How Casey Neistat Changed Vlogging Forever

This video is brought to you by Mubi, a streaming service that screens curated, beautiful, critically acclaimed cinema from all around the world. Get a free month at mubi.com slash in-depth cine. It may come as a bit of a surprise from a part-time YouTuber, but I actually don't watch many YouTube videos. Well, not now anyway. But there was a time when I was living in Japan around 2015 or 2016 where I'd watch every single release from one particular YouTuber every single day. Those videos were Casey Neistat's daily vlogs. I'm starting a proper daily vlog. I'm psyched. There were a few reasons that I, along with the rest of the online world, were drawn to Casey Neistat. For one, he's a super charismatic and entertaining person on camera with strong opinions. For another, the non-stop freneticism that is his life and the amazing situations that he puts himself in was incredible to see documented. This combined with an honest, pretty intimate view of his life and daily uploads created a super close relationship with millions of online followers. But there was something else that immediately drew me to his videos. The filmmaking. Although they may appear rough and handmade, if you look at his videos a bit closer you'll quickly see that they are backed up by an array of innovative filmmaking techniques that he uses to present stories as a creative, experienced documentary filmmaker. So let's break down his approach, vlogging gear, some of the cinematic techniques that he uses and explain why they are the very backbone of what made Casey Neistat's vlogs so groundbreaking. You can have all the tricks in the book, but they still mean nothing if they aren't used to create some kind of narrative arc. So before we look at his specific filmmaking techniques, let's unpack how he constructs story in his films. Even his more freeform personal docs that document his day still have a story arc to them. He'll sometimes start with a cold open, cut to a hint of what will happen, stuff is just going on everywhere. He'll have him doing something, and then we'll wrap it up. Within the broader story of the video, there'll also be these little mini arcs that follow the same formula. This is the same introduction, body and conclusion structure that academic writers use. The same setup, action and climax formula that screenwriters use, and the same way that oral storytellers present fables. It's a formula that for whatever reason resonates with humans. Of course as an experienced filmmaker he also mixes things up chronologically, but the way that he structures each day, video essay or even long take interview using this kind of formula is foundational to creating structure out of the chaos that is life that acts as a hook that the audience can relate to. He also uses titles, physical chapter markers, visual gimmicks and handmade stop motion animation to introduce locations, context or explain concepts that enforce the structure of the story in the same way that documentary filmmakers do. Although what Casey mainly does in his videos has been called vlogging, what his videos really are are personal documentaries. And as with most personal documentaries, the content is prioritised over getting technically perfect shots. This means that some moments may be out of focus, overexposed, lit using the screen of a phone or include moments of him picking up a tripod. Part of the appeal of his style is that he uses real filmmaking techniques but then deconstructs them a bit and leaves them rough around the edges, including moments of imperfection. So what are some of the practical cinematography and editing techniques that he uses to enhance his storytelling visually? One technique he uses a lot is the whip or swish pan. And when you turn the camera quick like this, it's a swish pan. For most of his techniques he shoots with the edit in mind. He'll quickly pan the camera off to the side to end a shot, then in a later clip he'll repeat the same movement as before and cut between these to get a seamless transition between locations. If you break it down frame by frame you can see that he cuts the two shots so that the one ends and the next begins on a blurred movement. Because this happens so fast, the eye isn't quick enough to see exactly where the cut happens and two shots can be stitched together without it being noticeable. This technique has been used quite often in cinema, usually when filmmakers want a way to join two shots together, which need to be filmed in separate takes. For the smoothest transition possible, it helps to make this cut during a move between the most minimal frame possible, such as a dark blank wall, rather than a complex shot with actors. Another editing technique he and a ton of other YouTubers use is the jump cut. This is where a cut is made that joins two shots which have the same or similar framing. Usually this means doing one take using a single clip and chopping out sections in the middle of it to exclude mistakes, fumbled lines of speech or to just include the best bits of a take. In more formal filmmaking, this is usually avoided by shooting multiple angles and shot sizes of scenes and cutting between these different angles to smooth over any mistakes. However some movies, such as the French new wave film Breathless, have also used this technique to deliberately break down the established forms of filmmaking. It renders a more breaking the fourth wall, handmade feeling which fits the tone of Casey's vlogs. He also uses jump cuts to playfully push the story forward in time. By shooting a single take shot from a locked off still perspective, he can move himself around into different parts of the frame and then in the edit, remove all of that excess footage and quickly cut between him in different positions. This makes him whimsically bounce around the frame and gives the feeling that time is passing. Or he'll sometimes combine this with a match cut, where he uses an edit to transition between two frames that have similar compositional or subject traits, another technique found in cinema. While he uses jump cuts to shorten and speed up his videos, he's also done the exact opposite for certain videos to achieve a different effect. In some videos he's used long takes, where he lets an extended portion of a clip play without cutting. These tend to really suck the viewer into the moment and work well for heartfelt monologues, as long as those monologues don't have any distractions or lapses in performance. Like all of these techniques, the long take has also been used in many films, often for moments where the filmmaker is trying to pull the audience into the world of the film and the performances on screen as much as possible, without breaking the illusion with excessive cutting. Another well-worn technique he uses are time lapses. This is where footage is captured at a lower frame rate and then played back at a higher frame rate in editing software. This ramps up the motion of the footage, speeding it up. This technique is often used by filmmakers as a visual mechanism to illustrate the passing of time. It's particularly useful in vlogs because they often display a lot of action over a short period of time, such as a day or even a few hours. Time lapses can be placed in between two shots to visually show the passing of time and that these two moments are not continuous. Casey shoots his vlogs with a variety of different shots from a variety of perspectives. He shoots wide establishing shots, usually in the form of overhead aerial footage, to establish the space that he's in. He captures POV or point of view shots, where he'll point the camera in front of him to capture an image that mimics his perspective on what he is seeing. Like in most documentaries, he'll grab observational footage of people, who sometimes engage with him behind the camera, or who sometimes appear natural and unaware of its presence. He'll also sometimes set up a frame on a tripod, record a bit of the environment and then enter the frame and start talking in an interview style. And of course he shoots the classic vlogging shot, a self-portrait with a wide angle lens capturing himself as he talks directly to the audience through the camera, which he'll hand hold. A large part of what photographically makes his vlogs so dynamic comes from the camera movement and the framing. Casey is great at finding interesting angles and frames on the fly. He'll mix the perspective between high and low angles, or use framing devices such as this shot, where he places the camera inside a phone booth to create a natural frame for himself while at the same time showcasing the dynamic environment of the background. The camera moves largely come from him physically moving his body in different ways, whether that be on his famous boosted board, a bicycle, surfboard or just him walking. Part of what makes the way in which he moves the camera so effective is because of the variety. Contrasting shots with fast motion, locked off shots, high angles, low angles, create a feeling that the story, through the cinematography and editing, is constantly getting propelled forward. So how does he do this? Well the answer is with quite a few different tools and cinematic toys. The cameras and gear that he's used has changed quite a bit over the years, but let's go over the current setup he uses. Most of his gear is I guess what you'd call consumer or prosumer, because it's relatively reasonable price points make it accessible to the general public. As I mentioned before, getting the shot is more important in his vlogs than perfect cinematography. Function rules. He shoots aerials with a Mavic 2 Pro drone that comes in a tiny form factor that fits in a backpack, but which also resolves great images and puts it at the top of the consumer drone market. He's recently taken to shooting super fisheye POV and vlogging shots with the Insta360 X3 that he attaches to a pretty ridiculous selfie stick. And for most action or water sequences he uses a GoPro, at the moment the Hero 9. So those are some of the more niche cameras that he uses, now let's take a look at his main vlogging camera setup. For years he's stayed in the Canon ecosystem, using the 6D as his main camera with either a 16-35mm or a 10-18mm wide angle zoom lens. However, he's now moved to Sony and shoots his videos with a 4K workflow. His main camera is the a7S III. It's light, shoots in 4K, has slow-mo capabilities, can shoot in super low light conditions and importantly has a swivel screen, so that he can see what he's recording when he shoots in selfie mode. This is paired with his go-to lens, the Sony 12-20mm f2.8. A large part of his look comes from using super wide angle lenses up close, that distorts the edges of the frame a bit and maximises how much background we see in a shot. Shooting at a wider focal length also minimises the amount of visible camera shake there will be when shooting handheld. He attaches this setup to a GorillaPod, a lightweight mouldable tripod which can act as a selfie stick and can also be quickly positioned in tight small spaces as a tripod. He also carries a lightweight Manfrotto Element Traveler tripod which is small, portable and can be used for higher elevation tripod shots. Finally, he'll mount a lightweight Rode VideoMic Pro Plus shotgun mic on top of the camera to capture ambient sound or when he talks directly to camera. I guess the answer to the question, what makes Casey Neistat's videos so groundbreaking, is that he effectively took a bunch of established filmmaking techniques and his own experience in documentary filmmaking and applied it to tell stories in a more deconstructed YouTube vlog format. Although his videos appear super improvised, rough and chaotic, and to an extent they probably are, they are also carefully and thoughtfully shot, crafted and assembled with a high degree of filmmaking know-how, which wasn't really the norm before Casey. While a vlogger's personality and the situations they put themselves in are of course a large part of their appeal, Casey's vlogs changed the game by also applying a level of filmmaking that elevated the vlog genre as a whole. As entertaining as vlogs are to watch, the content that I personally like to consume the most is well made cinema. If you're looking for an easy way to stream an interesting rotating selection of curated movies, you can do so thanks to the sponsor of this video, MUBI. Amongst MUBI's catalogue of films available for streaming are older classics, documentaries, film festival favourites and contemporary work from a current selection of auteurs. Since we've been talking about consumer camera equipment in this video, probably the best example of a feature film that incorporates that technology is Tangerine, which is currently streaming on MUBI in South Africa. This raw and engaging comedy drama, directed by Sean Baker, was famously shot on an iPhone. It's a low budget classic which achieved wide film festival acclaim and proved that phones can actually be viable filmmaking tools if they are supported by a strong enough creative vision and performances. Being able to stream these kinds of critically acclaimed modern indie classics is why I love using MUBI as my streaming site of choice. So that brings us to the end of this video. As always a final thanks to all the kind patrons who keep the channel going with their support and receive these videos early and ad free. Otherwise until next time, thanks for watching and goodbye.