While I’m far from the veteran content creator I should be due to not being as consistent as I could’ve been, I still have years of experience in playing with this stuff and helping others with their own efforts. Therefore, I feel like I can still make a guide on content creation that can help beginners make better sense of the process. I’ve made a list of rules that should be easy enough to remember and understand, based on what I’ve learned for the past 10-15 years.
The two most important skills in content creation are starting and finishing — the two things I and many others seem to be really bad at. I’ve gotten pretty good at the middle parts over the years as I dabbled in various aspects of video production. Shooting video has been a hobby for me since 2008 and video editing since 2009. While I do help with others’ video production, I’ve yet to build something for myself that grants me access to more interesting things.
This is not necessarily a guide for you, but also a call to action for me. I aim to live by these rules and crank out more video content, not because I really need to but because I want to challenge myself and see how far I can take it. As I am right now, I know no one is really interested in what I have to say or do. I have to find that voice and look that will actually capture attention, but I won’t get them unless I actually iterate and put what I’ve learned to practice.
Join me as I give this a deliberate boy scout try.
Pre-Production Rules
1. Shoot as soon as you get an idea or finish a script.
Procrastination is your enemy. There is no such thing as ‘the perfect time’ — there is only now. You should shoot your video right now. If you’re able to learn the habit of recording a video as soon as you get the idea, you should be able to pile up at least a week’s worth of content in a day or two. You should then be able to build a sustainable schedule.
Of course, once you actually have that habit, you should remember to space it out.
Once you have a finished script, grab the camera, hit record, and do your thing immediately. Don’t delay, don’t dilly-dally, don’t lollygag. Even if you’re still taking a shit or a shower, get your phone out and start recording (without showing anything incriminating, of course).
Alright, that last part may be an exaggeration, but it may just be the kind of crazy you need to have in order to build the habit to be able to make more content. What’s important at first is to shed the tendency to procrastinate and make the video right away.
Perfect is the enemy of good, and good enough is whatever you finish. You can then improve on it with your next video.
2. Preparation is everything.
Being prepared is not only having as much material to make the video with as possible, but also having the courage to proceed. The more you prepare, the braver you can become. Do all of your research, networking, and scriptwriting within a limited timeframe — every second counts.
However, there are diminishing returns. Too much preparation for too long is procrastination, which results in no real work being done. The key is to finish a draft quickly, then work off of that into a final script. Once you put down the last punctuation mark, no further preparation will make it better. You can get back to the script once you’ve finished shooting.
Maybe you realize that you still don’t have enough. You then start a second pre-production and production phase to fill the gaps while the footage you already have is being edited. What’s important with finishing the first one is that you already have most of what you need.
If that second phase doesn’t work out as intended, at least you still have enough to finish the damn thing. You’ll finish — that’s the most important thing.
3. Start with the easiest idea, or your favorite.
This is my conjecture. You may have a different philosophy on how to make use of your ideas.
If it’s your very first video, use your favorite idea on the list. If it’s your hundredth video, use your favorite untouched idea. If all else fails, use the easiest and cheesiest idea on the list. The most important thing is to finish a video, and the quickest way is to make one on something you actually have interest or passion in.
Not everyone knows what you know.
You can then work your way towards harder ideas or whatever you’re not as excited about. If that idea does need to have a video made about it, you should build momentum with videos from easier ideas first, then work towards it or leave it entirely.
Don’t get hung up on deliberating for too long.
If you’re the type who is more into ‘eating the frog’ — doing the hardest thing first — you wouldn’t know if you could finish that hard thing right away. Therefore, it may be more prudent to do an easy one first, then work on the harder one later. If you get stuck with the hard one somehow, at least you already completed one that you can upload in the meantime.
Shooting and Editing Rules
4. Get to the point immediately.
Don’t give long introductions. You can explain yourself and talk about your life later, if you really have to. In the first ten to twenty seconds of the video, show what the video is about as simply and succinctly as possible. Sell the premise and tease the payoff as best as you can.
It’s not to say you can’t express yourself, but you can do that later. First and foremost, you must capture the attention of the audience and provide them value. If you fail to do that, they’ll just stop watching. You can still indulge yourself after the payoff.
5. Record at least two audio tracks.
Even though it’s video, the audio is more important than the visuals alone. If your footage has garbage sound — either due to noise or faulty equipment — you can’t use the audio in that footage. Therefore, you should always have a backup recording to a different output.
Whenever possible, have two devices recording the audio. The easiest way is to have one recording to the camera, while the other records to another device — either your phone, computer, another camera, or a field recorder. Even if you don’t end up using the backup recording, it’s better to have it and not need it than to not have it and actually need it.
If all else fails, record a voiceover. It may not be ideal, but it’s better than noise or silence.
6. There can never be enough B-roll.
Establishing shots, cutaways, and closeups. Have as much b-roll as you can to add context and break up the monotony of the A-roll whenever it’s appropriate or necessary. B-roll should add to the topic and keep the video interesting, so still be selective with what you use for the video.
If you have nothing else, even a GIF or JPEG of a meme to add some levity may suffice.
B-roll is also useful for covering jump cuts, mistakes, gaps, awkward pauses, and self-corrections, as well as smooth transitions and drastic edits. Just don’t linger on one shot for too long, if you can help it. No more than ten seconds at a time as a general rule of thumb.
It also includes video clips, images, infographics, text, and other assets that can help you better visualize whatever you’re talking about. Make sure to organize them so that you can just add them into the video quickly and easily while editing.
7. Be harsh with the time limit.
Don’t waste your audience’s time, as well as your own. Longer videos require more attention, so do your best to keep it brief while still making it engaging. Cut as much fat as you can, then cut even more to make sure you convey your message as succinctly as possible.
You must also have a time limit with making each video. If you take more than a week, the idea will become stale and you’ll want to either abandon it and move on or stay with it for longer than necessary. If you want to make it good, you should stop being a coward and take an axe to it.
8. Finish the video or kill it quickly.
Do not fall for the sunk cost fallacy. If it looks like it’s going to be a boring video, then kill it and move on right away. Of course, you don’t have to make that decision on your own — get a second opinion from someone you trust.
That second opinion can serve as a more objective voice to inform you whether the video just needs a bit more work or you actually have to take an axe to it.
If it’s just your impostor syndrome talking, suck it up and finish the damn video. You’ll hate yourself more if you end up regretting not finishing it while it was still fresh. The worst that can happen is people telling you that it sucks, and the best way to deal with that is to follow the next two rules.
Rules for Your Next Video
9. Make another one as soon as possible.
You should move on as quickly as you can. The longer the gap between each video, the less you will want to make another one and the more you will hate and doubt yourself. Strike the iron while it’s still hot and get to the next video quickly to build momentum.
It should get easier over time, but you have to do it regularly, much like exercising your body. Production of any kind is about believing in the process and flowing with it.
10. Implement one improvement over the previous video.
As a content creator, you should always work on your craft. However, since we’ve talked about cranking out content as quickly as possible, you shouldn’t sit on your hands planning for too long. Whether you made a mistake, failed to fully implement what you’ve planned, or just learned something you can do to make better videos, you should do that on your next video.
Aim to implement one improvement with each video you make. As you make more videos, you’ll slowly but surely improve your production, presentation, writing, and so on. The more deliberate practice you engage in, you’ll eventually find your personal style and workflow that allows you to make more and better videos. It’s like the kaizen system that Toyota famously implemented in its car manufacturing.
Kaizen means ‘continuous improvement’ in Japanese. By implementing one little change for the better at a time, all those changes add up to big improvements. Not only is this approach beneficial, but also sustainable. If you look to aim for perfection in one go, you may find yourself unable to deliver on time and end up getting burned out by the arduous process.
Making videos does require effort, but you have to build up towards being able to give that effort productively and sustainably. Deliberate practice in content creation means creating more and more content that’s engaging and meaningful, not just slop or even no content at all.
Conclusion
As I write this, I’m going to make a video as soon as I publish this blog post. Of course, I’m feeling anxiety and self-doubt about doing it right now, but that’s just part of the process. While not doing anything will avoid that feeling, I’ll feel worse later on when I realize that I haven’t done anything I set out to do. That feeling of emptiness is worse than the anxiety in the long run.
Perhaps you have those feelings as well, not only in making videos, but also in other endeavors in your life. Dealing with those feelings in the short term helps you make your future self happier.
The Ten Rules
- Shoot as soon as you get an idea or finish a script.
- Preparation is everything.
- Start with the easiest idea, or your favorite.
- Get to the point immediately.
- Record at least two audio tracks.
- There can never be enough B-roll.
- Be harsh with the time limit.
- Finish the video or kill it quickly.
- Make another one as soon as possible.
- Implement one improvement over the previous video.
Got Feedback?
Have something to say? Do you agree or am I off-base? Did I miss a crucial detail or get something completely wrong? Please leave whatever reactions, questions, or suggestions you may have in the comment section below.
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