- This video is all about how you make
an awesome YouTube channel trailer to get people
to know exactly what your channel is about
and to get them to subscribe.
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, my name is Jeven Dovey, welcome to my channel,
I do filmmaking tutorials, product reviews,
some YouTube training and I also just like
going on adventures.
So a trailer for your channel is definitely important.
It's one of those key things that if someone stumbles
upon your YouTube channel,
then they know exactly what you're all about,
and they know why they should subscribe to you.
So if you don't have a channel trailer,
people have to start clicking through videos
and what will happen is they'll get discouraged
and they'll go somewhere else because they're not interested
in the video that they clicked on.
So before we get into the nitty gritty
talking about how you actually edit
this channel trailer together,
I want to talk more about the theory behind it
and how to approach it because this is gonna help you
write your script and get all the pieces together
so when it comes time to edit,
you have everything at your fingertips,
and you can cut an awesome trailer together.
A channel trailer kind of sums up
your entire YouTube channel
and why somebody should subscribe.
YouTube is a search engine so people are finding your videos
through different searches
or by just clicking on related videos.
Most of the time, they're not actually coming
to your channel first, so what happens is if they like
the video that they're watching,
they might click through to your channel,
and what you need to have is your trailer right there
that says who you are, what this channel is about,
and why they should subscribe.
So part one of this entire process before we even get
into editing the footage is figuring out
what you're gonna have in your channel trailer.
Now if you haven't seen my channel trailer yet,
I'll put a link down below in the description.
I'll also put one up here on the card,
but I want you to take a look at my channel trailer
and see if you get an understanding
of what my channel is all about.
When it comes to your trailer,
you're gonna wanna have it be 30 seconds to a minute max.
You don't want to bore people, and you want to have enough
in your channel trailer so that somebody gets an idea
of who you are and what you're all about.
So how do you make a video within 30 seconds to a minute?
Well you're gonna have to have some sort of talking,
some sort of voiceover or you on camera talking,
and what you're gonna be saying is the standard who,
what, when, where, why, and how.
So when it comes to prepping for your channel trailer,
you're gonna wanna write out a script,
and you're gonna wanna try to cover all
of these different things within 30 seconds to a minute.
So I'll include my script down below so you guys can see
exactly how I wrote my channel trailer,
and if you wanna use that as a guide
to structure your own trailer, then go for it,
and make your own trailer out of it.
First is who.
Who are you, is there anything important that you want
to get out about yourself to the audience?
Second is what, what are people gonna find on this channel?
Third is when, and this is important if you have a schedule.
If you have a schedule,
say it right in your channel trailer.
I opted to not say mine in my trailer
because I might change things come in the new year,
and I don't want to have to change
my trailer when that happens.
But if you know that you're scheduling every week
on a Monday, then in your channel trailer,
say I have a new video coming out every week on Monday.
So I also suggest you put where,
so where are you at, where are you from?
It will give some context
to what it is that you're shooting.
I'm in Los Angeles, I run a production company,
so I put that in my channel trailer.
So just put that in because it gives more context,
and it builds more of the character of who you are.
So the next one is why, and this is super important.
Why should somebody subscribe to your channel?
What kind of person would be interested
in the content that you're producing?
And the how is interesting because this is not something
that you're gonna put in text.
This is how you're going to present
your content to the viewer.
How is a visual representation of the content
that you're gonna put on your channel,
and this is shown through the B rolL that you show
in your trailer and just the visual appearance
of everything that you're gonna show.
So think of this as your elevator pitch.
If you were sittin' in an elevator with someone
and you had 30 seconds to a minute,
how do you tell someone exactly what your channel
is about, who you are, and why they should subscribe?
That is exactly what the point of a channel trailer is.
Okay, so now that you have an idea of the kind of content
that you should put into your channel trailer,
what you're gonna wanna do is either do a standup
where you're talking to camera,
putting your face on camera and telling the viewers
exactly all of these things.
You could also do this in voiceover.
My original trailer, I did all in voiceover with B roll,
and my new one, I did with more me on camera
because when you put yourself on camera,
the audience is gonna become more engaged with you
because they know the person behind the camera.
So I suggest even if it's just a quick shot of you saying
hey guys, my name is Jeven Dovey, welcome to my channel,
and that's it, then that is something that you need
to put in your channel trailer.
And so there's a few things that you need to do
before we get into the edit bay.
First is shoot this video or do your voiceover,
whatever you prefer to do.
Then you're gonna wanna gather all your B roll assets,
everything that you think that you're gonna use
that you want to cut into this video,
and then you're gonna wanna find a track that defines you.
So go find your piece of music that defines who you are
and that could be a good driving force
for underneath this trailer.
Let's get into the editing software,
and let me show you what we're gonna do with these pieces.
Okay, so now we're in the editing software.
I'm using Final Cut X,
you can do this in any editing software,
but I'm obviously gonna be showing you in Final Cut.
Now I'm gonna break this down into a few steps
and just show you exactly how I go through
my editing process when I approach a channel trailer.
So the first thing I'm gonna do
is cut all of my talking bits.
This is me talking to camera, and I'm gonna cut it down
into how I want it presented in the video.
So I have a little bit of me on camera,
and then I have this section, which as you can see,
I'm talking to my phone
because I was reading off a script.
So I'm gonna mute all these,
and I'm just gonna keep the audio from that,
and then at the end, I'm gonna have me talking
on camera again because I wanna start and end
with me on camera.
The second bit is gonna be now mixing some music,
figuring out what music.
Now this is important, and it's one of those things
that you just gotta find a type of music
that works well with you.
So music goes in a wave.
It goes high at some parts and low at other parts.
You'll have some sections that are lower in terms
of the intensity and sections that are higher,
and then you'll also have breaks in between
where the track is switching between one to the next.
This is how music is, it's paced so it's not all
the same beat all the time.
So what I try to do is go through and find these sections
that are a little bit lower in terms of intensity,
and that's why I'm gonna use underneath my vocals.
Now when my vocals drop out, I'm going to add a section
of high intensity to drive the energy
and close out the video.
So what I've done here, cut together three sections
of this track and mixed 'em by just finding beats
that match and you can see that here and here,
and then what I've done is basically paced it
so that it goes a short little intro to just a very low
part of the song to a very high part
of the song with an outro.
So let's hear.
(upbeat music)
So I drop the music down when I'm gonna be talking,
and you're gonna have to play with this
when it comes to your vocals
because you're gonna need to be mixing the timing
and all that.
However, you can rough in the sections
of the track that you're actually gonna wanna use
before you actually start mixing it with your vocals,
and then the end of it...
(upbeat music)
So at the end of it, I have this high energy section
because it's kind of like the driving force
of getting someone to subscribe to the channel.
At the beginning, you're telling them
exactly why they should subscribe,
and then you're showing them some footage
and showing them why they should subscribe.
So that's why I like to drive the energy up at the end.
So step three is now mixing these two sections together.
So what I do is I start with a little bit of audio
just so I can show some B roll at the beginning.
I mix my vocals with the music in this section
and then at the end, I have that powerful section
to really seal in what it is
that a viewer's gonna find on their channel.
So you're gonna wanna drop the volume down
of the audio in this section when you're talking,
and then you're gonna wanna have the audio higher
in the other sections where it's just B roll
under the footage.
So step four is the fun part, it's adding all the B roll.
So once you have all the sections of your trailer mapped out
and the parts of it that you wanna be on camera,
now you have to fill in the gaps, and that is adding B roll.
So as you can see, I have a bunch of shots,
they're all one to two seconds long,
some may be a little bit longer than two seconds,
but you wanna cut fast because this is a trailer.
So, I just go through and find exactly the types of shots
that I wanna use that show who I am,
what this trailer is about and that mix with the vocals
that I have underneath these visuals.
Find footage that will tell a view exactly who you are,
what you're all about and that mixes with your audio.
Okay so now that you have your music cut,
you have your audio cut, and you have some B roll
put over it, the last step is basically adding the flair,
and this is the part where you can really just have fun
and be creative with how you use your footage.
So I'll put some links down below in the description
to different videos on my channel of techniques
that I use when I'm cutting footage
to really give it that extra pizzazz.
So I do color grading, I add effects over it,
like lens flares, and I'll also do things
like speed ramping and playing with the time of these clips.
Now this is where you add your style
and what makes sense for your channel.
Now something that I do that really adds more energy
into promo pieces like this and trailers
is to add zooms in post.
So if you notice a lot of the footage that I have here
in the trailer, there's no zooms, it's just a standard shot,
maybe it's a slow mo shot, but what I'll do is I'll zoom in
or zoom out and when you start putting these
in succession next to each other,
it drives more energy through your piece.
So when your music ramps up
and you start pushing in towards your footage,
you start getting that energy flowing,
and it really gets people excited about the content
that they're viewing.
So there's a lot to take away from this video, I know.
I'll put a link down below in the description
to a video that is an unlisted video on my channel,
and what I've done is taken each of the steps
I just showed you and played them in real time
so that if you're interested in how I put
my trailer together, you can watch it step by step,
and I'll label it step one, step two, step three, all that.
And you can see how I build upon each section,
and it will give you a better idea of just how
this kind of comes together.
Now cutting trailers is not an easy thing,
but it's fun and it's a chance to show who you are.
I highly suggest putting some time and effort
into building your channel trailer
'cause it's really gonna help when new people stumble
across your channel to tell 'em exactly who you are,
why they should subscribe to the channel,
and there's a higher chance that they are gonna hit
that subscribe button.
So guys, if you are new to this channel,
and this is your first video, I highly suggest going over
to my homepage and checking out my channel trailer,
and hit that subscribe button.
There is a lot of awesome filmmaking tutorials,
I do gear reviews, and I also just like going on adventures.
I hope this gave you a good idea of how to put
all these pieces together to make something
that sounds and looks amazing,
and guys if you want more of a step by step training
where we dive into these editing concepts even more,
then make sure you check out creatorfilmschool.com,
and guys, I'll see ya on the next one.