Today’s video is going to be a little different.
Instead of one of my usual tutorial videos,
I’m going to take you behind the scenes
and show you the process I go through
making these tutorials.
Hey guys, what’s up.
My name is Serge,
and welcome back to my channel.
As of the time I’m recording this video,
I’ve made and published over 200 tutorial videos,
at least one, sometimes more
every week for the last 3 years.
During this time,
my precess has changed and evolved quite a bit,
and it’s still evolving.
I’m always looking to make this process quicker
and more efficient, to bring you better quality videos
in the least amount of time.
I’m hoping sharing my precess
gives you a few ideas, or maybe a bit
of inspiration for your videos,
or maybe even inspires you to make your own tutorials,
to share some of your knowledge.
First up is research.
After coming up with an idea for a video,
I do as much research on the topic as possible.
This ensures I deliver the most correct
and up to date information I can.
Usually, if the topic of my video
is a technical aspect of Final Cut Pro,
the first place I go to is Apple’s own support documents.
This is a great resource,
and it’s constantly updated
with the most up to date information,
and it’s very credible.
I look at other online resources too,
but always reference back to this
to make sure the information is correct.
Even if I’m familiar with the topic I’m covering in my video,
I always read these documents,
to either confirm what I know,
or learn a better or more efficient way to achieve this.
Majority of the time,
I end up learning something new here,
so the few minutes it takes to read these,
is time very well spent.
After I feel comfortable enough with the topic,
I open up Final Cut Pro and do a trial run.
I come up with an idea of what I want to cover in my video,
and try it out in Final Cut Pro.
During this phase, instead of focusing on the step by step process.
I focus on the finished result.
For example, if I do a tutorial video on an effect
you can do in Final Cut Pro,
I’ll either import a bunch of my own footage,
or download and import stock footage,
and try the effect on a bunch of different clips.
Personally, I find, when playing around
with different clips and trying out different effects,
is the best time to come up with unique ideas
and a different way of doing things.
After applying the effect to a bunch of different clips,
I go though them and find the ones that look best,
and which ones would work best for demo purposes.
I often end up using these clips in my video intro,
to show you the finished effect right at the start of the video.
This way people don’t have to watch half the video
to find out it’s not what they’re looking for.
I’ll jot down a few notes, and write down all the settings
I use for these clips, to make it easier to replicate.
One of my pet peeves in tutorial videos
is when people don’t know how to exactly achieve
the effects they’re trying to show,
and end up trying out different stuff in the tutorial,
in turn wasting the viewers time.
I don’t discourage experimenting,
but I try to do this ahead of time,
so when it comes time to record the video,
I know exactly what I’m doing.
After figuring everything out, I script my videos.
Some people just wing it, some make bullet points,
but scripting out video is what works best for me.
This lets me deliver information in the most efficient way,
without rambling on.
I’ll start with the clips I selected for my demos,
and go through the precess all over again,
referring to my notes for the exact values.
As I do this, I have a pages document open,
where I type out all the steps
in a way I want to deliver them in my video.
Once my script is done,
I make a new Demo project in Final Cut Pro.
I set up my iPad beside me,
turn on screen recording,
start with the original clips,
and go through all the steps in my script.
I like doing this before I record my voiceover or my A-Roll video.
This way, if there’s any mistakes in my script,
I can catch and fix them before recording the video.
If everything looks good and works as expected,
I move onto recording my A-Roll.
I set my recording space,
including camera, lights, microphone
and anything else I need in the video.
Since I script all my videos,
I usually transfer my script to my phone,
and set that up in a teleprompter.
I record my A-Roll at least twice, sometimes even more times,
just so I have lots of takes to choose from.
While the lights and camera are still set up,
this is also when I try to record all my B-Roll clips,
and take a few still images for my thumbnail.
This way my lighting and sound stay consistent in all my footage.
Next, before importing anything in Final Cut Pro,
I transfer all my video and audio clips
onto my computer and organize them.
First, I make a separate folder for the video I’m making.
Inside this folder, I make folders for A-Roll, B-Roll,
Audio and Still Images
and move my media into the proper folders.
Once everything is in place,
I import this folder into Final Cut Pro.
In the Import window,
I copy all my media to library,
and make sure Keywords are added from Folders.
This way I can easily find what I’m looking for.
Since I record all my audio to an external recorder,
first thing I do after import
is sync all the audio to the proper video clips.
After syncing, I reject the original clips
so I don’t accidentally use them,
and hide the rejected clips from the media browser.
I also review all my B-Roll,
and reject any clips I know I’m not going to use.
This helps clean up my media browser.
I also add the appropriate Keywords to my synced clips,
usually A-Roll or B-Roll if it needs audio.
Now I’m ready to edit my video.
For my videos, since they’re all voiceover based,
I start by editing A-Roll.
I pick my best take and drop it into my timeline.
Even with scripted videos,
I tend to make quite a few mistakes when recording,
so I go through my entire clip,
edit out all the mistakes,
and add gap clips wherever I need to pause
for a few moments to demonstrate something I’m showing in the video.
I usually set the duration of my first gap clip to 10 frames,
and just copy and paste this gap clip
wherever I need to pause.
I’m not too worried about timing of these gap clips right now,
since I can easily adjust them later.
After my A-Roll is edited,
it’s time to add B-Roll
and the screen recording clips from before.
I usually start with my screen recordings.
I’ll skim my timeline,
place the playhead where I want the screen cast to start,
and connect it above my A-Roll.
First thing I do is crop this clip to fit the video frame,
and make a connected storyline out of this clip.
This way, the connected screen recording clip,
still retain the magnetic timeline properties.
Next step is lining up the steps in the screen recording
to what I say in the video.
I’ll play back my clip,
place a marker on the action I talk about,
and then skim the screen recording,
and place a marker on that step.
To line the markers up, I use a combination of edits.
First, I cut out all the dead space,
or parts with nothing happening on screen,
from the screen recording.
After that, if the action isn’t important,
or if it’s a step previously shown,
I re-time the screen recording clip to speed it up.
If that’s not possible,
I ripple trim the gap clips in my primary timeline
to line up the markers.
The method I use depends on what part of the video I’m on.
I try to deliver all my information in the most efficient method.
I want my videos to move fast enough to keep the viewer’s interest,
but slow enough for people to follow along
and fully grasp the context.
Sometimes I move a bit too fast,
but I only had a few complaints.
Most people are OK with pausing and rewinding the video,
at least I think.
After all my B-Roll is edited, I re-frame my clips.
A lot of the time during my tutorials,
I focus on a specific area in the window,
and I find it very helpful to zoom in on that area.
To do this I select all the clips in my connected timeline,
and combine them all into one compound clip.
I then use the crop tool and keyframe it
to zoom in and out of the Final Cut Pro window.
This gives the viewer a better look
at some of the smaller details in Final Cut Pro.
I also add and edit any additional B-Roll
to my timeline at this stage.
When all my B-Roll and screen recordings are added and edited,
I go through my entire timeline again,
add the intro and outro animations,
and if necessary add titles and overlays to my timeline.
I use this to add any additional information,
or if I mention a keyboard shortcut,
I like to add a title when I say it, to make it more clear.
This usually concludes the rough draft of my project.
Next step is to polish it up
and export the finished video.
Before polishing my video,
I like to watch the entire project,
and catch and fix any mistakes.
Also, before moving onto the next steps,
I duplicate my project as a snapshot
to have something to refer back to if I mess things up.
Next step is the the audio mix and color correction.
I select all my A-Roll clips,
and combine them into one compound clip,
so I don’t have to apply effects to each individual clip.
First thing I do is adjust my voice audio levels.
For this, I either use the Compressor or Limiter effects
built into Final Cut Pro.
I try to normalize my voiceover level between -6 and -3dB,
without peaking any audio.
For voiceovers I find the Compressor effect
gets me the best result.
After normalizing my audio, if I feel it adds to the video,
I’ll add some background music.
I isolate the music clip,
and set the audio level to around -30dB,
just so it doesn’t interfere with my A-Roll audio.
During the demo clips,
and any time there’s a significant amount of space with no audio,
I key frame the volume up a bit,
to around -20dB.
The range tool works perfect for this.
As my final step before exporting the video,
I add a basic color correction to my A and B-Roll clips.
I try to set my lights and camera settings
to get the best image quality out of my camera,
so the color correction needed is minimal, if any at all.
After my project is finished,
I give it a Final Watch before exporting.
If I have time, I try to watch it on a number of different screens,
to make sure everything looks and sounds good.
If I’m happy with it,
it’s time to export and share the finished video.
To export my videos,
I set up a batch export preset in Compressor
to export three copies of the video.
The first copy is a high quality, Apple Pro Res 422 format
I use for archiving the video.
I usually move this to an external Hard Drive.
The second copy is optimized for uploading
to YouTube in the H.264 codec.
The file size of this copy is much smaller and easier upload.
The third copy of my export is a low resolution,
small file I store on my computer for reference.
Before archiving my project,
the last step I take is making a YouTube thumbnail.
Depending on the video,
I use a few different apps to make this.
Sometimes, I do this right in Final Cut Pro.
Other times I make thumbnails online, Using Canva.
I also recently subscribed to Photoshop,
so lately I’ve been using it, to make my thumbnails.
Once done, I upload my video to YouTube,
archive my Final Cut Pro project on a separate drive,
and move the original folder
with all my media to a different drive.
This way, if I ever need to re-edit,
or use parts of this video in another video,
I have a few different option.
So, this is how I make my YouTube videos.
The process is not perfect and it’s constantly evolving.
Let me know in the comments below
what parts you found useful,
and what you do different.
I’m always open to suggestions on how I can streamline this.
I look forward to hearing your feedback.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you back here next week.