Transcripts
1. Get Ready to Make Your Own Vertical Videos: Hey artist, ready to create some vertical videos for
your social media channels? Hi, I'm Simon and I'm
a content creator, illustrator, and top
teacher on Skillshare. I've been creating art and
sharing the process as short videos on Instagram,
TikTok, and YouTube. I'll be teaching you
essential techniques for optimizing your video including simple
editing techniques, narrating your own voice-over,
and adding subtitles. By the end of this class, you'll have completed a captivating short
video that showcases your unique art
process and is ready to share on your own
social media channel. This class is perfect for
anyone looking to boost their social media
presence and connect with their audience through
engaging and creative content. By the end of this class, you'll be able to
effectively utilize these essential video
techniques to create compelling vertical videos for social media that showcase
your unique art process. You can even apply
these skills to your personal brand or other creative projects
outside of the class.Join me in this class and let's get started on creating some amazing vertical videos
for social media channels. Remember, you will need basic editing skills and familiarity with any
editing software. Otherwise, I'll walk you through everything. Let's get started.
2. Your Project: Three, two, one. Let's talk about this project because if you're
watching this video, it's because you want
to know how to make short reels and TikTok videos. Yet, they're all the same, but for this class, there's a few things that you'll need. First, you'll need your phone. Any type of camera is good, but your phone is
usually good enough, an overhead tripod,
good lighting, headphone/mic, and
any editing software. For example, in this class, we'll be using
DaVinci and CapCut. By the end of this class, this is what you'll
submit. Are you ready? First, you'll make a
15-30-second video of your art process, and you're going to post it
on your social media channel. Of course, there's
a few options. You can simply add your
favorite music when uploading your video on social
media or you can do more, and that's what
this class is for. I'll show you how
to cut your video, narrate your own voiceover, and also add your subtitles, and since this is a
Skillshare project, take a screenshot
of your video and share the link to your
short video once published.
3. Material: 3, 2, 1. Creating
a vertical video doesn't necessarily require
lots of expensive material. Let's take a look at
different options. This includes objects you
probably already have around the house to the more advanced
settings like this one. For creating your video, you will need the
following foundation. First of all, a camera. An iPhone is good enough
for a camera nowadays. Some type of stabilization, like a tripod. Good lighting. Usually natural
lighting is enough. An editing software, props
like this cup of coffee, and optional mic for voice-over. Let's start with a camera. Nowaday, any mobile phone has a good enough camera to
film your vertical videos. Let's not over
complicate things. Just pick up your phone
and start filming. In term of stabilization, I use this tripod. This tripod that I bought
on Amazon for around $100, and it does the job
perfectly fine because it positions itself on top
of my working area. For something a
little bit fancier, I have this glide arm, that I bought on Amazon as well. You will need in that case, an additional tripod as well
as this is only the arm. You're producing this arm
on top of a tripod and you can also easily glide
your camera over it. In that case, I will
attach my iPhone here. This was about $70, but you also have to
take in concentration the price of an extra tripod. You can always position
your camera over a bunch of books and balance it. It's a little bit more work, but it's a cheap work-around. In term of lighting, I try to use natural lighting, so do it during sunny
days or during daytime. I also like to work near a window to optimize
my sunny days. On darker days, I use LED
lights like this one. This light is also
good because it allows for warmer and brighter lights. In term of software, I use a free software
called DaVinci Resolve. [LAUGHTER] DaVinci
Resolve also has a ping option for upgrade. This is a program that you
will see me use in this class. Otherwise you can also use any other editing software
of your choice like iMovie, CapCut, which are available
on desktop or mobile, and InShot for
your mobile phone. A quick note that this is
not a DaVinci Resolve class, I will show you some of the basic and you should
be able to use the same principles on other editing software
more or less. Now, props are also a great way to invite
the viewer into your world and add little objects to showcase a little bit of
your personality. But keep in mind that the
main focus is still your art. Now, mic for voice-over
is optional, but in Lesson 6, I will discuss the
process of recording your video over
directly on DaVinci. This is an extra step, but in case you're curious
about the material required, you basically need a
Mic. This is what I use. I have this level idea
of microphone from Boya. It's in the bundle right now. It's a lot of wires. It costs around $30. I think it's a
smart investments. You usually put this
little mic a few inches from your mouth and it
creates great sounds. Otherwise, I also have this Apple headphones
with the wire on. Of course, the old one. I like that there's a mic
attached to it around here, so I usually put one earbud in my ear
to listen to myself, and I simply bring this section a few inches from my mouth. I really don't want to
over-complicate things, so remember that since
social media channel are pushing for more
vertical videos, they also wanted to make it as easy as possible for
all new creators. You can do most of the
stuff directly from your phone or even
on a mobile app. Do not spend too much time
or money into whole process.
4. Storyboard: Let's talk about the storyboard, because I actually miss out to important materials
that you should have. Before you even start
picking up the camera, you first need to start visualizing the
steps in your head. That's why you'll need a pen and paper to doodle your storyboard. Now, a storyboard
is a quick doodle to visually tell
your story in steps. I've been doing vertical
videos for a while, but I remember that
adding a storyboard to my own process can make
things a lot smoother. I've actually skipped
the steps recently, but I think if it's
your first time, you should consider
having a storyboard. First, let's keep it simple. I mean, the first
step when creating a vertical video is thinking
about your audience. For example, my audience
on social media consists mostly of
creative people. I like to grab their
attention with unfinished drawings or
a really nice visual. I also usually focus on the single part of the
whole drawing process, for example, coloring. That's because one drawing isn't equal to one 15-second video. Keep your filming as
simple as possible. Think of the different cuts. I'm going to call it
a drawing on camera. I will start by showing
the line drawing, then I'll probably
zoom in and show a color drop of the skin
tone into the selected area. This will be followed
by some coloring of the t-shirt up to characters, for example, and
various shading. It doesn't have to be perfect as the video footage will look different from what
you have anticipated. Honestly, because I'm
a little bit lazier, I just leave the camera
on the whole time. But knowing the steps ahead really accelerate
the editing process. I'll say that my
editing is not so efficient because I have
so much material to cover. Also, think of the
shots in advance. To not over-complicate stuff, I usually use one
iPhone to record from an over-the-top
perspective. I sometimes switch the
perspective for close-up. For example, when I color
the cheek of this character, I will position my camera at an angle to get a
more dramatic view. Also, let's think about writing
your voice-over script. Now we can start
writing the script from the moment you
start storyboarding. Like personally, I do it a bit later in
the whole process, because I think of
my story before editing by write the words after filming, if
that makes sense. It because I get inspired
once I see the footage, and I don't feel so
limited to my edit yet. I usually write three
to four sentences for a 30-second video. You can talk about
your art process or share your thoughts on life, or whatever you have in mind. For example, in this
specific video, I share my frustration of creating so much content
on social media. Well, I would rather
just be drawing. If you think of your storyboard, it's more like a guideline than a rigid document to
follow step-by-step. Let's say the moment
you see your footage, you may be inspired to do
something completely different. So don't limit yourself.
5. Camera, Light, Action!: And now we are ready to film. Now that I'm ready to film, I set up my camera on
top of my workspace, and I usually just press Record. You can see that in the
previous video lesson material that I got over different
material options, so check it out if
you haven't yet. Also beyond pressing
Record on my iPhone, here are a few of my
personal tips to help you make the process as
smooth as possible. The number one tip that
I will say is to not be nervous because I know
that when I draw, I think I'm slouching
a little bit and whenever I know
that I'm being filmed, I really try hard to sit up properly so it
doesn't look too bad. So this makes my
drawing quite unnatural and not as enjoyable because
I'm too self-conscious. I would say use your storyboard
to focus on the elements that need filming and turn off the camera
when it's not needed. Meaning, don't necessarily
be like me and leave the whole camera
on the whole time and press record
and leave the room. Also, when you set your camera, I personally opt for
an overhead shot. I'm trying as much as possible
to show a flat surface. I know some people
use a tripod and angle their camera to
make it look cool, in my opinion, if
it's not perfect, don't worry because you can also fix this in post-production. Don't be limited also
in a bird eyes view, there's really
different ways that you can record your art process. When it comes to framing, decide what you want
you see in the frame. I think it's better to be a
bit further away because you can always zoom in
post-production, of course, and also that would allow for
some room for the text. But use your storyboard to
know when to put your phone closer and create really
cool original angles. There are two things
that you need to ensure while you're filming. The first one is that
you film the sections of the process or the clip
that you'd like to include. So in my case, I usually
keep the filming very simple by letting my
phone run the whole time. It also means that there are more footage you go
through when editing, but this is just
my way to do it. The second thing is to really make sure
that you're happy with the lighting because
that's something that's difficult to correct
in post-production. So one, make sure that you
have the right footage, and two, that you have
the right lighting.
6. Audio Script: Now let's talk about
recording your audio script. Maybe you've decided to
use a trending sound and cut it to the beat of
the music and that's great. Then in that case, please go ahead and
skip this part. But have you thought about
including your own voice-over? Because I think that's
a really powerful way to tell your story. I'm going to show you in this
video lesson how to do it. I personally record
a voice-over on an editing software like
DaVinci and of course, you can always do it
directly on your phone via Instagram or the TikTok app, but I like to do it
on the computer. I'll tell you why.
When you record and download your finished
video on Instagram or TikTok, there's a little watermark
that's included. Social media channels, they don't like it
when you upload videos with a watermark
from their competitors on their channel and that can impact its visibility or the algorithm when
you upload it. It's always possible to record your voice-over at
least twice for each social media channel for example for TikTok
or for Instagram, but I like to do it
directly on DaVinci so the exported video includes
my voice-over and caption, which we will cover in
the next video lesson. That's why I like to have an
almost completed version of my vertical video before even uploading it
on social media. In the future,
social media channel might force you to cut
directly from their app, but things change so
quickly. Let's see. First, we'll tackle
the voice-over. Currently, I'm editing on DaVinci and you'll see
that the principle is the same as other editing
software like InShot, CapCut, iMovie. Remember that we are creating vertical videos so
when you open DaVinci, set the measurement
to 1080 pixels for the width and 1920
pixels for the height. This is how you do it.
First, I want to click on the cog wheel from
the bottom right to open up the Project Settings. Now, I click on
Master Settings under timeline format and then you select your desired
resolution, 1080,1920. You can find it from
the drop-down menu of timeline resolution. There's also a little checkbox here in case you want to make sure that we are using
vertical resolution. Click on the "Save"
button, and there you go. Audio also is a tough one
and you would usually need a whole class to
cover it but this is not a whole class on
audio, unfortunately. I'm going to show a quick
setup that I use whenever I record my audio once
my script is ready. In that case, I will
go to audio and that's the little musical note. I add audio, now I choose stereo and
I name it voice-over. Usually, it's a good
common practice to name your layers.
Plug your mic. In this case, I'm using this Yeti ball that you
see on camera right now, but you can also use a lav mic or your iPhone headset
with the wire. Now, make sure that
you patch the headset. Sometime you cannot hear
the same time as you're recording, but that's fine. Right now, I'm reading
from the script and I usually try to do it in one take so it's
easier to edit after. Keep the mic also a few inches from your
mouth, not too close. A little tip is to really
watch out for those p sounds because I find them
difficult to correct, but it's also because
I'm not a sound wizard. If you want to improve your
sound just a little bit, this is my little tip. I usually go to FX,
Noise Reduction. I usually put automatic
because I'm lazy, so I'll just put automatic here. If you right-click on the track, you can normalize to -2 decibel. On the right-hand side, I also like for my sound to be between -15 to -10 decibels, or trying to fix
towards that level. When I edit, I remove
any type of silence, bloopers, and all the ums
by selecting the track. Now, the duration
of your audio will help set up the
timing of your video. All we'll have to
do now is to add to different clips so it flows
nicely with your audio. Once you have your
audio set in place, you can easily edit your video clips to align
with your narration. I'm going to show you in
the next video lesson how I clean up my video
clips and you can use the same shortcuts for
your audio as well so whenever you want to
clean your audio timeline.
7. Edit Your Video: When you edit a reel, there are a few things that you need to take
into consideration. A reel or vertical
videos need to be very engaging, fast-paced,
and re-watchable. I like to do 1-2 second cuts. Also I like to play
with the zoom in function for more
interesting composition. If you have a storyboard, once again, use it because
this will help you. Now you can use all
the video clips that you need on your timeline. Since this is a
simpler editing job, we won't go too much into all the details of the
dashboard interface. Because after all, this is
not a Da Vinci Resolve class. Just as a quick pointer, remember that you
have a media library, a timeline, a timeline viewer to show what will be
the final result. For us we're going
to stay mostly on the Edit tab and we're going to drag the footage
into the timeline. Usually I will only
use one video or one audio track not to
over-complicate things. This is a hot tip if you
have all your footage on your iPhone and you need to transfer it into your computer. Since I'm in Apple sell out and everything I own is Apple, I usually airdrop that
footage from my iPhone to my MacBook Pro and dump everything into my
Da Vinci timeline. You can now dump
these new videos into your new Da Vinci project. If your video comes with sound, which it usually does, make sure that the
sound doesn't take over your voice-over timeline. For example, my voice-over
has been prerecorded on A1. If I try to add a video
on the track video 1, you can see that the
sound of the video will also be included on A1, overriding, taking
over the voice-over. You can also unlink
your video sound by pressing the link selection
icon in the middle. Delete the video sound in
case you don't need it, or simply added to another
track like Video 2, Audio 2 and mute it
by pressing "M". Here on the top right corner, you can check the inspector
to level your video. I said earlier not to
worry too much in case your video is not perfectly
framed as we can fix that. Here you can zoom
in and zoom out. Here you can change the
position of the frame using the X and Y axes. You can also slightly rotate the image using describing bar. When you get something
that you'd like, simply press Ctrl C on the clip to copy and select
your next frame, and press Ctrl Option V to paste all the video attribute
you'd like to duplicate on the other clip. It's that simple. You don't have to
do it manually. I'm editing quite
quickly and you don't see all the shortcuts I'm
using on my keyboard, but I'm going to share with
you the most essential one. These shortcuts can also be
used for the audio tracks. I use Command B a lot
to cut the clips. A is the shortcut to
the selection arrow. This will allow you to select a specific clip and move
it wherever you want. I can also select a clip and delete it by pressing "Delete". If you select a space
between the two clips, you can delete it to bring
the clips next to each other. Another tip is that
in order not to screw up your voiceover
or other tracks, you can also lock them by
clicking on the little lock. Super useful, but Command C
is to copy a selected clip. If I press Command V, it will paste an overwrite
whatever it is on its way. An option is to press
Command Option V instead to paste and push the timeline to make space for that new clip. T is a shortcut for
Trim Edit Mode. Whenever I press T, it allows me to drag and change the clip duration
by making it shorter or longer and impacting
the other clip on the timeline as
well as, super useful. Now the best for last, my favorite Command Z to undo and Command
Shift Z is to redo. You'll use it most of
the time, trust me. In case you want to see your
masterpiece in full screen, just press Command
F, and that's it. If you want to export
everything on your timeline, then go to to Deliver tab
in the bottom right corner. Otherwise, you can also export a section
of your timeline. For example, you can
see that I created different short videos
on the same timeline, not because I'm lazy or I
like this setting, whatever. But to make a selection
of your timeline, press the I, that's a shortcut for input, to mark in the beginning of your selection and
O for the output. If you want to reset, just press Option X and it
will deselect everything. Another tip is I usually press
and select one less frame on the output O by pressing the arrow
backward or to the left, as I don't like when the
last frame is black. That allows the video to
loop in a more organic way, but I'm just being nit-picky. The highlighted area
on your timeline will tell you what
will be exported, so it's a clear indicator. Now I put into the queue, render it, and it will save
it on the right folder. Now that you have
a video ready with cool edits and voiceover, let's see how we can
make it even better and more watchable
by adding subtitles.
8. Add Subtitles: There are different
ways to add subtitles. You can do it directly on the social media apps
using a caption sticker. Except this function is not available for
me and my region. I'm currently living in Denmark. Here, what I do using CapCut. First, download CapCut. You have a version on
mobile and desktop. For those who don't
know CapCut is an editing app by
TikTok and it's free. Here for this example, I'll be using the
desktop version, so you can also add
caption via DaVinci by right-clicking and
adding subtitles. However, it's a bit of a tedious process since you need to add
the text manually. There's no auto caption
function that I know of, so that's why I use CapCut. On CapCut, upload your exported video
from the previous step. Remember that's a 15-32nd video with voice-over but no subtitle. Once it's uploaded,
I click on audio, then I add caption
and the cool stuff about CapCut it can
automatically add subtitle, so I recommend
cleaning up the texts as it's not always perfect. Part of my process is that
I add capital letters, I fix the punctuation. I also make sure that the text flows nicely
so we don't have half sentences or the right word is emphasized at the right time. Again, for fixing the timing, I use Control B
to cut and delete selection and same
principle, same shortcut. I use Control C and Control V to add caption
clip and fix them. Another cool thing is
that you can change the font size to your liking. You will see that apply to
all a selected so you don't duplicate your efforts
for every single clips. But be mindful of how the
video will look on your phone. That's why I changed the
color for better legibility. On the app, you can also choose your music directly and
put it on the timeline, so I usually set to music at -20 -25 decibel to not
interfere with the voice-over. Then easy export again, and you have your video with subtitles ready to
be posted online. You have the option to directly post it on YouTube or
TikTok via CapCut. All you need is you
find your file on your computer and upload it. Another tip, similar to
what we said before, but if you want to work on
your mobile phone directly, I usually send the exported
video and share it via AirDrop from my computer to my iPhone and then
I can easily import the video if I want to upload it from my mobile to Instagram. Make sure that you
use the right hashtag in the right caption on all the different
social media channels and there you have it. You now have one vertical
video that you were able to use on three different
platform. Great job. This could be also a
good time to remind you to publish your final video as a screenshot with
the link to one of your social media channel as a project so we can
see it as well. Come on. Don't be shy.
9. Conclusion: Congratulations, you made it
to the end of this class. I hope you're proud
of yourself for being able to create your
own vertical video. Now, let's make sure
that you include a link to your vertical
video in your project. For example, this
is how I'll do it. First, I go to the social
media channel where I would like to take
the link from. So here I just posted a
new reel this morning. I'm going to right-click on it. Open link a new tab for
my Instagram channel. Copy the URL. Under the Skillshare class I'm teaching under this
specific class. Go on create project. Project title, I will write my first vertical
video on Instagram. Example from Teacher. Project discretion. I will add the
link to the video. I will go back to the video
and maybe take a screenshot. Add more content. Let's see if we can upload a screenshot and
that's it actually. Now here below you can write any feedback description or just add a quick
description, publish. That's all you'll need to do for creating your own project and making sure that it's uploaded. If you like this class, please make sure to comment, share your feedback,
give me a review. That would mean so much. I can't wait to see your beautiful videos and get to know you a
little bit better. Have a wonderful day
and stay creative. Bye.
Simon Ip, Digital Illustrator
