Video Storytelling for Adventure & Travel Vloggers

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Your videos need to be working towards something. We do this by choosing a Channel Goal.

A Channel Goal should have a clear start point and end point:

• Start point: I bought a sailboat with no experience & I have a goal to sail around the world.

• End point: I have sailed around the world.

WHY?

• A channel goal helps attract and retain a specific audience interested in your content.

• Viewers can easily see if your channel goal aligns with their goals.

• Your viewers become invested in your journey and success.

• A channel goal helps you focus your content on topics and themes that progress that overarching goal towards the end point.

EXAMPLES:

• Start point: We are going to sail around the world.

• End point: I have sailed around the world.

• Start point: We are going to run across Australia.

• End point: We ran across Australia.

• Start point: We are going to buy a remote property and make it our home.

• End point: We made the remote property our home.

CAN’T BE ANY GOAL

Not all goals are equal, and not all goals will help your channel grow. In order to know if you have a good goal, consider the following:

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT:

• What do you personally want to achieve?

• What do you want to achieve for your audience?

• Do they align?

SATURATION:

• How much space in the market is there?

• Is there a way to make your journey more unique?

SEARCHABILITY:

• Is it highly searchable?

WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE A GOAL OR MY GOAL ISN’T INTERESTING?

Think of the personal journey you are on. Think of a goal you want to pursue but feel you can't yet. Start the process of dreaming and a goal will come.

In the meantime, follow your personal journey.

For example, last year I was working 100% on my digital business and learning everything about YouTube. This didn’t seem like a very interesting journey to show. Instead, I showed one-off weekend adventures I was having with very little connection from one video to another. As a result, I didn’t build an audience dedicated to my personal journey. So even though there was truth that my journey wasn’t the most interesting, it still hurt my channel to not show it. I should have shown the journey I was authentically on. 

ACTIVITY: WHAT ARE YOU WORKING TOWARDS?

See if you can figure out what you are working towards. What is a goal that you can use as a channel goal? what is the start point and end point of that goal?

• Start point: ?

• End point: ?

WHAT ABOUT WHEN I COMPLETE MY CHANNEL GOAL?

When you complete a goal, it’s time to move on to the next. This may mean you need to pivot, and there is a risk that you will lose a lot of your audience.

SLOW CHANGE:

• Don’t change everything at once.

• Make small, incremental changes.

• Announce the change well in advance.

MINISMISE CHANGES:

• Keep as much consistent as possible.

• Keep the same characters.

• Keep the same storytelling.

• Try not to switch to topics that are extremely different!

HONOR YOUR AUDIENCE:

• Don’t get mad just because some of your audience decides not to follow the new journey.

• Thank your audience for their time with you. Express your understanding.

• Thank them for coming with you.

FEEDBACK

• Do you have clarity about your channel goal?

• If not, tell me in the comment’s section what’s blocking you!

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Now that we have a channel goal, we need to get clarity around what the journey to achieve the goal might look like. We’ll use this example below throughout:

• Start point: I have an idea to walk across New Zealand.

• End point: I have walked across New Zealand.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

Having a clear understanding of your journey to complete your channel goal (a.k.a. your “audience journey”)

• helps keep your channel focused.

• helps you know what progresses the story and what doesn’t.

• helps you know what evergreen content* will support your story.

WHAT DOES YOUR JOURNEY POTENTIALLY LOOK LIKE?

Using our example, this is what your audience journey might look like:

• Idea to walk Te Araroa across New Zealand.

• Researching the trail & how to prepare.

• Decide if I want to do it.

• Make a plan.

• Start preparations & deeper research.

• Buy gear.

• Start trail.

• Face numerous obstacles.

• Complete Trail.

ACTIVITY: WRITE DOWN YOUR JOURNEY

• Write down the basic steps of your journey.

• If you’re not sure what the steps are, try working your way backwards.

• Don't get caught up in making this perfect. Just a general outline is enough.

EMOTIONAL JOURNEY

Every journey has ups and downs. Understanding the emotions behind the journey can help you tell a better story. So now that we understand the basic stages, we will map out the emotions of those stages.

ACTIVITY: A DEEPER LOOK AT YOUR JOURNEY

• Open the Audience Journey Map linked here or in the files section of this lesson: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFztZiEP4I/7R8evg_b3BtwCCDt9WDX2Q/view?utm_content=DAFztZiEP4I&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink&mode=preview

• Go through and fill in the dark purple section of the Audience Journey Map with your journey.

• Then, I want you to go to the light purple section and decide what emotion someone would be experiencing at each step.

FEEDBACK

• Do you have clarity about what your journey might look like?

• Do you understand where you are on the journey?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

One common misnomer in the YouTube scene is around the statement, “Story Is King”. A lot of people interpret that as how the story is told. While that is part of it, an equally important or arguably even bigger part is the story you choose to tell in the first place.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

• Good ideas are the base of YouTube success. This is where everything starts.

• Good keep your channel moving towards your overarching goal.

• Good ideas come from a pile of ideas, not just one!

• Good ideas help you prep for when creative blocks will come.

Let’s say I’m 60 days into the Te Araroa Trail...

• I could show the food I’ve been eating.

• I could show a day in the life.

• I could show my gear.

All of these are ideas to address a certain stage of my journey.

ACTIVITY: BRAINSTORM

• Open the Audience Journey Map linked here or in the files section of this lesson.

• Pick a stage of your journey.

• Brainstorm several topic ideas you can talk about.

IDEA CHECKLIST

• Audience Journey: Is the idea a part of the journey to complete the channel goal?

• Timeliness: Is the idea relevant to today? Is it on demand? Or can it wait until a later date?

• Fresh Perspective: Can you bring a fresh perspective to a popular idea?

• Skill: Are you skilled or knowledgeable on this topic?

• Beginner vs. Advanced: Is this serving a beginner on my topic or someone with a bit of knowledge? (There are always more beginners than advanced)

• Evergreen: Is the topic Evergreen? Evergreen topics are a great way to grow in the beginning.

DEFINITION

Evergreen content is content that is continually relevant to viewers over an extended period of time—often several years. It typically addresses common problems or questions many people have. And it doesn't need frequent updates to remain relevant. For example, a video about “How much does it cost to go sailing?” is evergreen to anyone showing the journey of full time sailing.

FEEDBACK

Do you feel comfortable creating and evaluating your ideas?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Now that you have a clear idea about which topic ideas are relevant to your journey, it’s important to frame it in a compelling and interesting way.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

• Good framing ensures you choose the most interesting perspective.

• Good framing shows your personality and uniqueness, which is key to growth.

• Good framing ensures a balance between progressing your story and providing evergreen content.

IDEA VS. FRAMING

The idea is the topic of the video, which could be the destination, gear, technique.

Framing is which direction you choose to take that idea.

Idea Example:

• I want to make a video about 4WD gear

• I want to make a video where I show people how to put up sails.

• I want to make a video where I go to the Bahamas.

Framing Example:

• I want to make a video about 4WD gear you need in the summer.

• I want to show how to put up a main sail in many different weather conditions.

• I want to show how to build a home in the Bahamas despite limited resources.

As you can see, framing takes a general topic and takes it in a specific direction.

Let’s Say My Boots Break on The Trail...

• I could have an entire video on how to choose good trail boots.

• I could have an entire video on how I went about finding better boots.

• I could have an entire episode on how this affected me and how I dealt with it.

All of these are ideas for how I could show the same situation in multiple ways. But they each will have a different impact on my channel.

ACTIVITY: BRAINSTORM

• Open the Audience Journey Map linked here or in the files section of this lesson.

• After you have picked a stage of your journey,

• And after you have brainstormed several topic ideas you can talk about.

• Now, choose one of those ideas and

• Brainstorm three ways you could frame a story around that idea.

FRAMING CHECKLIST:

Do You Care?

Are you passionate about how the topic is framed? Do you even care about it?

It will come through the video if you don’t care.

Does Your Audience Care?

Will your audience care about it is framed? What are they getting out of it? An emotional response? New information they desire?

Is it Evoking an Emotional Response?

Does the framing incite an emotional response? Inspiration? Anger? Surprise? Awe? FOMO?

This is how you will get your audience invested in watching the entire story.

Is it Opening a Curiosity Gap?

Does the framing open up multiple curiosity gaps that your audience can’t easily find the answers to?

If the answer is obvious or easy to find, the audience isn’t sticking around.

FEEDBACK

• Do you understand the difference between a video idea and framing?

• Do you understand why framing a topic is key to telling a good story?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

In order to move forward, you should have completed the following:

• Chosen a channel goal

• Gained an Understanding of your audience journey

• Produced good ideas

• Framed those ideas

Studying storytelling structure without having these four items down is like putting a cherry on a cake you haven’t baked yet. Good storytelling needs the cake baked first to work properly.

Assuming you have all that done, you should have one good idea & framing picked out to make a video about.

STORYTELLING

Like your channel, each video needs to have a clear goal. For example:

Start point: I am starting my first week on the Te Araroa trail

End point: I got through week 1.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

• It tells viewers exactly what to expect.

• It gets viewers invested in your journey.

• Helps you focus each and every shot on the story you are telling.

STORYTELLING STRUCTURE

GRAND PAYOFF:

Identify a “Grand Payoff” that your audience cares about. A Grand Payoff is actually a bad name because it’s not necessarily your biggest payoff, instead it’s the last one that wraps up the video, and the reason why your audience is at your video. Instead, I prefer to call it the Final Payoff.

The Grand Payoff is the primary reason a viewer should want to watch your video to the end. Usually, the Grand Payoff is the answer to a question in a viewer's mind.

Your Grand Payoff is essentially the “End Point” or the framing you chose for your video. And like the framing, it needs to meet this 4-point check

• I care about it.

• My audience cares about it.

• It evokes emotion.

• It opens multiple curiosity gaps (and can’t be answered with a Google search).

Once you deliver, the video ends.

Your grand payoff is the end of the video. The only scene that remains is a reflection of the journey.

TRANSFORMATION:

• In an educational video, the viewer leaves with new knowledge or skills. For example, a viewer might come to your impeller changing video. They start out with zero knowledge and end with everything they need to know to change an impeller.

• In an entertainment video, the viewer feels something they didn’t feel before based on the transformation the “character” in the video experiences: change in mindset, perspective, fortune, physicality. For example, I may start my hiking journey feeling scared, but by the end of the hike, I feel fully confident I can do a long hike!

STAKES:

• Why does the transformation matter?

• What will happen if the audience doesn’t learn the new skills?

• What will happen to the character if they don’t complete their journey?

• What has it taken to get to this point?

OBSTACLES/QUESTIONS:

What are the potential obstacles that the character might face to complete their goal?

EXAMPLE: WALKING THE TE ARAROA TRAIL

Start point: I am starting my first week on the Te Araroa trail

End point: I got through week 1.

GRAND PAYOFF:

My Grand Payoff is getting through week one of the Te Araroa trail.

The question in the viewer’s mind is “How is she going to do it? Will she be able to?”

TRANSFORMATION:

I start out as someone who is excited but nervous to start the Te Araroa trail. I end the week on either:

• Being confident in my abilities to complete the trail.

• Not being confident and wanting to end journey.

STAKES:

• I’ve been wanting to do a through hike for my entire life since growing up on the App trail.

• When I discovered NZ has their own version, I was hooked on the idea.

• What if life passes me by and I never do it?

OBSTACLES/QUESTIONS:

• Skill level

• Fitness

• Weather

• Gear

• Navigation

ACTIVITY: PRACTICE PLANNING YOUR STORY

• Open the PDF or Word Storytelling Template located in the files section on the top right.

• Fill out the first table except for “Pacing”, which we will cover in a later lesson.

FEEDBACK

• Do you understand the importance of planning out a story?

• Do you understand HOW to plan your story?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

The Thumbnail and Title are a promise of the story to come. You must deliver on that promise.

Your “Package” can make or break your channel.

If you break that promise:

• Disgruntled viewer unlikely to return;

• Lack of engagement

• More likely to engage negatively

• More likely to click away / bad retention

If you honor that promise:

• Happy viewers who return

• Lots of engagement

• Positive engagement

• More likely to sit through boring segments

• TRUST has been built

BEFORE FILMING

Picking your thumbnail and title concept in advance helps ensure you have a clear sellable package. Not all ideas are created equal, so if you can’t come up with a package, it’s not worth pursuing.

BUT HOW!?!

Pick your framing before filming! It keeps your dialogue focused enough to create a video that has a clear promise.

WHICH FIRST?

People see the thumbnail first, and then they check the title for more details.

THUMBNAIL RULES

Capture the Essence: A good thumbnail captures the concept of the entire episode, not just one point. It also captures the transformation. So, what is the essence of your episode?

Elements: What elements should you include in the thumbnail to support the promise you’ve decided on?

Emotion: What emotion are you targeting with your thumbnail?

• Curiosity

• Curiosity + Fear

• Curiosity + Desire

3-Element Rule: What should be the main focal point of the thumbnail in order to make the promise as clear as possible? Is it an object? A person? A Place? And emotion? You don’t need to have 2 full sentences of context on your thumbnail + a face + arrows + a logo + etc. etc. If everything stands out, nothing stands out.

TITLES

Keep It Short: Keep the title to less than 55 characters to ensure the entire title can be seen on any device and readable at a glance.

No Repetition: Ensure there is no repetition between the title and thumbnail. They should compliment each other.

Create A Question: Create a question in the viewer’s mind. “What happened next?” “How did that happen?” “How did you deal with that?”

Keep It Simple: Don’t overcomplicate the title with clever wording. Keep it simple and clear what you are promising.

Order: The order of your wording is important, as not everyone reads the entire title.

Relevant: Make it relevant to here and now. That includes timeliness, but also relevant to your channel promise.

See video for examples of good packages used by Eva Zue Beck.

ACTIVITY: CREATE A LIST OF PROVEN TITLE FORMATS

• Go to your own channel, a channel in your niche or another niche, and look for stand out videos. These are videos that are performing above average in comparison to the videos around it.

• Try to identify what is the format of the title and see if there are any similarities between popular videos.

• For example, Eva Zu Beck has a few videos that follow this format:

  • I Visited the [extreme word] in [overall area].

ACTIVITY: PLANNING YOUR PACKAGING

Go through the Packaging Checklist to plan out your thumbnail and title.

• Copy over your video concept and framing.

• Decide on the “essence” of your video. It should be just one simple and short sentence that sums up what you are essentially trying to say or portray to your audience.

• Decide what question or questions you are putting in your viewers’ minds.

• Copy over the transformation of your episode.

• Decide which emotion or combination you are targeting.

• Brainstorm all the visual elements that would represent the story and emotion you are telling in the video.

• Choose the top three elements that represent the story, and put them in order of priority.

• Once you are done with table 1, brainstorm at least 4-5 packaging concepts. Note that they should be entirely different concepts, not just little tweaks to the package.

*Make sure you view your thumbnail in multiple sizes to ensure the image is clear.

RESOURCES

thumbsup.tv

Canva

FEEDBACK

• Do you understand how the packaging affects storytelling?

• Do you understand how the packaging affects storytelling?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Every story has one big hump you are trying to overcome or a grand payoff you are working towards. Within that one big hump, there are a bunch of little humps which follow the same structure, and they progress the story scene by scene. These are called “story loops”, “story beats”, “segments”, or “scenes”. They all mean the same thing.

STORY LOOP

A story loop follows this pattern:

SET UP:

(The goal we are trying to achieve, the stakes (why this matters), and the obstacle we are overcoming to achieve the goal)

Now I have gotten through day one, tonight will be my first night sleeping on the trail. It’s really important that I get a good sleep since every day, I’ll be hiking 25km+. So, the first thing we’ll do is find a place to put the tent.

TENSION:

(Context to understand obstacle, how you propose overcome it)

Since I am on the 90-mile beach, it’s super windy and there is tons of sand. I’ll need to find a nice sheltered spot. I also need to find a place where the stakes stay in the ground so the tent doesn’t blow away.

RESOLUTION: (also called a ‘payoff’)

(Did you achieve the goal? Any lessons learned in the process. And lead into or hint at the next scene immediately!)

I found a good place to put the tent. Turns out I had to get pretty far from the beach to find a good spot, but I’m happy with that because it’ll make it easier to cook food.

STRUCTURE, NOT ART

The story loop is here to help guide you through what to say. It’s the structure that scientifically keeps an audience hooked. It’s not important to get the wording right or to make it sound perfect. What’s important here is the ordering and what you cover in each part of the story loop.

Once you have finished one story loop, you should immediately move into the next. A story is essentially one story loop after another.

ACTIVITY: PRACTICE THE STORY LOOP

• Open up the Storytelling Template.

• Scroll down to the second table.

• Start entering in your Set up, Pay off, and Resolution for each scene.

• I recommend starting with your Resolution and then working your way backwards, as new YouTubers often mix up Set up and Resolution. Set up is the challenge you are overcoming or the question in your mind, whereas Resolution is how you decided to deal with the challenge or the answer to the question.

UNPREDICTABLE EVENTS

Of course, you can’t anticipate possible storms coming through or other obstacles, but you can predict that there will be obstacles and shape the story around their possibility.

UNPREDICTABLE OBSTACLES:

• Tent gets blown over in a storm.

• Possum gets inside the tent.

• Protagonist runs out of water (don't do this on purpose!)

• Missed last bus home at 5:30pm.

These are all events which you would not be able to predict their occurrence. But you can predict their possibility (Set up) and then talk through how you would deal with it (tension). The only unknown here is the resolution, but you can train your brain to start to see things like an incoming storm as a trigger that a story loop is opening. This is why I recommend scripting out your episodes in the beginning - because it helps you start to recognise the pattern of a story loop so you can intuitively move through Set up, Tension, and Resolution when you are out adventuring.

I remember what I need to go through using Go Sing Over Her River.

Go: Outline the overarching GOAL.

Sing: Set the STAKES.

Over: Pose the first OBSTACLE.

Her: CONTEXT, & HOW we will attempt to overcome.

River: Follow the obstacles until the RESOLUTION.

FEEDBACK

• Do you understand storytelling structure?

• Do you have clarity on how you can record your story in the moment?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Pacing is the speed at which a story is told—not necessarily the speed at which the story takes place. It is an essential element of storytelling that plays a significant role in maintaining viewer interest, building tension, and conveying the desired emotional impact.

All good stories ebb and flow between fast and slow paced. The speed at which you move through those ebbs and flows is your overall story pace.

The overall pace of your story aligns closely with the emotion and transformation of the story.

WHAT DO THE DIFFERENT PACES MEAN?

• Fast Pace: anxiety, excitement, tension, high energy, nervousness

• Medium Pace: normality, neutrality, status quo

• Slow Pace: boring, thoughtful, peaceful, contemplative, low energy

OVERARCHING PACE

Your story will have an overarching pace.

For example:

Start point: I am starting my first week on the Te Araroa trail

End point: I got through week 1.

For this story, I think the overall pace is fast. This is why:

• The beginning of a new goal is always the most exciting time.

• There will be lots of high highs and low lows, which are intense emotions.

• This episode has some big stakes, as it determines how the overarching story will progress.

There is no right or wrong here. The goal here is just to be thoughtful about pacing.

ACTIVITY: WHAT IS YOUR STORY PACE?

• Open up the Storytelling Template.

• Go to the bottom of the first table.

• Decide what your story pacing should be. Think about the emotional transformation.

SCENE PACING

Within that overarching story pace, there will be multiple ebbs and flows to the pace, which represent each "story loop" or scene. The key to good pacing is a balance between fast-paced and slow-paced scenes.

FAST PACED

Fast paced scenes are often action-oriented and involve literal movement, decision making, and tense dialogue.

SLOW PACED

Try to follow dramatic or action scenes with ‘breather scenes’: more reflective scenes which allow your viewers time to recover and reflect on what they’ve just seen. These might be scenes in which you focus on relationships, or in which you show us your internal thoughts, memories and backstory.

EXAMPLE:

Have a look at this scene and think about whether it should be fast, medium or slow paced?

SET UP: Now I have gotten through day one, tonight will be my first night sleeping on the trail. It’s really important that I get a good sleep since every day, I’ll be hiking 25km+. So, the first thing we’ll do is find a place to put the tent.

TENSION: Since I am on the 90-mile beach, it’s super windy and there is tons of sand. I’ll need to find a nice, sheltered spot. I also need to find a place where the stakes stay in the ground, so the tent doesn’t blow away.

RESOLUTION: I found a good place to put the tent. Turns out I had to get pretty far from the beach to find a good spot, but I’m happy with that because it’ll make it easier to cook food.

For this scene, I think it should be fast paced, since I am likely feeling anxiety and excitement about my first night on the trail. However, it could also be a slow-paced scene since the previous scene would have included some build-up to arriving and maybe even some rushing to get there before dark.

The point here is that there isn’t a right or wrong way to pace a scene, but rather there needs to be thought behind it as well as balance from scene to scene.

ACTIVITY: PRACTICE PACING

• Open up the Storytelling Template.

• Go through each of your potential scenes and decide what pacing they should be.

• Consider writing each story beat on a piece of paper above or below a line representing a medium pace. Above the line represents fast pace whereas below the line represents slow pace. Alternatively, you could use different colored sticky notes to represent fast, medium or slow pace. This will let you visually see the pace of your story to ensure there is a balance.

• If you have too many scenes in a row that are fast or slow paced, then go back and re-evaluate each scene.

HOW DO WE DO PACING?

Before I give you the list, note that storytelling is a life-long journey. We won't tackle all of this at once, nor should you try remembering all of this at once! Make it a regular practice to perfect your visual storytelling. And don't worry, you can be a good storyteller without knowing all of this!

• Camera Angle

• Composition

• Camera Movement

• Sound Design

• Transitions

• Clip Length

• Color Grading

• Music

• Lighting

• Character movement

• Perceived time frame

• Scene length

• Level of detail shown

• Sentence length

• Word choice

• & more!

FEEDBACK

• Do you understand pacing and its importance to storytelling?

• Do you understand how to choose your story pacing?

• Do you understand how to choose your scene pacing?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

In this lesson, we want to learn to “Show, not tell” as well as a few other filming tips.

SHOW, DON’T TELL

To tell someone something is to say, "I am so worried about the weather forecast that is coming." Its a statement, a fact.

To show someone something on the other hand is to show the details of that worry. To show the body language and physical actions, such as pacing back and forth, head in hands, head shaking no, and sweaty palms rubbing together.

MORE EXAMPLES:

Telling is: I love sailing!

Showing is: Me at the bow, big smile on face, hands outstretched!

Telling is: That was a hard sail.

Showing is: Sweat dripping and deep breaths while grinding winch, grabbing shoulder to show exertion on muscles, deep sighs and full relaxation into cushions afterwards.

Telling is: Sailing is peaceful

Showing is: Me reading a book, sipping tea, looking out over the water, eyes gently closing while I relax on the bow.

FILMING BASICS

A-ROLL

The main footage or shot of the main subject

“TELLING”

B-ROLL

The supplemental or support footage

“SHOWING”

Big mistake: Talking about something to the camera (A-roll) and mid-sentence, turn the camera to show subject (B-Roll). Makes audio inconsistent.

Think about what you said AFTER capturing A-Roll, then record it for B-Roll.

SHOT CONTRAST

How you move from shot to shot also tells a story. If you go from a wide shot to a close up shot, that is quite a contrast and may highlight the shock component of something being said. Conversely, if you move through shots in a logically progressive way, that creates a sense of normality.

FEEDBACK

• Do you understand the concept of “show, don’t tell”?

• As we move into the pacing techniques, don’t try to learn it all at once. Master one thing at a time.

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Video composition is the arrangement of visual information within a camera frame. How you arrange everything in the shot has a massive impact on the story you tell and how the audience feels in that moment.

Key Question: "What feeling or message do I want to convey right now?"

1. Asymmetry vs. Symmetry

Real-life is rarely symmetrical. Knowing this, you can intentionally apply asymmetry to make your scenes seem more natural. Conversely, you can do just the opposite and use symmetry to your advantage.

2. Leading Lines

One of the key rules of composition is to lead your viewer using on-screen vertical and horizontal lines. The lines of a building or staircase in the scene, or the focus of a subject’s eyes, can steer viewers toward important visual information on the screen. These imaginary lines are a subtle yet effective way to steer a user’s viewing experience.

3. Three-Dimensional Depth

Adding depth to your shots is one of the easiest ways to make them look professional. One way to do this is to position yourself and your subjects in such a way that you show three-dimensional depth in your shot compositions. For example, you might have the steering wheel of a boat in the foreground, the sunset in the background, and sails in-between. This will add three-dimensional texture to your composition.

4. Depth of Field

The other component to three-dimensional depth involves camerawork. Placing one part of the screen in sharp focus while blurring other parts will instantly draw your viewer’s attention to important visual details. You can do this by adjusting the “F-stop” or “aperture” on your camera.

5. Headroom

If the space between the top of a head and the top of a frame isn’t properly aligned, the shot will look like a mistake, unless it has a specific storytelling or artistic purpose (like creating a sense of claustrophobia or vacuous space).

6. Shot Size

Use shot size to set the scene and bring attention to certain subjects and objects. For example:

• Establishing Shot: This shot sets the scene, typically without any key subjects.

• Medium Shot: This shot shows a subject’s full body but little background content and can be used to introduce a character.

• Close-Up: Showing close-ups on a person’s upper body or face can be used to show emotion or a specific action.

Vary your shot selection in order to offer the viewer an array of perspectives and zone in on details you want your audience to notice about the story.

7. Camera Distance

Camera distance is used to show a viewers perceived distance from a scene that is taking place. Typically speaking, shots will start out wide to set the scene and move in closer to the subjects to give them more information and establish how the characters are feeling. A rule of thumb is that the closer to the subject we are, the more intimate the emotions. Conversely, if you want to bring up feelings of isolation and loneliness, create distance from the subject.

8. Camera Level

The camera level can have a big impact on the perspective you provide. For example:

• Eye-Level: Creates a sense of normalcy and relatability. They mirror the way we typically see other people in our daily lives.

• Ground-Level:  Typically used in conjunction with point of view (POV) style compositions where the camera is moving along the floor, often used to show the POV of animals or young children.

• Knee-Level: Mostly used when showing a character while walking especially when the focus is on the destination or on the subject that the character is following.

9. Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds states that placing the subject you want to be a focal point on red dots where the lines interesect generally leads to compelling and well-composed shots that make your audience feel good. If you want your subject to be powerful, place them directly in the center with the main focal point along one of the lines. Generally, you want eyes to be a focal point, so they should be where the red dots are. Conversely, placing the focal point not along the lines or intersecting points will create a sense of unease in your audience.

ACTIVITY: Learn to Compose!

In your next episode, be incredibly considerate of your composition and how it may be impacting the story you’re telling. Consider picking three composition rules that you will practice until they become muscle memory.

FEEDBACK

Do you understand composition and how it impacts your storytelling?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Camera angles are a powerful tool in storytelling, allowing you to shape the viewer's emotional response and perspective in your videos. For adventure and travel vloggers, mastering different camera angles can enhance the narrative and bring a unique visual style to your content.

1. Low Angle Shot

A low angle shot is when the camera is positioned below the subject, looking up. This makes the subject appear larger and more dominant, often conveying power, authority, or importance.

2. High Angle Shot

A high angle shot places the camera above the subject, looking down. This angle makes the subject look smaller, weaker, or less significant, creating a feeling of vulnerability or inferiority.

3. Bird’s Eye View / Aerial View

Bird’s eye view shots look straight down from a great height, while aerial views can look in any direction from above, often using drones. These shots are effective for establishing the setting, conveying scale, or showing the broader context in which a character or action takes place. It can also be used to show the greater danger that a character is facing.

4. Point of View (POV)

POV shots involve attaching the camera directly to the subject’s body—often at chest level or at their forehead. This is a great way to allow your audience to see the world through your eyes, immersing them in your perspective and emotions. When you use a POV shot, it’s always good to show a shot of the subject looking at something, then the POV shot, and then the subject's reaction (their face) to what they are looking at.

5. Dutch Angle Shot

The Dutch Angle Shot is when the camera is lopsided on its x axis. It is used to evoke unease, disorientation, or instability, which is often used in suspenseful or chaotic scenes to heighten the emotional impact.

ACTIVITY: Pick an Angle!

In your next episode, be incredibly considerate of your camera angle and how it may be impacting the story you’re telling. Consider picking three camera angles that you will practice until they become muscle memory.

FEEDBACK

Understanding the impact of camera angles is key to effective storytelling. Start by experimenting with low and high angles to explore how they can convey power and vulnerability in your scenes.

Do you understand the impact of camera angles on storytelling?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Camera movement is a technique used to change the frame or perspective without cutting, enhancing the psychological and emotional engagement of the audience.

1. Static Shot

A static shot has no camera movement at all. It is achieved by locking a camera to a fixed-position typically with a tripod. The stability of a static shot makes it non-distracting. While static shots are the easiest way to slow down pace and calm emotions, a lot of movement within a static shot can do exactly the opposite.

2. Pan Shot

The camera pan directs a camera horizontally left or right. Pans are often motivated by a character’s actions. They can also be used to reveal new information to the audience.

3. Tilt Shot

Camera tilts are just like pans, only vertical. Tilt camera movements direct a camera upward or downward. Camera tilts can be used to give a character dominance in a shot or to reveal new information to the audience.

4. Push-In Shot

A push-in moves the camera closer to a subject. Push-ins can draw the audience's attention toward a specific detail. You can also use push ins to bring attention to the subject’s reaction, thought process, or internal conflict.

5. Pull-Out Shot

A pull out moves the camera further away from a subject. This movement causes the subject to grow smaller while simultaneously revealing their surroundings. Pull outs can be used to reveal setting and characters or to highlight feelings of isolation or loneliness.

6. Zoom Shot

Zooms are unique because there is no equivalent to it in the experience of the human eye. Zooms can feel artificial or even unnatural and are often used to create a sense of unease. In the vlogging setting, they also have the impact of reminding the audience you are a person with a camera in your hands, thereby humanising you.

7. Roll Shot

The camera roll rotates the camera over its side on its long axis. Rolls are uses to disorient your viewer and create unease, dizziness, and feelings of unnaturalness.

8. Tracking Shot

Tracking camera movement follows a traveling subject. These shots show how a subject is interacting with their environment, how the story is progressing, or to make us connect emotionally with a character.

9. Random Movement / Camera Shake

Random Movement or Camera Shake makes a video feel homemade and amateur, which has the effect of humanising you. It also brings energy to a shot and is often used when chaos is happening. Random Movement or Camera Shake is often used in documentaries or films based on true events to give a feeling of “realness”.

ACTIVITY: Learn to Move!

In your next episode, be incredibly considerate of your camera movements and how it may be impacting the story you’re telling. Consider picking three camera movements that you will practice until they become muscle memory.

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how camera movement affects storytelling?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Lighting is a critical component of storytelling in video production. The quality, quantity, direction, color, and intensity of light can be manipulated to evoke specific emotions and convey different meanings.

THE PYSCHOLOGY OF LIGHT

As humans, our life is dictated by light.

• We wake up with the sunrise.

• Go to sleep with the sunset.

Your choices as a YouTuber should mimic this natural cycle.

But it’s not that straight forward. We also have psychological associations with other light sources:

• Firelight

• Lamplight

• Neon light

A light that comes from unnatural angles is uncomfortable because the sun comes from above, not below.

1. Natural vs. Artificial Light

Natural light makes shots feel authentic and raw. Think of the golden hour – that brief period just after sunrise or before sunset brings feelings of nostalgia, hope, or melancholy.

On the other hand, artificial light can create harsh shadows that bring up a sense of drama, harshness, and inauthenticity.

2. Highlight Your Subject

The human eye is naturally drawn to the brightest part of the photo, so focus on making the important subjects shine brighter. This doesn’t mean the entire frame needs to be bright, but whatever you want your viewer to see should be! Light reinforces visual importance.

3. Glow/Halo Effect

The Glow/Halo Effect is used to soften and blur the edges of light sources. When you have two people with the glow/halo effect, it creates a feeling of “in a world of their own” and has a super romantic effect. This effect this very captivating and can create feelings of nostalgia.

4. The Art of Shadows

Shadows can add depth, mystery, and drama. They can hide or reveal, tease or terrify. Shadows can indicate the time of day or season, which helps in establishing the setting. The long shadows of twilight or the golden hue of a sunset can instantly communicate the time without explicit mention. Playing with shadows can be a game-changer, especially when you are experiencing dark moments.

5. Light vs. Dark

The brightness of a scene has a big impact on how your audience feels. The most obvious way this is true is darkness incites feelings of unease, fear and danger, whereas brightness signals happiness, energy, and good vibes. This is not always true, as a fire or beginning of a sunrise can evoke feelings of nostalgia, but this relates to the feelings we naturally associate with those light sources.

6. Color Temperature

Every light source has a color temperature, measured in Kelvin (K). Warmer lights (lower Kelvin numbers) can create a connection, intimacy and nostalgia, while cooler lights (higher Kelvin numbers) can evoke feelings of detachment, sterility, or even melancholy. There a definitely quite a few movies where scenes have been washed with red in moments of urgency, passion or danger. Using color temperature to help your audience know how they should feel.

7. Direction Matters

The direction of lighting can have a big impact on how you feel about a subject. Think about how we put a flashlight under our chin to tell scary stories. Backlighting can create silhouettes, adding drama and mystery. Front lighting can make subjects appear clear and free of shadows but can also flatten a scene. Lighting can direct the audience's attention to a particular character or object, making it a focal point in the story.

8. Hard and Soft Light

Hard light creates sharp, defined shadows, while soft light diffuses, creating gentle transitions between light and dark. Soft light is very pleasant and soothing and is often used for romantic scenes, happy endings and overall positive moments. While hard lighting with strong textured shadows is more appropriate for tough times, danger and sadness or anger, to name a few.

9. Adding Light

There are heaps of options to add light to a scene using items like lamps, candles, or TV screens. They can serve as primary or secondary light sources, adding realism and depth to a scene. Imagine a scene lit only by the flickering light of a fireplace or the eerie glow of a TV in a dark room. These choices can make a scene way more romantic or scary. They can also be used to add symmetry to shots.

FYI: Reflectors bounce light, helping to fill in shadows or highlight specific areas of a scene. Diffusers, on the other hand, soften light, reducing harsh shadows and creating a more even, flattering illumination.

10. Light Movement

Light movement helps express feelings. A chaotic scene, like dealing with a dragging anchor, can be emphasised by the chaos of moving flashlights or small moving lights familiar to police flashing lights. Changes in lighting can also signal transitions between scenes or shifts in narrative pace. A sudden darkening might indicate something bad about to happen, while a gradual brightening could signal hope or resolution.

ACTIVITY: Incorporate Lighting

When filming your next episode, see if you can be more thoughtful about lighting. Pick three rules of lighting that you can practice in your next video.

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how lighting choices can influence storytelling and enhance the emotional depth of your videos?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

At the heart of good cuts in editing is emotion. Every scene has an emotion you want to audience to feel, and the way you cut that scene is how you incite that emotion. Emotion is SO IMPORTANT that the biggest editors out there say it comes BEFORE storytelling!

1. Scene Length

There is no “perfect length”, but a good rule of thumb is to vary your scene lengths according to the mood, genre, and pace of your video.

• Fast-paced scenes are typically short (<60 seconds) and create a sense of anxiety, excitement, tension, high energy, and nervousness.

• Slow-paced scenes are typically longer (>60-180 seconds) and can create a sense of boring, thoughtful, peaceful, contemplative, low energy

2. Cut Length

You can also adjust pacing through cut length:

• Fast-pace scenes typically have short cuts less than 4 seconds and are used to generate excitement or tension.

• Medium pace scenes typically have medium length cuts between 4-6 seconds and are used to generate normality, neutrality, or status quo.

• Slow pace scenes typically have longer cuts more than 6 seconds and are used to generate boredom, thoughtfulness, peace, contemplativeness, or low energy,

3. Shot Selection

Shot selection is key to compelling storytelling, and once again, it is all about emotion. Best practice is to watch all your clips before editing and make note of the one’s that bring up emotions for you, particularly if they are strong. You should select the clips the first time you watch through to ensure your emotions aren’t numbed after re-watching multiple times. Shot selection is an instinct you develop over time!

4. Emotional Resonance

Once you have chosen a shot, the next job is to tweak it in a way that enhances the emotion. Beyond cut length for pacing, now you need to make the choice to hold a shot a second longer or shorter than expected to evoke curiosity, sadness, or tension. These little tweaks are crucial to enhancing emotions for your audience.

5. Contrast

Use contrast to force the viewer to compare two opposing scenes or clips in their mind. It might be a calm captain and big winds and seas. Or it might be a small and seemingly incapable woman with a giant backpack. The use of contrast captures our attention and forces the viewer to consider what a great captain they must be and how brave the woman is.

6. Parallelism

Parallelism is used as a way to connect two scenes visually by matching certain aspects of a scene. It might be a the use of a current shot of you versus a past and younger version of you. It could also be a shot of you in a floor length gown and another of you dirty and going 4wding. The placement of these shots forces the viewer to see how much you have developed over the years or how there are multiple versions of you.

7. Continuity

Continuity is the notion that a sequence of shots all need to feel as unified and fluid as if they were a single shot. For example, if you have purple hair in one scene but in the next you have blond, then it becomes clear to the viewer that these clips were filmed on different days. Every cut should make your audience assume that you are showing them a different perspective on the same scene.

8. Cut to the Action

This technique is all about cutting directly to the most crucial part of a scene, ensuring that the viewer’s attention is captured immediately. This is a fantastic way to start an episode and leave the viewers wanting to know more.

9. Cross-Cutting

Cross-cutting is when there is a continuous cut alternating between two or more scenes that often happen at simultaneous times but at different locations. For example, Sailing SV Delos did a collaboration when they raced and alternated between each boat on the race. This technique can be used in conjunction with parallelism.

10. Montage

Montages allow storytellers to convey a lot of information in a short amount of time. For instance, showing a character’s journey from being a complete newbie on their first sail to becoming a competent captain, or depicting the progression of a DIY project. Montages are intended to show a transformation, but instead of showing every single detail, a montage gives viewers the highlights.

ACTIVITY: Improve Your Editing

Pick one area of editing you will practice in your next episode and push yourself to increase your quality. Maybe its introducing parallelism or being more conscientious about cut length when portraying emotions. Get better with each episode!

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how editing choices influence storytelling and impact your audience’s emotional journey?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

The goal of transitions is to plant a seed at the end of scene that leads the viewer into the next scene. Transitions are your punctuation marks that tell you how you should feel at the end of a scene. They help with pacing and placing emphasis on specific moments.

Transitions are unique to each story you’re telling, but you can also develop consistency in your style throughout your videos. Transitions aren’t just visual; they are audible to.

1. Straight Cut

The most common transition of them all; one clip ends and the next begins with no overlap and no gap between them. While most of the time straight cuts go unnoticed, you can make hard cuts between scenes for a jarring, dramatic effect.

When you first start out and are still learning storytelling, using primarily straight cuts is the best way to keep your production looking high quality.

2. Fades / Dissolves

Often used to open or close out a scene, fading out of one scene to black and then fading back up into the next gives a sense of closure for the first scene and shows the passage of time. You can often use fades to add a sense of conscious perception for the audience, such as fading out as a character goes to sleep or fading in when he or she wakes.

3. Cross Fades / Dissolves

This transition entails fading one shot out while simultaneously fading the next shot in, instead of to white or black before fading into the next shot. With this type of transition, you'll see both clips on screen at the same time during the transition period. Cross-fades/cross-dissolves often make for excellent depictions of time passing or getting inside a character’s thoughts.

4. Planned Transitions

Planning or being thoughtful about appropriate transitions during filming can help your video have more flow. For example, if a scene ends at night, you can plan to get a timelapse of the sun going down and rising the next morning. Then, you can slowly cross dissolve between each shot as a scene transition. Viewers feel planned cuts as being a higher quality production because of the thought you would have had to put into it.

5. Match Cut

Match cuts are transitions that are incredibly similar in composition and have the impact of making transitions seamless. For example, in previous example used, a sunset and sunrise are very similar shots, and a simple dissolve/cross dissolve between the two would make a seamless transition. But it could also be similarities in shape, movement in the same direction, or even just color.

6. Head-to-Tail Transitions

Head-to-tail transitions involve referring back to something referred to in preceding scene and then taking the new scene in a new direction. This is a cue to viewers that a concept introduced in one scene remains the focus of the next.

“And so we finished our time at Great Barrier Island, and it was time to head home.”

“Now that we were heading home....”

7. Signposting

Signposting involves starting out a scene by verbally or visually showing teasers of what is to come in the scene. You don’t have to show it all but instead make a hint at what you will show. This is a great retention hack.

“We were excited to head home, but little did we know just how exciting the sail home would be!” (show torn sail)

8. Visual Metaphors

Transitions can be used as visual metaphors, adding a layer of depth to your storytelling. For example, in a video where I am moving from one city to the next, I may close a door at the end of a scene to symbolise a change that is coming.

9. L-Cut/J-Cut

L-cut or J-Cut is when sound and vision transition at different times. For example, I might have a song start at the end of one scene before the next scene starts to signal to the viewer that a change is about to occur. Alternatively, I might have audio from a previous scene continue while the next scene starts to the viewer is seamlessly carried from one scene to the next.

10. Fancy Transitions

In the beginning, you want to be very careful about the use of fancy transitions. It’s the fastest way to making your edit look cheap if use inappropriately or too often. But used thoughtfully, fancy transitions can be effective. For example, I often use a glitch visual and sound transition if something goes wrong. This signals to a viewer that there is a disruption, and they need to pay attention.

LESS IS MORE

Transitions can easily become too much and make the viewer confused. In general, when it comes to anything other than a straight cut, abide by the rule, “Less is More”. Use transitions thoughtfully.

ACTIVITY: Try New Transitions

In your next episode, see if you can clearly see where one scene is ending and the next is starting. In this transition point, be thoughtful about how you can close out one scene and immediately introduce the next in the most compelling way possible. Do this for all transitions!

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how different transitions can affect storytelling and maintain viewer engagement?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

Sound plays as big a, or maybe even a bigger, role than the visual elements of a film. It’s a tool to immerse the audience in a cinematic experience or ramp up the tension in a scene. Sound design is an iterative process that should take place over several run-throughs. Start with the foundations – score, ambience, foley, and then keep on building with more and more creativity.

1. Ambient / Background Sound

Ambient sound works to enhance visual, imagery, and without it, shots can feel empty. For example, near the ocean, viewers expect the sounds of ocean spray and constant waves. But it’s important to also not forget the other sounds that you’d expect, such as a dog barking, distant conversation, and children playing on the beach. It’s that detail that really makes a shot come alive and allows your audience to feel immersed in a scene.

2. Foley

Foley are the sounds that enhance the storytelling and actions that are happening withing a scene. For example, if ambience is the swishing waves, clinking halyard on the mast and rain that create the environment, foley is the sound of the captain rushing up the companionway and the winch grinding in the main sail to deal with the storm.

3. Audio Effects

Audio effects are processing techniques that alter the sound of an audio signal in some way. They can be used to shape the tonal character of a sound, add color and texture, or create special effects. For example, you may use a voice changer to make you sound like a cartoon in a scene where you are trying to be silly or sound like you are speaking over an old phone.

4. Voiceover

Voiceovers should be used strategically to bring your story along where your footage doesn’t do so. It’s important to be alter your voice and pacing based on how you want the audience to feel as you do your narration.

5. Don’t Remove Background Sound

Don’t remove background sound when you are doing voiceovers. You want to keep your audience immersed in the moment, and removing background sound takes them out of the moment. Instead, turn down the volume of background sound (called audio ducking) or sound mix it so the frequences of the background sound aren’t interfering with the frequencies of your voice.

6. Music

Music is one of the most important ways in which you will set the mood and tone of a scene. Spend time getting this right, and be conscious of the music preferences of your target audience. Use a change in music to signal a change in emotions or a transformation that is to come. Be considerate (and bold!) with the volume of music depending on how you want your audience to feel.

FAST PACE: anxiety, excitement, tension, high energy, nervousness

MEDIUM PACE / NORMAL: normality, neutrality, status quo

SLOW PACE: boring, thoughtful, peaceful, contemplative, low energy

If you are using an app or website to find your music, it may be categorised like this:

• Cinematic: Big, sweeping, grand, victorious.

• Corporate: Engaging, inviting, unobtrusive.

• Ambient: Soothing, centered, calm.

• Acoustic: Empathetic, human, connected, sometimes melancholy.

• Comedic: Bubbly, fun, bright, exciting.

• Electronic: Cerebral, intelligent, curious.

• Hip Hop: Edgy, fast, confident.

• Rock: Raw, gritty, substantial.

• Funk: Bright, discordant, unapologetic.

7. Nonverbal Storytelling

Nonverbal storytelling is the art of informing a viewer of story progression through sound. For example, if you are down below inside your sailboat and suddenly the audience hears a lightning crack, that tells us of danger to come. Instead of telling us you are rushing up the companionway to deal with it, you could both show us and use sound to enhance the stomping as you rush up the steps. You can even add sounds such as heartbeats, drums, or swooshes to enhance the tension as the storm approaches.

8. Shift Audience Emotions

A change in sound can signal a shift in the scene or emotions the audience should be feeling. For example, the thunder used in the previous example might become rain which will then become birdsong, and then the gentle swishing of waves. This change in sound takes the viewer through the emotional experience you would have been having in the moment.

9. Balance Between Visual & Audio

Make sure you are always thinking about how the visual and audio choices complement each other. For example, if you have a tense moment where the captain is trying to get the sail down, then you want tense sounds to enhance that. Conversely, if you have tense sounds, then you don’t to have a shot of you relaxing on the bow of your boat. When choosing your music, be thoughtful about where the visuals are heading and where the crescendo or peak of the music will be.

10. Leitmotif

This is a musical term that describes a recurring musical phase associated with a particular person, place or idea. An example could be whenever you experience a setback, you use the same music. Then, this signals to an audience a setback is coming. You can do this across an episode and also across multiple episodes.

11. Silence

Don’t underestimate the power of silence. Any time you don’t use sound to enhance a scene, this encourages your audience to pay extra attention to what is happening on screen. Use silence strategically to highlight visual elements.

ACTIVITY: Incorporate Sound

Take one scene of your next episode, and see if you can ramp up the sound design.

Try using a scene that is particularly tense or emotional, as these scenes are where sound design can have the biggest impact.

RESOURCES

Music:

https://uppbeat.io/?as=theaudaciouspath

Sound Effects:

https://soundbible.com/

https://youtube.com/audiolibrary

Voice Changer:

https://voicechanger.io/

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how sound choices influence storytelling and enhance the audience's emotional experience?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

An engaging intro is crucial for retaining viewers. Like a movie poster or trailer, your video’s thumbnail, title, and intro must align and set expectations. If these elements don’t deliver on their promise, viewers are likely to click away quickly.

IMAGINE THIS

Imagine you're the director of a highly anticipated movie. From the moment your potential audience sees your movie poster, they are excited and anticipating the day the movie releases.

The day arrives. You're excited! You've put so much work into the movie! You can't wait to hear what people think. A few minutes in, your audience slowly starts to get up and leave! What happened?!

People rarely leave bad movies in a cinema because they've made an investment and physically have to walk away. But that is not the case with YouTube or even Netflix. It's simply a click away and on to other content. Regardless though, why do people leave before the end of videos?

Just as a movie would be disappointing if the trailer didn't match the actual content, your video will disappoint viewers if the thumbnail, title, and intro don't align. Imagine if a movie's trailer promised an action-packed adventure but the movie turned out to be a romantic comedy!? In the same way, if your thumbnail, title, and intro don't match, viewers will feel misled and may click away.

IT’S ALL CONNECTED

Packaging: Your Thumbnail and Title make a promise about the story that’s to come.

Intro: Your Intro confirms to your audience that you are delivering on the promise.

Outro: Your Outro is similar to your packaging, as it makes a new promise about what the next video is about to offer and how the overarching story will continue to progress.

In this lesson, we will only focus on the intro.

CONFIRM THE PROMISE

The first thing a viewer should see after clicking is something to support the title and thumbnail that got them to click in the first place. You can do this VISUALLY and VERBALLY (or both).

HOW TO CONSTRUCT AN INTRO

1. Situating the Viewer

Provide just enough context to confirm the promise of the video. Address any potential objections or disbelief and establish your credentials if you are presenting any skilled information.

2. Sustain Attention

Get your viewer to ask themselves a question by:

• Setting a Goal: Explain what the video aims to achieve.

• Setting the Stakes: Highlight why it matters.

• Presenting the Obstacles: What challenges are being faced?

• Tease a Transformation: Suggest a change or development that will occur.

• Signposting / Foreshadowing: Tell or show your audience what to expect

3. Snappy

Set the stage in 15-60 seconds.

4. Seamless

The intro should seamlessly transition into the first scene. It shouldn’t feel like a standalone scene with an abrupt transition.

EXAMPLE

• Immediate opening: Cinematic opening visually showing the Te Araroa Trail and me saying, “The Te Araroa trail takes you across New Zealand by foot for 3,000km.”

• Set the Goal: “Today, I will be starting my first day on the trail!”

• Why the story matters/Stakes: “I have always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail across the eastern states of the USA, but since moving to NZ, it is increasingly unlikely.

• Context: “…but Te Araroa offers the same challenge, and the minute I heard of it, I knew I’d be able to fulfil a lifelong goal, but in a different form! After months of preparation, in this video, you are joining me for my very first week.

• Foreshadow: “Which turns out will be much more challenging than I anticipated.” Show some of the obstacles I had to face.

• Grand Pay off set up: “Will I be able to get through week 1 on the trail? Or will I want to go home?”

ACTIVITY: Create an Intro

Take a vlog you just wrote and write an intro:

• SITUATE: Give just enough context so the promise is confirmed.

• SUSTAIN: Get your viewer to ask themselves a question.

• SNAPPY: Confirm the promise immediately and set the stage in 15-60 seconds.

• SEAMLESS: The intro should seamlessly transition into the first scene. It shouldn’t feel like a stand alone scene with an abrupt transition.

BRANDED INTROS

If you have content that’s more episodic in nature, an intro could quickly introduce the characters and the most relevant bits of the overarching story. You want to update this though as your story evolves. Or, you could create a custom intro on each video could bring new viewers up to speed on where you are in your vlogging story.

The best use of branded intros I’ve seen are ones that are valuable for two different groups of viewers: those who have never heard of your channel before and those who are long-time subscribers. How is this adding value to your viewers?

ACTIVITY: Branded Intro

Consider if a branded intro would help your audience connect to your story?

If you decide to create a branded intro, aim for 10 seconds, but up to 30 seconds max, and include this information:

• Names of key characters ONLY;

• List of key highlights /main events to date; and

• Overarching channel goal and what your videos are working towards.

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how a well-crafted intro affects storytelling?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

The outro of your episode is one of the most underutilised tools of vloggers. A good intro can blow your channel up. While you have the option to ask your subscribers to like, subscribe, or comment, the most effective ask is to get your viewer to watch another video. This is because the top metric that YouTube looks for when pushing channels is “session time”. This is the total amount of time a viewer spends on your channel. The longer they spend on your channel, the better.

We won’t get into Call to Actions (CTAS) in this course, but just a note that more options equal no action. You want to limit your outro CTA to just one option, and in this case, I recommend asking your viewer to watch another video.

IT’S ALL CONNECTED

Packaging: Your Thumbnail and Title make a promise about the story that’s to come.

Intro: Your Intro confirms to your audience that you are delivering on the promise.

Outro: Your Outro is similar to your packaging, as it makes a new promise about what the next video is about to offer and how the overarching story will continue to progress.

In this lesson, we will only focus on the intro.

INCREASE SESSION TIME

Link to current video

Set up a point that links to the current video: “Now you know about [adventuring in XYZ],”

Create a Curiosity Gap

Widen the curiosity gap; “but you won’t be able to [enjoy this, adventure here, take your experience to the next level]...”

Make a New Promise

Make a new promise by hinting at the next video’s goal or transformation “...until you [XYZ], so check out this video next.”

BAD vs. GOOD EXAMPLES

Bad: “To learn more about walking the Te Araroa Trail, watch this Next video.”

Good: “Now I knew about What it would Take to walk the Te Araroa Trail, but now it was time to actually test it out and see if it was possible. And what better way than a 3-week Trip with my friend, Johanna, who I knew would push me on a long hike. See you in two weeks when I land on the South Island of New Zealand to Meet her!

Bad: “To learn more about sailing Fiji, watch this Next video.”

Good: “Now I had safely arrived in Fiji, I wanted to be sure that I actually got to experience the local culture. Check out the next episode where I see if a local family will allow me to experience the most traditional thing you could ever do in Fiji.”

ACTIVITY: Create an Outro

Take a vlog you just wrote and write an outro:

• Set up a point that links to the current video.

• Hint at something to come in the next video.

• Promise something specific that they'll experience by clicking the next video.

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how an effective outro can enhance storytelling and encourage viewers to watch more of your content?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

This course has provided a comprehensive guide to storytelling for adventure and travel vloggers, covering the three main stages of production: pre-production, production, and post-production.

Pre-Production

• Choosing a Channel Goal: Knowing your channel goal helps you stay focused on what content to create.

• Understanding Your Audience Journey: Tailor your content to the needs and interests of your audience.

• Producing Good Ideas: Develop creative ideas that align with your channel's goals.

• Framing Your Ideas: Present your ideas in a way that is engaging and clear.

• Planning Your Story: Prepare your story before filming to ensure a cohesive narrative.

• Packaging: Craft thumbnails and titles that attract viewers and set clear expectations.

Production

• The “Story Loop”: Understand the basic structure of storytelling—setup, tension, resolution.

• Pacing: Manage the flow of your narrative to keep viewers engaged.

• Show Don’t Tell: Use visuals to convey the story rather than just relying on narration.

• Composition: Frame your shots to enhance storytelling.

• Camera Angle: Use different angles to convey emotions and perspectives.

• Camera Movement: Incorporate dynamic camera movements to make your videos more engaging.

• Lighting: Utilize lighting to set the mood and tone of your videos.

Post-Production

• Editing: Craft your story in the edit to maintain viewer engagement and emotion.

• Transitions: Use transitions to smoothly guide viewers from one scene to the next.

• Sound: Implement sound design to enhance the atmosphere and emotional impact.

• Intros: Start strong to hook viewers immediately.

• Outros: Leave viewers wanting more and encourage them to continue watching your content.

STRATEGIES TO PROGRESS YOUR CHANNEL

• Know Your Channel Goal: As you navigate constantly changing environments, knowing your channel goal helps stay focused on what is worth making an episode about, and what isn’t.

• Understand Basic Story Structure: Understanding basic story structure does wonders to help you know when a new “story loop” (set up, tension, resolution) has been opened, and thereby helps you respond on the fly and complete the loop. This is structure should be studied over and over again until you have a solid retention graph consistently.

• Plan Your Episodes: Planning your episodes a bit in advance helps to keep you focused when you’re filming resulting in you filming less, relaxing more, and speeding through your editing faster. It also uses less battery power, uploads to your computer process, and just overall reduces the load.

GROWTH MINDSET

In my podcast interviews with the biggest creators, there is one pattern I immediately noticed: the second a creator had mastered a skill or had the resources to hire help, they reallocated that time to learning the next skill. They never stopped learning. Make learning an ongoing process and priority!

ACTIVITY: Regroup

Set a date in your calendar every 6 months to re-learn storytelling concepts and strategies. Storytelling is an on-going practice. It’s not just something you learn once.

YOU GOT THIS!

Be Realistic

• Know your limitations

• Plan on time to learn, adjust, be lazy, mess up

Reflect

Block off 2 hours per week to learn and practice storytelling.

Be Aware

Results lag behind your actions Consistency is key! It takes time.

FEEDBACK

Do you understand all the elements of storytelling covered in this course?

LESSON OVERVIEW:

One of things that makes YouTube so hard is there are so many things that can impact retention.

• The overarching channel idea;

• The overarching video idea;

• Not confirming the promise of the “package”;

• Not constructing a compelling intro;

• Ordering the payoff as the set up.

• Signposting / Foreshadowing

Now we’re going to talk about some more retention hacks...

TOO MUCH CONTEXT

As you know by now, we need some context to understand what is to come and to get us hooked into the story.

Problem: However, many YouTubers front-load their context, making for a long and cumbersome intro that bores their viewers.

Solution: Jump into a short action scene to get the story moving, and then swap back to a context scene if more information is needed to understand story.

LONG SCENES EARLY ON

Unless you are a professional movie maker who has mastered storytelling, long scenes early on are the best way to lose your audience.

Problem: They aren’t invested in your story yet! You need to keep the story moving fast in the beginning. The leading YouTubers say you should cover about 80% of your story in the first 20% of the video.

Solution: Keep initial scenes to 30-60 seconds, and slowly lengthen them as the story progresses.

MISPLACEMENT OF CONTEXT

Sometimes, we need to add context, introduce new characters, or tell our audience about the location we are in.

Problem: If you add context after the last pay off and before the next set up, you risk losing your audience if you haven’t set up a strong goal.

Solution: Only provide additional story context if you have introduced a set up, but you haven’t resolved it.

TOO MANY SET UPS

Sometimes, you may have to introduce a new set up before you have solved the last one.

Ex: “Now we need to set up our tent, but first, we need to find a place to set it up.”

Problem: If you do this too many times though, the audience can get lost and forget what the focus of the scene is.

Solution: Try not to set up more than one to two scenes at a time. Practice resolving set ups before moving on to the next one.

REPETITION

It’s so so crucial that the story keeps progressing, especially early on.

Problem: However, many YouTubers waste valuable time repeating information that has already been given.

Solution: Scan your video, particularly the intro, with an “eliminate repetition” lens.

ACTIVITY: RETENTION CHECKLIST

Ensure you have checked for the following in your video:

• One overarching “Payoff”.

• Not confirming the promise of the “package”.

• Not constructing a compelling intro.

• Payoffs and setups in right order.

• 2-4 “Signposts” for events to come in later scenes.

• Intro not context heavy.

• Short scenes early in the episode.

• All context adding in between Set up and Resolution.

• Set ups solved before another added.

• No repetition.

FEEDBACK

Do you understand how retention can be so easily impacted?