24: Edit Better

We opened by talking about UFC 217. We will not niche down to MMA, but we just might start getting down to making videos and vlogging. Wally and I both make videos on our own. They’re very different, but the media is roughly the same.

In light of that turn, this week’s book is Edit Better by Jeff Bartsch.

We had this idea that we’d take some of the lessons in this video editing book and see how we could turn it into general life advice. Actually, here’s the convo where I ran through some ideas with Wally (by “convo” I mean it’s me writing paragraph texts):

That text followed the format we had in mind more than this podcast did.

People then respond with righteous indignation, “I will make my own choices because it’s a personal thing and I am going to be me and I’m going to create my own editorial reality and who R U to tell me how to make my own personal choices you stupid big obnoxious judgmental person you stop judging me stupid judger I shall now post sarcastic yet contextless updates about you on social media.”

This is something I lean on too much. I want to do things my way. In every case, I’m wrong. I didn’t want to do what some podcasts with higher production value do. When I did start adding some of those elements (structure with some audio signposting, adding some music), the episodes improved.

Video-wise, I’ve been trying to skip some necessary steps for making videos. In the making-of videos I’ve seen, people making whiteboard videos always start with a script. I’ve been trying to start with an outline and it leads to problems.

I’m okay with this, though. I’ve learned some things about making videos quickly that I think will pay off in the long run. (Contrasted to skipping standard podcast procedure that just led to worse podcast episodes with no benefits in the long run.)

I mentioned some YouTube channels that I really like:

  • PictureFit: Short animated videos on just about every fitness and nutrition topic you can think of. He also did a great livestream Q&A where he shares how he grew his channel.
  • AsapSCIENCE: Similar to PictureFit but instead of fitness and nutrition it’s about a broader range of topics. ‘Science’ is in the title but there are videos like “What if Everyone Lived Like Americans” and “Introverts vs. Extroverts“.
  • Extra Credits: I started watching I think around when they just started expanding into other topics like history. I’m excited to see they started doing sci-fi videos. When I first got my iPad I looked to Extra Credits for inspiration for simple, engaging visuals. In the past year they’ve grown the team and now the illustrations and animations are more elaborate. It’s great.
  • Nerdwriter: Some of my favorite content on the internet. Evan Puschak 1.) has interesting ideas and 2.) is good at presenting them in interesting ways. I’d love to have a handle on just one of those two things. If you’re all caught up in Game of Thrones, check out his side by side cut of one of the battles in the latest season against clips with similar shots from other classic movies. That reminded me of the side-by-side of the “Let Your Game Speak” commercial with the original shots.

Another section in our episode was about the editorial planning rules:

Determine your Desired Outcome

Determine your Message

Determine your Market. Who is your audience?

Determine your Media

Determine your Method, the driving idea or unifying concept behind your project

If you’re making videos, check out Edit Better. It’s great.

If you want tenuous connections between video editing advice and life, hit play on our podcast episode!