After the Film and Music interim I just took, I have learned a lot of tips for documentary-style editing and cinematography. But that isn’t what truly matters, and what does matter is making clickbait videos for YouTube. So as an Ex-YouTuber (2+ million views, not to brag), I will be sharing some tips about making a video for all the money. So, I’ll tell you how to edit, what not to do, and how this type of editing compares to documentary-style editing. Let’s get started! 

1. Don't Use iMovie

One of my biggest problems with editing done here at Rowland Hall is that everyone uses iMovie. iMovie is an absolutely fine program, but it’s extremely limited in what you can do. iMovie doesn’t have many transitions and only lets you work with one video track, making editing much harder overall. Adobe's Premier Pro is probably the best program if you can pay for it (or beg the tech team to give you a license). I used this when working on my Interim project where I edited a mini-documentary. It was a little confusing initially, but its capabilities make it worth it in the long run. If you don’t want to give Adobe $20 every month, you can also use Capcut, which is a simple but just more powerful version of iMovie. This is what I used in my YouTube career, and it was just as powerful as I needed.

2. Don't be MrBeast

Please. Don’t be MrBeast. MrBeast is the biggest YouTuber in the world, but that doesn’t mean he makes a good video. MrBeast is known for a style of content called “ADHD Editing,” which basically just means he screams the whole time as crazy things happen and blow up. This style technically makes a video engaging, but it physically hurts to watch by the end. Instead, try to add an actual story and interesting things happening in your video. In the documentary I made over interim, I learned how to keep the story engaging using strategies like side angles and b-roll and not staying too long on a single topic. In the context of YouTube, I would recommend keeping a decently fast pace, but make sure there is a real reason to your content and some interesting story beats.  

3. Don’t Clickbait

Another MrBeast staple is clickbait. Please don’t. Clickbaiting is when you put something ridiculous in a video thumbnail whether it be a car blowing up or massive piles of money or just anything that is obviously faked. This may make people click on your video, but it makes you untrustworthy. If you just blatantly lie, people will click off of your video when they realize what they saw in the thumbnail wasn’t real. You should also avoid things like massive arrows or circles, or anything that tries overly hard to draw attention; this additionally makes the video seem ungenuine. Instead, stay realistic, showing what is actually happening, and if your video is actually interesting that should be enough. In the context of a documentary, I would choose an interesting moment from the documentary and use that as the thumbnail, as it tells you what the video is about.

4. Do something that you actually care about

Finally, you should make videos about things that you are interested in and want to make a video about. You shouldn’t just make videos about things that are popular but instead about things that keep you motivated to continue making videos. In my case, this was sadly video games, which led to many easy concepts and quick-to-make but entertaining videos. Eventually, I stopped liking the games I was making videos about, which made me stop creating videos. For documentaries, choose a subject that you want to know more about, making the learning experience actually exciting.

So, go make the best video ever, whether it be for a school project or for the wonderful platform of YouTube. Use these tips and you will be the next (better) MrBeast. Also thanks to Adobe Firefly for the clickbait examples.