Framing Perfection: A Filmmaker’s Guide to Cinematic YouTube Videos

10 Tips For Shooting Profesional YouTube Videos

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

We have mentioned before about the equipment you should have to start your YouTube video shooting , however, being methodical in your approach to the video making process and knowing exactly what and where you are going to stage and record will increase the quality of the content. Focus on the technical aspects of your YouTube video before you actually start shooting and strive to be well prepared for all the challenges a day on the set may bring.

These and other useful tips may help you make better videos for your YouTube channel, so let’s explore different ways of improving your video making skills.

10 Tips for Shooting Better YouTube Videos

All videographers agree that you shouldn’t come to the set unprepared. Everything has to be in its place, no matter how insignificant it may seem, because a tiny detail can completely ruin the shot or even an entire day of work. These tips are going to help you avoid common mistakes, inexperienced video producers often make.

1. Write the Script

Everything starts with a script, at least in the cinematography world. You don’t have to write long, detailed descriptions of all scenes, just make a short note of every scene, what is being said in the shot, on-screen actions, camera positions, and so on. By doing this, you’ll save yourself a lot of valuable time, you can then dedicate to other burning issues on the set. Besides, knowing what you are going to say throughout the video so you don’t have to improvise all the time is going to help you feel more relaxed in front of a camera.

2. Build the Set (Lighting included)

Don’t leave anything to chance. You should control everything that is going to be in the shot, so avoid working at locations you can’t at least partially control. Shooting in studio-like conditions will enable you to carefully select the scenography and to design light so it matches the scene perfectly. The actors must always be clearly visible to the audience, which is why you need to pay attention to where they are located in the shot and how much light you have in that part of the shot.

3. Keep Your Batteries Charged

There is nothing more frustrating than arriving at the set anxious to start shooting just to find out that the batteries are empty. Charge the batteries at the end of each day on the set, because the chances are that you are going to need them early in the morning. Always have several spare batteries with you, so even if one battery is empty you have the replacement ready. You can also prolong the battery life by switching the camera off when you are not recording.

4. Do a Microphone Check

Capturing audio with an external microphone drastically increases the quality of the sound in your videos. That’s why making absolutely sure that all cables are connected and that the microphone is perfectly placed is paramount if you want to get the sound right. The host or the hosts of the video must be at the right distance from the microphone, usually, the length of their fist with the thumb and pinky finger extended, but this can vary a few inches to either side.

Check out the best microphone for YouTuber in 2018

5. Pay Attention to The Shot Composition

The rule of thirds is a common composition principle used by videographers to create balanced and unified images. The rule suggests that the subjects in a shot should be placed at the intersections of the lines that divide the screen. Most digital cameras have a grid that makes using the rule of thirds quite simple because you can easily see when the subjects in the shot are not positioned correctly.

This is just one of many shot composition techniques you have at your disposal, and as you gain more experience you’ll learn how to combine them and get aesthetically pleasing results.

6. Always Record Videos in Landscape Mode

Posting vertically oriented videos to your YouTube channel will make you look unprofessional because portrait mode is never used for capturing videos. YouTubers who record their videos with Smartphones are more likely to fall into this trap, but all you need to do to avoid this is remember to hold the device horizontally.

By switching to portrait mode, you’ll be cropping the frame in a way, so you might unknowingly end up removing parts of the shot you wanted to record.

In case that you want to convert your portrait video to landscape, do not miss this article about How to Convert A Portrait Video to Landscape.

7. Eliminate The Background Noises

Professional microphones can pick up even the softest sounds, that might prove difficult to remove in the post-production. You can reduce the noise levels in your videos by using shotgun microphones that only capture sounds that come directly into the microphone, or by using the omnidirectional mic to eliminate the wind if you’re shooting on an outdoor location.

Background noises can be particularly unpleasant when recording narration, because the viewers of the video may not want to watch it until the end if they can’t hear what the person in the video is saying.

If it is hard for you to record your YouTube video in quite environment, you can remove the background noise by using some video editing software. For YouTubers, we recommend you to try Wondershare Filmora to de-noise. Check the video below about how to remove background noise with one click.

8. Keep The Shot in Focus

You can always keep the shot in focus by simply enabling the autofocus feature, but if you do so you won’t be able to control where the focus is going to be. Pulling focus manually is an art that takes years to master, and you have to keep practicing it as much as you can in order to become good at it.

The best way to deal with out of focus shots is to avoid shooting scenes that include a lot of action because you won’t have to pull focus that often.

9. Put The Camera on a Tripod

The footage you produce should be smooth and free of camera shakes. All video cameras pick up vibrations easily, so even the slightest movement or impact can ruin a shot. Putting the camera on a tripod is one of the best ways to stabilize the shot and avoid camera shaking.

In addition, a tripod enables you to maintain image stability even when shooting form lower or upper angles, something that cannot be achieved by simply holding the camera.

We have chosen some of the best tripods that you can use for starting a YouTube vlogging Video shooting . If you are using a 4K camera, here are some tripods that you can use for your 4K Cameras .

10. Find The Best Angle

Every scene has its perfect angle, you just have to find it. This job is much easier if you have already built the set and adjusted the lighting before approaching the shot selection process because it will allow you to know exactly where the camera should be.

The camera position depends on a number of factors, including the video’s aesthetics or the action that takes place in the shot, and you have to go through this process for each shot in your video.

Read More to Get : How to Download YouTube Videos without Any Software Easily >>

Conclusion

Hopefully, the tips we provided in this article are going to help you create better YouTube videos. There are hundreds of tricks you’ll have to learn as your skills become more polished, but sometimes just paying attention to the basic rules of videography is more than enough to create a stunning video.

Leave a comment and let us know which tips helped you the most or tell us which useful tips we failed to mention in this article.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Top YouTube Name Makers + Creative Idea Sparking Techniques

Best YouTube Names Generators [+ How to Brainstorm]

Liza Brown

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

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It’s important to have a good name for your YouTube channel – something that people will remember. The following is a list of the 3 best YouTube name generators, an easy step-by-step for brainstorming, and instructions for updating your YouTube name.

Whether you’re a YouTuber beginner or want to improve your YouTube videos to the next level, a good YouTube video editing software will be a good helper. Wondershare Filmora is a video editor for all YouTube creators with plentiful effects and templates, and you can download it directly and have a try before purchasing.

1. YouTube Name Generators
2. How to Come Up With a Good YouTube Name
3. How to Change Your YouTube Name
4. Requesting a Custom URL for YouTube

Part 1: 3 Awesome YouTube Name Generators

Need some help brainstorming your channel name? Here are 3 tools for getting started. Even if you don’t use one of the names you generate you’ll get some great inspiration.

1. SpinXO

Key points:

- Lots of options

- Checks availability

This is a great generator. If you were brainstorming yourself, you’d probably write out a bunch of words related to yourself and the kinds of videos you want to make and see what goes together. SpinXO does that for you, and mixes in other words that sound good in usernames.

Here’s what happened when I tried to name a hypothetical baking channel:

Not all of the results are great, but there are some cool sounding options in there.

One of the most useful features of SpinXO is that you can check the availability of the usernames. I liked the sound of CupcakesCupola, and when I clicked on it I was able to see that nobody else was using it on other sites.

2. Name Generator

Key points:

- Can be hilarious

- Names tend to be a bit long

This is a fairly limited generator. You plunk in a prefix and a suffix, and it generates a random word or term to stuff between them. Here’s what I got for my fictional cupcake channel:

So, on one hand - that’s hilarious and I’m considering legally changing my name. On the other hand, all of the results look exactly like this (which means they’re all a bit too long). It shows you a longer list if you scroll down:

You can pick your favorite names and it’ll list them out so you can easily copy them into a word document. That’ll be useful if you’re collecting options from several sites.

3. Username Generator

Key points:

- Can generate a huge number of names at once

- You only input one word

For this name generator, you type in one important word and choose how many results you want to see. You can see up to 300 at once.

The generator will take your keyword and add endings (and occasional beginnings) to it. Some endings are words, and some are just suffixes. Here’s what I got:

Part 2: How to Come Up With a Good YouTube Name – 3 Easy Steps

The name of your YouTube channel needs to accomplish two things:

1. Tell viewers what your channel is about
2. Stick in viewer’s heads by being catchy and unique

Here’s how you can brainstorm the perfect name for your channel!

Step 1: Gather up relevant words

Open up a journal (or a word document) and start writing down words that relate to you and your channel.

You may want to make one list of ‘you’ words (personality traits, nicknames, titles, etc.) and another of words related to your channel’s category (i.e. gaming, makeup, or baking).

Step 2: Combinations

Start combining your ‘you’ words with your category words to see what sounds good. You may want to use one of the name generators above (anchor) for this part.

Try to keep your name fairly short (3 words or less) so it’s easier for people to remember. Don’t include numbers if you can avoid it.

Step 3: Say it out loud

Once you have a shortlist of potential names, read them aloud to yourself to make sure they sound good. Ideally, you want to get that ‘oh, that has a nice ring to it!’ feeling.

Part 3: How to Change Your YouTube Name

In the early days of YouTube, you couldn’t change your name, but now you can!

1. Click on your account icon in the top right corner of YouTube and choose settings.
2. Click Edit on Google.
3. Update your name and click OK.

Part 4: Requesting a Custom URL for YouTube

Here are several types of YouTube channel URL , wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of a string of numbers and letters, your channel URL included your name? YouTube can do that for you!

You need…

1. 100 Subscribers
2. to have been on YouTube for 30 days
3. use a photo as your channel icon/profile picture
4. have uploaded channel art

Here’s how to get your custom URL:

1. Click on your icon in the top right corner of YouTube and choose Advanced under Settings / the gear icon.
2. If you meet the qualifications above, you’ll see ‘You’re eligible for a custom URL’ under Channel Settings.
3. YouTube will show you the custom URL you’re approved for in the Get a custom URL box. You can’t change what’s there, but you can add to the end of it.
4. Click Change URL after reading the terms of use.

You can delete your custom URL and claim a new one, but doing this might be confusing for your followers.

If you already have a YouTube channel name – are you happy with it? How did you choose it?

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown