MASTERPLAN SPROUT – The Road to Launch my First YouTube ad – Day 4

Welcome to the fourth day of this blog series. Today I worked on plotting the camera scenes to launch my first YouTube ad. Laying out the video landscape from start to finish.

I was fortunate enough to work with a friend on this step of the process. This meant I had someone to brainstorm with.

This is often very useful because it helps you out of your bubble of creativity and leads to fresh thinking and new perspectives.

Launch my First YouTube ad

From watching other YouTube ads it was clear to me what I did not want to achieve and what I did want.

Lets look at both of these factors:

What did I not want?

I knew I wanted to stay far away from stock footage.

Stock footage often is high quality, but I didn’t want to use it for the following reasons:

1. It can look too professional, meaning pairing it up with me talking on a camera on a more amateur level, looks kind of ridiculous. The final result completely lacks continuity.

It’s like when someone adds a flashy intro to their YouTube video and then it cuts to them sitting in their bedroom having a chat. It looks kind of silly.

2. The second reason I wanted to stay away from stock footage, is because, it can be incredibly cheesy. Even worse, it can be insulting to the intelligence of your audience.

Stock footage has its place on the internet, but so many people use it without it bringing any added value to the content.

For instance, they might talk about a clock somewhere in the video and the content creator thinks adding a picture of a clock somehow adds to the video.

Honestly, it’s just silly and there are endless examples of that type of use of stock footage on the internet. I knew I wanted to stay away from it completely.

What did I want?

Out of all the videos I’ve loved the most and know to be effective are videos that seem authentic.

The visual display plays a big role in this. Real footage of real people and a real setting is relatable.

I want everything in the video to be in the realm of possibility.

This for me means using local settings, natural lighting and an all round calm atmosphere.

The main objective of my YouTube ad is to be relatable.

This means cutting out the flashy, the cheesy and the salesy and instead being genuine, real and authentic.

I want to be successful, but I need my integrity in tact.

What was the final result of the this process?

We went through the entire script paragraph by paragraph.

Then we came up with the right setting for 80% of the script. For another 15% of the script, there is going to be a montage. Again of real footage all of my local landscape. The remaining 5% will be dedicated to showing the hosts of the course that I am promoting.

In Summary:

• 80% will be me talking directly to the camera
• 15% will be comprised of a voice-over by me
• 5% will be made of the hosts of the course

In production, this will not take such a linear format, but that will be the overall breakdown of the entire ad.

Day 4 takes us one more step closer to the final result of producing a YouTube ad.

See you for day 5 of my journey real soon guys.

Missed day 1?

Check it out here – The Road to Launch my First YouTube ad. Day 1