Speaker 1: Hey guys and welcome back again to the channel. My name is Kelechi Mbembe. In this video, I'm going to be walking you through the step-by-step guide on how to start off your YouTube journey. Now if you're someone who is tired of procrastinating, you do not know where to begin or how to start, then you are in the right place and in the right video because in this video, I'm going to be sharing with you guys a lot of tips, a lot of tricks, as well as a lot of resources to get you started. So like I said, this is going to be a guide and this guide is broken down into four segments. We have the pre-production section, we have the production section, we have the post-production section and then the optimization section. Each step is very critical and it's packed with a lot of information so you definitely do not want to miss out or skip through this process. Don't start off with the mindset that you have to be a pro or that you have to have everything figured out but this video is going to help you get your idea out of your head and into production. The first step is pre-production. Now this is the planning phase. This is where you plan out your topic as well as your video. Something that I always advise for creators especially if it's going to be your first time is to script out your content. You want to make sure that you've outlined all the key points that you want to talk about so that way you're hitting all the points and you're delivering value. If you are scripting out your content and you've written out your outline, something that you want to do is to practice. You want to practice your script and something that you can do is to stand in front of a mirror or you can even stand in front of your camera and record playback and see what you look and sound like and then see if there are ways to improve on it because there will be ways. Kind of judge yourself and be your first critic before the whole world gets to criticize. Now you always want to look put together especially when you are intentional with being in front of the camera and know what you're going to look like because again, YouTube is a visual platform in as much as it integrates audio into it. Next up is the production. This is a filming section. This is my favorite section. This is where we kind of bring all our ideas into action, right? So we're talking about equipment as well as accessories to help visualize your ideas and your content. So we're talking all about camera, lenses, tripod, microphone, lighting, all of this to help you create the content. So let's talk about the recording device. When it comes to recording, the best camera that you can use in filming is the one that you currently already have and that's most likely going to be your mobile phone. And guys, mobile phones are amazing and you can see that right now because I'm filming with my mobile phone and this is a Samsung Note 20 Ultra and it is absolutely amazing. You can definitely set up with filming content on your mobile phone. However, if you are looking for a more pro option, you can definitely invest in a DSLR camera or a compact camera. For this video, I'm filming with my Canon M6 Mark II. I've been using this camera for about three years now and I have no absolute regrets. And for my lens, I am using the Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens. This lens is absolutely amazing. Also, another amazing camera to start off with is the Sony ZV-1. It is compact. It is beginner friendly. This is what the Sony ZV-1 looks like and it looks amazing, it does amazing and you guys are hearing the internal in-view microphone. If I wanted to amplify and improve on the audio, I would definitely use an external microphone. I went ahead to attach this microphone to this camera, to the Sony ZV-1 so you guys can see how you can improve on the audio quality and the general quality of this camera. My personal advice for beginners is to start off with your mobile phone. It is easy, it is quick and it is simple to kickstart with. However, if you want something budget friendly, then definitely invest in the Sony ZV-1 or invest in a compact camera that already has a lens so that way you don't have to go out and splurge or buy the expensive lenses because lenses can be expensive. Next up is lighting. Lighting is everything to me. If you are meeting me for the first time, hi. I love talking about lighting. I have lots of resources with regards to lighting, setting up your studio with artificial or natural lighting. My personal preference and what I would definitely advise for anyone to start off with is to start off with your natural light. That is what I'm currently filming with. I have a huge window in front of me and it's the most beautiful, the most natural and it is the most budget friendly when it comes to filming. So microphones guys, if you are filming on your mobile phone, I definitely recommend for you to get a wireless microphone. They are pretty much inexpensive and they are beginner friendly. This is what I'm currently using right now. I do have a video on this where I kind of show you guys my mobile phone setup and I'll leave the link on here so you guys can check that out as well to get acquainted with what I'm talking about. This is a wireless microphone and this is what it sounds like and this is what it looks like as well and this is definitely a way to get started. With my DSLR camera, with my compact camera, something that I personally love using is this microphone from Boya. This is what I started off with and you can use this on your mobile phone, your laptop, your DSLR camera, your compact camera and it is amazing. It does have, it is wired but the wire is pretty long so you can have your camera far away from you and it is inexpensive. Hey, so just for reference purposes, I went ahead to clip on my lavalier microphone and this is what it sounds like and yeah, again, if you're using this, you do want to be discreet about it so that way it's a little bit more discreet and the wire isn't everywhere. That's what the Boya lavalier microphone sounds like and this is what the Fifine microphone, podcast microphone sounds like. But yeah, something that I would definitely advise you to do is to invest in a microphone whether you're filming with a DSLR camera or with your mobile phone, you do want to invest in an external microphone to help with the audio quality. Next up, tripods. Depending on what you're currently recording with, your recording device, that will determine the type of tripod you invest in. So for instance, this is a tripod for both mobile phone and compact camera. However, I cannot use this one for my DSLR camera. You do need tripods to help with stabilizing your shots. You also need it to help secure and hold your camera in frame. However, if you do not have the budget for it, it is okay, it is fine. Something you can do is to stack up a couple of books or a couple of boxes and put your recording device and then start recording. You have to make it work. Always make sure that whatever you are using to stabilize your recording device is sturdy. Again, because your mobile phone, your camera are investments and they are expensive. Something you always want to consider is your filming environment or your background. Now, there are different types of backgrounds and I talk about this a lot in a lot of my videos. Again, I have the link over here. Whatever it is, you want to make sure that it is at least tidy and clean. Focus needs to be on you and less on what's going on behind you or around you. Okay, so now it's post-production. This is where we bring our content to life. So in this section, we're going to be doing all things related to editing. I'm going to be showing you guys the basics and how to edit your videos. Personally, I love using Final Cut Pro for all of my edits, but for the purpose of this video, I'm going to be using CapCut, which is a beginner-friendly video editing software available on all mobile phones, as well as on laptop and desktop. So when it comes to editing, there are five basic things I'm going to be walking you guys through that will help in elevating your content, which are trimming slash cutting, adding text, adding effects or overlays, adding your music, as well as adding color adjustments. The next thing you want to do is to create a folder and then import it into your editing app. Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and open up a new project on CapCut and as you guys can see, there are four layouts or four sections on here and this is for the media. This is a player. This is for the adjustments and this is a timeline. So I'm going to go ahead to just import all the clips that I'm going to be working with. What I typically do is to just select all, drag and drop onto my timeline. Amazing. So now that we've successfully imported all the clips that we're going to be working with, the next thing you want to do is to cut and trim any mistakes, any lags or any redundant clips that we're not going to be using for this video. So this is a point whereby you want to delete and get straight to the point. Okay, so to get our first draft, what we're going to be doing is to cut, trim and delete any redundant clip that we're not going to be working with, right? We want to get straight to the point and we want our content to be highly focused and highly detailed. So any mistakes, any blurs, any lags, you want to take it out and keep the video content as focused and as detailed as possible. So that's what I'm doing right now. Now adding text is another way to improve on your production value. This helps in making your content seem and look more engaging, right? So you can utilize the text over here and I'm going to show you exactly how I do that. So I'm going to click on the text icon over here and just play around with the default text, right? This is the most basic that you can start off with, right? I'm going to go ahead to label all the product that I showed off in this content. Something you can do is maybe add your name. If you were creating content with someone, you might want to like write the person's name, whatever it is, you might want to put the details in a text. So that way you're able to retain your audience attention because again, you're introducing a new element to the content, to the video, right? So I'm just going to be labeling all this and you can go ahead to change the font size. You can change the font itself, you can change the color of it, you can play around with it. You can even use a template, right? So these are templates available in this editing app and it's so amazing. I'm going to go ahead to click on one and just customize it and write whatever I want guys. This is beginner friendly. If you want more details, if you want a more detailed tutorial, let me know, but yeah, this is what we are working with. Just introducing text element to our content. That already looks amazing. So now what we're going to be doing to take this to another level, to bring this to life and action as well is to add some music as well as sound effects. Personally, I love to create a synergy between what you see and what you hear. So that way it tells a story and it creates a reaction. That way it makes the video more engaging. So something as little as just zooming in and adding a sound effect to that and then zooming out and then adding a sound effect to that makes a whole lot of difference. So even adding text and sound effects to that just makes it more engaging and thrilling. So for all our music and sound effects, we're going to be using Epidemic Sound, which are the sponsor of today's video. To get you started on this journey, I've partnered with Epidemic Sound to make this easy and accessible to everyone. By using my discount code, Khelechi50, you not only get a 30 day free trial, but you get 50% off for the next two months, which is amazing. Starting off on this YouTube journey could be hard, could be expensive, could be difficult. So providing you with resources like this just helps in getting you through this process and getting you started at the same time. So make sure you are taking advantage of this discount and you're taking advantage of this platform. So I'm going to go ahead to just download some sound effects that I feel like would work for my video content and apply that, drag and drop that onto my timeline, align it properly so it fits with the action that, you know, I want to synchronize the sound with. And yeah, anything like whoosh, zooms in, clicks, I love using elements like that. And also drag and drop my music onto my timeline and reduce the volume. So that way it works. Now, if you are filming a voiceover, this is where you would want to record your voice over, click on the icon over there, and maybe even use an external microphone and then record that. So we want to add some effects, some transitions, some overlays, whatever you can add to help with elevating the production value of your video. Now you can add stickers, you can add effects, transitions, you know, overlays, but I'm just going to be playing around with what we have available here. Obviously you want to add a subscribe button and maybe play around with some arrows, some, you know, some elements that you can use to kind of help tell your story. So in this case, I'm playing around with this arrow and it's just pointing at the product. So it just makes sense, right? So use all of these elements to help tell your story and create your story. And this is what it's looking like. Again, you can play around with it, add some effects, add some transitions to it, maybe add some bell icons and see how it flows. Again, this is where you are able to explore your creativity. You can even add effects on here and these are what some of them look like, right? This is what, this is what it looks like. It has like a strobing flashing effect to it. And this is what it looks like. So play around with it. Make sure it helps, it enhances your story. You don't want it to be overwhelming or overbearing, right? So these are some of the effects that you can play around with. And I think it's absolutely amazing, especially since it's like beginner friendly, right? So I'm going to add this radiance effect because I feel like it's cool. And I'm going to use this just on the relaxer kit box, just to add a little bit of, you know, pizzazz to it, I guess. And I like it. So I'm also going to be adding my branding kits. You can go ahead, add yours at this time, add your overlays, your effects, anything that you can add on to enhance your content. So with color adjustment, this is the last thing I typically do. I love to amplify and improve on my color, right? If you want to add a lot, you can add a lot. If you want to add a preset, a theme, whatever it is, you can do this during this stage. Next up, we're going to be adding a little bit of color adjustment or enhancement, like I like to call it sometimes. And I'm going to be adding that to my timeline. Now feel free to play around with this and let it fit your style and your aesthetic. But what you can do at this point is that you can add your own lot, right? As well as play around with some filters that comes with this app, which is amazing because it's beginner friendly, right? So I'm going to be just focusing on the adjustments section and I'm going to be adjusting the highlight, the shadow, the, you know, saturation, just play around with this because with this, you can create your own custom presets depending on what your aesthetics is like, right? Some people like it moody. Some people like it bright. I like mine bright, but not too oversaturated. So play around with it and let it suit your own aesthetics and way of editing. I'm going to drag that down to the end and we're done. Amazing. So guys, we are done with editing. So next up, I'm going to let this render and then go ahead to export this. So that way we can move on to the next section, which is optimization. So next up, we are going to be exporting this file because we're done editing. I'm going to be renaming this. I'm going to add a different title. We're going to title this DIY hair relaxer routine and make sure that all the settings are correct. Whatever you filmed in, make sure you're exporting in the same size and format, right? And yeah, this is going to take about nine minutes. I'm going to let this export. Now if you walk through this process with me, that round of applause was definitely for you. You have done an amazing job and I hope that this video serves as a guide and a building stone to help you get better and better with your creation process. Next up is content optimization and this is the final section, right? This is where we upload, we optimize, we publish as well as promote our content on YouTube. So once you're done exporting your video content, you want to go onto YouTube and upload this. You also want to make sure that you are optimizing your videos as much as possible in order to gain visibility and discoverability. Note that YouTube is a search engine, so make sure that you're optimizing it for search as well as discovery. So you want to optimize your title, your description, as well as your thumbnail. Now talking about thumbnails, I do have a detailed video with regards to how to create your thumbnails and I'll leave the link over here. I walk you through the step by step on how I create my own thumbnails in a way that it's catchy and that it gets clicks. So once you are done with optimizing the content, the next thing is to save and to hit the publish button. Once you've done that, then congratulations, you have succeeded in uploading an amazing YouTube video. So next up, something that you might want to do is to promote this. Now you can definitely promote this to your friends, your family, or to your existing audience and community on other platforms and get people watching. The amazing thing is it only gets better from here. Once you upload the first one, the next one and the next couple of ones are only going to keep getting better. Always remember to plan ahead. You want to film with confidence and authenticity as well as edit with a lot of precision. Now if this video was helpful, do let me know down in the comment section and if you feel like you have more questions with regards to how to film or how to edit or you want me to dive deep into any topic, let me also know down in the comment section. If you are new here, I do have a playlist, I do have a couple of videos to help you get started with creating and growing on YouTube and I hope that you guys take advantage of it. And guys, be sure to take advantage of Epidemic Sound and do not forget to use my discount code Khelechi50 for a 30 day free trial and 50% off the next 2 months. Now that is amazing so be sure to take advantage of it. This is basically a 2 month free trial. So yeah, I will see you in the next one. Till then, make sure you stay amazing, you get started with your YouTube journey and all the best. Bye guys.