(lighthearted lively music)
(mellow playful music)
Hey guys, what's going on. Welcome to Travel Feels.
Today, we're gonna talk all about storytelling.
How to tell a story in a vlog,
in a tutorial, in whatever kind of video you're doing.
How to tell story. But first, let's visit
a good friend of mine that I haven't seen for a little bit.
Check out this guy.
- Yo! What's going on Travel Feels? Fancy seeing you here.
- [Travel Feels] I know. What are the odds, right?
- It's been a while - Yeah it's been like a hundred years.
It's been too long. - So good to see you.
- Well this is gonna be fun. What are we doing?
- We're gonna ride ATVs, ride snowboards,
make vlogs and videos, and try not to crash drones. Alright.
- That YouTube life.
Now we're gonna ride this thing with that tail rope
behind this guy. Should be a fun day.
So, storytelling is one of those tricky things.
It's so abstract that it's hard to understand.
When somebody says "story", I think of a book
with a good guy and a bad guy
and something happens, there's a problem and they fix it.
That's what I think about story
and that's probably what a lot of you guys think
about story too.
But how do you tell story in something
like a vlog, or even a tutorial?
That sounds even harder. How do you tell a story
within those? How do you tell a story
in every single one of your YouTube videos?
And it's actually a lot simpler than it seems
and I'm gonna try to break things down a little bit
and teach you guys what I've learned so far
about storytelling especially through YouTube.
YouTube has actually thought me a lot about storytelling
because it doesn't really matter what you're doing
or what you're filming, as long as you're telling a story
people are probably going to be interested in it.
Alright, I'm a little bit nervous.
Peter hasn't rode the ATV too many times.
Hopefully we'll be fine. And I've never actually been towed
behind anything snowboarding but should be fun, right?
Alright, let's do it.
(smooth EDM music)
Whew! That's tiring but super fun.
So, people always think you need something epic
to do in order to have a good story in something like a vlog
But, actually that's just what you're doing.
There's still no story to it.
If me and Peter were just doing this,
we were just towing snowboards around,
it's not really a story.
Might be fun, might be entertaining
but that's not telling a story.
So, a classic vlog with no story is one of these.
I'm here with Peter on the back of an ATV.
Now I'm hanging out in a forest.
Now I'm lying down in some snow.
Now I'm snowboarding.
See that's not telling a story.
That's just saying what you're doing
and a lot of vloggers do that.
They just say, "I'm here doing this
and now I'm gonna do this later on"
and just saying what's going on.
But you're not actually telling any story in that vlog.
And the biggest thing here is to just figure out
what is the video about?
Whether it's a vlog or a tutorial,
what is it about?
The best way to test if you're video has a story is
letting somebody else watch it
and then asking them, "What was that video about?"
If they can't say what it's about,
well then, you don't have a story.
You need to figure out what is the one thing
that your video is about.
And that could be anything. For example, right now,
we're riding ATVs and snowboarding
in this random forest place but the story here
is about how to tell stories. That's kinda meta
but that's what this video is about.
You don't need a hero and a villain
and all these other things.
You just need a point to your video.
Whether it's a tutorial, a vlog,
whatever you're doing has to have some sort of point.
You have to be saying something.
And one of the things that helps with that
is kinda giving your video some structure.
So you need an intro, then you have the actual content,
and then you have an outro.
So you introduce your topic, what the video's about,
why it's important, and then you go through it.
And then you kinda reiterate or give some sort of
resolution to everything that you're going through.
And that's how easy storytelling can be.
It's not actually this vague weird thing
like I had in my mind and I'm sure a lot of you guys have to
It's actually fairly simple
but you do need to think about it.
And I think if you're not planning it out, it's gonna be
really hard to actually have a story in your video.
Otherwise, it's just gonna be one of these things.
Well guys, I'm here in an empty field.
And that's just not all that interesting.
But even if you're not doing anything exciting,
if you have a really good story
it's gonna be an interesting video.
People always think that you need to be doing something epic
like this, snowboarding in the middle of nowhere
behind an ATV, but you don't actually need that.
You just need to be saying something.
Just think about one point that people will remember
and say, "That's what this video is about."
Now you might be saying, "Well you make tutorials for the
most part; you're not actually telling story."
Well, that's not actually true.
There's different ways of doing tutorials.
If I wasn't telling any story in a tutorial,
I would just literally tell you,
"Here's the technique. Here's how you do it.
Boom. Done. That's it.
But I try to give you some intro on
why this thing is important, how it can help you,
then I show you what it is.
And then, I try to tie it all in
and summarize it up for you guys.
You having a good time, Peter?
- Nearly lost this. I didn't realize that like moguls
were like dead ahead. So I was just cruising.
I strapped this down with bungee cords
and was like, "Yeah, it'll hold."
And then, it was just like (loud bumping noises)
Started flapping and flopping all over.
And I was like, "Oh it's done."
Thank goodness I had the lens hood on
because it was just like (deep smashes).
- [Travel Feels] Is my snowboard still there?
- Yeah, I made sure I had one arm on it.
So it was like I was just (mumbles)
You're snowboard's fine. (laughs)
(mellow playful music)
- Man oh man, was that fun, but whoa, that's tiring.
I don't know if I'm getting old
or that's just a really hard workout.
How was that, Peter? - It was awesome.
I'm super pumped. My stuff is soaked, man.
Everything is like, look at my camera.
- [Travel Feels] Well at least it's not stolen.
- Yeah, I mean, well, no one's gonna find a Green Pelican
in a green forest, the middle of nowhere
when it's freezing rain outside in Northern Canada.
- [Travel Feels] And it's Canada so if someone did find it,
they probably wouldn't steal it.
- They'd probably be like, "Who does this belong to?"
- [Travel Feels] They'll probably bring it to like
the Police Station or something.
- And you know what, if it gets stolen
under those circumstances, you deserve for it
to be stolen because you put your One DX in a forest
in a tree and hid it and peaced out.
We really did that, didn't we?
- [Travel Feels] Yes, we did. (both laugh)
Alright, that was fun. Took a lot longer than we thought.
We're kinda losing light here so, I'll see you in the studio
Alright, so let's take a look at a few things
that we can all do to kinda guarantee or insure
that we have the best chance of telling a really cool story
in our video in whatever kind of video we're doing.
Number one, and, probably the most important,
is to figure out what is your video about.
Choose one topic so that somebody else watches it,
they know that this is what this video is about.
Your video needs one point, one topic,
something that gives it value and, hopefully,
also entertains the audience at the same time.
Number two, intertwine that topic or that idea, that story
into your vlog or your tutorial or whatever you're doing.
So you could be doing anything at all
like snowboarding on the back of an ATV,
and then you have this topic or this thing
that you're talking throughout the video.
Intertwine that in. It's really gonna help you tell story.
Number three, if it helps, break it into a beginning,
a middle, and an end.
Have an intro, then have your stuff, and then have an outro.
That really helps me, especially when I'm thinking
about the video beforehand, kinda planning
what am I gonna do for the intro, and then
what's gonna happen in the actual video,
and then, how am I gonna end it.
Number four, plan out your video.
It's gonna help so much if you actually think
about all these things beforehand
instead of just starting to film
and just going along with it.
It's gonna be really hard to actually tell a story
if you're not thinking about it beforehand.
So plan it out. And that leaves us to number five,
which is be okay with improvising.
Things happen that you're not prepared for
that you're not planning for,
but as long as they fit your story,
make sure to just go along with those.
And sometimes those are the best things in your videos.
So make sure you have a plan going into the video,
but be okay with improvising at the same time.
So there you go. There's some easy tips for you
to ensure that you're telling story in your videos.
And the more you do this, the more you practice it,
the more you start realizing these patterns
of intro, middle, and then outro and what that means
and how does that fit in for your tutorial or your vlog
or whatever you're making on YouTube or commercial
or wherever it is.
And the best part about this is anybody can do it.
It's completely free. It doesn't cost you anything.
You don't need expensive gear.
Anybody can tell story as long as you're planning it out,
thinking about it beforehand. Anybody can tell a story.
And again you don't need some epic adventure
or some crazy thing in your video.
You can be doing something really mundane
as long as the story is there,
people are gonna be really interested in your video
and that's the most important thing.
Don't get me wrong. It does does help
if you're being towed behind an ATV on a snowboard.
It does make it a little more interesting
and more entertaining but without the story,
it's gonna be really boring, no matter what you're doing.
Everyone is capable of telling a story.
Alright guys, this is actually going to be the last video
before Christmas so Merry Christmas to each
and every one of you guys.
I hope you guys have some nice time with your family
and your friends and maybe you just get some time off.
That helps a lot. And I just wanna say
I appreciate each and every one of you guys.
This year has been crazy, this channel.
Everything that's happen. I'm just really happy
about this year and I'm happy it's Christmas.
I like Christmas. Alright guys, if you feel like it,
touch that like button, hit that like button,
subscribe to the channel, join this community.
Guys, Merry Christmas, enjoy the filmmaking process
and enjoy those Travel Feels.
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