How to Film a Vlog for Beginners with The VLOGGING Shot List

have you ever wondered how to vlog if so then you're in the right place in this video i'm going to be sharing with you some tips on how to film a vlog for beginners or how to tell a story since vlogging is essentially a form of storytelling we're going to start by talking about what is the vlog so you can figure out exactly what you're going to be vlogging about and then i'm going to share with you my vlogging shot list to help you figure out exactly what to film now in this video i'm not going to be talking about vlogging camera gear mostly because that gear changes as new cameras come out and we're also not going to be talking about how to edit a vlog because that's a video in itself but i have made videos on those subjects before so i will leave a link in the description below to those videos if you want to check them out so what is a vlog by definition a vlog is a video blog or a video log of something now typically a vlog is a personal video that is filmed by someone who is also starring in that video think of casey neistat or peter mckinnon walking around with the gorillapods and their cameras as they're talking to the camera and that's usually what people associate with vlogging now the subject of your vlog can be anything that you want but if you're going to be making vlogs with the intention of uploading them to social media such as youtube and you want them to get views and subscribers and possibly go viral that it's important to pick a niche or a focus what are you interested in what do you know a lot about that you can educate or share with other people that's what your vlog should focus on this channel gemiini connect is where we do camera gear reviews of the tools that we use to film youtube vlogs and take photos my partner martin and i have been professional photographers for over 10 years so we know a lot about cameras and we like to share that here but we also love to travel so we have a second youtube channel called gemiini discover and that's where we post our travel vlogs and we've got several hundred of them now now we've been doing youtube for several years and both of our channels are moderately successful as in they get views and we can make some money from them so for us it makes sense to have two separate channels but if you're just starting out then i recommend focusing on one youtube channel with one niche and as a side tip stick with it because it usually takes at least one year of consistently posting on youtube to be successful so once you've figured out your niche and picked out your vlogging camera gear it's time to start filming but what do you film well i'm here to share with you my vlogging shot list if you're not familiar with a shot list it's a list of your must-have shots that you want to capture as a professional photographer i use a shot list for every single paid photo shoot that i do it helps me to stay focused use my time wisely and make sure that i capture everything that i need so what's on my vlogging shot list it's called the 5ws these are the questions that you typically ask whenever you're gathering information usually it's used a lot in journalism but i think these are great guidelines for helping you structure your vlog and tell an effective story so as a spoiler alert i'm not going to be listing out exact things to shoot like shoot that hotel or shoot that car that sandwich because your exact vlogging shot list is going to depend on your niche and the exact story that you're filming so think of the 5ws as a guideline or how to start thinking about your vlog and how to start telling a story and if you watch other vlogs look for those 5ws because chances are you're going to be able to find them in every single vlog out there the first w is who who is this video about if it's about you then what's your name and give us a little tidbit about you or why people should care about you the thing about the who question and really all of the 5ws is that they are super general and your answers can end up being really long so it's important to keep your answers short and always relate back to your niche as an example in our recent california travel vlog series this is the introduction that we used for every single video in that series and it was a way for people who had never seen our videos before to get an idea of who we were we are susia martin a couple of long time seattle residents looking to escape the rain so we're heading to northern california for a few weeks and taking our baby julian on his first long road trip the next w is what what is your vlog about for our travel vlogs we usually have a mission in mind for each series of trips that we make for example our california series was about a couple of seattle residents trying to escape the rain by heading south or in the case of the great pandemic road trip that was about us attempting to travel to five states during the pandemic so think of a what and try to make it interesting but it doesn't have to be groundbreaking or super dramatic it just has to be a topic or a story angle that people are interested in such as traveling with a baby or traveling during a pandemic the next w is when when is your vlog taking place now how specific you get is up to you and it probably depends on the context for the great pandemic road trip series the win was crucial because it was happening during kovid so our experience was going to be vastly different than a road trip that was done during normal times and also our california road trip didn't have to be super specific in terms of the year it was taking place but this season mattered because we wanted to emphasize that the weather in seattle was terrible so we were seeking sunny weather in california during seattle's rainy season the next w is where where is your vlog taking place and how specific also depends on your niche or your exact story if you're a makeup vlogger or a cooking vlogger then you probably don't have to tell everyone where you're filming because it may not matter to your story but if you're a travel vlogger then you absolutely have to tell people where you're filming and it's also important to keep in mind that not everyone may be familiar with your part of the world i've realized that this is especially true when filming in washington state people from other countries may not realize where the state is and if that's the case they definitely don't know where mount rainier or the olympic national park is so i always try to include a map showing the location and maybe even an interesting fact about why people should care about or be interested in it in the northwestern corner of north america there are two major cities seattle and vancouver bc but what lies between them well there are a handful of smaller cities and towns including bellingham washington situated between the salish sea north cascades and the canadian border this town is full of endless outdoor opportunities join us on a weekend of exploration [Music] the next w is why why are you filming this vlog and why should people watch it so in some of the previous sections the examples also mentioned why we're going to california because we want to escape rainy season in seattle or we're going on a road trip during a pandemic so that we can document how the pandemic changed travel in the united states or it can be as simple as we're taking our one month old baby on our first weekend road trip here's how it went so it doesn't have to be super dramatic or monumental it just has to be a why that people are interested in and the last part of the vlogging shot list is a bonus because it's not a w but an h how in the case of travel how are we traveling to the destination sometimes the answer can be really simple and kind of boring like we're traveling on an airplane or asking the how question can actually lead to an interesting story arc such as we're traveling via a seaplane how many of you have been on a seaplane and wouldn't you like to know what it's like to be on one i actually have a video right here about that if you're interested so now that i shared the vlogging shot list with you how do you apply the 5ws to how you actually film the vlog and i'm not talking about camera settings but rather just how do you film and what sequences to film so the first thing to do is to print out the vlogging shot list or save it to your phone so that you can constantly refer to it during your filming process keep looking at the five w's until you have them memorized and every time you film you should be answering one of these questions so there are two main ways you can film your vlogs the first is a-roll or the primary footage and in the case of logs it's when you're in front of the camera and talking to it the second is b-roll or supplemental footage that backs up your a-roll so for example every time we film a travel vlog and arrive to a new destination we make sure to point the camera at ourselves and tell the audience where we are so bellingham has a farmers market two times a week apparently on wednesdays and on saturdays so today's saturday and they have a dedicated area for the farmers market in the middle of downtown and then we capture b-roll to actually show the location so those are my initial tips on how to start vlogging for beginners or how to tell a story but i'm just scratching the surface there's so much more to say on this subject in fact i have another strategy of how to vlog that is related to the vlogging shot list but it's also very different so leave a comment below if you want me to talk about that video and stay tuned because i have lots more videos on how to vlog plans including camera settings more about camera gear and also how to edit a vlog so subscribe and i'll see you in the next video

Channel: Gemini Connect

Views: 18,918

Keywords: how to vlog, vlogging tips, how to start vlogging, how to make a vlog, how to be a vlogger, how to make better vlogs, how to vlog for beginners, travel video, how to make a shot list, how to vlog on youtube, how to tell a story, make better vlogs, vlogging shot list, how to make your first vlog, how to become a vlogger, vlogging tips and tricks, vlogging tips for beginners, youtube vlogging tips, how to structure a vlog, how to vlog beginners guide, vlogging tips 2022

Id: 3dKVrFc_RTo

Length: 9min 50sec (590 seconds)

Published: Thu May 05 2022