Transcripts
1. Introduction: In today's crowded
YouTube landscape, just posting content
isn't enough. What separates an average video from the captivating
ones is a story, the kind that keeps the viewers hooked
from start to finish. My name is Addison, and welcome to storytelling
for YouTube. I'm a YouTube with over
96,000 subscribers, and I've been making
YouTube videos for the last eight years, and I gained most
of my subscribers in the last year and a half. So what did I change
during that time? Storytelling techniques. In this class, I'll
show you how to go beyond just posting content and start creating videos that truly resonates
with your audience. And by the end of this class, you'll have both
the knowledge and practical skills to elevate your content with storytelling. Making every video not just
watchable but memorable. So if you're ready
to tell your story, then let's get started.
2. Class Structure: In this class,
storytelling for YouTube. I've structured the content into two main sections to
ensure you develop a detailed understanding
of storytelling and how to apply it
effectively on YouTube videos. The first one what
we're going to start with is storytelling basics. This section covers the
fundamentals of storytelling. Here I'll introduce you to essential theoretical
concepts that are commonly taught in
filmmaking schools. These terms and concepts may seem a little bit
boring at first, but they form a foundation
of effective storytelling. It's crucial not to skip this section as the
knowledge you gain here will be referenced and applied through the rest of the course. And mastering these basics
will provide you with the concrete knowledge needed
to tell compelling stories. Think of this as groundwork. Once you understand
these principles, you're already halfway to
mastering storytelling. And in the second section,
we'll dive deep into applying these storytelling basics specifically to YouTube content. Explore how to tweak the traditional storytelling
method to capture a viewer's attention and keep them engaged
until the very end. This structure is designed to build your storytelling
skills progressively. Ensuring that by
end of this course, you'll have both the
fundamental knowledge and practical tools to create a high quality engaging
YouTube content.
3. What is a Story: What is a story? In today's
fast paced digital world, especially on YouTube, it seems like storytelling
is forgotten. Many creators are making videos just for the
sake of making it. They're making these
videos without any real structure
or strategies. They miss out on crucial
elements that capture an audience's attention and more importantly engage
them emotionally. Stories are incredibly powerful. They shape who we are and
how we connect with others. Think about the people
who are closest to you, your friends, your
partner, your parents. What ties you to
them are the stories you share and the memories
you share together? Even in some content that might seem purely informational, like a video about top
five places to visit or Top ten MTS do activity
in Italy, for example. In every videos, storytelling
plays a key role. Let's take an example of a
review video of a smartphone. Yes, the information
is really important. But what really draws
people attention and keep them coming back is the
story behind the content. When viewers connect to the
character in your story, whether it is you
or someone else, they're more likely
to feel invested. This emotional
connection increases the likelihood that they will subscribe and become a loyal follower
of your channel. But before we dive into the mechanics of what
makes a great story, let me give you a few examples
of how you can understand the difference between
a story, an event. So the first example
is, I woke up, I went to the gym after
the gym I had breakfast, and now I'm filming this course. That is not a story. It might sound like I'm
telling you a story, but it is not a story. It is just an event
because here I'm just telling you what
happened in my day life. Of course, if you watch my video for the first time, it
would be interesting. But if I say the same
thing over and over again, might seem a little bit boring
and a bit more repetitive. I'll give you another
example. I woke up. I went to the gym
and I was doing this workout called deadlift. I was going a little bit
heavier on the weights. And while I was doing the
dead lift, I pulled my back. Hit was really painful. I could barely walk, but somehow I managed
to get back home. So yeah, I don't think I'm going to be filming
this course today. I think I'll probably
be resting hole Yeah. This is a partial
version of a story. Some things are
still missing here. Let me give you another example, and then you can tell what
is the difference between the first two examples
I told and what is the difference between the
example which I just told now. So let's stop. So
today, I woke up. I went to the gym, and
before I was going, it was just raining like crazy, but I still decided to
go with my bicycle. And then I reached to
the gym. I worked out. And while I was
coming from the gym, it was still raining like
crazy and someone was riding bicycle in front of me and
they fell off the bike, and they kind of slipped on the road and
fell off the bike, and they hit their head on
the road like really bad. It was bleeding. I was in complete shock, but I called the
ambulance and yeah, the ambulance came and
they picked up the guy. But yeah, it was a really
traumatizing experience for me. I was not expecting that to happen already in the morning. But when I came back home, then I was thinking that, like, usually in the Netherlands,
we're not wearing helmets and we're just riding
bicycles just like that. But then event like that
can happen, you know, without any warning,
and then you can hit your head and you can get
yourself severely injured. So as soon as I came back home, the first thing what I ordered was a helmet for the bicycle. So yeah, it's going
to come tomorrow. I'm really happy that Yeah, I learned my lesson this way. Otherwise, that person
could be me sometime. Initially, I thought
wearing a helmet while cycling in the
Netherlands, wasn't necessary. But then something happened, and that incident completely
changed my mindset. This shift in mindset from disregarding helmets
while riding a bicycle to realizing how essential
they are is what makes this form of talking
what I told a story. Change is the essence
of any good story. Whether it is a change in
the character's mindset, like what I told before, there was a change
in my mindset, or if it's a change
in the environment, shift must happen for something
to be called a story. And without this element
of transformation, you're not telling a story. What you're telling
is just an event. Let me give you another example. I'm sure you must know
the series breaking bad. So when the creators
from the breaking bad, when they wanted to
pitch the entire series to the broadcasting network, I don't know which
broadcasting network it was. They didn't overwhelm the
network with a lot of details. Instead, they just
told one sentence. This is a story of
a chemistry teacher turning into a drug Lord. How exciting that sounds
that a normal person, just like you and me,
a school teacher, they turn into a drug lot. Oh, I am intrigued into
watching that story. The single line shows a powerful change from a teacher to a
criminal mastermind. It immediately sparks curiosity. Like, how does
someone so ordinary can turn into a drug lot
or so extraordinary? So what we have learned
here is a story needs more than just
a sequence of events. It requires transformation. If you're just showing
what's happening throughout the day without a clear
structure or a change, you're not telling a story. You're just telling an
event and For some people, it might be a little bit
interesting in the beginning, but over time, those
kind of content they get boring
because everybody tries to do the same thing, and then there's no way
for you to stand out. Again, the question
is what is a story? A story is where there's
a change in characters mindset or characters
physical transformation, or the environment's transformation
around the character, and that is what makes
a compelling story. Now just even think about
all the favorite YouTubers, what you watch, or all the favorite TV shows or
movies what you watch. You would always
find this element of change from the beginning
to the end in those videos. And that is also a reason why many YouTubers or why
many YouTube channels fail because they think that
just by showing your day, you know, in a normal
blog throughout the day, that's enough for a YouTube. It was enough, I think,
five, six years back. But now there is so
much competition on YouTube that if you're not crafting your stories
in a really smart way, your audience
wouldn't get hooked, your audience wouldn't
get connected to you. And eventually, your
channel wouldn't grow, you wouldn't get many views, and you wouldn't have this
dedicated core audience that is like a dream
for every YouTuber. So yeah, that's why story in
any video doesn't matter if it's a 32nd short or if
it's a long form video, story is the core of the
success of that video.
4. What is Drama: The first pillar of
story telling is drama. What is a drama? Drama is all about
placing a character in a situation where they don't belong. Let me
give you an example. Imagine an experienced hiker. Someone who's super fit, who has a lot of experience
in climbing mountains, and they're ready to
climb mount evers, the tallest mountain
in the world. If they successfully
climb the mountain, it is an impressive story, and it's going to
make a great video. But now imagine something else. Someone who's unfit, who has never been to any
high altitude area. And they have never
climbed even a small hill. If that person attempts
to climb mount Everest, wouldn't that be a
great story to watch? The second scenario captivates
us because the character is in an environment completely outside of
their comfort zone. This is where drama
comes into play. When a character finds
out themselves in a situation they
are not accustomed to, it creates tension. Uncertainty and a
range of emotions. And all these emotions
makes a great story. Now, I'm not suggesting
you to climb Mount Everest for
your YouTube videos, but this is just an example. And of course, in
your YouTube videos, you can build these
dramas on a small scale. And this is the reason why so many YouTubers are turning
to challenge based content. Like we also did this
kind of video in past that exploring
Switzerland on just $50, building a camervan as
a complete beginner or attempting to walk
thousand miles without any prior experience. These scenarios are
packed with drama. They put the creator in situations where
they don't belong, or whatever their main goal is, they've never done
something like that before. So that, of course,
creates a lot of reaction from the creator
filled with emotion. It can be humor, it
can be frustration, sadness, or it can
also be happiness. Take, for instance,
a creator stays in the cheapest hotel in the city
or the most expensive one. These kind of drama is what I It does not has to
be over the top. On YouTube, you can dial it down and still tell
a captivating story. It's all about finding
the right level of drama that works for
you and your audience. We also did another video staying in a $6
hotel in Thailand, and that hotel was super weird, and we were really uncomfortable being in that hotel because
when we are traveling, Of course, we are not staying
in a super luxury place, but we stay in an average place, what you and me would stay. And that place was super dodgy, the beds were stinking, the blankets were
stinking, was super warm. And all those things, they brought out a lot of
unplanned emotions within us, and, you know, that
made a great story. There's also this YouTuber
named Michelle are, who excels in this
kind of format. She's known for putting
herself in extreme situations, like training as an FBI agent
or as a professional boxer. The more she's out
of her comfort zone the more compelling
her videos become, driving more curiosity and
engagement from the viewers. We also did this another video series for our
YouTube channel. When we built a camper
van from scratch, we were complete beginners. We have no clue how to even diga tool works or like we didn't know
how the screws are, what kind of screws you use. So because of a
lack of experience, we put ourselves in a situation where we have to build
the entire camper. And because we
were just newbies, we did a lot of mistakes. There were a lot of frustration, and there were also
some victories that felt a bit more heroic. And overall, there was also
some sense of inspiration, and it showed to all
the other newbies that if we can do it,
you can do it too. And all these videos, they also brought out a lot of, you know, a lot
of humor as well. And that of course, makes
the video entertaining, that changes the
pace of the video, changes the emotion of the video throughout our entire built. Sometimes we would do
extreme budget videos where even instead of
taking a cable car, we hike to that place, and the hike is really painful
and sometimes audience, they really like it when you are struggling in the video because of course,
that creates drama. That is not something
people do usually. So yeah, that's why drama is really important when you're
filming a YouTube video. And of course, the level of
drama, as I mentioned before, you can choose what level of drama you want to
show in your video.
5. What is a Conflict: Now let's talk about
another pillar in storytelling conflict. What is a conflict? Conflict is the
birthplace of drama. It is a series of
obstacles or challenges a character faces on their
journey to what's ago. In any video, you can introduce multiple conflicts in a story to keep the audience engaged. Let me share a personal
example to illustrate this. Two years ago, we did an
Everest base camp trick. Not on the top of the Everest just at the Everest base camp. But then I didn't know much
about storytelling, conflict, drama and how to create
engaging videos, we just filmed as we went
without any structure. We made videos into
different parts, and some parts of the videos,
they did really well. And some parts, the
most beautiful part where we showed the
most beautiful part of the hiking that didn't do
well. And there was a reason. There was not enough conflict in those videos in the
beautiful videos. There were conflict in some of the videos they
did really good. If I were to redo
those videos again, I'll approach it differently. Here's how the story
was in the real life, and here's how I would
tell it to people. So we are intermediate hikers. We do, like, you know, we
have done multiple day hikes, but we haven't done a hike
as stuff as ever space camp. And we have always dreamt of, you know, going
to this base camp and looking at Mount Everest. The excitement, what we
had was over the roof. We flew from Netherlands
to Kathmandu, and we were super eager
to start our trek. But before the trek
would even begin, we faced our first conflict. The flight from Katmandu to
a small town of Lukla is also known for being frequently canceled due to bad weather. That was the first conflict. So I could have already built, you know, the suspense that, Oh, I don't know if we're
going to fly or not. We'll see. And the flight
was really notorious. And that flight could be
canceled for days or even weeks. And if you are unlucky, you are either stuck at
the airport or forced to take an expensive
helicopter ride. On the day when we
were supposed to fly, the weather didn't
cooperate with us. We waited at the
airport for 8 hours, and then we were
told that you can either wait for the coming days because the flight
is canceled or you can buy this expensive
helicopter ride, which is going to take
you to Lukla tomorrow. So we opted for the
helicopter ride, and then the conflict kind of resolved because
the conflict was that, how do we go to Luka? The flights are canceled,
the weather is really bad, but then it got resolved by us choosing the
helicopter ride. So then the emotion of the video went down
to a normal pace. But just as we solved first problem,
another problem came. Evening back at our guest house, my wife felt ill
with food poisoning. She spent the night vomiting in the toilet in the
hotel where we stayed. And then that time we were faced with a really
tough decision. Should we at this point even continue our dream trek
or just call it off? Because now her
health is at risk. We are in a completely
unknown country, but we have already booked
the helicopter ride, we have booked all
the arrangements, all the accommodations for the
upcoming days of our trek. So this was another conflict. This also brought a
real drama because now the character is an
unusual situation. I could have hyped it up a lot, but I didn't tell anything
about her sickness. We just told the brief story about her sickness in the video, but I could have
hyped it up a lot, to create more drama
in the video for just people to watch more that what happens
to her health? Are they going to do the
trick or not? You know. But by the next day,
she was feeling okay, and we were once again
excited to head to Lola. But little did we know that
the helicopter ride would take us through one of the most dangerous airways in the world. We later learned that
this road seems to have every year two to
three plane crashes. We were fear. Like,
we were scared. But at that time, we kind
of downplayed in the video. Like, we didn't want
to be too negative, that these two
YouTubers are always complaining if
you're complaining so much, just don't
even do the treck. So that's what was
going in our head, that we didn't want to complain and keep everything positive. But yeah, looking back, this was a significant conflict that
should have been emphasized, you know, to heighten the drama
and tension of the story. Luckily, the helicopter ride was went well.
That's why I'm here. And once we arrived in
Lukla, the trek began, and we had some amazing, beautiful days in the nature. So After all the drama, we had some some happy
days, some amazing days. But even in the beautiful views, the conflict still persisted. My wife was still feeling weak, and we could have shown this ongoing struggle in the
video, because, of course, she had food poisoning, so you are sick and weak
for quite some days. But yeah, we didn't
show that in the video, and the climax of our
journey was when we finally saw Mount
Est in full glory. The day was clear, the
views were breathtaking. And that was the
perfect resolution of all the conflicts we faced You know, to end our goal. But that evening, another
conflict emerged. My wife developed a
serious chest pain. We were terrified,
given our location 5,600 meters above sea level, and there was barely
any medical help. A local doctor came that midnight and gave us
the option that do you want to call for an
emergency helicopter to take you directly
back to Katmandu. That time, the gravity of
the situation was real. But again, we didn't fully
convey this in the videos. We just told that yeah,
she felt a bit sick, but now it's all fine
because we were again, really hesitant to show
the full extent of our fear and potential
danger we were in. That could have
been a great story. But by the morning, her
condition has improved. So like, continued our return to Lukla and then to Kathmandu, and at Lukla again, we had to go through this scary airplane, and this time we actually
did go with the airplane. So yeah, of course, you can see the structure of the story
that in the beginning, we were super excited. We just landed in Katmandu, and we couldn't wait
to start the trek. That was the beginning,
and our goal was to see Mount everst, on a clear and
beautiful day to see the biggest and the tallest
mountain in the world. That was our goal. But for
us to reach that goal, there were already some conflict already in the beginning. Once that is solved, another conflict,
another conflict. There were some beautiful days, but there were also a lot
of downs in the video. And if I, of course,
had to do it again, I would have shown those
emotions, you know, more. I would have been more
honest with my emotion with my wife's emotion in
the video to our audience. And that would have connected
the audience a bit more. We shared even a little bit. And still in the comments, people were really supportive and then
they were like, Yeah, I had the same when
I was doing this another trick or I had the same food poisoning when
I was in Katmandu, and I felt really
terrible and I feel you. So those were the situation, those were the emotions with which people can relate to us. So, yeah, that was just a little example of how you can use conflict in the video. A good storyteller knows how to escalate even a small problem, drawing the audiences
deeper into the narrative. Bigger the conflict, the more compelling
the story becomes. And that also makes
the resolution of that conflict more
satisfying to the audience. Because of those conflicts, they keep the
audience on the edge, there's no flat
narrative in the story. Always the emotions
are going up and down, and that really wants the audience to watch
more and more and more. There is a really good
YouTube called Yes Theory. And in their recent video, they were traveling to Bulgaria. It's a really beautiful country, Eastern European country. And the title was
that a country where nobody wants to live because
from the status of Bulgaria, their population is
declining because a lot of people are moving to the
eastern part of the Europe. But yeah, their main goal was to show how beautiful
this country is, how beautiful people are, how beautiful the
culture is and people who are living there,
they're still happy. These stats are
there, but people who are actually living there, they're still happy and really
satisfied with their life. That was their goal, you
know, to show the video. And they wanted to do
this happy ending. But that is pretty
obvious that, yeah, you're exploring country, you're kind of making
a travel video. But they started introducing
conflicts every day. So they were staying
there for three days, and they were a
group of four guys. So they divided themselves
into group of two, and at end of each day, those two groups
would do a coin flip. And whoever loses
in that coin flip, they would get to stay in the cheapest and the worst
hotel in that city. And whoever wins, they would
stay in the most luxurious. That already brings a conflict. So the people who went
to the cheapest one. There were just so much humor. There was so much
comedy. And of course, the people who went
in the expensive one, they had a different
level of experience. And because of all these
different, comedies and dramas, the video became more
interesting because the video was just a travel video of
them exploring Bulgaria, and in the end,
they're going to say, Yeah, it's really
beautiful, dah. But then they
introduced these plots, they introduced these conflicts to keep the audience
on the edge. Because now I was mostly
watching not even for Bulgaria. I was watching to see who's going to win the next coin flip. Who's going to go
in the bad hotel and who's gonna go
in the good hotel. And that was a really good way of how to introduce
conflict in your video. If there's no conflict, you kind of start making
your own conflict, you kind of start making
your own challenges, and that just brings
so much out of you and that people
really like to watch. So yeah, that was
conflict for you.
6. Why Character Is Important: Another building block of a
great story is a character, and why a character
is important. By now, you have
probably heard about Mr. Beast or Jimmy. So Jimmy or Mr. Beast, he's known for
his challenge videos. He has these massive
video budgets, and he gets millions
and millions of views. But he's a thing. Platforms like HBO or Netflix, they can easily do
those challenges. They can build even bigger sets, bigger games, and, of course,
bring more challenges. But why they don't do it. Answer lies in the
character of Mr. Best himself or of Jimmy himself. People tune into
Mr. Best's channel, not just for the challenges, but because he's in the video. Jimmy's presence, his reactions, his involvement are what
keeps the viewers hooked. And he also brings his friends. So all of their reaction is more entertaining for myself and
another million viewers, you know, rather than
just some random person. He has built a connection
with his audience, and that goes beyond just
the scale of his videos. If those small challenges
were hosted by an unknown actor
or a big network, I don't know if they would that much engagement
as compared to Mr. Beast, because nobody knows those characters who
are in those videos. And that's the power of a
well established character. Take another example
from the Tech world, Marques Brownlee or MKBHC. The tech videos aren't
exactly known for the drama, but Marquez has become one of the most trusted voices
in the industry. Why? Because of his
story, his authenticity, and the relationship he has built with his audience
over the years. Marquez started making videos in his bedroom as a teenager, and now he has this multi
million dollar set. Been following him for years, and I trust his
opinion on every tech. And even if there
are other reviews, which is more technical and they're going to discuss
more about the product, I am more likely to watch Marquess video because I built
this connection with him. And he's just a regular guy who just speaks honestly
to the camera, and sometimes he
even shows emotions, sometimes he also shows
humor in his content. And that's what makes his
content compelling to watch. Because now I see a real
person behind the camera, I see someone who I can trust. This trust I have built
through over the years. A strong characters resonates with the viewers when
they're authentic, when they show their flaws, express their emotions, and aren't afraid to be themselves. The more genuine you are, the more you stand out in niche. Characters are what makes
a memorable stories. When you think of Harry Potter, do you remember? You don't
remember the crazy castles, the crazy schools, or the
crazy stunts they did. You remember the
story because of the characters because
of Harry, Hermine, Ron. Also, for example, breaking bad. You don't remember
breaking bad because of all the action scenes or
all the craziness happened. You remember it because
of Walter White or Jesse Pink Man. These characters are the anchor and they keep us
engaged with the story. And this is why characters are so crucial in storytelling, especially on platforms
like YouTube. You don't have to go overboard
with emotions or drama. Just being yourself
and reacting naturally to different
situation is enough. And over time, as you
continue to post more videos, you'll build your
character through different emotions and
experience you share. Eventually, your audience would become so invested in you as a character that they would
watch everything you post, and then it wouldn't
even be for the content. Then it would be that I
just want to watch you. Take, for example,
Casey Neistat. He's one of the reasons why
I started making videos. When I started watching him, I think back in 2015, I was hooked and I watched all of his blog.
Like, every day, I would wait, you know, when he publishes
his daily blogs, and I would watch them
every day every day, and that went on until he
stopped daily flogging. I became deeply invested
in him and his life story. Even though he doesn't
post frequently now, whenever he does,
I'm there watching, regardless of the topic. I don't care what
video he's making. I'm just interested in Casey. And that's the
kind of connection he has built with his audience. It is something every
storyteller should aspire to do. And that is why dailylogs
can also be super effective. People watch, not
because they're particularly interested in
what happens every day. They are watching because
they're invested in your story. They're invested in the
person behind the camera, and how you really connect to your audience is by just
telling your story. If they know your life story, they can be more
connected to it. So in summary, a
strong character is the backbone of any
successful video. Over the time as your
audience get to know you, they'll become more
invested in your story. And that's the magic
of storytelling. It's not just about
what happens. Who it happens to.
People get connected to characters when they are
showing different emotions, that you can really determine already in
the beginning that what emotion I want to
show to my audience. It's they are humor,
anger, disgust, fear, erotic, heroic, pity,
wonder, and serene. When you're making a video, we can already determine
that what kind of emotions I want to
tell to my audience. Also, the thing is
that in one video, it's not just one emotion. There are different roller
coaster of emotion. Say, for example, my every
space cam track video. There was an excitement
in the beginning, then there was a bit of frustration that the
flight is not going, then there was a bit of sadness, that my wife was sick. Then the fear next
day, that what if we Don't survive the
helicopter ride. And then once we were
doing the trick, then there was this
another emotion of wonder and beauty that Wow, this is heaven, where we are. There are all these different
emotions that can make a video really interesting and would really keep the
audience on the edge. So, characters and
their emotions. They are really important.
7. Three Act Structure in Filmmaking: Now let's talk about
the three x structure. The blueprint of storytelling. Every compelling story follows this classic blueprint,
the three x structure. This structure divides a story into three different parts, the beginning, the
middle, and the end. Just before the end, there's one crucial movement which
often happens climax, where the tensions are at peak. This formula is widely
used in traditional media, and once you understand this, you can adapt it effectively for YouTube
storytelling as well. Now, let's start by breaking down the traditional blueprint. Act one, the beginning. The beginning is
where we introduce the character in
the ideal world, an equilibrium, where everything
seems to be in balance. Now, let's create a story
to illustrate this. Imagine a business Tycoon who's a multi millionaire or
even a billionaire. He's wealthy, but he's
also a bit arrogant. Looking down on those who
aren't financially successful, he lives in this
crazy lavish villa, surrounded by luxury. And that is his equilibrium, his life, as he knows it. Then an incident disrupts
this equilibrium. The stock market crashes, and his company values
plummets to almost nothing. Suddenly, his wealth is gone and he's forced to
sell his house, his car, and move his family into a lower middle
class neighborhood. It sounds like a
super classic story. But yeah, that is a story. So the event, what happened, the stock market clash, that event destroyed
his ideal world and set the stage for
a story to unfold. So that is all part
of the beginning, where the character
was at equilibrium. Something happens, and
the equilibrium shifts. Now let's talk about the middle. The middle of the story is where the character faces
obstacles and conflict that prevent them from returning to
their previous state. Our business tycoon
here is now broke, and he's living in a small
and crowded house and is surrounded by people once
he looked down upon. He experiences daily struggle, there's dirt on the street, cramped living conditions, and harsh reality of
life without wealth. He begins to see the world
from a new perspective now. Realizing how wrong he was
when he was at the top. And throughout this
act, the middle act, the character encounters
multiple conflicts. He gets into fights
with neighbors. His belongings are being stolen, or he suffers to even
feed his family, and these challenges
force him to reflect on his past behavior and
gradually changed his mindset. So this is the
essence of Act two. The character is in
a situation where they cannot go back
to their old life, which is what we showed
in the beginning. So now, they must find a way
to move forward from here. And as the story progresses, he decides to take a stand. He starts another
business from scratch, facing many struggles
along the way. He has to convince people to
work for him for low wages, just as he did in
his early days. This journey of
rebuilding his life propels the story
towards his climax. Act three, climax. The climax is just
before the end. Is the turning point where
the character's journey reaches its most intense moment. In our story, the
climax occur when the Tycoon successfully
rebuilds his business, becoming a billionaire
once again. He buys his new villa,
moves his family, and, you know, there's so many changes going
on in his life. All of a sudden, he's also
a little bit emotional. And as he stands
in his new home, there are tears in his eyes, and he reflects on the
hardship he faced. This moment is extremely
powerful because it represents the collection of
all his struggle and the realization of his goal. And after the climax, the story moves on to the final act. End. Here we see the lasting
change in the character. Our once arrogant business
tycoon is now humble and kind. He no longer looks down on
those who are less fortunate. Instead, he is committed
to helping them. If someone comes to him with a business proposition or a
desire to improve their life, he's there to support them. So there is a transformation
in his mindset, and this transformation marks the true resolution
of the story. So to recap, the
three X structure consists of the beginning
where the character was in the ideal world, the middle, where there were a
lot of conflicts and the character cannot
return back to the normal life and the climates where the
tension is peaking, the character reaches to
their goal, and at the end, where we see the
characters transformation, the resolution of the story. So this whole thing is a
blueprint that ensures your story is engaging,
impactful, and memorable. But on YouTube, there needs to be a change
in this structure. That's what we're going to
discuss in the next section.
8. Youtube Video Introduction: When it comes to YouTube, traditional storytelling methods like the three act structure or the classic
storytelling blueprint needs some tweaking. And of course, you
would be asking why? Because the audience of YouTube
are entirely different. On YouTube, your audience holds the power to leave
within seconds. If they're not hooked
right away, they're gone. In contrast with
movies or TV shows, the content has to be
genuinely bad for someone to stop watching and choose some other TV series
or movie to watch. On YouTube viewers are more
impatient and selective, which means we have to approach
storytelling differently. Let's start with the
beginning because this is where YouTube
differs the most. Like traditional storytelling, a good YouTube video
doesn't dwell too much on the introduction or doesn't dwell too much on the
context in the opening. The focus is on jumping straight to the
core of the story. Here's how you can structure a beginning of a YouTube
video effectively. First point, what you
should be doing is establish the goal already
in the first line. Whatever is written in
the title of the video, we should already tell
in the first line. The first line should
already set the tone by clearly defining
the goal of the video. Don't waste your
time building up. The audience should immediately
know what to expect. Once they know what to expect, that gives them the
confidence that, okay, why I clicked on this video is the exact reason
what this video is about. And then you introduce
the motivation. Right after establishing
the goal, explain why. Why are you making this video? What is driving you as a
creator? What's the purpose? For example, when we
built our camper van, the motivation was that
it was a long dream for us to travel with our
own self built van. We wanted to travel to Europe in our self built van for ages. So that was our motivation.
That was our why. And the next thing you
should be adding in the introduction is the
personal connection. It is crucial to have personal connection touch in the video, making it feel more genuine. It's really important to have a personal touch in the video. Makes the video more genuine rather than
some robotic voiceover. In the intro, you can
already show some clips of the highlights of
the video of what is coming next so that the
audience really know that, ok, there are some humans in the video that we can
get connected to. Welcome to Zurich, Switzerland. It's one of the most beautiful
cities in the world, but also one of the
most expensive. But today, I'm going to show you how to have an
amazing time here, Zurich without spending
too much money. We love Switzerland, and
we always make sure to include this beautiful country
in our Europe road trip. But as you probably know, Switzerland is pricey,
really pricey. Skydiving, 400 Train, right
is $250 per person. To. O. No. But don't worry. If you are like us, you can totally visit
Switzerland on a budget. We made it through InterlakN
with just 100 euros, soaked in the stunning views
of the Mother Horn for free, and did some epic hikes
without spending a cent. And today, we're pushing
ourselves even further. Enjoying a day in the
most expensive city in Switzerland, Yes. Zuri. Just to summarize, start the video
with the main goal. Just in one sentence.
Today, we're like, miss Abist he does
the treat. We go. Today, we're gonna build
a farm cows in it, or that was just an example. I don't know why I
came up with that. But yeah, today, we're
going to do this, this. And so audience already know that this is what
he's going to say. This is what he's saying, and
then he also shows visuals. When we said that today,
we're going to build our camper van without
any experience. Just when I said that, as soon as I told without
any experience, I showed a lot of
mistakes that we did. So then people also
know that, Okay, it's not just a
camper built video. It's not just
informational video. There's also a lot of comedy, a lot of humor in this video. And once we have the
introduction done, then you transition quickly
to the main content. Like your intro should be super concise ideally for
about 30 seconds to a minute. And once you have set up
the motivation, the goal, you smoothly transition
into the main part. Yes, Zurich. Our first day was finding a place
to park the car. It wasn't easy, but we found a spot at the train
station for a good price. We have a parking, and that's something
to be happy about. Mm. So, Mr. Best, he does it really good again because he's the
master of YouTube, I cannot stop
giving his example. So he would tell the
introduction of the video. And even before the
introduction finishes, He quickly moves to the first conflict
or first challenge. There's no real gap between the introduction and the
main part of the video. And that really hooks
the audience because audience don't even realize that when they moved into
the main video, and then to the next
thing to the next thing. That's what we also incorporate
in our videos as well, that there's no proper ending of the video that
today this is this. So let's start the video. We don't say that. We try
to really smoothly blend. So that gives the audience less chance to even
think about that. Am I even going to
watch it or not? Because then the audience
are already in the video, already in the first conflict. So then they cannot stop themselves rather than just
watching the entire video. So, yeah, that's how you should approach the introduction
of a YouTube video.
9. Make Your Video Stand Out - Pro Tips: Here, I'm going to give
you a few final tips to make an engaging and
entertaining YouTube video. The first tip is the intro
should be well thought out. What I mean by that is that you should already know what are you going to say in the
intro and all the snippets, all the little clips that
you're going to pick up, which happened
throughout the video that also you're going
to use in the intro. For example, with
our camervn video, if something would go wrong, wife would say she
wouldn't tell me. She wouldn't give
me her reaction. She would turn on the
camera, turn on the camera, and then her reaction
would come and that kind of
reaction that we can use in the intro to show
the audience that Whoa, there is a roller coaster of emotion happening in this video. With zero experience,
we just went for it. We underestimated every
step of this build, and as a result, nothing
went as planned. How? Wo is destroyed. First nightmare happens.
The floor is wet. In the past few weeks, we built the entire kitchen and
installed it in the camper. This week's mission is to fit the wardrobes in the
back of the van. It seemed easy, but as always, many challenges came our way. Just when you think you
did everything right, Kevin nuts have
thought about it. Yeah, Intro should be
really well thought out. What we do usually is
that I write line by line the intro so that I know what they would
be in the voiceover, because usually we do
voiceover in the videos. But maybe the first line, the first sentence we also
do in front of the camera. So it gives a bit
more personal touch. That also we did as well back in the day that we would just
start the video with an intro, but sometimes we also
started the video by just one of us talking
to the camera, and that would already increase the retention rate
of the audience because now there is a
person talking to them. There's not just a
computerized voiceover. And a beautiful drone
shot on the video. So that also was
well thought out. That's why we made
a great intro. So yeah, intro should be
really well thought out. And of course, all
the one liners, all the all your reactions, or all the important things or all the funny
or the sad things, what happens
throughout the video, give a good reaction of that. If not, then redo it. It might look fake, but really redo it so
that you can use those one liners in the intro to make the
intro more engaging. Once we have taken
care of the intro, the full video what
you're going to film, you should also have
a brief structure of that video because you cannot just go and film everything and then just
try to when you're editing, then you're like, How can I tell it in an interesting way. If you have already written
down or if you have a bit of idea of the brief
structure of the video. Of what emotions you're
going to show in the video, how long the video
would be wa places, you really have to
blog wa places. You can get away
with voice over. All these structures,
if you already plan, that makes your
life much easier. So yeah, a brief structure of the entire video should be done. According to me, I think that's a great way to film
any YouTube video. Again, the ending should
be also well thought out. Sometimes when we
were starting out, we would prolong so much. Would give a whole summary of what happened
throughout the day. We really loved it. Blah, blah. They already saw
that we loved it. You don't have to
repeat it again. So that's why the ending should
be also well thought out, that we're just like, Okay. So now that the climax happens, we can do that one liner. Okay, thanks for watching. And next week's video is
going to be even much better. And then just end the video. Or just don't say nothing. Just have a nice, beautiful shot. That's it. Because otherwise you have
another piece of wood. Yeah, and if you have baskets, you can always just change it. Yeah and take it talk to
the system. So, Okay, nice. Bye bye. That cozy dinner wraps our budget
friendly trip to Zurich. But don't worry. There are plenty more adventures
coming from Switzerland. If you haven't
already, make sure to subscribe and we'll see
you in the next one. So those kind of ending
ending is not that long, but it should be
well thought out so that if you want
to do a funny ending, you can also make
that as a end shot. Another tip is don't say the same thing over
and over again. I used to do it a lot of
times that if we go to a beautiful place
or a beautiful hike or because we are
travel YouTubers, so you'd be like, Oh,
they're so beautiful. At another location, Oh,
they're so beautiful. We know it's beautiful. You have already
told me 100 times. Like we forget a lot of times that what have we
talked to other people, and then we would
repeat that again. Has it happened with you
before that you would have this one friend
and he would tell the same story over
and over again. Don't be that person in
front of the camera. Don't say same thing
over and over again. Even if you say, don't at least put in the final video,
just cut it out. So yeah, that's another tip. Don't say the same thing
over and over again. Another tip, use quick
cuts in the video. The longer YouTube is lasting, the more impatient
audience are getting. You have to show how we engage the audience
as well is by showing a lot of quick cuts so that the audience they don't
get bored with one visual. Always seeing something
new, but at the same time, you should be also learning
when to leave the long, uncut shots at some
point in the video. So yeah, your final
video should be a good mixture of quick cuts, and then there should
be also some times where you are leaving
those long uncut shots. And I usually leave
them when the emotions are really high or when we are saying really
something important. Yeah, it should be a good
mixture and how to know when to cut in a video or how to know when
to use a long cut. I have discussed that
in my editing course. I made a course, which is not about learning
and editing software. It was more about how you can tell better stories by editing. If you are enjoying this class so far, really go watch that, because that would really
help you to become a really, really good storyteller
by just editing. Even if you mess up things
when you're filming at the location or when
you're filming the video, you can use editing techniques to master the storytelling
to hide those mistakes. A good mixture
between quick cuts and some long uncut shots. The next step is music, sound effect to
enhance the visuals. Music is really, really
important when you are showing a video to the audience because
music sets up the mood. Music would help a creator show their emotion
to the audience. A lot of times I use really
different mixture of music. Sometimes it can be a
funny, quirky music. Sometimes it can
be inspirational, sometimes can be happy, sometimes it can be
really peaceful, and you're own those
magical dreamy place music. So by music, you can change
the emotion of the audience. And of course, sound effects. So sound effects also enhances the emotional
impact of the audience, and that I've also taught
in my previous course. So, yeah, sound design is
also really important. It's not just about
going and filming there and putting everything
together and done. Music, sound effects,
audio is just in general, is just so important when
you're filming a YouTube video. Next step is use voiceover
to convey your message because a lot of times are especially when we are
making travel blogs, our thoughts are
not really concise. We're just talking
all over the place. But when you're actually
editing, then you can see that, if at that place, if I
would have told this, that would have impacted
the audience much better. So you always can
use a voiceover as a tool to convey what
is in your mind, even in post production. So yeah, voiceovers
are really important. Next one, escalate the conflict. So as I told before, that
conflicts are really important because they
are this little problems, what character is
facing when they are going to achieve
their goals. So whenever some
problem happens, you can escalate
that a little bit. You're not lying to our audience that or you are not just
making up a problem, but if some problem happens, you have to escalate
a little bit so that your audience can really digest the gravity
of the situation. So that's why escalating the conflict can also
be really important. Next one, change the emotion
in every few minutes. So whatever video you
are making on YouTube, you should always keep
changing the emotion, what I told before in the
Katmandu Base cam track video, that you can start
with happy, then sad, then fear, like
all these emotions should be there in a video. And one emotion shouldn't go for really long because
then the audience, they become used
to that emotion, and then they get kind of bored. So always keep
changing the emotion, and these emotions
we can change by introducing conflt,
music, sound effects. So I've also taught these
things in the editing course. And the last step is
just keep making videos. When I started making videos, even if I knew a lot of
things about filmmaking, my videos were still not good, and in my opinion, they are still okay as compared to which you tubers I admire. So yeah, I don't stop making it until I'm becoming perfect,
and then I start making it. No, I don't do that.
Whatever knowledge I have, I just keep making it, and then I really see myself improving by talking in
front of the camera. I see myself im telling
a story to the audience. I see myself improving and
building the conflict, building the entire drama. And then I also see myself
getting better at editing and really emphasizing
on dramatic moments or emphasizing on important
moments in the video. Yeah, the first video
wouldn't be a masterpiece, or not even the 50th video
would be a masterpiece. But you really have to just
keep going and eventually, you would reach to a level where you would see
that your audience are really attached to you and they're really following
you religiously. And yeah, that's the
goal of any Youtube.
10. Outro: Is the end of this class,
storytelling for YouTube. I hope you got some
value from this class. And if you have any questions, please leave them down
in the comments below. And I've also added a
project for this class. So check that out as well
in the project section. And yeah, I'll see
you in the next one. See, I'm cutting
the ending shot.
Adi Singh, Videographer and Youtuber
