🧠 5 Visuals for Your Next Video

Happy Saturday everyone,

I finally started editing my next video on Sora, the video-gen AI. It’s moving pretty smoothly, but I’m still quite a ways away from uploading it. It’s tough because it’s been a week since I recorded it, and with everything going on in my life, I feel like my personal channel stuff has to take a backseat, for now. I’m not going to be too too hard on myself for this because if something is going to take a backseat, it’s going to be the thing I started last month - I just wish I had more time and better motivation.

Once the video is ready, of course, I’ll link it here for you to watch! I think it’s a good video and I’m trying hard in post to make it as good as it can be.

Enjoy today’s edition!

- Rickie

5 Visuals I Loved This Week

1. These Stills + Cinematography

Video: Italy on Film//serr

• This video was one of the first videos I watched after getting my own 35mm film camera, and was an inspiration for me to start bringing my camera to Europe every summer.

• Like I mentioned last week, I’ve been delving more into the cinematography side of YouTube.

  • Man, there are some talented creators on the platform!

• What I’ve learned is that good cinematography transports you back in time and lets you decide how you want a memory to be remembered.

  • It’s so much more than just a good camera or a beautifully shot scene. The color, the sound effects, the music, the lighting, the context - these are all things that have to come together in harmony to evoke emotion out of your viewer.

• What I love about this video is how simple it is.

  • The premise is just looking back on film photos from a trip, but through beautiful filmmaking, cinematography, and storytelling, the creator is able to bring you on a trip down memory lane (and make a 25 minute video on it).

• The creator has immaculate execution on his still shots.

  • They’re often beautiful landscapes with minimal movement aside from his own.

  • Stills are definitely something I want to work on in my own content as they’re relatively easy to execute on and allow you to capture some amazing shots (especially in nature!)

2. This Web Browser Visual

Video: China's Economy is Slumping: Here's Why//Humphrey Yang

• This was a concept that I actually took inspiration from in a previous newsletter!

• The premise for this visual, which I used throughout the video, was the idea of clicking through different tabs as if you were sharing your screen.

  • Obviously, this is much easier done in post than actually done in a screen recording, and it allows you to include videos and headlines without all the bodies of text and advertisements which aren’t as important.

  • We’ve been getting a lot more personal on the channel lately and I want the editing to reflect that! Think of it like your friend is explaining to you this news piece and they’ve curated all the supporting articles to tell the story.

• The actual web browser itself was pretty easy to make.

  • Just took a high res image off of Google of the Chrome browser and covered whatever small icons I didn’t want to be shown.

  • From there, I had a mask that was the size of the space below the search bar to make sure any videos fit snug within the confines of the browser.

3. This Timeline + Interview Format

Video: Denying Your Health Care Is Big Business in America//The New York Times

• This was my first time watching a NYT video that wasn’t co-produced with Johnny Harris and I have to say, from a visual perspective, I was quite impressed.

• The timeline graphic that I included included elements of design that stayed true throughout the video which I enjoyed.

  • The square videos and archive photos pair with the square interview clips, along with the animated blue line.

  • The animated blue line is actually a huge driver for the entire video. Wherever the blue line goes, so does our attention. It’s a pretty cool way to progress through the story.

4. This Text-Anchored Motion Design

Video: Introducing a new way to search | Circle to Search//Google

• If you’ve been an avid reader of the newsletter, you’ll know that I love drawing inspiration from tech.

• At the top of my list of tech companies with impeccable use of motion design is Google.

  • Text is a huge component when making content like this and Google’s creative use of text is second to none in this industry.

  • Finding different ways to communicate features through text effects is no easy task either. I’m wracking my brain as to how I would make that cylindrical text effect and, off the top of my head, I don’t think I’d know how to get that same look.

• Google does a good job of having the text be a focal point, as well as integrating it into the overall scene. They don’t rely too heavily on one over the other which offers a good mix to the visuals.

• My favorite part of this video has nothing to do with the text either. It’s the moment when the post-it notes zoom out and it’s paired with the same zoom effect on the scene with the two girls sitting at the table. It’s so simple but so seamless and it’s something that anyone can do if they have the attention to detail for it.

5. This Slow Zoom + Mask Effect

Video: The Art of Faking It//TyFrom99

• I don’t have a ton to say about this effect other than the fact that I really like the way it looks.

• It has the walking effect as the camera moves down the walkway toward the “1” and that’s paired with the movement of the scene inside the “1”.

• I also like the overall look of the scene too, albeit, it’s probably stock footage if I had to put my money on it.

X to Inspire

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