How to Film Yourself like a main Character

There are hundreds of videos out there all talking about the same thing. And today, oh man you will never guess, I'm gonna show you in depth how I make my videos. Oh but Charlie we don't need another video like this there's already too many out there. Yeah I know but they do really well and they're kind of fun to make and I also have a few secrets for you so zip it and enjoy. Lesson number one, pre-production. It all starts here, with an idea. I lied, no it doesn't. At least not always, sometimes it starts with a song, sometimes it starts with a shot I want to copy, but regardless it all gets frozen in space and time right here. After that comes the hard part, expanding this tiny little concept into a full-on video. This is where I move my brain from here into here. The writing for the most part comes naturally to me but I am guilty of occasionally succumbing to the great AI gods when my brain decides to turn me into a robot that repeatedly opens and closes Instagram. Once I have everything written out, I begin shot listing. There's multiple ways to do this, the best way is probably to draw out each shot that you want to get so that when it comes time to film you can easily understand what past you was trying to imagine. However, if you're like me and your hands decide to cripple themselves whenever you try to draw literally anything, you can do what I do and write out a description of your shots in as much detail as possible. Lesson number two, production. There are two main parts to this segment. Part A, lighting. Never ever neglect your lighting when filming. No matter how good your camera is with bad lighting, your FX3 cannot save you. I am sure you've already seen a million videos on different types of lighting so I'll give you a pretty quick rundown of what you need to know and then I'll tell you a small little secret about lighting right after. Let's begin. Hard light, soft light, natural light, practical light, top light, warm, cool, colored. I think you get the idea. Now for my little secret. What makes lighting interesting is contrast. The difference between light and dark, warm and cool, red and blue, whatever. This is not a concrete rule that you need to follow. The truth is there are... You have no enemies. There are no real rules... There are no real rules but there are guidelines to help you in the right direction. Part B, shot types. We have macro shot, close-up, medium, wide. If you're feeling adventurous, top down, snorey cam, magic arm. Lesson number three, post-production. For my process, there are three different parts to this. The first thing I do after waiting like an hour for all the footage to upload is chop up all of my log footage in Premiere Pro. This is the most bare bones version of the video. No titles, no effects, no color. Then that timeline gets exported as an XML in order to bring it into DaVinci Resolve for color grading. This part takes a long time since I usually have to grade around 200 to 300 shots. The finishing touches. I export my color graded clips as XML files back into Premiere Pro and add effects, titles, sound effects and music. Let's talk about sound effects and music. This part can be tricky because pacing is extremely important and music is a huge factor in whether your video flows nicely or not. Now I probably should have said this earlier but music is actually one of the first things that I find. I narrate my video before filming, then I find music to put into a timeline with my voiceovers. This way I can sort of imagine how the video will be paced and then I can shot list based on that pacing in order to make sure it all flows together as nicely as possible. As for sound effects, those are usually the very last thing that I do and I urge you to not overlook sound design because it really can elevate your projects to another dimension. But I do understand why you tend to overlook sound. I get it. If I'm being honest with you, finding music and sound effects for a video is one of the most brutal parts about it. But for me, since I use Musicbed for my music and sound design, my process is nowhere near as painful as it once was. And yes, you heard correctly. Musicbed does sound effects now right alongside their music. Did I mention the sound effects thing? They do sound. So it is now officially my one-stop shop for premium music and sound. They've added over 150,000 crispy high-end sound effects created by artists who've worked on award-winning films, ads and commercials. I've been using Musicbed for years now, and their library is always expertly curated. No fluff, no filler, just the good stuff. They make finding music that actually elevates your work so much easier. And now with sound effects? I mean, come on, dude. It's over. Just type in what you need, and it'll give you a ton of sound effects that actually fit your scene. This part of the video editing process used to be exhausting, but Musicbed made it sort of enjoyable again. I don't know how. Ditch the generic royalty-free music and sound and make something that actually feels real. Use the link in the description to start your 14-day free trial. This is something that is insanely overlooked. Is sound design tedious? Yes. Does it take forever? Yeah. But my god, is it worth it? Most people don't even realize how much time and effort goes into the sound design of film. But it adds a whole new dimension of depth that is essential to the viewing experience. The fun part is that you can get as creative as you want with this, as long as it's not too overpowering. Conclusion. My videos usually take me about a month or so to make, depending on how hardcore I try to go and also kind of how lazy I get. But don't worry because you do not have to do that. I love making things look cool, which takes a lot of time. But don't forget the most important part of this whole process is the idea and the writing. Get these two things down and you can film on a potato with a AAA battery and your masterpieces will be better than mine could ever be. Making videos can be a long process, especially if you're doing it alone. But at the end of the day, it's worth it because God knows you need to learn some delayed gratification, dude. Jeez.