Framing the Perfect Frame: Talking-Head Shot Essentials

4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

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A big part of being a YouTuber involves talking to the camera. How you set up your talking-head shot depends on many factors, including how much space you have, what kind of look you’re going for, and how many people you want to fit in one frame. Here are four ways to set up your talking-head shots for YouTube.

Table of Contents 1. Close Quarters Wide-Angle Vlog Set-Up2. Medium Vlog Set-Up3. Two Person Vlog Set-Up4. Long Teleprompter Vlog Set-Up

How to Set Up Your Talking Heads Shots for YouTube Video [Infographic]

We’ve summarized the key points about setting up talking head style video shots with the Infographic below. It is welcomed to share on social media.

How to Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots for YouTube [4 Ways]

1. Close Quarters Wide-Angle Vlog Set-Up

Don’t have a lot of space to set up your camera and lighting equipment? No problem! You can be within an arm’s length away from your camera with a close quarters wide-angle vlog set-up.

With this set-up, you’re going to need a camera with a wide-angle lens, a tripod, a camera-mounted shotgun mic for sound, and a ring light for light.

Set your camera on the tripod and mount the shotgun mic directly on the camera shoe (the electronic bracket on the top of the camera). Inside the circular space of your ring light, position your camera right in the middle of it so that you can shoot your video through it without getting any part of the lighting equipment in your shot.

In the video above, Sean Cannell demonstrates this set-up. As you can see from this example, the wide-angle lens is able to squeeze in a lot of what’s in front of the camera into the shot.

Objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame will appear more stretched out as the wide-angle causes distortion and enhances perspectives.

If you look closely into Sean’s eyes, you can also see a specular highlight in the shape of a circle. Many people like the way eyes look against a ring light.

2. Medium Vlog Set-Up

If you have more space and want to shoot a more professional-looking talking-head shot with more realistic perspectives, a medium vlog set-up may be a better alternative for you.

For this set-up, you’ll be using a slightly longer standard/normal lens (like a 35mm or a 50mm lens) attached to your camera which would be set on a tripod. Since this longer lens will show less of the surrounding areas as it “zooms” closer into whatever is in front, you will need to sit further back, away from your camera.

Now that you’re further away from your camera, a camera-mounted shotgun mic may not be the best mic for you. For better sound recording, you’ll need a shotgun mic fixed on a mic stand that is set up like a boom mic, positioned just outside of your camera frame.

At the 39 second mark of the above video, electronic music producer deadmau5 is positioned right in the center of this particular set-up.

You can see from how even the background and couch looks across the entire camera frame that there is no distortion or enhanced perspective.

It appears that, to the right of deadmau5 (camera left), there is a key light and to his left (camera right) there may be a fill light for additional lighting. Behind the couch, there’s also a background uplight to create depth between the subject and the background. At the 1:30 mark of this trailer video, you can briefly see how the Masterclass camera crew set up their shot.

3. Two Person Vlog Set-Up

If your talking-head shot has got to include two people, you can use a similar set-up as the medium vlog set-up detailed above.

If you look back at the 39-second mark of deadmau5’s Masterclass trailer, you can see that there’s a lot of space to the left and right of deadmau5. Now imagine the same shot but with two people.

With two people, though, you’ll want to set up your mic slightly differently. Rather than using a directional shotgun mic with a narrow area of sensitivity, you’ll want to use a directional mic with a wider area of sensitivity.

4. Long Teleprompter Vlog Set-Up

If you want to read over a script but still make it appear like you’re looking straight into the camera, you’ll need to use a long teleprompter vlog set-up.

For this set-up, you’ll need all the same equipment as the medium vlog set-up, but you’ll additionally need a teleprompter placed in front of your camera equipped with a long telephoto lens.

You will have to sit much further back away from your camera for two main reasons. Firstly, you want to be able to fit yourself in your much more zoomed-in camera frame (effect of the long telephoto lens). Secondly, you want to be far enough that the camera cannot detect your eyes reading from left to right. You’ll want to be around six meters away from a 17” teleprompter monitor or around four meters away from a 10” teleprompter monitor.

In the above video, Jared Polin uses a long teleprompter vlog set-up.

In the video, he says there’s about 8 feet (2.4 meters) between himself and his lens. At the 1:15 mark of his video, Jared demonstrates how this set-up works.

It is difficult to know whether the movement in his eyes is caused by not being far enough from the lens or from his horizontal nystagmus condition in his eyes.

Looking to find the right lights for your video recording set? Check out our Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Tips for Making a Talking Head Video Better

To make a talking-head video more interesting, you can add some background music to the video, apply some interesting texts or elements. Filmora has built-in royalty-free music tracks and sound effects as well as text templates , filters and motivating elements. Download the free trial version below and release your creativity.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Understanding What Makes a Comment Noteworthy on YouTube

What Is the YouTube Highlighted Comment?

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Did you just come across a comment tagged with Highlight on YouTube and wondering what it means? In our guide, you will find an answer to this, along with related queries like how YouTube highlighted comment works, the removal process, its benefits, and more.

If you own a YouTube channel or are starting one, even you can do this. Without further ado, let’s jump straight into the core of YouTube’s highlighted comments. We’ve categorized this article into a total of 8 parts for simple and better understanding.

• Part 1: What Does Highlighted Comment Mean On YouTube?
• Part 2: What Does Highlighted Comments Look Like on YouTube?
• Part 3: How to Make Comment Highlighted?
• Part 4: How to Highlighted Comments URL?
• Part 5: How to Reply to Highlighted Comments?
• Part 6: How to Remove Highlighted Comments?
• Part 7: Tips for Writing a Comment
• Part 8: Benefits of Highlighted Comments

Part 1: What Does The Highlighted Comment Mean On YouTube?

Before you get on with highlighting your comments, you must understand what it means exactly. You may follow comments on the videos posted by several YouTubers, but the highlighted ones are always making it to the top of the list.

Having said that, neither the content creator nor users or moderators choose to highlight YouTube comments to begin with. They are no rocket science, but only a tad bit more than what you know as a bookmarking feature.

Think of highlighted comments as a “tag”. You might notice this in the form of a ‘new activity YouTube notification’ link you receive on your registered email. Only you can see this tag when you click the notification and arrive at Youtube.com to either view or reply to a comment.

Highlighting comments (HC’s) are an automatic feature generated by YouTube. It draws the YouTuber’s & viewer’s attention to relevant activities. Don’t fail to notice that the highlight disappears once you are done interacting in the tagged comment thread. However, they are reloadable by tapping the comment timestamp.

For instance, you may want to check the following links. The 2 URLs lead you to the same video, but only one of them shows a highlighted comment.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWhjJjhpmQA&lc=Ugya-89WYAlutJurKGh4AaABAg
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWhjJjhpmQA

Notice the name “lc” in the first URL- that stands for linked comment. YouTube might include this additional parameter. If a reply comment (HR) gets highlighted, the parent comment gets raised to the top.

Part 2: What Does The Highlighted Comment Look Like?

YouTube has been working on improving the navigation of the comment section for videos, and highlighted comments are one of them. These comments appear even above the pinned comments on a video. The label of a highlighted comment is displayed above the commentator’s name in a light grey shade.

YouTube labels comment replies as well and call it “Highlighted Reply.” You can see this tag above the replier’s name in the same color tone.

Click here


Part 3: How to Make My Comment Highlighted?

Now, making YouTube highlight your comment on a popular video is nothing less than an art. YouTube doesn’t make it easy for you. The advantage of getting your comment highlighted on YouTube is limitless.

Thus, anybody who wants to get their YouTube comment an HC tag has to follow a few simple steps, which we will discuss below in another section. Finding the correct or relevant video content that can benefit your channel from such a comment is an excellent place to start.

For example, if you are a YouTuber who deals in tech information, you need to look for a popular video or channel with a similar genre, in this case, technical knowledge. The more popular the channel is, the more is the chance of a viewer checking the comments on its videos. You will only benefit if you’re comment is highlighted on pages of Youtuber’s who are huge.

Part 4: How to Get the URL of Highlighted Comments?

The ways to acquire the URL or link for a highlighted comment are different for both parties- viewer and host.

Suppose you are a viewer who is going through the comments section of a video. If you want to get the highlighted URL for the comment, simply click on the timestamp (e.g., 2 weeks ago) beside the commentator’s username.

On the other hand, for a YouTuber, getting access to the comment URL is relatively straightforward. The host will get a notification on his or her registered email-id when a viewer publishes a comment on their posted video. You will find the link to the highlighted comment in the notification

Part 5: How to Reply to Highlighted Comments?

Replying to “highlighted comments” on your YouTube channel is pretty easy since this feature was developed, keeping the user’s convenience in mind. If you want to follow up or reply to such comments, you can do so from your email or YouTube Dashboard.

If you click the notification bell icon, whenever a viewer drops a new comment on one of your videos, YouTube will send you a notification via email. On opening the email, you will find a clickable “Reply” option. Or else, if you follow the comment section in the YouTube Dashboard, you can directly view or reply to highlighted comments from here as well.

Have you ever wondered why a highlighted comment always shows at the top of the comment list? Both the above options will lead you to the comment thread on YouTube. To help you find the new activity easily, it appears with the highlight tag on it. The purpose is to remind you that you are here for that specific comment.

Part 6: How to Remove Highlighted Comments?

Can you, as a video maker, remove highlighted comments on YouTube? The direct answer to this would be a ‘No.’ It is because based on how you have opened the specific video, YouTube does it automatically.

Alternatively, you can try out a few temporary solutions.

1. You can edit the particular URL of the video where the highlighted tag is showing. Remove the red part of the URL (example given below) starting with “&”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWhjJjhpmQA&lc=Ugya-89WYAlutJurKGh4AaABAg After removing the above parameter, reload the original video link (below):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWhjJjhpmQA

1. Try logging out from your Google Account and browse YouTube (anonymously). Doing this will ensure that you no longer see any highlighted comments. However, at the same time, this will restrict you from interacting in any way with that video, let alone leaving a comment.

Part 7: Tips for Writing a Comment that will be Pinned as a Highlighted Comment?

Many frequently inquire on the internet about how they can improve the chances of getting their comment pinned, as highlighted on YouTube. The secret lies in how you write the statement. We’ve listed a few pro tips below that can help:

• First, go through all the posted comments under the video. It will help you identify what is missing. You can comment or write the missing point in comprehendible and straightforward words. Also, never forget to acknowledge the YouTuber’s talent.
• Remember, no one has the time to read long comments. So, when you know what you want to write, try to shorten your sentences. A short and crisp comment draws more attention.
• After you have framed your comment, make sure that it is grammatically correct. YouTube and Google hate grammatical errors.
• Do not hit the post option already. Before publishing it, you must cross-check that your comment has all the above points in place.
• Lastly, you have to wait after publishing on the video’s comment section. YouTube will highlight your comment if it passes according to the YouTube policy and if the search engine finds it unique.

Part 8: Are Highlighted Comments Beneficial?

Being a convenience feature, a highlighted comment on YouTube is 100% beneficial. That is especially true if you are looking for ways to optimize your channel.

YouTube is undeniably the second largest search engine on the web. Highlight comments can potentially increase the outreach of your content and, consequently, your brand presence.

As said earlier, these comments always show first on the comment section. Needless to say, many people who watch the videos also scroll down to the comments section to start a conversation or see what other viewers are saying about this video.

In the process, alongside the interaction, they also check out the channels or profiles of the commentators. Viewers often visit the pages of these channels, and if they happen to enjoy the video content, they will subscribe to the YouTuber’s channel. If your comment gets highlighted, your YouTube channel can be one of them.

Conclusion

YouTube can be an intimidating tool for marketing and more so for newcomers. Every YouTuber wishes that their channel performs better than the previous day. Even though the highlighted comment or highlighted reply feature doesn’t have any direct benefits, it can indeed help in optimizing your YouTube channel.

It can connect you with potential viewers and increase the number of people that visit your channel regularly. However, how many of them stay and hit the “Subscribe” button is a different story altogether and is wholly based on whether they like what you share through your videos.

In this article, we have shared facts on YouTube’s commonly seen highlighted comment feature. Yet, the term is a heavily misleading one, as far as viewers and Youtuber’s are concerned. We have also covered all other aspects and queries related to this term. Here’s hoping they clarify all your doubts.

Liza Brown

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

Follow @Liza Brown