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It may come as a bit of a surprise from a part time YouTuber,
but I actually don’t watch many YouTube videos - well not now anyway.
But there was a time when I was living in Japan around 2015 or 2016 where I’d
watch every single release from one particular YouTuber every
single day. Those videos were Casey Neistat’s daily vlogs.
There were a few reasons that I, along with the rest of the online world,
were drawn to Casey Neistat. For one, he’s a super charismatic and entertaining person on
camera with strong opinions. For another, the non-stop freneticism that is his life,
and the amazing situations that he puts himself in, was incredible to
see documented. This combined with an honest, pretty intimate view of
his life and daily uploads created a super close ‘relationship’ with millions of online followers.
But there was something else that immediately drew me to his videos:
the filmmaking. Although they may appear rough and handmade, if you look at his videos
a bit closer you’ll quickly see that they are backed up by an array of innovative filmmaking
techniques that he uses to present stories as a creative, experienced documentary filmmaker.
So let’s break down his approach, vlogging gear, some of the cinematic techniques that he uses and
explain why they are the very backbone of what made Casey Neistat’s vlogs so groundbreaking.
You can have all the tricks in the book, but they mean nothing if they aren’t used
to create some kind of narrative arc. So before we look at his specific filmmaking
techniques let’s unpack how he constructs story in his films.
Even his more freeform personal docs that document his day, still have a story arc to them.
He’ll sometimes start with a cold open, cut to a hint at what will happen
He’ll have him doing something. And then he’ll wrap it up.
Within the broader story of a video they’ll
also be these little mini arcs that follow the same formula:
‘…Great.’
‘We’re going to go to the electronic store…’
‘What kind of hours are these?’
This is the same introduction, body and conclusion structure that academic writers use,
the same setup, action and climax formula that screenwriters use and the same way that oral
storytellers present fables. It’s a formulae that for whatever reason resonates with humans.
Of course, as an experienced filmmaker he also mixes things
up chronologically. But the way that he structures each day, video essay,
or even long take interview using this kind of formula is foundational to creating structure
out of the chaos that is life that acts as a hook that the audience can relate to.
He also uses titles, physical chapter markers, visual gimmicks and
handmade stop motion animation to introduce locations, context or explain concepts that
enforce the structure of the story - in the same way that documentary filmmakers do.
Although what Casey mainly does in his videos has been called vloging, what his videos really
are are personal documentaries. And, as with most personal documentaries, the content is prioritised
over getting technically perfect shots. This means that some moments may be out of focus,
over exposed, lit using the screen of a phone or include moments of him picking up a tripod.
Part of the appeal of his style is that he uses real filmmaking techniques but then deconstructs
them a bit and leaves them rough around the edges, including moments of imperfection.
So, what are some of the practical cinematography
and editing techniques that he uses to enhance his storytelling visually.
One technique he uses a lot is the whip or swish pan.
“When you turn the camera quick like this it’s a swish pan.”
For most of his techniques he shoots with the edit in mind. He'll quickly pan the camera off to
the side to end a shot. Then in a later clip he’ll repeat this same movement as
before and cut between these to get a seamless transition between locations.
If you break it down frame by frame you can see that he cuts the two shots so
that the one ends and the next begins on a blurred movement. Because this
happens so fast the eye isn’t quick enough to see exactly where the cut
happens and two shots can be stitched together without it being noticeable.
This technique has been used quite often in cinema. Usually when filmmakers want a way
to join two long shots together which need to be filmed in separate takes.
For the smoothest transition possible it helps to make this cut during the most
minimal frame possible such as a dark, blank wall - rather than a complex shot with actors.
Another editing technique he and a ton of other YouTubers use is the jump cut.
This is where a cut is made that joins two shots which have the same, or similar, framing. Usually
this means doing one take using a single clip and chopping out sections in the middle of it
to exclude mistakes, fumbled lines of speech, or to just include the best bits of a take.
In more formal filmmaking this is usually avoided by shooting multiple angles and shot sizes of
scenes and cutting between these different angles to smooth over any mistakes. However some movies,
such as the French New Wave film Breathless, have also used this technique to deliberately
break down the established forms of filmmaking. It renders a more ‘breaking the fourth wall’,
‘hand made’ feeling which fits the tone of Casey’s vlogs.
He also uses jump cuts to playfully push the story forward in time.
By shooting a single take shot from a locked off, still perspective,
he can move himself around into different parts of the frame and then in the edit,
remove all of that excess footage and quickly cut between him in different positions.
This makes him whimsically bounce around the frame and gives the feeling that time is passing.
Or he’ll sometimes combine this with a match cut where he uses an edit to transition between two
frames that have similar compositional or subject traits - another technique found in cinema.
While he uses jump cuts to shorten and speed up his videos, he’s also
done the exact opposite for certain videos to achieve a different effect.
In some videos he has used long takes - where he lets an extended portion of a clip play without
cutting. These tend to really suck the viewer into the moment and work well for heartfelt
monologues - as long as those monologues don’t have any distractions or lapses in performance.
Like all of these techniques the long take has also been used in many films, often for
moments where the filmmaker is trying to pull the audience into the world of the film and the
performances on screen as much as possible without breaking the illusion with excessive cutting.
Another well worn technique he uses are timelapses. This is where footage
is captured at a lower frame rate and then played back at a higher frame rate
in editing software. This ramps up the motion of the footage, speeding it up.
This technique is often used by filmmakers as a visual mechanism to illustrate the passing of
time. It’s particularly useful in vlogs because they often display a lot of action over a short
period of time such as a day or even a few hours. Timelapses can be placed in between
two shots to visually show the passing of time and that these two moments are not continuous.
Casey shoots his vlogs with a variety of different shots from a variety of
perspectives. He shoots wide establishing shots,
usually in the form of overhead aerial footage to establish the space that he is in.
He shoots POV or point of view shots where he’ll point the camera in front
of him to capture an image that mimics his perspective on what he is seeing.
Like in most documentaries he’ll grab observational footage of people,
who sometimes engage with him behind the camera,
or who sometimes appear natural and unaware of its presence.
He’ll also sometimes set up a frame on a tripod, record a bit of the environment
and then enter the frame and start talking in an interview style. And of course he
shoots the classic vlogging shot - a self portrait with a wide angle lens capturing
himself as he talks directly to the audience through the camera - which he’ll handhold.
A large part of what photographically makes his vlogs so dynamic comes from the camera movement
and framing. Casey is great at finding interesting angles and frames on the fly.
He’ll mix the perspective between high and low angles or use framing devices such as this shot,
where he places the camera inside a phone booth, to create a natural frame for himself
while at the same time showcasing the dynamic environment of the background.
The camera moves largely come from him physically moving his body in different
ways. Whether that be on his famous boosted board, a bicycle, surfboard, or just him walking.
Part of what makes the way in which he moves the camera so effective is because of the variety.
Contrasting shots with fast motion, locked off shots, high angles, low angles, create a feeling
that the story, through the cinematography and editing, is constantly getting propelled forward.
So, how does he do this? Well, the answer is with quite a few different
tools and cinematic toys. The cameras and gear that he’s used has changed
quite a bit over the years but lets go over the current setup he uses.
Most of his gear is, I guess, what you’d call consumer or prosumer because its relatively
reasonable price points make it accessible to the general public. As I mentioned before,
getting the shot is more important in his vlogs than ‘perfect cinematography’. Function rules.
He shoots aerials with a Mavic 2 Pro drone, that comes in a tiny form factor that fits in a
backpack but which also resolves great images and puts it at the top of the consumer drone market.
He’s recently taken to shooting super fisheye POV and vlogging shots with
the Insta360 X3 that he attaches to a pretty ridiculous selfie stick.
And for most action or water sequences he uses a GoPro. At the moment the Hero 9.
So those are some of the more niche cameras that
he uses. Now let’s take a look at his main vlogging camera setup.
For years he stayed in the Canon ecosystem, using the
6D as his main camera with either a 16-35mm or a 10-18mm wide angle zoom lens. However,
he’s now moved to Sony and shoots his videos with a 4K workflow.
His main camera is the A7S III. It’s light, shoots in 4K, has slow mo capabilities,
can shoot in super low light conditions, and importantly has a swivel screen so that he can
see what he’s recording when he shoots in selfie mode. This is paired with his go to lens - the
Sony 12-24mm f/2.8. A large part of his look comes from using super wide angle lenses up close,
that distorts the edges of the frame a bit and maximises how much background we see in a shot.
Shooting at a wider focal length also minimises
the amount of visible camera shake there will be when shooting handheld.
He attaches this setup to a GorillaPod, a lightweight, moldable tripod which can
act as a selfie stick and can also be quickly positioned in tight, small spaces as a tripod.
He also carries a lightweight Manfrotto Element Traveller tripod, which is small,
portable and can be used for higher elevation tripod shots.
Finally, he’ll mount a lightweight Rode VideoMic Pro+ shotgun mic on top of the
camera to capture ambient sound or when he talks directly to-camera.
I guess the answer to the question ‘What makes Casey Neistat’s videos
so groundbreaking?’ is that he effectively took a bunch
of established filmmaking techniques and his own experience in documentary
filmmaking and applied it to tell stories in a more deconstructed YouTube vlog format.
Although his videos appear super improvised, rough and chaotic - and to an extent they
probably are - they are also carefully and thoughtfully shot, crafted and assembled
with a high degree of filmmaking know-how - which wasn’t really the norm before Casey.
While a vlogger’s personality and the situations they put themselves in are
of course a large part of the appeal, Casey’s vlogs changed the game by also
applying a level of filmmaking that elevated the vlog genre as a whole.
As entertaining as vlogs are to watch, the content that I, personally, like to consume
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