you’re speaking – much like stock footage except that you captured it yourself.
This is a crucial skill to add to your YouTube creator repertoire and one that is sure to come in handy at some point. Read on and let’s deconstruct the art of b-roll…
What is B-Roll, Exactly?
If you’re looking for examples of b-roll, then just turn to any big technology channel like Android Authority, The Verge, Techno Buffalo, Engadget etc. Any of these channels will feature a lot of product reviews, previews and comparisons and during those videos, a lot of the screen time is filled with footage of the device. Often the phones and computers will be placed in exotic locations for example, while the camera pans slowly around them to show them in their best light. In other cases, the devices might be on rotating platforms or being used by the reviewer in a natural fashion.
This footage helps to showcase the device and it also breaks up the video. Otherwise, a review threatens to be a single long take of someone speaking into the camera!
How to Create Panning Shots
If you watch any b-roll on the aforementioned YouTube channels, then you’ll notice that it always uses a lot of very smooth, long panning shots. This is important because it creates an air of professionalism that has an unconscious effect. Conversely, if your panning is done by hand then it won’t look terribly professional and will come across as jerky and awkward to watch.
So if you’re going to be doing this a lot, then you’ll need to invest in a panning head. This is a device that will attach to the top of your tripod and provide you with friction in various directions, as well as a handle that you can use to turn it around the pivot. You’ll then be able to adjust the angle of your camera, as well as the amount of friction. And by gently pressing on the handle to twist, you can create those really smooth panning segments. Manofrotto do some good panning heads.
Getting it Just Right
The key is to be very slow and deliberate when getting this type of footage and to only place very gentle and even pressure on the handle. This is what will allow it to twist gradually and smoothly, rather than being jerky and sudden.
Also important is to set up the shot correctly in the first place. The background should always complement the device nicely but you need to make sure to avoid potential reflections, glare or even things in the environment that might ruin the image you’re going for (like a blob of bird poop!). Check the area and then use the manual focus to bring out as much definition in your subject as possible.
Then you’re good to go!
How to Create Beautiful Lighting for Crisper YouTube Videos
Creating the perfect YouTube video involves an awful lot of different factors that you need to get just right. There’s the way you present yourself, there’s the script, there’s the subject matter…
But then there’s also all of those smaller factors that people all-too often overlook. And one example of this is the lighting.
People obsess so much over video quality and resolution etc. that they forget they need to think about the quality of the real image before they take the video! And actually, a bright video taken with a low-quality camera is almost always going to look better than a dark video on a high quality camera.
There will be more noise in the latter and it will be harder to make out what’s going on!
So how do you go about getting that lighting just right?
Natural Lighting
The great thing about lighting is that you don’t have to spend anything to get it perfect. The best lighting in actual fact is natural lighting and if you can find a nice large window with no blinds or netting in the way to block the light, then this will do a fantastic job of lighting any subject.
To make the most of this, you should set-up the shot so that the light from the window will be coming in at the side of the subject (which is likely to be you). This will light one side of your face more than the other, creating a sense of contrast and depth and being more flattering than ‘flat light’. This is known as ‘Rembrandt’ lighting and is a great effect if you can pull it off.
Lighting Equipment
The main problem with relying on natural lighting though is of course that it isn’t always going to be available and you can sometimes be left with nothing.
The solution to this problem is to use lighting equipment and here there are two popular options among YouTubers. One is the ‘halo ring’, which is a ring of bright light. The only problem with this is that it can show in your eyes and create a ring-like effect around your pupils.
Another option is ‘soft boxes’. These are large boxes that emit light but dampen it on the way through to create a less harsh effect. Using these you can make sure that all of your shots are bright and crisp and that your audience will be able to see your videos clearly.
Fancy Effects
Of course as you get more ambitious, you’ll have the option to create more elaborate and interesting lighting. A great example is to use colored lighting, which you can accomplish relatively easily using a colored bulb. This will allow you to light gadgets and all manner of other things using cool green or purple lighting effects. Invest in a couple and you can create a lot of amazing looks this way that will really set your videos apart! Experiment and get creative!
How to Create Strong Branding in Your Videos With Graphics and Media
Once you’ve put your first YouTube together, you may find that something is missing. Having great footage, tight editing and an excellent subject matter is not enough – there’s something more that all of the biggest channels have that gives them an additional air of professionalism and helps them to grow.
And what that is, is branding.
Your branding is your logo and your name but it’s also your ethos and your mission statement. A great brand should be able to communicate what it is all about based on the name and on the subject matter alone – and this means that new viewers should very quickly be able to get an idea of what your channel is and whether or not they’re likely to be interested.
What’s more, is that a strong brand can really improve the professionalism of your channel – especially if you use it prominently throughout your videos with graphics and extra materials. Here are some good ways to do that:
Corner Logo
Most big YouTube channels have a logo that is visible throughout their entire videos. What this does is to create stronger brand awareness, so that there is never any doubt as to who they’re watching and what the nature of that video is – even when clips from your footage are taken out of context. You’ll even notice this on TV channels, where the logo of the channel is constantly in one corner.
And because we’re used to seeing it, this also makes the effect one that we associate with professional video content. Ergo, simply adding a logo will instantly elevate perceptions of your video.
Video Opener
One of the most important types of media for your video creation though is the video opener. This is a short video introduction that will play right at the start of your video and act as an opening bookend. It will reinforce your brand again, while also setting the tone for your video. This should be short and evocative of the tone and nature of your video. Generally, it’s better to pay someone a bit of money to make your opener rather than try to make it yourself.
Bottom Thirds
A bottom third is a graphic that comes in whenever you need to caption something happening on the screen. Very often, we see this in documentaries where people are interviewed on the subject matter. During these segments, a title will normally come up in the bottom third of the screen to introduce them.
Adding these will help to provide more information for your videos and will also look more professional. But at the same time, you can tie it in with the aesthetic you chose for your logo and your opener to make a more cohesive whole.
Music
Finally, you should also think about the music you want for your videos. These can really set the tone and create a great ambience for your footage – but at the same time it can further help to enforce your brand if there is consistency with your opener again!
How to Gradually Grow Your YouTube Channel and Build Trust and Authority
A lot of people want immediate results when it comes to marketing themselves online. That is to say that they aren’t happy to gradually grow their audience and to see incremental improvements – they want to see exponential growth that comes overnight. This is why ‘growth hacks’ are such a popular subject matter online!
In reality though, most growth is not exponential but is in fact incremental. This is the steadiest, most reliable and most systematic way to grow any audience and it’s what any serious creator should really focus on.
So with all that said, let’s look at some of the ways you can encourage more steady gains for your YouTube channel…
Be Consistent
The single most important thing to do if you want to see steady progress in your YouTube channel is to be consistent with your uploads. An ideal way to do this would be to create new content every week and to upload that on time without question. This way, people will know when to check in with your channel and they’ll have a good reason to keep following you!
And of course you shouldn’t just be consistent in terms of frequency but also in terms of topic and quality. Make sure people know what they’re getting and where they stand when it comes to your brand!
Make Shorter Videos
Another important tip is to make shorter videos. This will help you to be more consistent as per the above point but it will also help you to encourage more people to watch your content all the way through. This is very important because YouTube takes that metric very seriously. If your videos are watched to the end, it suggests they’re high quality and that means they’ll rise through the ranks!
Use Engaging Titles
Sometimes your videos are going to come up in the ‘Suggested Videos’ after other content. This is a great opportunity to find more, new viewers but it will only work if your titles are engaging enough to elicit clicks. Always ask yourself: would you click that video if you saw it?
Ask for Follows
A great way to gradually grow your following is simply to ask people to follow you! It’s pretty simple but it works well. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!
Create Synergy Across Social Media
Social media is going to be one of your most powerful tools for promoting yourself on YouTube. Every time you post a video to YouTube, you should promote it on Twitter or Facebook so that you can get more views from your following. At the same time, this creates the opportunity for other people to do share what you’ve posted with their networks.
Create a Strong Brand
The combination of your channels name, logo and subject matter should all be enough to instantly and clearly communicate what you’re all about. This is important because it means people will subscribe to your channel based on just one video – which can help you to see much more rapid growth.
How to Make Content for YouTube Without Going Infront of the Camera
YouTube is a very lucrative platform if you’re successful and can be very rewarding too. Getting feedback from thousands of viewers and being able to communicate directly with your audience is something that no other online business model can offer to quite the same extent.
But despite this, it’s still one of the less common ways to make money online discussed on marketing forums and the like. Why is that?
The answer is simple: a lot of people don’t feel comfortable going on front of the camera.
This might be because they have a thick accent. It might be because they aren’t conventionally attractive (not that this has stopped some YouTubers!) or it might be because they’re shy. And it sure doesn’t help that YouTube comments are famously harsh…
Whatever the case, stepping in front of the camera and being viewed by thousands of people is a big ask and it’s something that not everyone is going to be ready to do.
But here’s the good news: you don’t need to go in front of the camera to create a successful YouTube channel! In fact, there are plenty of types of content you can create that don’t require you to feature at all. And as it happens, these are often very popular and can help you to build just as big an audience.
Here are some examples…
Tutorials
One way to build a big audience without going in front of the camera is to make tutorial videos showing viewers various technology solutions. This might be a video showing people how to get better performance from their PC, a PhotoShop tutorial etc. Either way, you can create the footage simply by using screen capture software and then just narrating over the top!
Gaming
There is a wide range of gaming-related content that you can make with no need to go in front of the camera. A ‘Let’s Play’ for example is a video that features you speaking over the top of yourself playing to narrate the experience. Meanwhile, you can also make walkthroughs, playthroughs and more – all without ever going in front of the camera!
Podcast
It’s possible to make a number of ‘podcast’ style videos too that are only really spoken with no need for you to be on the screen. These can be interviews, opinion videos, comedy bits and more and all you need to hold the viewers’ attention is some kind of image that’s relevant to the topic you’re discussing.
Animations
If you want something more dynamic to hold the attention of your viewers while you’re talking, then you can simply make some kind of animation. There are plenty of options here from storyboard animations to whiteboard animations – and there are just as many tools out there to help you make them!
Montage/Mashup
You can also create a number of videos using a montage/mashup approach. This might mean that you splice together various other videos or that you make your own supercuts.
Top Methods for Promoting Your YouTube Videos
Once you’ve created your YouTube channel and started uploading lots of new content on a regular basis, it can be a very frustrating feeling to find that no one is watching what you so lovingly put together. For that reason, you’re going to want to try and build up a big audience as quickly as possible and that’s why you need a plan to promote your content.
But promoting yourself on YouTube is somewhat different from promoting yourself on Google. Let’s take a look at some of the best methods you can employ and how they work…
SEO
While YouTube and Google are very different beasts, YouTube is still essentially a search engine. In fact, it is the second largest search engine in the world! And with that in mind, it only follows that you should be able to optimize your content for it to encourage it to be found more.
So how do you optimize a video for search?
One tip is to think hard about the title of your video. You need to ensure that your content uses terms that people are likely to search for and also that it uses terms that people are likely to want to click.
Also important is to choose the right keywords when YouTube asks you to enter them and to use the right description. Adding a lot of content to your description is generally recommended as this will help YouTube to identify what your video is about.
Sharing
There’s nothing to stop you from sharing your YouTube videos just like any other content you would create on a blog, in fact this is actually one of the very best ways to grow your audience and to get more views.
The best way to do this is to create a video that tackles a niche subject matter and then to share it in a community where that subject is discussed. For example, if you create a YouTube video about Arnold Schwarzenegger, then you can find his fan pages on Facebook, or his Reddit and then post it there to get a lot of hits instantly.
Cross Promotions and Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing means that you’re working with influencers – people who have a big audience and the ability to persuade that audience. If you can find another YouTuber that blogs on a similar subject matter to you, then you can appear in their videos in exchange for them appearing in yours. This way, you each get exposure to a broader audience and you each see an increase in your following as a result.
The key here is to make sure that you work with people at a similar level to you and in the same niche. This way, they will stand to gain something and you are more likely to get a response. At the same time, it means the audience will be relevant to your subject matter.
This is actually one of the key ways that YouTube channels grow – so try not to view other creators as competitors so much as colleagues and partners!
Top Niches for YouTube That May Just Surprise You
When it comes to digital marketing, there are a few niches (subject matters) that rule above all others. These are undoubtedly fitness, making money and dating. And the reason for the popularity of these three topics is that they allow creators to speak to things that all of us need. We all want to be wealthier and we all want to find love/sex. Everyone needs to be healthy.
On YouTube, the same things holds true and these topics are still incredibly sought after and very lucrative.
But YouTube is a weird place and the usual rules of internet marketing don’t always apply… which is why there are some rather surprising niches that don’t fit any of the same criteria but are still highly successful. For example…
Game Streaming
Game streaming is an incredibly easy niche to get into and especially if you’re a gamer/someone who enjoys computer games. You might need a fairly high-end PC in order to run the best games and record the screen at the same time but that is really the only requirement for this!
From there, there are a number of different types of content you can create on YouTube using game streaming that will find a surprisingly large audience. These include:
• ‘Let’s Plays’ – Videos where you play the game and comment on it at the same time
• ‘Walkthroughs’ – Videos where you help others to get past tricky parts of a game that they may be struggling with
• ‘Playthroughts’ – Videos where you play through the game but don’t narrate what you’re doing
• ‘Reviews’ – Reviews of different games
Reviews
Reviews is not really one niche but rather a type of content that spans many different subjects.
What’s particularly interesting about reviews though is just how many niches get covered. For example, you can actually grow a very large audience by reviewing toys of various kinds! If you remember Transformers toys from your youth, then try typing in ‘Optimus Prime review’ and you’ll find there are plenty of videos of guys playing with their toys, transforming them and narrating the experience… who knew!
Fails
Fails are compilation videos of people falling over, crashing vehicles and generally making fools of themselves. If you can find fail videos that have no copyright, then you can create your own collages with no need to go in front of the camera yourself. ‘Wins’ are also very popular!
ASMR
ASMR is a strange concept if you’re familiar with it. It stands for ‘Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’ and it’s the sensation that certain people get when they hear things being rustled or people whispering. There are some people on YouTube with thousands of views and all they do is rustle newspaper!
Music
Want to become a rock star but not sure you can get the attention of a record label? Why not create your own YouTube channel and build a following that way!
Makeup Tutorials
These are massive and are very simple for women. Of course you need to spend a little money on the makeup but once you’ve done that, it’s just a matter of showing people how you get ready for a night out!
Top Tips for Better YouTube Presentation
When you watch YouTube creators, it’s all too easy to write off what they do as being very easy. After all, all they need to do is film themselves chatting about their favorite subjects and then upload one video a week to build a big audience.
Except when you actually go in front of the camera and try this yourself, you quickly realise that it very much is not easy. Creating great YouTube videos is hard work for a lot of reasons but even just speaking on camera can be a nightmare if you’re not used to it as you find yourself stammering, pausing to know what to say, or just struggling to sound engaging and interesting enough for people to want to listen.
So what’s the solution? Let’s take a look at some things you can do to improve your YouTube presentation skills…
Talk More Slowly
This is one very easy thing to fix about your presentation. A lot of us will find we end up speaking quicker when we’re nervous or when we’re on film and this can end up making what we’re saying harder to follow. What’s more, is that speaking quickly makes you sound less confident and actually also less eloquent and intelligent. Just slowing down your speech then is one of the very best ways to sound more coherent and engaging!
Move!
When you talk, it’s important that you talk not only with your mouth but with your whole body. They say that 90% of communication is non-verbal but we forget this when we’re communicating with a camera. Gesticulating more will make you seem more passionate and engaging and this will make you come across as more charismatic (this is something that has actually been demonstrated in numerous studies). Likewise, you should try to move around a lot while you’re filming, as this will help to make the video more dynamic and interesting (as well as making it easier to edit).
Act
Apparently, the camera adds 5lbs. What it also does though is to sap you of all your energy. If you say something and it comes across as engaging and exciting in real-life, it can still seem vapid and dull on camera.
This is why good presentation often means that you need to dial up the volume and act even more enthusiastic than you really are. It’s almost like acting in a play rather than talking normally – though you’ll need to watch yourself back a few times to get it just right.
Use Short Cuts
If you’re struggling to say everything in one smooth delivery, then go easier on yourself by breaking down your script into lots of shorter pieces. That way, you can then deliver each one and take a break in between rather than having to do it all in one go.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Finally, make sure that you are continuously practicing and rehearsing your delivery. This is something that you will get better at over time, so don’t worry if you don’t sound absolutely perfect on day one!
Top YouTube Fitness Personalities and What You Can Learn From Them
The fitness industry is a booming topic on YouTube and if you want to make a big splash, then this is certainly a good area to consider going into.
Of course this is also a very competitive field however, with fitness being one of the biggest and most popular niches of all. So the question is: what can you do to stand out and get noticed?
And one answer is to look at those other fitness YouTubers not as competition… but as inspiration. There are plenty of highly successful fitness stars on YouTube who have managed to succeed despite the odds being stacked against them. So the key is to ask what they’re doing right and what you can learn from them to attain some similar levels of success!
Elliott Hulse
Elliott Hulse is the YouTuber behind ‘Strength Camp’, which is a channel dedicated to building muscle and size as opposed to getting lean, losing weight or otherwise chasing after more aesthetic goals.
The key to Elliott Hulse’s success probably lies in his ‘Yo Elliott’ segments, where he would answer questions about all manner of other things: confidence, dating, assertiveness, sex and more. Elliott would answer these questions in a very engaging and entertaining way, while also offering some very useful and interesting advice.
But what’s perhaps best of all about this segment is the way he designs his titles which make them sound incredibly interesting. He has managed to create content that’s quite unlike any of the other YouTube creators and in doing so, he has been able to stand out and gain a much broader following than others in his niche.
Omarisurf
Omarisurf is another YouTuber interested in building strength more than aesthetics. This puts him on the same wavelength as Elliott and that’s one of the things he’s done very well – partnering with Elliott in order to gain more followers and give his channel a boost.
The Hodge Twins
The Hodge Twins are something pretty different in the world of YouTube fitness. These are two twins who start every video by staring into the camera for ages and having a playful argument over who gets more screen real-estate.
The twins manage to stand out because of their humor which sets them apart and because they have managed to create a very approaching brand. People feel that they are real people that they can actually talk to and that makes them instantly very appealing and likeable.
Athlean-X
Athlean-X is a channel that takes a highly scientific and informative approach to fitness. Run by Jeff Cavaliere, the channel will go into a lot of depth about exercise physiology, different types of muscle fiber and more. This is a highly effective approach because Jeff has been able to build a very reputable brand that viewers trust. And in doing that, he has been able to drive a lot of sales for his program which helps people to lose weight from the comfort of their homes.
