- If you're feeling like making videos is time-consuming,
exhausting, or stressful,
I totally get it.
I hear content creators all the time,
they feel overwhelmed to the point that they procrastinate
and sometimes end up not creating content at all.
Back when we started,
I was stuck on that content hamster wheel as well
and hating the process.
But it doesn't have to be that way,
there's a simple way to make videos faster
and get off that content hamster wheel.
All you need is a solid YouTube filming and editing process,
then your video creation can be deliberate, planned,
and most importantly, fast.
Now, starting out on YouTube, I was really just winging it.
I'd come up with a random topic idea,
I'd go and shoot the video,
and there was definitely times
where I would forget stuff
that I wanted to include in the video
or even times where I went
the complete opposite end of the spectrum
and I would just be repeating stuff over and over again
to really try and hit the point home.
Our videos had no structure and no flow,
so not only were they frustrating for me to make
and took a long time,
they were also hard for our viewers
to follow along with as well and actually see value in them.
My squirrel brain would just jump from one thing to another.
And while I thought I was just being real
and just being authentic,
it was stressful.
It was painful to make videos that way,
and they didn't perform anyway.
It wasn't until we really started planning out our content
and structuring it properly that our channel started to grow
and our content became much quicker to film.
I was then able to film four videos
in the time that it used to take me to do just one.
So now this is what I do for every video.
We start off first with research,
we're researching the topic of the video
to see exactly what people are searching for
in relation to that topic.
So what are the things that people are typing
into YouTube or into Google
that your content is going to be a fit for?
This is gonna help you know
that there is demand for your content,
that people actually want it before you create it.
And it's gonna help you lock down the topic
so you know exactly what the video should be about
but also who you're speaking to
and at what level inside of the video too.
So based on this research, you'll be able to decide
if you're creating a beginner-focused video
or something more advanced for someone that's further along.
Now, if you're someone who's struggling with this
and you're trying to draw the line
as to how much content you should actually include
in your video, that's normally a good indication
that your topic might be too broad.
So try going a little niche,
and it's gonna make it easier for you.
But you really wanna get into the headspace here
of your viewer.
What would they expect?
What do they need to know?
What do they want covered in your video content?
Whether you're teaching them something
or whether you are entertaining them,
what do they need, and what do they expect in your videos?
Next up from there, and based on that research,
we pull together a full plan
or even a full video script for some videos
so that all I need to do is to get in front of the camera
and know that everything is good to go.
There's definitely been times early on
where I'm halfway through filming a video
and then I'm wondering if the information is correct
or wondering if I've missed anything.
You wanna get to that place
where you have everything good to go.
You don't wanna be thinking in front of the camera,
that's time to present and time to share.
Now, a big part of this video planning does come down
to your video structure and what you're gonna say
and when you're gonna say it inside of your video
so that not only is it gonna be easier for you to present,
but it's also gonna be easier for your viewers
to stick around and be engaged with your videos for longer.
So I'll throw a link up in the cards to our video
all around structuring your videos to help you with this.
But again, this is something that's gonna help you film
more effectively and create a more effective video too.
The next thing we do is block out some time.
And I know this one sounds really obvious,
but I know so many people are doing what we used to do
and not blocking out enough time
or trying to block out just enough time to shoot one video.
But how many times does something come up
or when you go to shoot that video
that the neighbor's got the leaf blower on
or that's the perfect time for everyone
in your street to be mowing the lawn?
By not blocking out extra time,
every time something goes wrong,
it's just gonna add to the pressure
of you creating that video,
add to that frustration.
And really, that's one of the worst headspaces
that you could be in when you're creating content.
So give yourself a little bit more time.
What's the downside?
You end up with some free time,
sounds pretty awesome to me.
From there, you wanna remove all the distractions
or really all the procrastination points
or things that will actually stop you shooting a video.
Now it could be as simple
as the process of having to set up
and pack up all of your camera gear
every time you wanna shoot a video.
This was something for me
that once I had the camera gear set up, ready to go,
and I could just walk in the room,
turn on the light, press record,
and I'm good to go, there's no set up or pack up.
This felt like it freed me up a lot,
and I was able to create videos
much, much easier and faster.
Now I totally get it,
for some types of videos or even some locations,
that's not going to be possible,
but work towards trying to have your gear
as close to being set up as possible.
So even if your camera is on a tripod
and are set up to the right height
but just put out of the way before you film,
it's gonna be much quicker to set up
because it's almost set up, ready to go.
And with this, too, you could really go as far as you want,
you could add markers on the ground
of where you put your equipment
or even put markers on your tripods or your light stand
so you know the perfect height,
so that you're not having to reinvent the wheel every time
and try and get everything perfect.
You know what works,
and you can just set everything up much quicker
to those previous settings or previous heights.
You'll also wanna make sure
that everything on the tech side is good to go too,
your batteries are all charged,
or ideally, you're plugging them into wall power
so you don't even need to worry about batteries.
Your microphone levels,
take note of what levels and what settings you usually have
so that if they get reset or they get knocked,
that you can quickly go back without, again,
needing to try and set everything up from scratch again.
And another obvious one is to put all your devices
on Do Not Disturb mode, Blocking mode, or Flight mode
so that you're not being distracted
or being interrupted while you're shooting.
So all of this stuff
so far will help you film more effectively.
And when you're filming more effectively,
there's less mistakes,
which means that there's less footage to edit,
which means that your editing is going to be faster as well.
The next thing I do now for a lot of videos
is a practice run off camera before filming,
just reading through the script,
reading through the bullet points,
pretending like I'm presenting
to camera is going to identify any of those stumbling blocks
or anything that I might have missed in the script
or in my preparation and research
that I can add in at that point,
again, instead of trying to do that while I'm filming.
Another thing that we're doing now
with our videos versus back where we started is that,
we're shooting with the editing in mind
or shooting with the end result in mind.
So this means that we're not just filming
for filming's sake, we're only trying to capture the stuff
that we know we're going to use in the video.
So again, we've got less footage to edit,
making the editing faster.
But the other thing that I'm doing
while I'm filming is that,
I'm only moving on to the next piece of content,
the next chunk, the next sentence, the next bullet point
once I'm happy with the last take.
So I'm trying to make the last thing that I say
for a specific section of the video the best take
and the one that I wanna use in the finished video.
Now this can slow down the filming a little bit,
but it can speed up the editing dramatically.
So what this means for our editing now is that,
our editors don't need to go
through the entire lot of footage that I give them
for each video and work through from start to finish.
Instead, they focus on working backwards through the edit,
knowing that the last take is the one
that I want them to use,
and this is the best one.
So instead of working through our videos start to finish,
they're actually working from the end backwards,
and they're hitting all those best takes much, much easier.
They're able to find them and edit them much faster.
Now this has also helped us stop
accidentally removing critical pieces of the video.
When you're just editing from start to finish
and you're trying to cut sentences in half,
then stuff can go missing,
especially if you're not doing the editing yourself.
So by shooting in chunks and only moving on
when the last take is your best take is going
to help you get a better, more streamlined edit.
Now if you do wanna learn how to edit faster,
then make sure you grab your free copy
of our Primal Video Method.
It is our step-by-step editing process
to help you streamline your editing
no matter what app or software you're using.
That's linked in the description box below.
So for us now making videos versus where we started,
by implementing all of this stuff that I've just shared,
I'm now able to make four videos
in the time that it used to take me to do one.
When we started, we were releasing one video a week,
and that's still what we've released today,
one optimized video per week.
But it was taking me the whole week to come up with an idea,
to go and shoot the video,
to edit the video,
and then I'd be back on that hamster wheel,
doing the whole same thing the very next week.
So that's where it was frustrating,
where it was painful to create videos.
It wasn't until we started implementing this stuff
that we really freed up a lot of time,
started working in batch and bulk creating content.
But by implementing the stuff that I've shared
with you in this video,
it has made the creation process so much easier,
so much more fun, and so much faster as well.
Now I've got two videos that are linked on screen for you.
Both of them are step-by-step processes for you to follow
to level up both your filming and your editing.
So check out those videos.
Don't forget, there is links in the description
to more resources that are gonna help you,
and I'll see you in the next video.