- Hey guys, what's going on.
In this video, we're talking about
how to shoot an awesome cinematic sequence.
(upbeat music)
All right, so as you can see I am not in Los Angeles.
I'm not in my studio at home.
I'm actually in New York City in a tiny apartment.
This is actually a pretty big apartment for the area.
We actually have like some space over here,
some over there, but essentially this is it.
Rachel's getting ready back there.
So, I definitely don't have any alone time
while I'm here, but. - I don't have any alone time.
- Basically, we're here filming for 10 days.
I haven't been able to shoot much content
because we are working on some other stuff.
But I wanna put together this video
on how to shoot an awesome cinematic sequence.
I know a lot of you are interested in this,
because I've gotten a lot of questions
about how I put my cinematic sequences together.
So this is my method.
These are the things that I do
in my Vlogs, in my documentaries, in you know,
the videos that I create with Rachel
for our production company.
Anything that looks cinematic
this is the technique that I go.
And it's not a super complex method.
It's just a few things that I do
and I do consistently.
All right, so let's just get right in to it.
Okay, the key with shooting any sort of cinematic sequence
is you've gotta treat it like you're shooting a movie.
You're not shooting a Vlog.
You're not shooting just YouTube content.
You're not just shooting a whatever video.
You're shooting a movie.
When you start putting that kind of idea in your head,
you really focus on creating awesome footage.
So the key is, when you're shooting a cinematic sequence,
is you want to tell a story.
You gotta figure out how this sequence
is gonna move your story forward.
Or how is it gonna enhance what it is
that you're shooting.
So a sequence is generally five shots or more.
It could be as little as three
but ideally you wanna shoot a descent amount of footage
to be able to tell a story.
But beyond that there are some definite things
that I do when I'm always shooting cinematic sequences.
All right, the first is variation in shots.
So I don't always shoot the same type of footage
when I'm shooting these.
I like to shoot a whole range of footage.
Wide establishing shots are key.
You gotta get away from the action.
Away from what it is that you're shooting.
You know, this is where I use drone shots
or a big broad sweeping shot.
You wanna see the space.
You wanna see what it is that you're doing.
And then just like you'd shoot a film, you move in.
So you shoot mediums and and you shoot close ups.
The idea is that you're getting coverage.
You're showing an entire scene of all the different angles.
So when you cut it together it has that filmic quality.
Another key thing when you're shooting
a cinematic sequence is movement.
And even if you're just hand holding the camera,
you wanna put movement in it.
If your shots are static it's not gonna feel as cinematic.
So small shifts, left to right, forward, back,
especially when you're using
like a super shallow depth of field,
when you rack the focus over an object
it creates a really cool affect.
Another thing I really like to do
is do shot reverse shots.
This is a film making technique
where if you have a dialogue scene,
you're shooting one person and then you're shooting
the other, and that's a shot reverse shot.
But finding moments where you can shoot
shot reverse shot in a sequence,
give it more of a cinematic quality
because it looks like all the pieces work together.
Okay, slow motion is obviously a huge thing that I do.
I always shoot in 120 frames per second if possible.
Of 60 frames if I don't have 120 available.
And then the other thing with speed is
I also shoot time lapses and hyperlapses.
Slow motion gives you that very buttery, dreamy quality.
Whereas hyperlapses and time lapses
show the passage of time.
So they're awesome to use in these sequences.
As for gear, I don't always use the same gear
that I'm typically vlogging with,
or shooting my other content with.
I like to use primes.
Because especially on a Micro Four Thirds camera,
you wanna get that super shallow depth of field.
So I'm always using primes with ND filters,
so that I can get my aperture wide open.
And I like 12 or 14.
And then on top of that I'm using drones,
action cameras and recently I've been using
a lot of 360 cameras, just to get extra coverage
and get those unique shots that you can't get
with your typical camera.
Drones are obviously super handy for getting
those wide establishing shots.
And they can really show a scene or an area.
If you wanna see my full filmmaking kit.
I'll put a link in the description
to my entire gear list so that you can see everything
that I'm using for ideas on gear to add to your kit.
Okay, and the last piece of the puzzle is editing.
Now there's a ton that I could talk about in editing,
but I just wanted to give you a quick overview.
If you guys have any specific questions,
please put them in the comments below
and I'll do some more specific videos.
So with editing you obviously wanna find music
that really adds to the cinematic quality
of what it is that you're shooting.
(dramatic music)
And a key thing with audio, I do a lot of voiceover.
But I also add a lot of sound effects.
And sound effects are great
because they add atmosphere to the scene.
(birds chirping)
(wind blowing)
I get all my music and all my sound effects
from EpidemicSound.com.
If you go down to the description
I'll put a link to that as well.
I've found it's the best place to get music
for any of my YouTube content that I'm creating.
All right guys, I hope those tips
will help you create some awesome cinematic sequences.
I am just gonna cut it off here.
Because I am dripping sweat.
Need to turn the A/C back on.
It is ridiculously hot here in New York.
Two days ago it was like freezing.
Now it's like super hot.
There's crime going on outside.
I don't know.
There's so much going on. (sirens wailing)
If you haven't already, make sure
you hit that subscribe button.
I've got a ton of awesome film making tutorials
and lots of just cool content on this channel
that I'm sure you're gonna wanna check out.
It looks like Rachel wants to go.
So this is it.
Oh look, she brought me some Rose.
Great.
Guys, that is it.
It's time to go explore New York.
I'll see you on the next one.