How I Create my YouTube Videos

PrePlanning

Preplanning is the most important step in the video production process. One of the ways I preplan videos is by creating storyboards. Here is one of the storyboards I have created:

Some ideas for what to film:

• What is something you do in everyday life? Make a video about it, in detail.
• What fears do you have? How can you represent that symbolically / through video?
• What relationships can you create a story around? (romantic, family, friends, roommates etc.)
• Create a fun commercial for something mundane/boring.
• Document an event, vlog style or documentary style.
• Create a video about your own life experiences.
• Create a video documenting other people’s life experiences.
• Take emotions into consideration. How does this video make you feel, how does this video make other’s feel, what do you want others to get out of this video.
• Create a video imitating your favorite creator/movie/tv show.

Production

You’ve heard this before but I’ll say it again: you don’t need fancy equipment to make a good video. Much like you don’t need the best paints to make a beautiful painting. Use your phone, my first YouTube videos were all made on my phone. The quality comes from the story you’re telling, not from a cinematic camera.

While you’re shooting your video, keep in mind your story. How are you going to use your shots to tell a story?

Post-Production

Post-production is everything that happens after you film. You don’t need the newest, greatest editing software to make a good video! The first videos that I filmed were edited in iMovie on my phone. iMovie often gets overlooked because it is a ‘basic’ editing platform, however you can still do advanced techniques in iMovie.

Video Editing Platforms you can use on your phone:

• iMovie
• Premiere Rush
• CapCut
• Filmora
• Splice
• Videolap

These are all great options to start editing your videos. The most important thing to keep in mind while you’re editing is: THE STORY. If your story/video doesn’t make sense, nobody is going to watch it.

Tips and Tricks

Some things that I’ve learned since creating YouTube videos is, create what you like. Don’t make a video just because you think it’s going to go ‘viral’. Growing on YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint. If you post videos that you hate to get a fast return, you’ll burn out quickly. Another tip I’ve learned, go back to the basics. If you’re having a hard time creating or telling a compelling story, just go back to the very basics. Focus on one point in the story rather than the whole story.