How to Make Better YouTube Videos
- How To Grow Your YouTube Channel in 2021
- Quick & Simple Video Lighting Tips
- 4 Must-Have Accessories for Shooting Video
- Types of Microphones for Vlogging
- How To Edit Videos Like a Pro
- Simple Tips for Vlogging: How To Create Better Content
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YouTube gives us the potential to reach a huge audience. There are over 1 billion followers on all of the YouTube channels combined. One Billion! So, we want to be on YouTube.
With so many vloggers already vying for attention, we should also be concerned with how to make better YouTube videos so our brand stands out, gets followers, and gives us the results we desire.
We’ll cover 5 beginner YouTube video tips plus some general YouTube tips and tricks to improve the quality of your YouTube videos.
Plan It Out
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One of the most important YouTube tips for beginners is that in order to make a good video for any purpose, we need a plan. While we may often be able to take a good photo on the spur of the moment and use our knowledge, technique, and equipment features to have it turn out pretty good, an enjoyable video rarely happens that way.
Depending on what your style and intent for your YouTube channel or videos are going to be, two general tips for how to make YouTube videos that will engage the viewer and bring them back for more are storyboarding and writing a script.
A storyboard can be thought of as a comic book / graphic novel condensed form of your video. At its simplest, a dry erase whiteboard can be used to show a representation with simple graphics and brief comments which might include dialog. Additionally, there are many fine storyboard programs and apps to assist our efforts.
Some may be more comfortable writing out a script. A good script could be written out word for word or we could use an outline form. Both styles of scripts can also include helpful directorial comments such as subject or camera movements.
Gear for YouTube Videos
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Another of the primary tips for how to make better YouTube videos concerns our choice of gear for YouTube videos. We have many good options available to us from the more advanced smartphones up to professional video cameras.
Many excellent YouTubers use cameras in MFT, APS-C, and Full Frame formats that have video capabilities. Since many of us already have a camera like this, all it takes is switching it into video mode.
Some of our other choices of gear for YouTube videos will likely include a good video tripod, LED lights, and a teleprompter. We’ll cover use of these items with our next three YouTube tips for beginners.
For a lot of my video accessory needs, I usually turn to Ikan Corp first. They are avid videographers themselves who design and make their own equipment which means we get superb quality gear for very reasonable prices.
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Smooth and Steady
Motion pictures, such as our videos, are different from our still images in that motion pictures move. A static set up for shooting video might become boring for our viewers. However, too much or the wrong type of movement can detract from our videos.
A video tripod with a fluid head is the gear that will allow us to use video motion techniques to enhance interest while maintaining an easy viewing experience for those watching our videos. Here is an example from Ikan, the E-Image EK650 professional video tripod.
The idea is to add just enough smooth movement into our YouTube videos while keeping the camera steady. As we get more advanced, adding dollies, sliders, and a follow focus system gives us even more options.
Cinematography IS Lighting
On a movie, TV, or advertising set, the cinematographer is the artist in charge of lighting. The camera operator, sound engineer, and director are all separate jobs. In our beginner video productions, we’re likely going to be handling most of those jobs all on our own.
Learning good lighting techniques for video is similar to still photography, such as portraits or small product photography, but there are some differences to get used to. Having high quality, easy to set up and use lights is a great boon.
Portable, battery powered LED lights such as the Lyra LB5 flat panel LED lights make the lighting configurations simple to set up and these types of light give us smooth and even light with good color rendition and lots of creative control.
Eye Contact and Naturalness
How does one maintain eye contact with an audience we never see? The eye contact in a YouTube video is actually camera lens contact. Looking directly into the camera lens will feel like eye contact to anyone watching the video.
A surefire method for having this type of eye contact when shooting yourself or someone else on video is to use a teleprompter. A teleprompter puts the script from Tip #1 in a position where you are reading it from lens position instead of cue cards off to the side or notes down on a desk or lectern.
One excellent style of teleprompter for modest budgets is the Elite PRO2 Tablet Teleprompter. It mounts to the camera and lens and lets us use a tablet or large smartphone to display our script. The PRO2 comes with an app for our Android or iOS device which allows manual control of the scrolling or an automatic scroll can be pre programmed at various speeds.
A teleprompter encourages better naturalness in our dialogue. Even if we’re reading a script we wrote word for word, the eye contact and self assurance makes it seem very natural which is quite advantageous for connecting to our viewers.
How To Start
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One of the best things about YouTube is that the forum itself has tons of tips for starting a YouTube channel, how to make better YouTube videos, and many beginner YouTube tips on subjects such as lighting, storyboards, gear for YouTube videos, and so much more.
After all, there are billions of videos to watch on YouTube, making it a great source of instruction and entertainment.
