(Gentle chiming music) 2 2
-: One of the most important skills is story telling. 3 3
If you are story telling, which many YouTubers are, 4 4
you should learn from other great story tellers. 5 5
Every story needs the five C's. 6 6
Number one, context, the backstory. 7 7
Two, the catalyst, the event. 8 8
Three, complication, the obstacle. 9 9
The change or transformation. 10 10
And Consequence, the resolution. 11 11
Now this is probably written with films or books in mind, 12 12
but you can watch Tana Mongeau story time video on YouTube 13 13
and see that she follows the same pattern. 14 14
She's a very, very good story teller, 15 15
and I think it's a worth while area to improve on 16 16
if you are a YouTuber because story telling 17 17
is incredibly powerful. 18 18
The next skill is comedy. 19 19
I had comedians around me before 20 20
and they spoke of the comedy rule of three. 21 21
So for example, a guy is eating and every time he sits down, 22 22
there's a knock at the door, and he goes to get the door, 23 23
and when he comes back, 24 24
something is missing off of his plate. 25 25
Maybe the cat takes a chicken wing or whatever. 26 26
This will happen 27 27
three times, 28 28
during the setup before the punch line. 29 29
And for some odd reason, three times is funnier 30 30
than two times or four times. 31 31
You'll see the rule of three in jokes all the time, 32 32
and I don't know why. 33 33
It's just the way it is. 34 34
And I often incorporated that into my sketches. 35 35
Some people think you're either funny or you're not, 36 36
but I think it's a skill that can be acquired, 37 37
and you can improve on it. 38 38
So for the most part, the type of comedy I employed 39 39
was bringing audience on a little journey, 40 40
and right when you make them expect or assume one thing, 41 41
then you flip things around and surprise them. 42 42
You're kind of tricking their mind, 43 43
and you make the whole thing absurd, 44 44
and that makes people happy. 45 45
So I make tons and tons of little sketches like that 46 46
using that formula, whereas years before I just thought 47 47
I wasn't funny. 48 48
And after I realized that I could learn to do it, 49 49
I found myself on a huge stage doing standup comedy. 50 50
Acting, this may be a skill you want to hone as well, 51 51
because it can be incredibly helpful to YouTubers 52 52
depending on the type of content they produce. 53 53
I took acting classes before where I was introduced 54 54
to the Stanislavski methodology. 55 55
If you want to learn more about acting in depth later on, 56 56
I suggest you Google that. 57 57
But just to give you an idea of what you might learn, 58 58
acting is not as simple as just reading a script. 59 59
You can't just memorize a script and spit out your lines. 60 60
A good actor has to know why they are saying 61 61
the things they say. 62 62
They analyze the character that they are playing, 63 63
and every word, every movement is based on 64 64
that character's motivations and the goal that 65 65
that character is working towards. 66 66
So the actor has to figure out what those motivations are. 67 67
They analyze their scripts just like 68 68
one would analyze a book in a high school English class. 69 69
So in a way, they have to do their homework. 70 70
And knowing how to do this makes your performance believable 71 71
and also helps you to not overact. 72 72
Although overacting can be funny sometimes, 73 73
usually it's not called for so yeah. 74 74
In general, when you are acting, you want to be 75 75
as believable as possible, and this is 76 76
outside the scope of this course because it should be 77 77
an entire course on its own. 78 78
So what I wanted to do here is just make you aware 79 79
of what else you might want to learn more about, 80 80
and if your content does involve acting, 81 81
then at the very least, Stanislavski method 82 82
would be a good Google search term for you. 83 83
Presenting, a lot of YouTubers are actually presenters. 84 84
They have a show that they introduce and guide 85 85
viewers through, and the great ones are very charismatic. 86 86
I used to be a teacher, so I learned 87 87
a lot from my students actually. 88 88
Whether my students were into the class or not had more 89 89
to do with me and less to do with the subject matter. 90 90
So if you do have a YouTube show that involves presenting, 91 91
you should be trying to improve in this area. 92 92
Generally speaking, we like confidence and passion 93 93
in our presenters, and we like things to be clear and 94 94
to the point as well. 95 95
A little humor is good too. 96 96
You probably know this already as you likely have done 97 97
some presenting in your life, but if you feel something's 98 98
lacking in your video, it might be your presentation skills. 99 99
You want to be engaging and relatable 100 100
and passionate and funny. 101 101
And most of all, comfortable. 102 102
If you look uncomfortable, to a point where it makes 103 103
your viewers uncomfortable just watching you, 104 104
then you have to fix that. 105 105
Go watch some of your favorite YouTubers or favorite 106 106
presenters and pay close attention to why 107 107
you enjoy watching them. 108 108
These are the qualities you'll want to emulate. 109 109
And pick ones that have a similar audience 110 110
to what you want, okay? 111 111
Cause different qualities attract different 112 112
types of people. 113 113
So an over the top, super excited presenter is likely 114 114
going to be better suited to a younger audience. 115 115
So don't feel like you have to emulate people who 116 116
don't have the audience that you are targeting. 117 117
What works for you will depend on your concept as well. 118 118
If you are doing ghost stories, then maybe don't 119 119
deliver like an excited Ronald McDonald, but instead 120 120
you'll want to turn up the volume on suspense or darkness 121 121
or whatever. 122 122
In short, turn up the volume a bit 123 123
on whatever emotion you are trying to portray.