[[Hey there.
I hooked you with that title, didn’t I?
We’re gonna try something a little different this week.
For those who have seen my videos before, welcome back.
For everyone else, let me explain myself real quick.
My name is JT and I make educational content from a socialist perspective.]]
I get a lot of comments about my content being biased or one-sided, which is where this episode’s
title comes from.
I’ve addressed the whole bias thing many times in the comments of my videos, [[but
for those who are new, this is important for you to understand in general, not just in
regards to my videos - there is no such thing as unbiased media.
It doesn’t exist.]]
Whether we realize it or not, everything we consume comes bundled with the ideology of
the person, organization, or outlet that created it.
If someone says their content is unbiased, they’re lying to you.
The only things that actually matter are being honest about that bias, and being transparent
with your sources.
I’m very open about this being a socialist channel, I’m not trying to sneak marxist
talking points into my videos, I’m honest about my beliefs and I want to share them
with others who are free to believe whatever they want.
Everything on this channel is just my opinion, and my sources can always be found in the
description if you’d like to fact-check any of my claims.
That’s more than can be said for most supposedly unbiased outlets.
[[Keep that in mind when you’re browsing YouTube or watching TV.
If someone claims to be unbiased, they’re not being honest with you or with themselves.]]
[[Okay, with that out of the way, I thought we’d do something a little different this
week.]]
I get a lot of questions about 1) how to get involved with socialist agitation, and 2)
how I make my videos.
I’ve answered both questions in bits and pieces in comments, on my discord server,
and in livestreams for the Deprogram podcast, but I don’t have one central resource to
point people to, [[so I’m hoping this video can be that resource, or at least a starting
point.
Now, there are tons of ways to get involved in organizing, education, and agitation,]]
from making video essays, to designing pamphlets or flyers, to distributing books, to hosting
reading groups, the list goes on.
But my specialty is video production, so that’s what I’ll be focusing on.
[[A lot of skills I’ll talk about here translate really well into other fields - such as writing
or recording and editing audio.]]
If you can write a video script you can write an article for a socialist journal or magazine;
if you can record and edit audio you can host a podcast or local radio show.
You can do a lot of things with a few core competencies.
[[So, without further ado, let’s talk about how to make communist propaganda.
I’ll break down the process of video production into three main components:]] pre-production,
production, and post-production.
Each category can be further broken down into the individual tasks that together constitute
video production.
There will be chapter markers below for each of these sub-categories, so you can easily
jump back and reference something later.
[[I’ll also put a bunch of links in the description to dive deeper into each topic,
as each one could easily be its own video.]]
[[Alright, let’s start at the beginning.
You know you want to make a video, but you’re not sure what you’d like it to be about.
How do you decide what topic to choose?
Well, there are a bunch of ways.]]
Are you especially well-versed in a particular area?
Are you plugged into local organizing, do you have a degree in climate science, are
you just a giant history nerd?
All of these things could lead you to a topic or series of topics that would be perfect
for you.
If you’re active in your local labor scene, talk about the logistics of striking.
What does it take to unionize a Starbucks?
Or if you have a degree in a relevant field, lean on that education - tell us about climate
science, plot the trends for us, explain to us why this stuff matters.
If you’re more of a generalist and you don’t specialize in one thing in particular, go
online.
Read articles that interest you.
Find things that make you ask, why?
Things that are interesting to you will be interesting to others.
[[I come up with most of my topics just by scrolling through Twitter and thinking “that’s
bad coverage, I should correct that” or “how can I explain that this problem is
related to capitalism?”
For me,]] I find that passive topic generation is more productive than sitting down and forcing
yourself to come up with something.
Give it time, when something piques your interest, write it down.
Soon enough you’ll have a long list of topics to cover.
[[There’s no such thing as a bad topic, it’s just a matter of presenting the information
well.
One thing to keep in mind during this stage of the process is how easy or difficult it
will be to find engaging visuals to cover the narration.]]
A topic there’s a lot of footage for will be way easier to produce than a video about
a niche topic or an event that happened 200 years ago.
That shouldn’t be the sole determinant, you can always make a video work, but it’s
just something to keep in mind, especially when you’re just starting out.
[[Okay, let’s move on to the first big step.
Writing.
This part can seem a little daunting if you haven’t flexed your writing muscles since
school, but I promise it’s not that bad.
I know I’m not alone in saying that writing has always been one of my favorite stages
of the process.
If you’re at all creative, and if you’re still watching this video that means you are,
the words will come.]]
It might be challenging at first as you’re figuring out what kind of tone you want to
take, how specific you want to be, and so on, but once you’ve made those decisions,
you’ll find that writing a script is just like following a recipe.
Some of the ingredients may change from script to script, but the process remains pretty
constant.
[[So, let’s look at a script.]]
This is what you’ll see when you first sit down to write.
Don’t freak out, this is normal, the first few sentences are the hardest, but once you
get started you’ll be amazed how quickly the rest flows from the introduction.
That’s why it’s super important to make the introduction good.
You need to establish what the topic is, but more importantly you need to hook the audience.
Let’s look at the intro of one of my recent scripts.
What do we see?
Nothing fancy here, just jumping right into the topic - societal collapse due to climate
change.
[[Seems pretty straightforward, but there are a few things to notice.
First, look how striking that first sentence is.]]
Global collapse is here.
Pretty scary.
No messing around, just making a very ominous statement.
That’ll get your attention.
It’s immediately followed by an editing note - it’s always a good idea to envision
your video as you’re writing the script.
For me, I knew I wanted this particular slideshow effect here to hammer home the point.
Next, we expand on the claim we made in the first sentence - you don’t have to give
statistics, but citing general facts or trends is a great way to start building your argument.
Lists are powerful.
After the list of disasters, we get a ray of hope - it’s not too late to act.
The audience is now invested in learning what we can do to avoid these consequences.
These double brackets, by the way, are my way of indicating which lines I know I want
to be on camera.
When they show up in the teleprompter, I know to really do my best to deliver that line
effectively - sit up straight, appropriate facial expression, stuff like that.
After the first paragraph, you’re free to move into your argument, take your position,
and try to persuade the audience to care.
How you choose to do that is up to you, and there are way too many approaches to cover
here, we’ve got a lot of other stuff to go over.
But just so you have some general guidelines - write conversationally, you’re not publishing
an academic paper, and remember you have to narrate this.
Don’t use words you’ll stumble over.
Don’t make your sentences too long.
Keep it simple.
Write with visuals in mind, you’ll see I say things like “as I covered in this video.”
I know I’m going to show the video’s title on screen, so I don’t need to say it out
loud.
[[Other than that, just try to remember your persuasive writing class in high school - you
want a clear thesis, paragraphs that provide solid arguments, and a conclusion that reminds
the viewer why the thesis is important.
For your first script, just free write and see what happens.
Don’t try too hard.
Everyone has their own process.]]
For me, I write straight through the script, beginning to end, and I do very little editing.
That’s just what works for me.
Trial and error will show you what works for you.
Okay, enough about writing, let’s move on to production.
[[This is the part most people obsess over.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s super important, but you can’t salvage a bad script with
a great recording.
Each step builds on the previous one.
Now, there are a couple ways to do video essays - either you’re on camera, or you’re just
a disembodied voice.
I’ve done both, they’re both perfectly fine, but I will say that if you’re looking
to add a more personal touch to your videos, there’s no substitute for being on camera.
That being said, it’s more work.
So, what goes into production?]]
First, some gear considerations - you’ll need lighting, audio gear, and a camera.
I listed the camera last because it’s the least important.
Most people would sooner watch a video with great audio and great lighting in 480p, than
a 4k video with garbage lighting and audio.
[[Don’t splurge on the latest and greatest camera without also considering lights and
audio.]]
Okay, so, here’s your basic on-camera setup.
Here’s you, here’s your camera, and here are your two lights - one is called your key
light (that’s the main light), and the other is called your fill light (which is generally
less bright, and sometimes a different color).
These two lights are positioned at roughly 45 degree angles from the subject.
You can go crazy and add all sorts of background lights and a hair light to help you stand
out from the background, but it’s not necessary.
You can find really solid affordable lighting kits online for like 80 bucks.
I’ve put some examples in the description.
They don’t have to be fancy, they just need to put a nice diffused light on you.
No bare bulbs, make sure you’ve got an umbrella or softbox covering the light so it isn’t
harsh looking.
Another thing to take into account is your location.
What’s in the background?
You really only need one presentable wall, the rest of the room can be a jumble of cables
and editing equipment.
Don’t believe me?
Here’s my home studio.
I have 1.3 million subscribers.
I promise you don’t need a hollywood set.
Just make sure your background is fairly clean and un-distracting.
Next, audio.
You need a way to capture that sultry voice of yours.
Plenty of ways to do this.
The easiest acceptable way would probably be to get a lavalier mic that plugs into your
phone.
You can then sync your audio and video in post.
It’s not hard.
Just make sure you clap when you start recording so you can line up the audio peaks.
The next step up would be something like a Rode Videomic.
This is a small shotgun mic that plugs directly into your camera.
This is great if you’re fairly close to the camera, but if you’re further away or
your room is echoey, the sound quality will suffer.
The next step up, and what I used for the first few years of my channel, was a portable
audio recorder with a shotgun mic attachment.
I used the Zoom H5 and their proprietary shotgun.
Stick it on a tripod pointed in the general direction of your face, set the levels, and
you’re good to go.
The final step up would be to get a proper shotgun mic and run it into your audio recorder
via an xlr cable.
This will give you the best quality sound.
You can get fairly inexpensive boom arms for your mic online.
You just want to get it as close to you as you can without it being in frame.
Links to what I use and some more budget-friendly suggestions in the description.
[[Since all of you will probably want to know about cameras, I’ll cover it very briefly,
but again, spend your money on lighting and audio gear first.
Most cameras, including phones, shoot pretty good video these days.
Give them a well-lit scene and they’ll all look great.]]
At the moment, I use a blackmagic pocket cinema camera 6k.
It’s great because I can record directly to an SSD, which means I never have to worry
about running out of recording space, and I can edit directly off the drive if I want
to.
[[As for what I’d recommend for beginners, I’d probably go with a Sony or Canon mirrorless.
They’re small, easy to use, and you can swap the lenses for different applications.]]
The lens is what really determines the look you’re going to get from the camera.
If your room is deep enough for it, something like a 50mm f1.8 equivalent (the actual number
will vary depending on whether you get a full frame or crop sensor camera) is going to give
you a nice soft background if that’s the look you’re going for.
I’m personally using a Sigma 18-35 f1.8.
[[I’ve left a list of great camera review channels in the description.
Definitely do your research before you buy a camera.
There’s a lot to learn.
Who knows, maybe I’ll make a more in depth series on this stuff.
Anyway, links below, take a look, see what looks good to you and what fits your budget,
but remember, you can absolutely start with just your phone.]]
Now, let’s talk about actually recording your script.
You’ve got your lights set up, your background is pristine, your microphone levels are set,
you sit down and…now what?
Oh right, you need to have a way to speak all those words you wrote.
You pretty much have two options - memorize in chunks, or use a teleprompter.
I’ve tried both and friend, it is not worth it to try to memorize a script, in my opinion.
You can get a pretty inexpensive teleprompter that fits your phone and a voice tracking
teleprompter app that will allow you to simply read the words that appear in front of the
lens.
It’s easy, it keeps your eyes locked on the camera, and it prevents you from throwing
yourself out the window after trying to memorize a script.
[[I’m reading from a teleprompter right now.
You can’t tell, can you?
As with everything else, links below.
I’m gonna stop saying that now, all the links are in the description.
Okay, so you’ve got your teleprompter or you’ve memorized your script.
Time to do the important thing and actually remember to start recording on your devices.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve screwed this up.]]
Start recording on your audio gear, double check that your levels are bouncing around
-12, start recording on your camera, watch them both for a few seconds to make sure those
red lights stay on, then sit down, clap to sync your audio, and start presenting.
You will make mistakes while you’re recording.
Take each line as many times as you need to.
It’s not worth it to record what you thought was a decent line, then have to come back
and record it again later.
Just get a few takes to make sure you’ve got a good one.
For reference, it usually takes me about an hour to record what will become a 15 or 16
minute video.
That’s a lot of outtakes.
Don’t worry about messing up lines, that never goes away, I promise.]]
Once you’re done recording, it’s time to sync the audio and cut out those bad takes.
Transfer the files to your computer, and bring them into your editing program of choice.
I use Adobe Premiere, but final cut, davinci resolve, sony vegas, iMovie, they’re all
perfectly fine.
I’ve just been using Premiere for years, so it’s what I’m most comfortable with.
They all work more or less the same way.
[[If you’re starting from scratch, I’d encourage you to download the free version
of Resolve.
It’s incredibly powerful, you’ll likely never need the full version, and it’s a
more modern experience than clunky old premiere.]]
Okay, drag your footage onto your timeline, you should see one video track and an attached
audio track, we’re gonna get rid of that in a second.
Now drag your nicer audio onto the track below.
They should be pretty close in length.
Zoom in on the beginning of the tracks and look for a spike, like this.
That’s your clap.
Line up the peaks as close as you can, it’ll never be perfect, and play it back.
It should pretty much sound like a single audio track.
Now get rid of the old one by right-clicking, selecting unlink, and deleting the scratch
audio track.
Highlight the video and the nice audio track, right-click, and select “link” and you’re
good to go.
The tracks are now stuck together and you can edit them as one.
Now we just need to cut out the bad takes.
Here’s the single best piece of editing advice I can give - bind your Z key to “add
edit” and your X key to “ripple delete.”
These two changes have saved me literally dozens of hours of editing over the years.
You play your video, find the start of a bad take, and instead of having to select the
blade tool, and cut at the playhead, and do the same thing on the other side, then get
the pointer again, then click and delete, then drag the clips together, you just go
Z, click, Z, click, X.
Boom, you're done.
Now just do that for all the bad takes, and you’re left with a clean narration of the
script.
[[If you’re on camera and you need to cover some jump cuts, like the one you just saw,
you can resize one of the clips by something like 10% and it looks perfectly fine.
We’re so used to seeing videos cut to other cameras it doesn’t seem weird at all.
Here’s that line again with the second part scaled up a bit to cover the cut.
Better, right?]]
Now, on to the part I get the most questions about.
Stock footage.
I’m gonna talk about it at the end of the video since this is sponsored, but I use StoryBlocks
for probably 90% of my stock footage.
If it’s not a news clip, archival footage, or something from another YouTube video, it’s
probably storyblocks.
They’ve got everything.
You absolutely get your money’s worth.
I’ve downloaded probably hundreds of gigs of footage from their site, and it’s saved
me tens of thousands of dollars of travel or clip licensing.
My channel would not exist without StoryBlocks.
Period.
For other footage, I use a program called clipgrab to download videos from YouTube.
So when I find that clip of Tucker Carlson, I just copy the url, paste it in clipgrab,
then I can use it in my video.
A note on assembling your video.
Try not to have many clips over 4 seconds long unless you have a very good reason for
it.
If it’s a very active scene like a protest or something, that’s fine, but if it’s
a stock footage clip of clouds or a ship or a timelapse or something, cut away before
the four second mark.
A fun exercise to see just how few shots are longer than 4 seconds is to watch a movie
and count them yourself.
You’ll be amazed.
Another pro-tip is to cut on syllables, not on pauses.
It starts to feel like a slideshow if you’re always cutting to a new clip when you stop
speaking.
You don’t want that.
Here’s that same section again, cut improperly.
[[And honestly, friends, that’s all there is to it.
There’s a bunch more I could get into, but video production is the type of thing where
you can spend two weeks learning 80% of it, and it’ll take you the rest of your life
to feel like you really grasp the final 20%.
There’s always something new to learn, but all you really need is the basics.
You can learn more as you go.]]
Links to all the products I’ve mentioned are in the description, as well as some helpful
tutorials on the different aspects of video production.
Feel free to leave a comment down below if you have specific questions and I’ll do
my best to answer.
I really hope that this video has inspired some of you to make your own content.
We always need more socialist voices online, and it really is one of the most effective
ways to get your message in front of other people.
The only way we can ensure a bright future for ourselves and for our children is by getting
involved now, working together, educating people, pushing back on bad information, and
building the world we want to see.