 another dose. If you're new to the channel, hi, my name is Nasser, and I'm now a third year medical student studying at King's College London. And apart from being a medical student, I've spent the last two years making videos every single week here on YouTube. So I feel like I've learned a lot about video making in that time. And so in this video, I want to share with you guys how it is that I make YouTube videos, the entire process from coming up with an idea for a video, running a script, the gear that I use, the editing publishing and everything in between behind the scenes. So if that type of thing interests you, sit down, buckle up, grab some popcorn and a coffee and enjoy the video. All right, so let's jump right into it by talking about ideas. So ideas for videos come to me in all kinds of places at all kinds of different times, but generally I can break them down into two sort of main sections. So the first of which is sort of a spontaneous video idea. I'll be walking around the city or studying in the library and something will pop into my head, something that I think other people might be interested in knowing about, or maybe I've identified a problem that has a solution or something like that. And then the other type of video ideas that I come up with are very deliberate. So they're the ones where I'm sitting down on my desk going through YouTube videos in my space in medical field, productivity, education, things like that. And I try and think about what do people actually want to watch on YouTube. And so on my Karma Medic channel, I follow a whole range of other YouTubers who are in a similar space to what I'm doing. So either medical school, productivity, tech, education, whatever the case may be. And so watching videos made by other people in your space is a great way of understanding what kinds of topics do well on YouTube, what people are actually interested in seeing, and what things people might not be that interested in. Now, obviously, I don't condone copying or taking very heavy inspiration from any other individual video or YouTuber. Whenever you're making your videos, you should put in your own personality and your own spin into everything because that's what's going to make your videos different. And that's what's going to make people want to watch them. The last thing that I'll say about video ideas is that you need somewhere to make sure you write all of those things down on my phone, on my notes app, I have a lengthy, lengthy, lengthy list of video ideas. I'm going to blur it so you don't know what's coming up on the channel soon, but I just want to illustrate the point that there's lots and lots of ideas on there. Now, for every one good video idea that I end up putting on that list, there's at least another 10 bad video ideas. But the point is that I can write things down, they can maybe evolve over time or I can revisit them in the future from a different angle, different perspective. As long as I have it there, it's a reference point that I can go to and maybe build a video around it. The next step in my video making process is writing a script. Now, this is something that I actually don't do almost at all now, but I relied on it heavily in the beginning months and then year of my channel because at the beginning I couldn't really organize the points in my head that I wanted to say out and a lot of the words and sentences that I would speak would be filled with ums and us and stutters and jitters and things like that because I wasn't that comfortable talking to a camera and interacting with you guys as the audience as much as I am right now. But now writing scripts is something that I really don't do as much unless I feel like I have a lot of information that's kind of confusing and I need to make sure I can organize it into specific little boxes. That's when I will use a script for videos these days. Alright, so once you have your video idea and you've written your script, it's time to actually start filming the video. Now obviously, depending on the type of video, for example, this sit down talking head video or if you're vlogging walking around the city, it's going to be very, very different. And there's all kinds of different gear that you can use for different situations. There's a whole world that I was completely oblivious to before I got into making videos. Everything that I talk about in this video is going to be linked in the description down below. So if you want to learn more about anything that I show you guys, do check it out down there. Now, for example, guys, the setup that I'm using right now, I've got a Sony a 6400 camera body, a Sony 15 to 35 millimeter G master lens, road video mic Pro plus sitting on top of a manfrotto base plate and then a newer tripod over here. And last but not least, a free will ND filter on the front. So as you can see, that's a whole lot of gear and obviously not a starter setup for the first year of making videos for the first 6000 subscribers or so that came to my channel. These are the only two things that I use. This is a five pound tripod that I bought off of Amazon. And this is the phone that I've been using for the last two years. It's an iPhone eight. And even before I bought this tripod, I would just place this phone up against the cardboard box and fill myself using that. So really, you do not need a lot of gear in order to start YouTube channel in order to start making videos and find your passion and your drive for whatever topic it is that you're interested in. I just want to make that abundantly clear. This is what I used for over a year of making videos on YouTube. And I found success with it. I managed to build up my experience and my skills. And if I can do it, then anybody else can too. Okay, let's start by talking about cameras. So the camera that I'm using to film this video right now is the Sony a 6400. Now the reasons that I bought it are one, it's made by Sony and it has incredible auto focusing capability. And two, it has a flip up screen. When I was first thinking of what cameras to buy, having a flip up screen was absolutely vital for me because I wanted to make sure I could use that camera while vlogging out and about in the city and being able to see myself on the screen and frame myself is going to be very, very important on the screen and know where the boundaries of the frame are. And that just really helps me understand where I am, how I'm appearing, how I'm coming across what I'm saying, etc, etc, etc. After using that camera to vlog for a couple of months, I realized that the setup in my bag with the tripod and the microphone and the camera and the lens was all a little bit heavy and bulky. And it was preventing me from getting as much footage and all of the shots that I wanted to include in my vlogs. And so I ended up purchasing a dedicated vlogging camera, which is this, the Sony RX100 Mark 7. Now this also has a flip up screen, which is amazing because this camera basically does almost the exact same thing that this huge one does, but it's just tiny and fits in my back pocket. The main difference between these two cameras is that this one here has a fixed lens that cannot be changed, whereas the one that I'm using has interchangeable lenses that I can use with all the other lenses that I have over there. If you plan to mostly make vlogs and sometimes do these types of sit down videos, then I would highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly recommend this camera. So yeah, this is the camera that I use as my B camera. So what you're watching me through right now is my A camera. And then maybe I'll have this camera sitting on top filming my desk top down or it'll be off to the side filming a second view of myself. That would be my B camera. Now I've got two other lenses that help me make videos. This is called a pancake lens. It's also the kit lens, the ones that originally comes with the Sony a 6400 when you buy it. This camera actually has a decently shallow depth of field and it has quite a lot of zoom range in it. So it's quite versatile and useful for vlogging. I just didn't like it as much because I felt like it was cropped in a little bit too much. And also I didn't find it to be very sharp. I didn't find that it kept everything in focus as much as I would like it to, which brings me onto the first lens that I ever purchased, which is 10 to 18 Sony wide angle lens. Now this lens is very good at creating that wide angle view that you see in a lot of people's vlogs and it's great for filming in spaces that are quite small. For example, when I was filming the room tour video here in my room or when I'm filming my cooking videos in the kitchen over there, this is the lens that I like to use because those spaces are so small, having that wider field of view, that wide angle lens helps capture more of the environment in the same shot and gives you a better idea of where I am in respect to the rest of the room. However, I have two main problems with this lens. The first is that when it's at its widest at about 10 millimeters, tends to become very, very shaky and wobbly. And I find it hard to stabilize in post and it doesn't make for a pleasurable experience for the viewer. The second thing is it's not as sharp as this pancake lens that I showed you guys over here and nowhere, nowhere near as sharp as the massive lens that I'm using to film this video right now. So what I mean by sharpness is how well everything is in focus, how sharp the detail is in this image. So if you were to pause this video now and then zoom into my face, you would probably be able to see a lot of the hairs on my beard quite well. And that's because this camera is very, very sharp and it picks up a lot of detail, whereas this wide lens over here, once you start to zoom in a bit, you really lose a lot of that detail and focus. All right, that's enough chatter about cameras and lenses. Let's move on to talk about microphones. Okay, so I have two microphones, one for each of the cameras that I use. This is the Rode Video Micro. It is an excellent option, very good budget friendly starter microphone. Now, the second microphone that I have, I'm using to currently record this video. And that is the Rode Video Micro Plus. It is a very expensive microphone, but honestly, I do think that it makes the audio sound that much better. And just as a frame of reference, this is what the audio sounds like without that microphone plugged in. And audio is something that you shouldn't forget about when you're making videos. It's actually a very important component of the viewer's experience when they're watching your video. A bad video with good audio is watchable, but a good video with bad audio is not watchable. Now you definitely do not need the Rode Video Micro Plus. This microphone was the only one that I had for over a year and honestly served me very, very well. I have no complaints about it at all. All right, now let's move on to talk about tripods because I've tried out my fair share of them and I have some pretty strong opinions. First things first, let me get this out of the way. If you're looking to buy a tripod, but you don't know anything about tripods, buy the Joby Gorilla Pod. This is an absolutely incredible tripod. It is very versatile, very flexible. You can hang it on just about anything and it is so, so, so useful for bending, holding while vlogging. You can stick it up on a tree, you can lay it down on a desk. This is an absolutely amazing tripod and I would highly, highly recommend it. So this is the tripod that I always use if I'm vlogging and I want to set up my camera somewhere so I can have my hands free and record myself doing something. This mechanism over here is called a Manfrotto Baseplate. It is very, very useful for quickly getting your camera on and off of different tripod setups. Now I would love to use this tripod with the setup that I'm using to film this video but it's just way too big and bulky and these legs start to bend and give away to the weight of the camera and so for that purpose I need something that's more sturdy. This is a tripod by Neewer. It is made of all metal. It is very, very sturdy and the legs do not bend at all. So that is what I use for my very big and heavy setup that is this Sony a6400 with a 15 to 35 millimeter lens on it. This is the Manfrotto tripod. You guys have probably heard of it because it has some incredible hype and is used by quite a lot of YouTubers. Personally I didn't like it at all. It feels very plastic-y so it feels quite cheap and it rattles a lot. Whenever you're moving, whenever you're vlogging, if you have something in your bag, it rattles a lot. The head locking mechanism is very good. It is as good as advertised. It's very stiff and doesn't move at all. So props to them for that but everything else when you extend the legs. This is a very flat setup. There isn't a lot of room between the floor and the base plate here so your camera isn't really elevated off of the surface that you put it on. So if I'm ever studying on a desk and I want to film myself, I'd always find that the camera was too low and I was too high. This like I said is the first tripod that I ever bought. It's the one that I use if I'm filming something on my phone because it has a little phone attachment thing that I can put up here and yeah it's very bad quality. It definitely doesn't hold a lot of weight but it's the first one that I ever bought and I like it for that reason. And then this tripod I talked about in my recent EDC video. This is a Frankenstein monster between a Joby GorillaPod 1k head and then the body is from a Zion mobile phone gimbal stabilizer thing. The point of this tripod is that it's extremely, extremely small. So if I'm vlogging and I don't have a backpack then I want to take this camera with a very small tripod. This is the one that I use and then last thing for the tripod section there's also the really big tripods. The ones that you can stand up and sort of extend these legs. You know have them come out. So you can have the camera standing up on a set of legs and film a situation like this. Now again this is not something you necessarily need when you're starting up. I just used to pile up boxes and books and rest my phone against that. But if you're filming a lot of videos and you find a need for something like this then this is the Amazon basics tripod that I used for over a year. Okay the last thing that I want to talk about as far as gear goes is the lighting setup that I'm using. So this over here is the Godox SLW60, SL60W. It's just a very strong light that can help illuminate the rest of my room. Video lighting is also something that's very important and so I always try and film during the day preferably in the mornings that I can use all the natural light that's coming from outside of my apartment. Obviously don't face the windows like this because you're going to look dark and there's going to be a lot of light in the background. What you want to do is sit in front of the window and have all of that light hitting your face and lighting up the rest of the room around you. All right I think that's all of the gear that I wanted to talk about. Now let's move on to editing my videos. So in order to edit my videos I use Final Cut Pro 10. I find it to be a very powerful tool, it's quick and it's easy to understand and I really really like using it. I tried using Adobe Premiere Pro CC for a couple of weeks but I just couldn't get into it. I found it too complicated honestly and Final Cut Pro just made my life so much easier. I do all of my editing on a 13 inch MacBook Pro which you guys can see over there. It is honestly the single best purchase that I've ever made in my life. Before I bought this Mac I had run through about five or six PCs because each year they would either die out on me or become so slow that I couldn't use them and before I started editing on this Mac all the PCs I would edit on would be so laggy, it would crash and I would lose hours and hours of hours of edited work and it would just be the most frustrating thing in the world. Ever since I bought this Mac and started using it for editing it hasn't crashed once. I haven't lost my work ever and honestly I'm just a happier person in general. This is the baseline 13 inch Mac and it can chew through 4k footage like it's no problem so don't think that you need a very very powerful computer in order to edit footage on top of that you can always shoot and edit in 1080p there's no need to do it in 4k if you can't do it. And then finally I want to talk a little bit about the behind the scenes that you guys probably never even think about or never hear about when youtubers talk about how they make their videos and that's things like titles tags thumbnails and publishing. So what this means is once you've come up with the idea for a video you've filmed and recorded it then you've edited it and it's ready to be uploaded your job isn't even close to being done. First thing that you need to do is make sure that you have an appropriate title and thumbnail. The thumbnail needs to be something that is very clickable something that is intriguing to the audience and tells the story of the video within one still frame. On top of that it shouldn't be misleading and it should be easy to identify what the video is about based on the thumbnail. Now personally this is the thing I hate the most about making videos it's one of the parts that I actually find the most challenging is making that perfect thumbnail for the video that I've created. Thumbnails are still something that I'm definitely learning about and experimenting with. Currently the mindset that I have for them is that I just want to get them done and out of the way as quickly and efficiently as possible which isn't exactly the right mindset I should definitely be spending more time on them. Then coming to titles tags and keywords. This is actually a very very important aspect of video making that a lot of people underestimate. A lot of times people will make a video and then title it whatever they want. Now that might be a good strategy if you're an already established youtuber with a big audience who will constantly watch your videos regardless of what the topic is what it's about when it's uploaded etc etc but for a lot of smaller youtubers who are trying to break into the scene choosing your titles and tags and keywords is a very very important decision. In your titles and tags and keywords you want to include words that are highly searchable but that do not have a lot of competition. So for example the word ipad pro is something that is searched many many many times every single day on youtube. However there's also a ton of creators with tens of millions of subscribers who are producing lots of videos also with the title and name ipad pro. As a result that word ipad pro even though it has a lot of people searching for it there's so much competition that your video is likely going to get drowned out by all that noise. So for example an alternative to that for me could be ipad pro for medical students. So ipad pro does have that high search volume but there isn't a lot of people making videos about or searching for ipad pro for medical students and so if i was to make a video on that topic it would be more likely to come up in people's recommendations on their home screens etc and get pushed out to more people because it's a little bit more niche. So especially when you're starting out you really need to find your niche your topic that you can address very well and talk about in depth and at length and stick to that and become known in that space for making videos on that topic you can start to grow and get your name out there and become sort of like a dominant figure within that space. And this is the strategy that i took on early in my youtube days when i was making videos about the ucat exam, medical school entrance exams, applications, interviews and things like that. And so slowly slowly over time i built a following within that niche space which could then translate to other things about medical school and now here we are today. So finding the right keywords to use the right tags, titles and thumbnail is something that takes a lot of research in itself. You actually have to dedicate time towards that just like you would dedicate time towards filming a video or writing a script for a video. It's equally as important because it helps your video actually get out there get recognized and seen by other people. Okay guys believe it or not i have been talking for over an hour and a half now haven't even started filming any of the b-roll for this video so there's still a lot of work to do. I hope i've given you a little bit more insight into my thought process from the very beginning of thinking of an idea for a youtube video all the way up until it's publishing title thumbnails and everything like that. I know this is going to be quite a long video it's going to be a little bit more detailed and tech heavy and so if you do enjoy it please do leave me a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel to see more content from me in the future. It really helps out the channel and i would really appreciate it. Anyways guys i hope you're having a wonderful day and i will see you in the next video peace