Introduction 1
About YouTube 1
About This Book 1
About You 3
About the Icons 3
Project 1: Get Started 4
Follow the Video-Making Process 5
Development 5
Preproduction 6
Production 6
Post-production 7
Distribution 7
Gather Your Tools 8
Choose Your Camera 10
Webcams 12
Camera phones 13
Camcorders 15
Action cameras 17
Aerial cameras 18
DSLR and mirrorless video 18
Digital cinema cameras 20
Project 2: Shoot 22
Choose a Style 23
Think of an Idea 25
Structure Your Video 26
Script Your Video 28
Write Dialogue 29
Make a Shot List 30
Choose a Shot Type 32
Wide shot 33
Mid shot 34
Close-up 36
Choose Movement or Fixed 38
Record Sound 41
Built-in microphone 43
External microphone 44
Use a Microphone for Dialogue 47
Deal with wind 49
Monitor sound 50
Dubbing and foley 53
Light Your Video 54
Use natural light 54
Use extra lights 56
Direct Your Film 66
Direct your actors 68
Direct your crew 68
Use Shooting Tips 69
Check for continuity mistakes 69
Always get one more take than you need 70
Shoot out of order 70
Check Your Shots 70
Project 3: Edit 73
Choose an Editing Tool 73
Create a New Project in iMovie 76
Import Your Footage in iMovie 77
Record from Webcam in iMovie 80
Add Footage to a Timeline in iMovie 81
Add Transitions in iMovie 87
Add Jump Cuts in iMovie 89
Add Titles in iMovie 90
Record a Voiceover in iMovie 93
Import Your Footage into a New Filmora Project 96
Record from a Webcam in Filmora 98
Add Footage to a Timeline in Filmora 100
Add Transitions in Filmora 105
Add Jump Cuts in Filmora 107
Add Titles in Filmora 109
Record a Voiceover in Filmora 112
Project 4: Creating a Gameplay Video 115
Capturing Game Footage from a PS4 117
Capturing Game Footage from an XBox One 120
Capturing Game Footage from a PC or Macintosh 121
Importing Gameplay into HitFilm Express 124
Basic Editing in HitFilm Express 127
More Basic Editing in HitFilm Express 132
Adding a Voiceover to Your Gameplay Video 136
Recording and Editing a Voiceover for Your Gameplay Video 138
Adding a Voiceover to Your HitFilm Project 141
Exporting your HitFilm Project for YouTube 142
Project 5: Share 144
Get a Google Account 144
Upload a Video to YouTube 148
Share Your Video to YouTube with iMovie 152
Share Your Video to YouTube with Filmora 155
Titles, Thumbnails, and Testing 159
Titles 159
Thumbnails 160
Testing 162
Your YouTube Studio 162
The Dashboard 163
Videos 164
Analytics 165
Comments 169
How to Make Great Videos 171
A is for Attract their attention 171
B is for Be yourself 172
C is for connection 173
D is for direct them on what to do next 173
Ways to Attract More Views! 174
Glossary 177
PROJECT 1
GET STARTED
DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE BILLIONS OF VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE? Billions! And that people add 300 hours of video every minute? That's a lot of videos.
YouTube is a great way to share with your friends and family the videos you make. Don't worry if you haven't made a video yet. We're going to help you make your very own YouTube video as you read this book.
FOLLOW THE VIDEO-MAKING PROCESS
You can divide the video-making process into these five main stages:
- Development
- Preproduction
- Production
- Post-production
- Distribution
If you imagine the video-making process as a trip, these five main stages are stops on the way. You can't get where you're going unless you go to each place along the way.
DEVELOPMENT
Development is one of the most important areas of the process - and it can be one of the hardest. It's usually the longest part of video-making because it's important to get the concept and the story right before moving into preproduction.
The development stage means completing these tasks:
- Coming up with ideas and themes to create a story that has a good beginning, middle, and end
- Building the story so that it's ready to take into preproduction; that is, writing a script for the actors to work from and, sometimes, a storyboard for the director and crew to work from
A storyboard is a series of images that help you plan which shots to film.
PREPRODUCTION
The preproduction stage uses the idea, story, script, and storyboard to prepare for the production stage. In preproduction, everything is planned as much as possible.
If you rush or skip preproduction, something may go wrong and it could take you longer to film.
Preproduction takes place when you
- Choose actors.
- Find locations.
- Build sets for each scene.
- Plan each filming day.
- Organize rehearsals for the actors.
The work you do on these steps saves you time in the production and post-production stages.
PRODUCTION
The production stage is where the story and characters come to life as you film.
In the production stage, you
- Run rehearsals for the actors to learn their lines and to develop their characters.
- Set up camera equipment on location.
- Film the scenes you planned.
- Review the filmed footage to make sure you've captured everything and that it looks good enough to edit.
POST-PRODUCTION
The post-production stage is when you piece together the footage you captured during production. This stage is exciting. You get to see the results of all the hard work you put into the previous stages and also get to watch the video come together in the editing tool - that piece of software where video clips are imported, arranged into one video, and then exported for your audience to watch.
Post-production includes
- Importing the footage on a computer
- Editing in software like iMovie, Filmora, or HitFilm
- Adding music or sound effects or other kinds of enhancements
DISTRIBUTION
Distribution is the final stage in the journey to make a video. At this point, your film has been produced and edited. Now it's ready for the audience to enjoy.
This can be a worrisome time for you because the audience will make comments and give reviews.
Most blockbuster films are first distributed to theaters and then released on DVD, but you'll distribute your video by YouTube.
GATHER YOUR TOOLS
A professional filmmaker could spend a fortune on tools. However, to get started, you need only a few basic tools, and most of them aren't expensive:
HOW YOUR CAMERA WORKS
Don't worry: We're not going to bore you with details here - but it is useful to know the basics.
A video camera works a lot like your eye. Your eyes see things as a series of still images, or frames. Your brain then puts them together so fast that it looks like smooth movement - it's clever stuff, isn't it? The camera does a similar thing: It captures movement in a series of frames, or still images.
Also like your eye, the camera records the images using light from the scene. The light enters the lens, and the images go on a microchip inside the digital video camera. These images go to your media card or tape.
CHOOSE YOUR CAMERA
A digital video camera makes filmmaking easier and less expensive. It comes in different sizes, qualities, and prices. For under $100, you can buy a compact HD camcorder that records great video. Because you're starting out, this is completely reasonable.
CHECK YOUR TEMPERATURE
This may sound odd, but light comes in different colors. A candle has a warm orange look. A clear blue sky has a colder blue look. The color of light is measured in a unit called Kelvin. You can adjust this setting on your camera using the white balance controls, or by simply setting your camera to auto white balance. This setting adjusts the color temperature for you to match the light in your scene.
BACK IN THE OLD DAYS
Traditional film cameras captured footage as a bunch of still images. The images were on light-sensitive tape running through the camera. This reel of tape was expensive to buy, and you couldn't reuse it. It also made it tough to set up and check shots.
Traditional film cameras create what we call a cinematic look, which makes the image look softer than you can with digital video. With traditional cameras you can, for example, blur backgrounds and make your subject stand out. It's harder to get this cinematic look with a digital video camera, especially with less expensive camcorders, which often have trouble with the lighter and darker areas of a shot, and whose images tend to be sharper.
High-definition (HD) cameras have better-quality images than the old standard definition (SD). HD cameras capture a larger image than SD with more vibrant colors and more detail. These images are measured in pixels. High Definition video has at least 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall. Full HD video has 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels. You may have seen this information when buying a TV.
4K and Ultra-High Definition video is taking over with more video cameras and camera phones recording video twice as wide and twice as high as full HD, which is 3840 pixels by 2160 pixels. That's a lot of pixels!
At the other extreme, you can find video cameras that cost over $50,000. Professionals use those cameras to shoot blockbuster movies - but even those cameras have downsides.
As a filmmaker, I like to use different types of digital video cameras for different reasons. The following sections describe the different types of digital video cameras.
WEBCAMS
A webcam plugs directly into your computer. It's affordable, easy to set up, and great for recording someone talking to the computer (like you might do when filming vlogs, reviews, or instructional videos, for example). Most desktop computers and laptops come with webcams.
If you want to film your YouTube video using a webcam but your computer doesn't have one built in, look online or in stores. They start around $20.
I use a webcam to record video blogs because it's simple to set up. A webcam makes it easy...
