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YouTube Video Outline (Better Than Writing a Script)
2K views
May 19, 2024
Creating a YouTube video outline can be more effective than writing a full script. An outline provides a flexible structure, allowing for natural delivery while ensuring all key points are covered. Start by defining the video's purpose and target audience. Break the content into clear sections: introduction, main points, and conclusion. For each section, jot down bullet points or brief notes to guide your flow. This approach keeps your presentation engaging and conversational, while still being organized and focused. An outline helps maintain spontaneity and authenticity, making your videos more relatable and easier to produce.
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How to write a script for your YouTube video
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I wouldn't call it a script because I don't like writing something out word for word. I'd rather just have an outline
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So we're going to talk about how to create an outline for your YouTube videos
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I think about the way to prepare for your YouTube video on a spectrum
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So at one end of the spectrum, you have a word for word script
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Everything you're going to say is written out exactly on the script. And then the other end is something completely unscripted
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Let's talk about examples of both and why I think creating something in the middle is the best way to create content for YouTube
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the one end of the spectrum of the no prep, just an idea and run with it would be someone like
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Casey Nystad. He did daily vlogs for two years or I don't know exactly how long it was
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And so he would say, hey, I think this is my day and maybe I can make a video about this
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Going through his day, it doesn't turn out exactly how he thought. And so he would have to record a bunch of stuff and figure out in the edit, how do I tell a story and make my day
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interesting because I have to put out a YouTube video. He did that phenomenally for a really
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really long time. He has a whole course walking you through his whole process. I can link to that
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down below in the description if you want to check it out. For me, having that kind of free
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flowing of an idea and turning that into something more in the edit than while actually
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recording it is really, really tough. And then at the far other end of the spectrum, you have
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the word for word script. So there are plenty of YouTubers. Someone like Gerald Undone
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writes out the entire script and then uses a teleprompter. And then someone like Marquez Brownlee
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also writes out a word for word script, but he goes through recording his videos a little bit
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differently. He's looking at it all on his phone. And what he'll do is essentially if it's in
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bold, it means he's delivering it to the camera. He needs to have it memorized, make eye contact with
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a camera. If it's not in bold, it means there's going to be B-roll there over top of it. They're
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not going to see him And so he can be reading the text and get through that part of it really quickly because he knows that they going to be watching something else while they hear his voice And the issue for me with writing out a word for word script
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is the fact that you write something once and then as you start, you read it out loud and you're like
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that's not how I would actually talk. And so there's a lot of back and forth of getting the exact
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words on page how you would actually speak it. And then you need to know the script well enough
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so that you can deliver this as if you're having a normal conversation with someone
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If the camera were another person, you're talking to them, maybe even with more energy
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instead of you trying to read something and just making direct eye contact with a camera
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that I don't think comes off quite as natural and free-flowing and make the same connection as someone that's talking
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as if they were having a conversation with someone. So the middle ground for me is writing out bullet points
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Some of them are close to word-for-word for maybe the introduction, the closing and a point that's really, really important. Some things may be just one word
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and I know that one word means, here's what I'm going to talk about, and I could talk for 30 seconds
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or a minute. I don't want to go much longer than that because if I'm talking for two minutes, there's probably several different points I want to make, and then I make point two before point one
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and then I just kind of get all jumbled up in my head. If I have a short enough amount of time
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as far as each one of the points, I can deliver in, say, 60 seconds, I can deliver it
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concisely and the great thing with video is you can do it again. So I have the idea. I may deliver
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that point three times and then choose the best one of them when I go to edit, but I have a couple of
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options and it made all of the points that I thought were important. I thought it would be helpful
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to show you a couple of examples. And so each one's a little bit different. So for example
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the DaVinci Resolve tutorial for beginners it me going through showing people how to edit a video So I just had the points of here the steps that I want to go through It would be hard to write out a word for word script of here how many times I going to make a cut exactly what I going to say while
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I'm waiting for something to happen on screen. I think that would be really difficult, but at least
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the points that I want to talk about, the chapters I'm going to have in the YouTube video
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were all broken out in my outline. Another video was how to film a YouTube video on your phone
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That looks something like this. So there were a couple points that I wrote out in much more detail. And then some of them were like one word, like background. So I need to talk
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about choosing the background for your YouTube videos and one word. I talked for, I don't know
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a minute in that video about that one point. Are you just getting started on YouTube? We have a new
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four-week course where we'll walk you through step by step, how to create your channel, how to
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create your videos, and how to start growing on YouTube. If you're interested in learning more
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check out the link in the description below. So for me, my process for getting the outline is to
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think about the different ideas and then organize in a way I think that makes sense for the
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YouTube video, go through and kind of practice or think through each one of the points, and then
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I'm ready to record. Where on the word for word script, you would have to spend hours and
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hour just getting the words right. And then I think the recording can go quicker if you have the
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words right, you're reading it a teleprompter and you're able to do that in a way that doesn't
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look like you're reading. More power to you if you can do it that way. But the thing is your mind may not work the same as my mind. Maybe the word for word script is better or
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maybe the total wing at Lake Casey Nice. That can work well for you. This is something I recommend that you experiment with
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Try one way that you think would work best for you, and then push yourself to try something a little bit different
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and see what happened. Over time, you'll come up with kind of your method for coming up with the content for your YouTube videos
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creating an outline or script recording the videos and editing it into something that you publish on YouTube and hopefully be super super successful So one thing with our outlines and actually our videos with YouTube is we don
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really have a shot list. And I think that something would make our videos much better. So we have the
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outline of everything we want to say. And I think we do a good job with that, but also adding in B-roll or
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changing up the scenery. So if I deliver points one, three, five, and seven sitting here. And then I'm
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outside on the rooftop of our office at Mexico City delivering the other points
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And so every 90 seconds, you go from me in dark mode, dark gray background to me outside
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bright sunlight. And so someone wakes up on the fact that there's a change in scenery every, say, minute or two
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Also with having an outline, you can write out kind of a shot list side by side or next
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to the point where you're going to be recording it from or with the potential Broll with
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B. And that will allow you to have everything kind of planned out. Here's everything I want to say
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Here's what I'm going to be what I'm saying it. What's going to be on screen and boom, you're gonna be able to record amazing videos for YouTube
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If you think there is a better way to create the outlines or scripts for your videos
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let me know down below in the comments below. As I mentioned, it's important to experiment
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as you're creating videos for YouTube. And guess what? This video, I had no outline
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just kind of freestyle. It had a couple thoughts in my head. And boom, talk to the camera one point
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about the B-roll and the shot list. I forgot at the end, so I recorded that later
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and hopefully as you're seeing this now, it was inserted into the middle of the video
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and you didn't even notice. So the advice I give you on trying to experiment
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I'm doing that with this video, so hopefully you like it. The next step in the process to creating your videos for YouTube
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would be recording. So if you wanna learn how to record a video
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on your cell phone, check out the video up above or on a camera in the video below
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Hope to see you in those and future videos. Bye
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