One of the questions I get most, with regards to starting a YouTube channel, is "How to
I get professional looking Intros made for my videos?"
And its actually pretty simple.
Ill start with the easiest and the cheapest method.
I get intros from a website called Video Blocks.
They have customizable After Effects templates that you can modify specifically for your
channel.
I spoke with video blocks, and got a 50 dollar discount for you by using the link in the
description.
So huge thank you to them for sponsoring this video.
Here on their website they have over 2 million different stock videos, and after effects
templates.
But today we are just interested in the After Effects templates.
You can hover over all the little preview windows and check the style that will fit
your YouTube channel or your project the best.
I'm going to choose this Amazing Beasts looking intro because it looks cool, and because there
are multiple variables I can walk you through.
Its actually really really simple, so don't stress out just yet.
Over on the right hand side you can see which version of After Effects you need to work
with the file.
And if there are any plugins needed.
This one doesn't need any extra plugins so Ill hit that download button and that will
get the after effects file onto my computer.
I just saved the zipped file to my computer, and then extracted the files to my desktop
so I can open them.
First thing you want to do is jump into the readme, just to see if there are any tips
from the template creator.
This readme file has the font type and instructions on how to change the text in the intro.
Because unless your YouTube channel is called 'fantastic beasts'... your probably going
to want to modify the text a bit.
And now the fun stuff.
I'm going to click into the After Effects file, and this will open up Adobe After Effects,
I am using the CC version, and its included with Adobe Premiere that you use that to edit
your main videos.
I can scrub through the clip with that little blue bar down in the timeline just to make
sure everything looks ok, and then to edit the text in this intro, ill jump up to the
left hand side and double click.
Then I can move to the center window and double click again to modify what is written here.
You can literally put anything you want.
The 'Everything' part of this logo looks a little big, so I'm going to jump into the
right hand side and adjust the size of the text.
Just like you would when you are editing a word document.
To preview the file again, I can click here, and then it'll show up as a preview of the
final version.
Thumbs up for how simple this process is.
Now, this intro has more than one place for text.
So Ill jump back to that edit text box and click on the edit text 2 slot.
This will open the text box that appears after the main text.
Ill add a little tagline here and shrink the font down a bit to fit the screen correctly.
And then the last text section of the video Ill add a website or my YouTube channel name.
Remember that this is just one template out of thousands on video blocks.
So each one will be a little bit different, but they will all be pretty easy to work with.
That's kinda the point of a template.
You have unlimited downloads with your subscription.
So you can replace and change your video intro as often as you want.
And if you ever cancel your subscription, you still own all of your files and can use
them forever.
You can drop the preview resolution down as well, if your computer is struggling with
the graphics that will help it display correctly.
To render the video at full quality, head up to file..
Then export...
and then add to render cue.
Then down in the bottom box, make sure that its set to 'best settings', and then click
next to output and go to Quicktime.
AVI would work too, but here in the quicktime settings you have H.264, and that is what
YouTube likes to receive.
Ill just keep my audio on the AAC.
Ill click the output location to set the location of my finished file.
And then I can finally click render.
This whole process took about 10 minutes, and I was able to create a pretty professional
looking intro.
There are a lot of YouTubers out there using this same method for their videos.
Its nice because you can use your files commercially, for you tube, contests, whatever you want.
You own the footage.
If you personally are an After Effects master you can submit your own template to Video
Blocks for other people to use, and you make money each time someone downloads your template.
Here are some other intros I have made in the past.
If you need a VERY specific design or intro for your YouTube channel, you can always hire
someone to make an intro specifically for you, but that might cost anywhere from 100
to 500 dollars depending on the complexity and the artist you hire.
Hopefully I was able to save you some money with this video, if nothing else, at least
now you know how most of YouTube gets their intros.
If you want to learn more about editing videos on Adobe premier, check out my workflow video,
and if you have any questions, leave them down below in the comments!
Thanks a ton for watching!
Ill see you around.