would you like to improve your video
quality on YouTube got some simple ideas
of ways that yeah we can we can
definitely help you out with that
hey it's Scott Christopher once again
along here with Nate Woodberry talking
about improving YouTube video quality is
that what you're talking about I want to
make things look better sound better
that kind of quality or or content
quality or are all of it yes Wow where
do you want to start well to make to
make your videos better this is actually
a question that I got from Quora and you
have to know like okay what were you
starting from so it's like to make
yourself better it really depends on
where you're starting from okay you know
so if if you're at Point a yeah and you
want to get to point Z it's like you
want your videos to be better better
than what oh why do you want to improve
them what is there to improve on is
there a benchmark that you set and you
go this is this is where I want it to be
but it's not are you saying that you
you're comparing to someone else or just
to what your own vision of so this
question comes from Quora somebody asked
me how do I ever ask the question how do
i improve the quality of my videos on
YouTube so the first thing I have to
know is I don't know where they're at so
it's like if they want to improve okay
where are you starting from because you
can you can make some improvements here
to here to here I mean how how far the
skill do you want to go let's just
generally say somebody's videos blow
chunks no let's just say their quality
is in the crapper okay so that before we
talk about production quality yes you
can say that I mean let's just start
there with like the worst videos we've
ever seen so if yours are just terrible
your videos are lousy you're not getting
any views that's we're gonna assume your
videos let's just say we're starting
with this one
this is worst if your videos like this
but they look good but the difference is
technically we'll start we are starting
right now technically at a very fairly
high level where others perhaps maybe
their content
based on your own discretionary judgment
is better than this but your technical
starting point is lower right I mean so
let's just say I'm shooting out on my
own
iPhone right so that's my starting point
I am I don't have multiple cameras hi
everybody how are you it's just me on an
iPhone and maybe I'm holding out my
iPhone with my arm
there's my starting point how do i
improve that so before we even jump into
that I want to talk about one of the and
that is your content okay the biggest
improvement that you can make to a video
is the cunt well they say the story is
everything you know script is everything
so to speak if you saw if you're gonna
make a video like we are here talking
about this you know you could plan it
out we could we could have how could we
ever improve this I mean we're slightly
you could have done teleprompting you
know we could have could have talked
about it ahead of time sure we've got
something we've got some notes but maybe
I could have spent more time on those
notes you know think about it from a
viewers point of view what are they
gonna want to watch you know why are
they gonna want to watch your video and
that's the kind of your thesis statement
right it's Jimmy we're what this isn't
necessarily something you're gonna argue
but it is the theme the the subject of
the video why does why is someone typing
that in and looking for a common one a
lot of times on Quora they'll say why is
my youtube channel not doing well or why
why am I never getting any views and
I'll click on the link and I'll go check
out their YouTube channel and it's a guy
playing video games or computer games
and he's not talking he's just you know
you know why would I want to watch that
you know and there are very successful
gaming channels I don't really know when
he to recommend cuz I don't follow those
right but at mice teenage son could tell
you right away okay there are some that
millions of people watch there's a
personality behind it I guess I know
that that PewDiePie guy that I don't
recommend because I checked his channel
out to see what's all the rage and he
just cusses a lot and plays video games
so but there's a personality there so
I'll put some personality into your
videos create a story like what are you
going to show them are you just gonna
record us all at two hours of playing
video game yeah or are you gonna cut it
down and just show the highlight so
you're gonna teach somebody how to keep
some chicer code yeah
exactly how I got into whatever room
blah blah blah yeah that's good
so anyway that I bring that up not
because I'm an expert on gaming videos
but because that's what I see a lot of
people ask about so now let's get into
some technical stuff I actually had
another point here so this is a struggle
that I've had I've gotten better and
better at video over the years mm-hmm
but when I by myself I invited you to be
on this channel with me we're working on
some projects together yeah and the fact
that you and I can have a conversation
together makes it a lot more inert oh I
agree I've had some great feedback
already and so I didn't hear any they
have to do me I'm not sure I ever forbid
now people have said like I really like
the format it's really fun to watch well
and I think and I agree because I've
seen others that are like this and the
fact that you have a sounding board and
it does it drives the conversational
tone it makes it feel authentic and real
which it is but if it were just Nate
Woodbury talking to camera you know you
might be tempted to either a teleprompt
it or be not teleprompt it and really
sound awful you know what I mean but
either way it's not a conversation it's
just not natural and real and I think
most people find that's far more
engaging perhaps and I try and pick
topics we do I do I have a channel Scott
has a channel so on this channel I pick
topics that I'm the expert on and I try
and pick topics and phrase it up in a
way where it's things that you could you
could act as the audience right and so
if I'm by myself I don't have somebody
here just like well I don't even know
what that word means what does aperture
mean like okay well let me explain that
or yeah so it's it's great to have a
Harry yeah another person to bounce
things off of and to kind of help fuel
the conversation so maybe you could
consider that inviting somebody else to
to be in the videos with you okay now
let's talk about the technical that the
production quality yeah all right so
that word that I just mentioned our
preacher when I wanted to up my game
with video and that's actually it wasn't
this phone it was a previous version
that the iPhone 4s for a year I filmed
on the iPhone 4s professionally meaning
people paid me right I set up a studio I
had the lighting the white backdrop I
was filming with
teleprompter and I was using my iPhone
because it got the job done why not I
figured out how to use it the right way
to get the s to get the had a quality I
want chipset sufficient to make it
looking like professional video yeah but
then I saw some video that had the
background blurred and I wanted to learn
how to do that yeah and I learned about
DSLR and I learned about aperture and
different lenses and how when you have a
anyway a higher quality lens and so I
bought a DSLR camera I bought a high-end
lens the lens that we're looking at
right there or on this camera right
there for for his face have very high
apertures or wide apertures now that
we're not gonna go into a tutorial on
that but I chose to upgrade my camera
because that's the type of look that I
wanted and and for my clients as well I
wanted to be able to blur that
background because just just doing that
simple thing really up levels or
upgrades the professional is angry just
tiny little tweaks that make it that
much more professional-looking and it
didn't it doesn't come cheap I mean you
know these these improvements that
particular improvement is an investment
of a couple thousand dollars to get that
look but yeah on this specific camera
right here the camera is a $1,200 camera
it's the canon a TD that's kind of a
that's the body right oh yeah so that's
it's the 80 is in the number D yeah
that's just the body and then the lens
itself were using a 24 millimeter which
is a fairly wide angle and to get a
higher picture of 1.4 on that wide of a
lens it's a $1500 lens yeah so the lens
is more than the body which just goes to
show you that that's really all an
iPhone camera is it's kind of a body
it's really just it's the chipset with a
very standard you know digital zoom and
they wear this with these lenses the
SLRs you know you have analog zoom you
know and that literally magnifies so
it's all this lens is a prime lens
meaning it can't zoom at all and yet
it's still 1500 bucks
oh this doesn't zoom it doesn't zoom
it's just I just got it because it's got
the wide wide wide aperture and can
really blur the background it's cool but
you can change the lenses like right
right I can anyway so on this one on the
phone here they pack like five lenses in
there somehow and they
yeah it's a genius invention it is for
sure there they're still coming at
anyway some of the cameras have liked to
let two different cameras and they'll
try and do a composite yeah yeah that
will blur the background but it's not
it's not quite it's better for photos
but it's not there for video yet right
yeah it's still a phone mm-hmm as far as
I'm concerned I mean I'm 51 years old to
me a phone as a phone I've never heard
you say your actual age you just say I'm
getting up there oh now you heard it Hey
and I still look younger than Nate all
right I've got another idea and I've
seen a lot of people do this and I've
tried it myself it's talk while you walk
so you know you could hold hold your
camera out in front of you or have it
like I use my gorilla pot so
funny-looking thing with the camera on
it yeah and you're just walking while
you talk to the camera so instead of
having it on the tripod and just talking
to it sitting there still yeah you can
try just walking around just to give it
some energy some motion and I've done
this with my clients as well on the
glidecam where where I'm holding the
camera facing them and I'm steady and
I'm walking backwards as they follow me
and they talked to the camera it keeps
things interesting a video that I'm
thinking of where I first saw this on
the channel veritasium Derek Muller it's
actually his second channel where he
just has things to talk about they're
not as they're not as planned he doesn't
travel anywhere he's just thinking
sharing some ideas and he'll he'll be in
an interesting place like a city or
something and so he's just walking
around talking to the camera knee
because there's interesting things and
people and noises in the background
he can just talk for ten minutes but it
kept the video a lot more entertainment
but what's crucial to that is that is
this the steadiness you know is to keep
it as nice smooth yeah having some kind
of gimbal or like you're saying a glide
cam something some apparatus so that
it's not distractingly shaky or yeah
this is yes for some reason is more
difficult even if you've got some type
of a selfie stick or something like test
it out and see if you can hold us anyway
but and also with that if you are stuck
with just holding your hand out you can
jack up the frames per second which will
tend to smooth out the overall shakiest
I've used that before even shooting 4k
right where I'm kind of doing with my
hand and I'm I know I'm kind of shaking
then I play back later and it tends to
remove some of that because they're so
with I just got the new GoPro Hero six
black it's in my bag or I see I'm
whacking down over there it's got an
advance of image stabilization that came
with it so I hook it to my chest when I
go mountain biking and so I'm a little
all over the place and I've tried it for
different anyway it's really it's pretty
smooth yeah so you can like shake the
thing around and it pretty much stays
steady I'm telling you though they're
taking away the shaky is a huge way to
up the quality of your videos for sure
okay so now I want to talk about
lighting and all I'm gonna say about
lighting is after you watch this video
go up in the search bar here on YouTube
and type in you know how to fix my
lighting or good lighting for
photography photographers are really
good at making an image look good and
then just translate it to video then you
hit record but find a simple lighting
tutorial but the simple advice that I
could give you is put light in front of
you not behind you we've got we've got
some soft lights aiming at the front of
us we've got light on the ceiling there
we've got some cool color lights behind
us but if we had a window a bright
window behind us that that doesn't turn
out so you know wreck everything you can
you can face a window in a more camera
at you or kind of if the windows right
here and I'm looking at a camera this
way you can kind of put some cool
shadows on your face but experiment with
that just upping your game with lighting
will really enhance the the
professionalism the quality of your your
videos and and the lights that we have
here man I have a set I've got dozens of
these soft boxes we're only using reason
five right now you might only need one
you can get a set of three of these I'll
put a link in the description I think
with the 51 year old the more lights the
merrier you can get a set of these three
soft boxes for 140 bucks on Amazon so I
last forever I've used them for years
and I just increased my that's great
very professional all right now we're
going to talk about audio and the audio
the mic that we're using right here my
finger is almost touching it you just
can't see it because it's on a boom and
it's right out of the shot
it's a zoom h2n so team cue the picture
of the h2n right here
hopefully you're seeing a picture of the
h2n now I own the h1 in and I use it
because it's small its compact I use it
when I attach the lapel mic to my shirt
I have the h4 n which is more robust
you've heard that that's the big name
one yeah it's it's overkill for me I'm
actually gonna see if I can return it or
sell it because I'm just I want another
h2 in well hey the two of those equals a
four you think you can you can you can
plug in through an XLR connection two
microphones at the same time in record
in stereo or two different people well
an h4 rent is kind of the iconic like
the two mics then there's actually and
all of them do this has it that way
inside but it's inside the case but yeah
okay I know you can't see what we're
pointing it just looks more but I like
this look and feel of this one more than
the age for him so anyway I highly
recommend the h4 and now it reports to
x2 in ah I just I saw on purpose to see
if you guys are kind of testing me so I
highly recommend the h2 n for external
audio now it records to an SD card so my
camera here it's got a shotgun mic but
we're a little ways away and so the
audio isn't going to be near as good as
this right so when you pull the video
into your editing software you'll see
the waves from the audio that came with
the video right and then you'll see the
waves from this and you can line them up
most programs have an auto sync feature
so that's why we put in a clap sometimes
in the in the video and there'll be a
spike so you can line them up it's
really really easy it might sound
complicated but once you've done it once
you're like oh well that's that's pretty
easy and that's definitely a way of
upping your video perks and quality for
YouTube now there's one other thing that
I that I wrote here that I actually
wanted to go back to and talk about kind
of the structure of your content and so
this will kind of be a bonus to wrap up
if you do this your videos will give
better results you'll have longer watch
I'll have more people to actually watch
the video all the way through versus
just clicking on it and leaving so one
is the intro make sure that the first
thing that you talk about is letting
them know why they're here what they're
going to experience right so if they saw
a title that says you know how to eat
green potatoes that's just the first
Encanto my mind okay then when you start
the video it's like hey today we're
gonna talk about and show you how to eat
green potatoes sounds like that's in the
introduction yeah right because
especially if it's something if somebody
searched for a video and they found you
know a search for a topic they found
your video they hit play and you just
start you know randomly talking about
things or that it's like I thought this
was gonna show me how to eat potato yeah
so you want to that you want them to
know that they found what they're
looking for then you can also give them
a hook we call it a hook as like so let
me give you an example with that with
that silly potato okay so in this video
I'm gonna show you how to eat a green
potato and if you watch to the end I'll
actually show you how to eat a purple
potato as well so let's make sure you
stay tuned for that right let me know
might break for a video logo you don't
have to but then you come back into the
content and you you know make your
content good and then you do the purple
potato thing at the end deliver on your
promise that's just a little simple
thing but by putting an introduction
like that or starting your video with
that you'll get a lot more people to
actually watch they'll stick around and
they'll they'll know that they found
what they're looking for
I mean it's a fairly basic device for
any kind of content anywhere really you
don't I mean as I stay tuned
you know the heavyweight title bout is
coming up next and even when there's
nothing more compelling the ninety
commercials you know and there's you
know all these other preliminary bouts
it's like I thought they said it was
next it is it's a hook it keeps you
coming it keeps you there
when I worked in radio we kind of worked
with those all the time still to come
that new one from Gloria Estefan and
people that can't wait to hear it
you know they listen to sixteen other
songs and then you finally give it to
them but at least they're they listened
for all that time and in your case on
YouTube you know they're gonna watch
until they see it or they fast forward
to it if you're if you're this is
another bonus if you're doing a vlog or
something exciting you
take a few seconds of that exciting
thing that happens later on in your
video and just put it right at the
beginning is kind of like a little
teaser and something's about to explode
and you're getting excited and then it
cuts you know and they're okay today
what we're gonna do is set this up and
see what happens and you're like whoa
that looked like it got pretty intense
there I'm excited too and so your watch
so basically what you're saying is is
that you know all of these things that
can increase his quality and kind of
heighten the experience for the viewer
it just takes a little extra effort in
time you know it from an editorial
standpoint you know you've got to put in
a little more time to do these things
you're gonna be scrubbing more video to
find those little Clips and and to
and/or you know we're making a really
cool thumbnail or whatever it is I mean
all that stuff that makes this better
it takes more of your time which is of
course isn't an issue for you because as
we've talked about in other videos he
has people that do it for him oh yeah so
I like with all these things what I
don't want you to do is to feel
overwhelmed and think oh I can't get
started because I've got to do all these
things to start with the best production
clutter I would start right now just
make a crappy video post it everyone
we'll talk about this in another episode
but everyone has to start somewhere and
you go back and look at the beginning
days of all the successful youtubers
their first videos were all crappy so if
you want to be successful you got to
start crappy and then hopefully these
are some tips of ways that you can
appear your game away from crappy to
awesome set the bar low for yourself
he's saying you know hopefully found
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