How to edit SO good your viewers get addicted to your videos

Summary

The video script focuses on the art of video editing, emphasizing that it's more than just cutting out dead space. It introduces a four-pillar formula for creating engaging and addictive content. The first pillar is understanding the viewer's desired experience, whether it's an authentic hangout with a person like Sam or an entertaining rapid-fire style like Mr. Beast. The second pillar involves maximizing attention through visual variety, using different types of footage like A-roll and B-roll effectively. The third pillar is about visual continuity, ensuring a seamless flow of visuals to maintain viewer immersion. Lastly, the fourth pillar addresses immersive audio, using sound effects and music to engage the viewer's emotions and enhance their experience. The script also shares the creator's success in gaining over 300,000 views and 13,000 subscribers without promotion, highlighting the impact of thoughtful editing on viewer engagement.

Takeaways

• 📚 **Editing Beyond Basics**: Editing is more than just cutting out dead space; it's about enhancing the viewer's experience and ensuring they stay engaged until the end.
• 🎬 **Authenticity vs. Entertainment**: Different editing styles suit different viewer expectations. Sam's style is more personal and authentic, while Mr. Beast's is rapid-fire and entertaining.
• ✂️ **Cutting for Engagement**: Cutting out pauses can improve entertainment value but may reduce authenticity. An effective editing style balances these elements.
• 👁️ **Visual Variety**: Using a mix of A-roll (talking head footage) and B-roll (supplementary footage) can maintain viewer interest and clarify the message.
• 📉 **Minimizing Visual Confusion**: Avoid excessive visual changes that may confuse viewers. Maintain a balance between variety and coherence.
• 🔍 **Guiding Viewer Attention**: Direct the viewer's focus to important parts of the frame using techniques like zooming, animation, and visual effects.
• 🎨 **Visual Continuity**: Create seamless transitions between shots to maintain immersion and keep the viewer engaged.
• 📹 **Making Videos Look Good**: Good color grading and subtle animations can significantly enhance the visual appeal of a video.
• 🎶 **Immersive Audio**: Sound design and music choice can double the stimulation for viewers and influence their emotional engagement.
• 📈 **Music and Mood**: Match the music to the mood of the video segment and use sound effects to enhance emotional investment.
• 🔊 **Sound Effects for Engagement**: Use risers, hits, and drones to manipulate the viewer's emotions and keep them invested in the content.

Q & A

What is the four pillar formula mentioned in the transcript?

The four pillar formula is a method for effective video editing that focuses on creating an engaging and immersive experience for viewers. It covers aspects such as cutting out dead space, enhancing authenticity, using visuals to maximize attention, and employing sound design to stimulate the audience.

Why is it important to consider the viewer's expectations when editing a video?

Considering the viewer's expectations is crucial because it helps tailor the editing style to the audience's preferences. This ensures that the content resonates with the viewers, making them more likely to watch until the end and engage with the video.

How does cutting out pauses contribute to the entertainment value of a video?

Cutting out pauses helps maintain a constant flow of speech, which can be more engaging for viewers who are looking for an entertaining experience. It keeps the pace of the video up and reduces the chance of viewers getting bored.

What is the role of B-roll footage in enhancing a video's content?

B-roll footage provides visual support to the audio, depicting what the speaker is talking about. It makes the content more interesting and helps convey information more clearly and quickly, thus enhancing the viewer's understanding and engagement.

How can using different types of footage maximize viewer engagement?

By switching between different types of footage like A-roll, B-roll, and other visual elements, a video can maintain visual variety and keep the viewer's attention. This approach prevents the content from becoming monotonous and helps to maintain a high level of engagement.

What are some techniques to make still clips more engaging without cutting to another clip?

Techniques to make still clips more engaging include adding movement by slowly changing the scale or position, using abrupt scale changes to draw attention, and applying visual effects like zooming in on important parts, or using keyframes to create a 'wiggle' effect.

How can captions be used effectively in a video?

Captions should be used to highlight important information and guide the viewer's attention. They should be concise, with three words or less at a time, to ensure readability. Captions can also fill in dead space but should be used judiciously to avoid overwhelming the viewer.

What is the purpose of visual continuity in video editing?

Visual continuity aims to create a seamless flow of visuals, preventing distractions and maintaining immersion. It ensures that transitions between different parts of the video are smooth, making the editing feel invisible and the viewing experience mesmerizing.

How does immersive audio or sound design enhance the viewer's experience?

Immersive audio or sound design stimulates the viewer through a second sense, doubling the stimulation and allowing the video to be experienced more fully. It can influence the mood of the viewer, making them more emotionally invested and thus more engaged with the content.

Why is music choice important in video editing?

Music choice is important because it sets the tone and mood for different segments of the video. The right music can enhance the emotional impact, create anticipation, and make the content more exciting. It can also mark transitions and topic shifts, making the video more dynamic.

What are some strategies to make the most out of music in a video?

Strategies include matching the music's mood with the segment's tone, using music to mark transitions, and aligning the music's dynamics with the video's content. Additionally, techniques like pausing the music for emphasis or letting it fade out to signal the end of a segment can draw the viewer's attention and create anticipation.

How can sound effects be used to manipulate the viewer's emotions?

Sound effects like risers, hits, and drones can be used to build tension, emphasize moments, and create intrigue. These effects can hijack the viewer's emotions, making them more emotionally invested in the video and thus more engaged.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Art of Engaging Video Editing

This paragraph introduces the concept of creating an engaging video editing style that keeps viewers hooked until the end. The speaker shares their extensive editing experience, distilled into a four-pillar formula. The importance of understanding the viewer's desired experience is emphasized, with examples of contrasting editing styles from Sam and Mr. Beast. The paragraph also discusses the significance of cutting out pauses for entertainment value while maintaining authenticity. It concludes with an invitation to take notes and learn from the speaker's editing choices for their first three uploads, which garnered significant views and subscribers without promotion.

05:01

🎬 Maximizing Engagement Through Visual Variety

The second paragraph delves into the importance of visual variety in video editing to maintain viewer attention. It explains the use of a-roll and b-roll footage and their impact on personal connection and clarity of information. The paragraph also touches on the use of stock footage and motion graphics to enhance explanations. The speaker highlights the need for an effective editing style that considers all choices to contribute to the viewer's experience. They discuss the drawbacks of excessive visual changes and provide tips for creating immersive videos, such as adding movement to still clips, using keyframes, and strategically placing captions. The focus is on making every moment in the video blend seamlessly to create a mesmerizing experience.

10:02

🎧 The Power of Immersive Audio and Sound Design

The third paragraph focuses on the role of immersive audio and sound design in enhancing viewer engagement. It outlines the process of gathering sound effects and strategically placing them throughout the video to create a more stimulating experience. The use of risers, hits, and drones to manipulate the viewer's emotions and maintain engagement is discussed. The paragraph also covers the importance of music selection in setting the mood and emotional tone of different segments of the video. Techniques such as aligning music with the video's content, pausing music for emphasis, and using transitions in music to mark topic shifts are explored. The speaker concludes with a note on the value of investing time in finding the right music and offers resources for obtaining copyright-free songs.

Keywords

💡Editing Experience

Editing experience refers to the accumulated knowledge and skill set one gains from years of editing videos. In the video, the speaker boils down their years of editing experience into a four-pillar formula, emphasizing that editing is more than just cutting out dead space and requires a deep understanding of the viewer's expectations.

💡Viewer Engagement

Viewer engagement is the level of interest and interaction a viewer has with a video. The video discusses how different editing styles, such as Sam's minimal cuts for authenticity or Mr. Beast's rapid-fire style for entertainment, cater to what the viewers want, which is crucial for maintaining engagement and watch time.

💡A-Roll and B-Roll

A-Roll refers to the primary footage that includes the subject's audio and video, while B-Roll is supplementary footage that adds context or emphasis to the main content. The video explains that A-Roll is good for personal and important moments, whereas B-Roll can be used more freely to depict what is being discussed, thus enhancing clarity and interest.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity in video editing is about creating a genuine connection with the viewer, making them feel like they are spending time with the person in the video. The script mentions that quick cuts and flashy animations can disrupt this authentic experience, which is why they are not always necessary.

💡Visual Variety

Visual variety is the use of different types of footage and visual elements to keep the viewer's attention. The video emphasizes that while it's important to switch between A-Roll, B-Roll, and other types of footage, doing so excessively can lead to confusion and disengagement.

💡Immersive Audio

Immersive audio refers to the use of sound design to create an engaging auditory experience that complements the visuals. The video discusses how sound effects and music can be used to manipulate the viewer's emotions, making the video more captivating and emotionally resonant.

💡Sound Effects

Sound effects are audio elements that are added to a video to enhance the viewing experience. They can be used to emphasize certain moments, build tension, or create a specific mood. The script provides examples of risers, hits, and drones, which are used to build anticipation, emphasize moments, and create intrigue, respectively.

💡Music Choice

Music choice involves selecting the right soundtrack for a video to match its mood and enhance the viewer's emotional connection. The video suggests that the music should align with the tone of the segment and that the editor can further immerse the viewer by synchronizing the music's dynamics with the video's narrative.

💡Visual Continuity

Visual continuity ensures that the video flows smoothly from one shot to another without jarring transitions that can disrupt the viewer's immersion. The video explains that seamless editing, where graphics move into the frame or sound effects explain sudden appearances, contributes to a mesmerizing viewing experience.

💡Emotional Investment

Emotional investment is the degree to which a viewer becomes emotionally involved in the content of a video. The video script discusses how sound design and music choice can be used to manipulate the viewer's emotions, leading to a higher level of engagement and retention.

💡Captions

Captions are text overlays used in videos to provide additional information or to emphasize certain words. The video script warns against overusing captions as they can become obnoxious and detract from the viewing experience. However, when used judiciously, captions can help guide the viewer's attention and enhance understanding.

Highlights

Editing is more than just cutting out dead space; it's about enhancing the viewer's experience.

Editing can significantly impact watch time and viewer engagement.

Sam's editing style removes boring parts but maintains authenticity, which is what his viewers seek.

Mr. Beast's rapid editing style caters to viewers seeking entertainment and stimulation.

Editing choices should align with the viewer's expectations for the content.

Cutting out pauses can improve entertainment value but may reduce authenticity.

Effective editing considers the balance between entertainment and authenticity.

Visual variety is crucial for maintaining viewer attention, but should be used judiciously to avoid confusion.

A-roll footage is personal and holds attention well, especially when the speaker is confident.

B-roll footage helps illustrate the subject matter, making it more engaging than just watching a talking head.

Motion graphics and animations can be used to explain complex ideas quickly and clearly.

Editing choices should be tailored to the viewer's expectations and the content's purpose.

Adding movement or changing perspectives can make static images more engaging.

Captions should be used sparingly and effectively to highlight key information without overwhelming the viewer.

Guiding the viewer's attention to the focus point of an image can enhance clarity and engagement.

Visual continuity is important for maintaining immersion; abrupt changes can disrupt the viewer's experience.

Sound design and immersive audio can double the stimulation for the viewer and influence their mood.

Risers, hits, and drones are sound effects that can manipulate the viewer's emotions and engagement.

Music choice can greatly impact the mood and emotional investment of the viewer.

Syncing the music's dynamics with the video's narrative can enhance the viewing experience.

Transcripts

imagine your editing is so good that

your viewers can't resist watching until

the end I want that for you so I've

boiled down my years of editing

experience into a four pillar formula by

the way you'll have to take notes today

because we are going way deeper than

basic things like cutting out Dead Space

editing is so much more than that and

let's be real your video deserves so

much more than

that a great editing style may get you

perfect watch time and millions of views

but it may also leave you with terrible

view counts and Broken Dreams to figure

out why let's start with

this it's just this guy Sam in his car

talking and then working out the video

lasts 26 minutes but has just 17 cuts

and no other form of editing how many

views how many subscribers do you expect

him to

have so this means that editing is

optional right wait slow down that's not

what's going on here Sam did edit he cut

out all the boring parts that the viewer

didn't come to see but he left it at

that because his viewers aren't looking

for a super stimulating experience they

just want to feel like they're spending

time with someone a bunch of Quick Cuts

and flashy animations would ruin that

authentic experience that the viewer

wanted and guess what A disruption of

what the viewer came to the video for is

the best way to make them stop watching

and while Sam edits with an average of

90 seconds between cuts Mr Beast does

quite the opposite so if both editing

Styles work what should you do start

with considering what experience your

viewers want Sam's editing tells us that

millions of people come to YouTube to

feel like they're hanging out with

someone Mr BEAST's rapid fire style

shows that a ton of people go on YouTube

for entertainment all your editing

choices contribute to that experience

for example cutting out all your pauses

so that you're speaking constantly is is

easily the most important thing for

entertainment but it takes away from

authenticity an effective editing style

takes all these choices into account so

as I reveal the reasoning behind my

editing for my first three uploads take

notes on what you should add to your own

videos based on what suits your audience

the best this video is not a bunch of

tutorials it's a handbook to addictive

editing think of it as a foundational

starting point to know what tutorials

you should even watch in the first place

I want you to look at this there's a

problem

here this is the timeline of a typically

edited YouTube video a couple cuts have

removed the unnecessary bits there was a

tangent here that wasn't really relevant

to the video's greater purpose these

Cuts removed pauses and these removed

bad takes but in its current form this

video is doomed to fall short of its

potential the reason is this video isn't

using its visuals to maximize attention

think about this when you see a change

in your vision like something moving

abruptly it gets your attention the same

is true for watching a video and here

there's only three different things to

look at in the span of a minute kind of

boring but if the video were to switch

between a roll b roll and other types of

footage every few seconds it would keep

attention much better however there is a

drawback to changing what's on screen

too much try to notice it as we go over

how different types of footage should be

used to maximize engagement a roll this

is when you can both see and hear the

subject at the same time it feels

personal and holds attention really well

if you're speaking with confidence use

it for short periods of time when you're

saying something important b-roll this

is extra footage recorded separately

from the audio it creates a visual

depiction of your words letting the

viewer see what you're talking about

instead of just having to look at your

face this lets you get things across

much more clearly and faster too it's

more interesting than a-roll so use it

as much as possible some variants of

b-roll are stock footage which is just a

lazy version and Motion Graphics these

improve explanation times a ton look at

how quickly a complicated thing was

explained in this dude perfect video did

you find something nope I found a

suspicious looking math problem over by

the pool table and it appears that I

need to use the pool balls and the

numbers on them to form some kind of

solution you really need to understand

how crucial that editing Choice was that

was an essential but boring moment in

the video story any attempt to use a

roll or a normal b roll in this moment

would either be too slow slow or

terribly confusing both of which would

lose viewers but an animation explained

it crystal clear and fast that's the

sort of editing choice you need to make

to create an addictive video if you've

been following my channel then you've

probably noticed I've only uploaded

three videos and with that I've gotten

over 300,000 views and like 13,000

subscribers what makes it crazier is

that I haven't promoted these videos

anywhere I just uploaded them on YouTube

and they did great completely by

themselves because of all the YouTube

knowledge I've gotten over the years I

got a channel last year that I got to

like 60,000 subscribers and over 24

million views so naturally I've been

getting a ton of comments and emails of

people asking me to help them out so I

want to let you know that I'm releasing

my calendar below but it's for serious

creators only if that sounds interesting

to you then you can book a call below to

learn how to grow your YouTube channel

and by the way the spots are extremely

Limited at the moment so don't miss out

now you probably remember from earlier

there's a drawback to cutting between

different clips a ton all of this visual

variety can quickly become visual mush

if you're doing it wrong let's say you

want to be engaging so you're trying to

cut between different clips literally as

much as possible you risk making things

confusing which hurts engagement to

avoid that don't minimize shot duration

just for the sake of minimizing shot

duration it's okay to leave the same

clip on screen for for 10 seconds if

it's interesting for 10 seconds and

often times adding some engagement spice

to your video doesn't even require

cutting to another clip instead use some

of these tricks to make things way more

immersive first give some movement to

any boring still Clips you have make

either the scale or position slowly

change or even better make things Fancy

by changing their perspective you can

also do more abrupt scale changes to

draw attention to certain things for

example when I say something important

and an a-roll segment I'll zoom in close

to my face to subtly communicate to the

viewer that they should listen up you

might also make wiggle key frames that's

when you see images or text or maybe the

whole video shaking around you never see

me doing this because I don't like the

way it looks but if you want to do it

then go

ahead next throw on a bunch of visuals

on top of your

footage many people make the mistake of

adding captions just to jack up the

visual variety but don't forget that

drawback that we talked about using

captions to fill in Dead Space can

quickly become obnoxious and ruin a

great opportunity to use a more engaging

visual so I only use captions when I

want the viewer to understand and pay

closer attention to certain words but if

there's really nothing else to put on

screen captions are often still better

than nothing also keep them the three

words or less at a time because it makes

them easier to read now let's say you're

showing an image to the viewer if you

plainly show the whole thing like this

it's boring and more importantly it's

confusing to make things crystal clear

and create some visual variety guide the

viewer's attention to the focus point of

the image here are six ways that I do

that which go beyond just scaling and

positioning take notes cuz this is what

gives you professional looking timelines

like

these animate the most important piece

of text or area of the image being

highlighted darken or blur the area that

surrounds the focus point of the

image shift the Hue of the image to make

it red and it gives the image a negative

connotation you can also shift it to

yellow or green to make it seem positive

circles arrows and underlines also work

oh and one extra make the subject glow

another immersion hack is to just make

the video look good this could be color

grading adding a v yet or some subtle

particle animations on the topic of

making things look good let's bring our

Focus to make things feel good this next

pillar literally makes your video a

digital morphine

stream so we've talked about visual

variety but now let's talk about visual

continuity if you manage to create a

seamless feed of visuals then there's no

rough edges no areas for distraction to

build up there's no point where the

viewer loses immersion the goal for this

pillar is to make every moment blend

into the next seamlessly the editing

should be invisible

The Experience

mesmerizing anytime a graphic comes on

screen it can't just magically appear

there that doesn't make sense it needs

to somehow move into the frame check the

description for my free presets now you

don't have to animate things you can

also let something magically appear on

screen but then explain how it got there

using a sound effect I like to use the

shutter sound effect but a pop sound or

something like that also works now this

is super important look I just made a

cut but I messed up the most crucial

rule of doing a cut in the last frame of

this first clip the viewer is looking

right here in my eyes then a tiny

fraction of a second later in the first

frame of the second clip the viewer is

now expected to look here that's a

little jarring and it breaks some of the

immersion that your editing should be

providing imagine if every cut the

viewer had to keep changing Focus from

one side of the screen all the way to

the other this right here is a pretty

unimmersive viewing experience another

way to make cut seamless is using a full

screen transition there's plenty of free

packs out there but if you like my

subtle style of them then I got

something for you in the description and

don't be afraid to break visual

continuity every now and then cuz

remember it jolts the viewer it'll get

their attention look at this timeline

we've been talking about all these ways

to make the video visually addicting to

watch but we've been leaving out the

other half of the video there is a whole

another sense for your viewer to

experience the video in pillar four

immersive audio sound design makes the

viewer experience every cut transition

animation and piece of footage through a

second sense it's literally double the

stimulation and it can be used to

influence the mood that the viewer has

which is an engagement superpower that

we'll talk about more once we get to

your music choice but for now the first

step of sound design is to gather a

bunch of sounds to work with I already

got that for you start with that free

sound design back of copyright free

sounds that I made for you in the

description if you need more check out

freesound.org or get epidemic sound next

go through your video and basically just

add sound effects wherever it makes

sense when something moves you should

add a whoosh sound and when something's

highlighted a highlight sound now comes

the engaging part these next three types

of sound effects literally hijack your

viewers emotions and suck them into the

video first are risers they build

tension and anticipation because they

communicate to the audience that

something really important is about to

happen but only use them if something

important is actually going to happen or

else they will lose their reputation and

won't be effective next are hits these

release tension and emphasize moments

making them feel important you can use

these on their own or place a riser

before them it depends on the situation

and again don't overdo them finally

drones these create a feeling of mystery

and Intrigue they reserved more for

darker moods creating a lot of

underlying suspense these sound effects

are so good because they kind of manipul

ulate the viewer's emotions which is so

powerful because the more emotionally

invested the viewer is the more engaged

they are and these sound effects are

just the tip of the iceberg to achieve

this below the surface is a massive

potential for emotional investment your

music choice for example I like to find

songs that create a feeling of

anticipation which makes the viewer

constantly believe I'm about to say

something super important then during a

segment where I'm giving groundbreaking

advice I use a song that gives an

Innovative feeling which creates a ton

of excitement over what I'm saying this

is super straightforward to pull off

separate your video based on subject

changes and then decide the mood the

viewer should have for each subject by

the way you should spend a lot of time

finding the right music because it is

really important that it fits you can

find some good copyright free songs on

the YouTube audio library and there's

the occasional gem artist like let me

know which offers free songs but to be

honest subscribing to a licensed music

platform is the best choice if you're

going to take YouTube seriously I'm not

sponsored but I saved like 4 hours with

them last time and I found way better

songs I have an affiliate link for them

in the description okay this is going to

sound crazy but there's even more you

can do with your music choice to immerse

the viewer like what do you think

happens if you pause the music abruptly

the sudden change will jolt the viewer

getting their attention also the lack of

music brings attention to other parts of

the video so for special moments try

pausing the music to elev at that moment

now what if you instead let the music

slowly fade out once the viewer notices

that the music is going away they'll

understand that the segment they're

watching is coming to a close this

realization gives them anticipation of

something new coming okay let's get even

more advanced Beyond just making the

mood of the song match the tone of the

segment it's in upgrade your music by

sinking the hits and dips of the song to

the video for example in this segment I

introduced the problem here and began

teaching the solution here I line things

up so that at this exact moment the

music picks up doing that marks a clear

topic shift from problem to solution and

also makes the solution segment more

exciting and if you're wondering why I

have four music tracks playing at the

same time it's because I downloaded the

separate elements of the song that's

another feature of epidemic sound which

is super helpful all right I hope that

helped now there's a lot more to

retention so click here for a video on

that and then you're interested in that

call thing there's a link below