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All YouTube videos look the same, but here’s how you can be different

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After today’s earlier post on here about Instagram posts all looking the same, I found the timing of this video quite amusing. But I don’t think this video from Zach Ramelan is entirely wrong. I’ve seen it myself. Everybody wants to be like Casey Neistat, Peter McKinnon, or one of the other top performing YouTubers.

They copy their styles, techniques, colour grades and even their mannerisms. I’ve seen it over and over, and it gets really boring, really quickly. Their message and true personality get lost because all viewers see is “Oh, they’re trying to be like [insert famous YouTuber here]”. But there is something you can do about it.

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Filmstro releases over 1,000 tracks of free music to use in your YouTube videos

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Filmstro is something of a unique service when it comes to music. With plugins for both Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, you can pick your music and then use sliders to adjust the momentum, depth and power of that music throughout your clip. You can adjust any tune to match the mood of your scene as it changes from shot to shot.

But they have static versions of all their Royalty Free music, too, and they’ve just released them to the world for free for use on YouTube. Even if your video is monetised.

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Adobe’s Project Rush lets you seamlessly move and edit between multiple devices

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One of the biggest challenges for people regularly posting to social media is editing videos. Either you shoot while you’re out and then edit when you’re back at home, or you have to carry around a laptop with you the whole time. Project Rush, squarely aimed at YouTubers, Vloggers, and other social video posters, plans to fix that.

It’s sort of an extension to Premiere Pro, but also sort of not. It’s its own application which appears to primarily use Premiere Pro as its “engine”, with a little After Effects thrown in. The app allows you to easily transport footage and projects between Android, iOS, Windows and Mac platforms, all synced up in the cloud, with apps for each to give you simplified on-the-go video editing.

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This 2-light LED video lighting kit costs less than $100

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I remember when LED lights first started to become a real thing for video a little over a decade ago. They weren’t even close to full spectrum, would introduce all sorts of colour casts, were huge, dim and had price tags starting in the thousands.

Since then, though, LED technology has come a long way and the prices have dropped dramatically. How dramatically? Well, in this video from Caleb Pike, we see a 2-light LED lighting kit for video, including a softbox, that costs less than $100.

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YouTube makes it easier to live stream from your phone or desktop

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YouTube’s live streaming has been very popular since they introduced it in 2011. But for many users, it’s just been too complex to deal with. On the desktop you have to set up some kind of capture & streaming software like OBS, Wirecast, or X-Split; None of which are the most intuitive of applications. With mobile, it’s a little easier, although the capability hasn’t been around as long.

Now, YouTube is changing all that with new live streaming from directly within your browser and mobile app. This change was inevitable, really. Facebook’s live streaming has become ridiculously popular, and YouTube has been struggling to draw those people onto their platform instead. Now, this may change things a little.

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YouTube implements tighter restrictions for creators to monetise their content

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This one’s going to upset a lot of people. That much is obvious. Because, whenever YouTube move the goal posts required for monetisation, people always get upset. This morning I received an email which serves as 30 days notice that my channel is being removed from the YouTube Partner Programme. As I’m sure have countless thousands of other people.

The email (and a blog post) states that there are now new thresholds that must be met to monetise your YouTube channel. Those requirements are now a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the previous 12 months. They seem like unattainable goals to a brand new YouTuber just starting out today, and may cause us to see fewer new creators in the future. But are things as bad as it may seem?

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How to film yourself when nobody’s around to help

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Filming myself is probably one of the more difficult things I’ve ever attempted to learn with a camera. It’s so easy when you’re filming other people when you have all of the camera’s controls at your fingertips and are able to quickly adjust. Filming yourself, though, is an entirely different set of skills. But they’re essential skills if you’re looking to start vlogging, which I have.

I’m still no expert at it, and I still have a lot to learn. But you know who is an expert at filming themselves? Peter McKinnon, that’s who. In this video, Peter provides a whole slew of advice to help you film yourself. It’s full of lots of little tips and tricks to make life just that little bit easier and get you thinking a little bit differently about how you approach it.

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How Peter McKinnon makes his YouTube videos from start to finish

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One thing that many viewers of popular YouTube channels want to know is how the people they watch create their content. Being an educational sort of chap, Peter McKinnon was more than happy to oblige. This particular “Two minute Tuesday” ended up becoming almost 16 minutes, although it’s well worth watching.

In it, Peter goes through his whole process from start to finish. From planning and shooting the footage through to the final edit, he goes through it all. He even shoots b-roll of shooting b-roll.

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