- Okay, so here's the thing with how to make a vlog.
(poignant music)
There's no definitive guide.
There's no rule book.
There's no blanket statements.
There's no "do these things
and you will make successful vlogs that everybody loves
that are tonnes of fun."
That doesn't exist.
It solely depends on you.
- Four years ago, when I first started my YouTube channel,
there was one channel in particular
that I took a lot of education and inspiration
and entertainment from as well,
and that was Peter McKinnon,
and so in this video
I'm gonna share the nine lessons that I've learned
from Peter McKinnon and his YouTube channel
over the last four years.
Let's get into it.
When I was first starting out my YouTube channel
and I was thinking about the idea of vlogging,
I kinda thought that, okay well,
maybe my life isn't interesting enough,
like, you know,
I'm a medical student right now
and it's all a bit samey,
and maybe I can make a vlog here and there
but why would anyone really care
what I'm doing with my life?
It's not like I'm doing exciting things all the time.
And I had this thought process for quite a while
until I saw Peter McKinnon's video called "How to Vlog",
and this is what he said in that video.
- Your personality is more important
than doing fun things like jumping out of a plane
or doing fun things like ripping a Lamborghini
around a racetrack in Monaco.
Those are all awesome things to do,
and they make great vlog content.
But you take the person out of that situation
that is the vlogger,
you take the vlogger out of those fun scenarios,
and all you have is just an emotionless commercial
that you just flip through on TV.
So the giant misconception that I feel is,
people don't wanna start vlogs
'cause they think to themselves,
"I don't have an interesting enough life to vlog.
I don't do fun things like that.
I don't travel.
I live in the middle of nowhere."
But those are all things that do not matter,
because you are the story.
That's point number one.
You're the story.
- And I return to this video many many times each year,
because anytime I'm having a bit of like,
imposter syndrome around YouTube,
or thinking, "Ugh, you know, I'm not interesting enough
to make videos about myself,"
I just go back to that video,
and I think, yeah, you know what?
You're right.
You are the story,
and it kinda makes me more okay
with putting myself out there,
so thank you Peter, for that one.
Lesson number two is to be your unapologetically weird self.
Now, whenever I watch any of Peter's videos,
like one of the things that's really obvious
is just how much personality and charisma he exudes.
In the early days, he would have his like,
kinda intro, he's like,
"What's up everyone, Peter McKinnon here,
welcome back to another video."
- What's up everybody?
Today, we're talking about how to make objects
look like they're floating.
- He would include coffee.
He would just do silly kinda fun things on camera.
And it was just a sort of approach to YouTube
that I hadn't really seen.
'Cause I'd been watching the occasional like,
photo video tutorial YouTube channel
for a few years at that point,
but none of them really had like, personality,
and they were all just like,
you know, playing it straight up the line,
rather than just being weird.
And seeing how Peter's weirdness was like,
you know, accepted and loved by the audience,
made me more okay with being weird on camera.
And so when I started my YouTube channel,
in my first few videos,
I was very stilted and very formal
and thinking that I had to give a presentation.
But then over time, as I got more comfortable with it,
I started being more okay with just being weird on camera.
And I found that anytime I would present or exaggerate
one of my own personality quirks,
the audience, like you guys,
would pick up on that,
and that I think was part of
what made this channel go well in the early days,
and hopefully what continues to make it go
reasonably okay.
The other thing as well is that
seeing Peter's channel and the amount of charisma
he exuded on camera,
made me kind of internally think that
I want to be the Peter McKinnon of medical school.
That was my kind of thought process.
I wanna be the Peter McKinnon of medical school.
And one thing that Austin Kleon says in this book,
Steal Like An Artist, which is very good,
is that when you're first learning a craft
like YouTubing, for example,
you actually learn by imitating other people
in the first instance,
and the way I think of it is that like,
my failure to become like Peter,
or to be like Peter McKinnon,
is what made me evolve into the
kind of personality, like,
camera personality that I now have.
It's like, my way of trying to be
the Peter McKinnon of medical school,
which was what the aim was four years ago.
- Share what you love.
Aside the fact that you're making your life the story,
you gotta share the things that you love,
because those become integral parts
to the story that you're telling through your vlog.
I'm just tryna get you guys over that hump
that a lot of people don't even begin to vlog
because of that barrier of,
"I don't have an interesting life," but you do!
You're the story!
Share what you love.
- And that was another excerpt from his How to Vlog video,
but that's another thing
that I've really taken away from Peter,
not just from that video,
but his channel as a whole,
is that he's very open
with sharing the things that he loves,
whether that's his tattoos, recently,
or his like, what's in his pockets,
or what's in his wallet, or like,
what iPhone apps he uses,
or what editing techniques he uses,
or what coffee he likes,
or what camera gear he uses, it's like,
you can really tell that
he is sharing the stuff that he loves, and that like,
love kinda comes across on camera.
And so this is something that
I've been trying to do with my stuff as well
over the last four years,
just to kind of unapologetically
share the things that I love.
Whether it's my love of Notion,
or my love of listening to things at double speed
regardless of what people say or,
these are the sort of desk accessories that I like,
this is the fancy keyboard that I like using.
This is the stuff that I personally love,
and so I try my best to share it on the channel.
And these days, when I coach other YouTubers
in my Part Time YouTuber Academy,
that's a thing that we always try and
help them to remember, is that,
the point of making YouTube videos
is to share what you love, and so, yeah!
Go for it.
Lesson number four is that you don't have to be
what other people are telling you to be.
You can be who you want.
And, like, with me,
when I kind of started YouTube,
I was very much a kind of medical school-esque
based YouTuber where,
basically all the questions I'd be getting were
how do I get into med school?
And you know, how does this work in med school?
And that sort of stuff.
And then over time I sort of branched out
into being like, study content,
and then productivity content,
and in a way, like,
over time, I sort of felt confined in this box of being
I don't know, a productivity,
or like effective studying type person.
And if I'd make a vlog that was just about my life,
or a video about something else,
I would get comments being like,
"Okay, this is cool, but where's the study stuff?
I want more study related content."
And in my head I was thinking that,
oh crap, you know,
what if the only thing people are following my channel for
is for study themed content,
and I've been making this content for two years,
and I've got like,
two five-hour-long classes on Skillshare
where I explain study techniques in depth.
What more do people want?
(chuckles)
And I was really worried that,
what if the only content I'm allowed to make from now on
forever is like study themed content?
But then, around 18 months ago,
another Peter McKinnon video came out,
and this is what he had to say.
- But one of the things I love doing
is uploading a myriad of different types of videos.
You'll notice we just put out a video about wallets.
Lot of people might say like,
"Dude, you talking about EDC stuff a lot.
You're talking about what's in your pockets
and pocket knives and wallets, like,
where did the tutorials go, man?
Like, what's, I thought this was a photo channel."
And it still is.
There's hundreds of photo tutorials
that you can go back and look through
and it's my roots,
and I'm never gonna stop doing that, but,
I think not to clear things up,
but just to, I don't know,
maybe even give permission to other people
that are going through the same thing that I go through,
you could create whatever you want.
This is the Peter McKinnon channel.
Sometimes you're gonna find stuff about wallets.
You're gonna find a tutorial on how to make coffee.
It's gonna be a tutorial on how to do a cinemagraph.
It's gonna be a vlog with Casey,
a vlog with Maddy, a vlog with holiday,
snowboarding, jet ski, walking my dogs, cleaning my garage.
It's just gonna be a myriad of things that are me.
Because this is my channel.
This is what I do here.
And I don't think you should ever put a limit
on your creativity.
I don't think you should ever just
set parameters, set rules saying,
"I can only make this."
I've tried to live by that my entire life.
- And I can remember first watching
this video where Peter said all that stuff,
and I was like, "Oh my god,
he's like, articulating all the things
that I've been feeling with my own channel."
And in a way, that video weirdly gave me permission
to be okay with exploring other themes on this channel
that aren't necessarily related to productivity,
and that video made me more okay with
just doing videos where I just sit down
and talk about my feelings and that kinda stuff,
and some people seem to like those videos.
Some people don't, but that's fine.
The point is, it's my channel.
I can do what I want,
and I'm gonna make the stuff that I like,
so thanks Peter for, in a way,
giving me permission to do that.
Lesson number five is like,
all the basic videography, photography,
lighting, sound, camera type stuff.
I basically learned from Peter McKinnon
and other videos that I saw, suggested videos from his.
And when I first got started,
I had absolutely no idea
with the lighting in particular,
but I remember there was this one video
that Peter made like, I don't know,
three four years ago,
where he converted his like,
terrible lighting setup into like,
something that looked pretty good,
for less than $50,
and that taught me so much
about the principles of lighting,
and then I applied that to my channel moving forward.
- Talking about this horrible lighting situation,
and how to make it look like this,
for less than 50 bucks.
- My entire YouTube filming setup as well
like with this light, the camera, the microphone,
everything is all kind of based on his earlier videos
where he talked about his YouTube filming setup.
And it's one of those weird things whereby,
you know, just as a creator,
like Peter McKinnon,
just documenting the thing that he was doing,
like, millions of people have now seen those videos.
And we've all based our YouTube setups
off of what he was doing.
And now I see other YouTubers,
especially like medical school YouTubers,
who seem to be basing a lot of their stuff around
what I've been doing and what I've been documenting
and it's kinda nice that this sort of cycle continues
and you know, you learn from people,
then you do the thing,
and then other people learn from you,
and it's just all very nice and wholesome all around.
Lesson number six is in terms of aesthetics.
Now, I really like the aesthetics
on Peter McKinnon's channel, but,
I think around two years ago,
he did a collaboration with Becki and Chris,
which fast became one of my favourite YouTube channels,
and their branding and aesthetics
is just absolutely amazing.
They're a really great channel
that I still follow to this day.
Becki is like a photographer
and an interior designer.
Chris is actually an interventional radiologist,
so like, a real life doctor who works as a doctor.
So that was kinda cool.
But just everything about their videos
is so professionally done
and the interior design is amazing
and the lighting and the design, it's just so cool.
And so anytime I need like,
aesthetic design inspiration,
partly I look to Peter McKinnon,
but mostly I look towards Becki and Chris
for being like, the gold standard of production value.
At least in my eyes.
Lesson number seven is that building an audience
who know, like, and trust you,
is an incredible thing.
And I remember, I think this was over a year ago.
Or around about a year ago,
when Peter dropped his $500 camera bag.
Like he released this camera bag
in collaboration with Nomatic, I think.
And I remember as soon as I saw that video
where I was like, oh my god,
Peter McKinnon's made a camera bag,
I immediately backed it on Kickstarter.
I just dropped like, six, $700 on it.
And it was a really weird feeling,
because in a way,
I felt grateful to him for giving me the opportunity
to support him by buying something from him.
That was just completely bizarre!
Like I've never had that feeling with anyone before
where, you know,
I just have so much good will and love towards a creator
for helping me out so much
that when they release a product, I'm like,
oh my god, you know,
you're doing me a favour by letting me buy this from you.
And, you know, since COVID,
I haven't used that bag once,
but it's, you know,
under my bed and I'm,
you know, I'm really glad that I have it.
I've got his, you know,
ND special Polar Mists, ND filters as well,
which again, I rarely use,
'cause I rarely go out, thanks to the pandemic.
But again, it's nice to be able to support a
kind of fellow creator and someone that I look up to.
And I often think about that feeling
whenever I worry about selling stuff.
Like if I'm selling a course
or putting a class on Skillshare, I wonder like,
"Oh, you know, what if I ..." (chuckles)
"Will people think I'm a sellout for, like,
charging money for something."
Then I think back to how I felt
when Peter McKinnon was charging money for something.
And sure, maybe some people will think
he's a sellout for doing it, but,
I didn't, and that's what matters.
And so yeah, the power of building an audience
that know, like, and trust you.
Lesson number eight is that good stuff
takes a lot of effort.
And I remember, like,
anytime I watch one of Peter's Instagram videos,
where he talks about kind of
how he shoots and edits things for Instagram,
I'm always completely amazed as to
just the amount of effort that goes into
all of these individual photos,
where he'll spend like half an hour
shooting hundreds of shots for a single
flat lay image for Instagram,
and then editing it for another half an hour
to make it look perfect, adding in elements.
And I think when you're scrolling through,
at least for me,
when I'm scrolling through
a photographer's Instagram account,
it's really hard to appreciate the amount of effort
that goes into each of those photos.
I think of those, I look at those photos and I think,
"Wow, that's a great photo."
But seeing the behind the scenes
of the amount of effort that went into it,
made me appreciate that
every good thing in life
takes a lot of effort, and so,
rather than trying to find shortcuts
or, "Hey, how can I streamline my YouTube production process
so much that it becomes so easy to make videos." (sighs)
You know, as tempted as I am to go down that route,
instead I think about that and think,
"Okay, how can I put even more effort into my videos
to make them as good as they can possibly be?"
- If we had to make a fourth point,
overall I would say,
forget everything else
and just remember to have a good time.
Right?
Sharing should be fun.
Sharing the skills you have to help other people.
Sharing your own passions.
Sharing the relationships that you have in your life and
comedy and humour and sad moments and fun moments
and taking people on a ride,
just like a movie, or a TV show.
It should be fun.
It should be fun to make,
it should be fun to shoot,
it should be fun to share.
And if any of those things are not happening,
something is not working and you need to correct it.
- And so with the image that I have among some people
of being some kind of productivity guru,
I always get asked the question, you know,
"How are you so productive?"
And, the real answer to that question is
just that I enjoy what I'm doing for the most part.
Like, I try my very best to enjoy the journey
in anything that I'm doing,
whether it's studying for an exam,
or getting through med school,
or like, working as a doctor,
or putting in a canula or making YouTube videos
or doing my website.
I try my best to enjoy the journey.
And I think this is a really really really important point,
because for me,
I've occasionally had moments
where I've forgotten to enjoy the journey.
I've forgotten that this is supposed to be fun.
Writing my book, for example,
these days like, you know,
I had a period a few weeks ago
where I'd forgotten that it was supposed to be fun,
and so I let all the stress and anxiety
and pressure around expectations and outcomes,
I let that all build up in my head,
and I just really wasn't enjoying the process.
And then when my housemate reminded me that, you know,
you're supposed to be having fun doing this,
that was when I was like,
"Oh my god! Yeah, you're right!
This is supposed to be fun."
And I often find that anytime
I feel like I'm not enjoying something,
or I feel like I'm stressed out,
or that something feels like a chore,
or that, you know,
I've got this goal that I'm struggling to reach.
If I remind myself that, you know,
just remember to have fun,
remember that this is supposed to be fun,
remember that the only reason I'm doing this
is just 'cause it's fun.
Remember to enjoy the journey.
And the cool thing is that, at least for me,
when I'm having fun doing something,
I'm actually just more productive by default, so yeah.
Thanks Peter for this lesson as well.
Remember to enjoy the journey,
it's all about having fun.
Making videos is supposed to be fun,
and if it becomes not fun for very long,
then you know that something is wrong.
If you like this video
and you're thinking of starting on your own YouTube journey
or maybe levelling up whatever hobby you're trying to do,
check out this video over here
which is my 10 top tips for aspiring YouTubers.
Huge thank you again to Peter
for being an ongoing inspiration for us all,
and thank you guys for watching,
and I'll see you next time.
Bye bye.