Editing Hacks YouTubers Use To Hook You

I dive deep into some of the biggest craters on the planet's videos and discovered five editing strategies they used to keep their viewers hooked. What you're about to read here will finally help you work out for yourself how much editing is too much editing, as well as which one of these strategies you should actually use. And after this, you're never gonna watch the David Attenborough show again the same, I'm afraid.

To the start of editing strategy number one, here's how this whole thing's gonna work: every editing strategy we're going to look at has one YouTuber who rocks the extreme edit and the other who you might consider a little bit more chilled. For our first strategy, we're going to compare the way that Mr Who's the Boss and Casey Neistat hook you with a really simple (or not so simple) trick. So let's start with mega editor Aaron aka Mr Who's the Boss.

Is that a question? Mr Who's the Boss, every video Aaron makes is an editing marathon. There's never a moment of stillness, anyone's listening.

He wants you watching, he wants you reading. I sometimes think he wants she dancing. But why reading?

Well, it's because when a word pops up on the screen, it's almost impossible not to read it. I mean, you just read this, right? And that's how he keeps your attention.

Now, to do this yourself, you can use words on the screen that say exactly what you talk about, or just keywords that pop up to reinforce your point. And if you want to go to the next level like Aaron does, you can track him to your movement. Without a little bit of extra magic.

. . B.

Give away, you stupid bee. On the other side of the argument, we have Casey and the way he uses text isn't about saying exactly what he's just said, but actually letting the viewers read so they fill in the gaps of the story to work out what he's doing. So let me show you what I mean with this clip.

In this video, Casey's off to South Africa and he's talking about how he has to take multiple flights. And when he arrives in South Africa, instead of just saying "to, we're here," the jazz ensues. He points his camera at the text on a sign in the airport and leaves it on there long enough for the viewers to read and fill in the blanks.

So he's making the viewer do some work to piece together what is happening, rather than just handing them everything on a plate. And actually, Casey uses text quite a lot, but you wouldn't really feel like he does because it's nearly always physical and filmed rather than typed in and animated, which makes the content feel more authentic and actually essentially not easy to edit, too. So which style should you use?

The real life text or the graphic text? Well, I have an answer for you, but it's going to make a lot more sense when you understand the next four points, because I'm not gonna lie. It's the same answer for these next points, too.

So let's move on to battle Ryan Triana and Johnny Harris. So Johnny Harris, if you don't know who he is, is a bit of a YouTube legend because he answered the question that has been keeping you up at night. Why are McDonald's ice cream machines always broken?

If you've been in the UK, he would have been knighted for that bad boy. Now, one thing Sir Johnny is known for is his maps. He films them, but actually it's his motion graphics of them.

The viewers are really wowed. Boy, they are the video equivalent of butter melting in your mouth. Alright, that is just not as nice as it sounds.

And then there's Ryan Tran, and his graphic of a map. This is one of the biggest and most respected YouTubers on the planet, and he made this in a world where Johnny Harris' quality exists. How does Ryan get away with this utter disgrace?

Well, a few reasons, but the one I want to focus on can be made clear when I simply switch Johnny's map onto Ryan's video like this. "I'm headed to this tiny little town that's going to allow me to boat to the island. This is not your average Uber ride.

" You see the problem? Ryan's graphics actually is equally engaging because they're so simple, but more importantly, they match the tone of the rest of his video. It's authentic.

And Johnny just couldn't use a crowd like this because you would never trust him. Because it would be the wrong time when talking about a really serious subject like, "Why the ice cream machines won't work? " or "Why do you wouldn't kill us?

" That's a better example. All of his credibility would just fly out the window. But it's the same for Ryan.

If his videos suddenly took these ultra swish graphics and put them on one of his highly playful videos that he kept basic for a reason, the viewer can lose trust, too. Because they didn't sign up for something super serious. Which brings us to the next editing strategy.

One most YouTubers probably wouldn't even think they could achieve, but they can. Honest. And I'll prove it to you.

I will, I will. Two editors who are battling out are Gorksa and Colin and Samir. So, the problem the average YouTuber has is that it's just them on camera.

But why is that a problem? I've actually touched on this in videos before, but I'm gonna go a bit deeper. So name one amazing film that only has one character in it.

And don't say "Cast Away". Wilson was a character. And don't say "Two.

. . the silent French film from the 1920s" because I just made.

It up characters make stories more interesting because viewers can gravitate towards one a lot more than another. When you double your characters, you double your chance of keeping your viewers interested. But if it is just you, how can you bring in a character?

Well, I'm going to show you using editing. This is how Gorks did it: he made himself into multiple people using the Clone effect. I've done this quite a few times in film.

With two on the chilled edit side, Colin and Samir have multiple characters in every video because there are two of them. So when they edit, they just make sure they don't cut one of them out. Super basic editing there.

But also, they bring in tons of other people to their show, even their second Channel, which is a lot simpler, is designed around characters. Because they host it but get the questions from the audience to then get involved in the comic character. So the chilled edit version of this could just mean you bring in more people, and the extreme edit could make anyone or anything a character.

Isn't that right Wilson? Wilson? Wilson, where's Santa?

Yo, man. Oh, got me worried. Sorry, man.

I just been chilling with my homies. Where did you learn to talk like that? Tom Hanks.

B sounds absolutely nothing like that. You've been tripping. Moving on to editing strategy number four.

Yeah, four. And this time we're battling out Mr Who's the Boss and Casey. Again, looks like I got a bit lazy with my research there.

No one will notice. Just don't make it too obvious. But maybe there's a reason I use them again.

Anyway, let's start by looking at this opening scene from Aaron's video. Look at all that information we have. The numbers down the side, we have Aaron on the right.

We have a split screen on the left. There's just so much going on. Meanwhile, in Casey land, we have just one thing at a time.

Really, what they're both doing is their own version of this next editing strategy, which is all about showing rather than telling. So, this is like the golden rule for video. The more you show, the better.

It builds credibility, intrigue, and it builds story. And it lets the viewers work things out for themselves. The highly edited version of this is designed to be a sensory overload, in the same way the Avengers films are.

I mean, look at how much Aaron is just showing us here. It's crazy. And he's like, "Oh, this guy must know his stuff, because there's just tons of info.

" Casey's approach is, well, he wants you to focus on only the thing that matters. So, in the edit, he has to decide what that thing is, to best show rather than tell, to fill in the gaps of his story. So, remember the text from earlier when he held the shot, so you could read the sign?

That was the showing bit. And why I must have used it again as an example in this video. Not because I'm a very lazy man.

Which brings us on to our next editing hooks battle, between IREK and Natalie Lin. And if you've not seen Natalie, you're missing out. Let's start by looking at IREK's strategy here.

Who's also very good. So, his videos are super fast-paced, energetic, and fun. And one of the things that adds to the whole viewer's experience and helps hooks them is that whoosh, that boom, pressure.

Oh my God, the noise. It all adds another dimension, the crazy Avengers style sensory overload, and it helps to build the emotion, the pace, and the excitement that keeps people interested. And it might surprise you to know that those noises, they don't actually exist in real life.

Apart from that one time, thank you. But on the chilled editing side, we have Natalie Lin. Those sound effects you can hear right now, well, they do exist in real life, except they don't.

I don't want to ruin every David Attenborough show ever for you here, but he also has the same editing strategy as Natalie. The noises you hear in his animal shows, they're not real either. They don't mic up a duck, not after the incident.

Now you're never gonna unsee that when you watch some of these shows. But the reason IREK and Natalie use fake sounds that sound real is because of this. If I use this noise on this clip, the viewers will suddenly lose trust and get pulled out of the story.

They could even feel a little bit lied to. Because now, these videos are raw and very personal. Clearly fake sounds would burn that trust too, and it would wreck the stories.

Having thus, no longer moving on to editing strategy number five. We're gonna battle Emma Chamberlain against entertainment YouTuber, Preston. And this strategy, when you get it wrong, can really do a heck of a lot of damage.

So let's start with Emma's use of it. This video has eight million views, and the first four minutes have no editing, other than just a straight cut of her poking her head out of a bathtub. That's it.

Preston's channel, we have this. He makes sure that every single second has some kind of movement going on. From the camera movement to transitions to jump cuts.

And actually, when Emma does intentionally throw in some edited movement in her videos, it's done in this kind of Cheesy way, where the viewer knows it's supposed to be cheesy. The thing is, her lack of movement is just as an intentional choice as Preston's hype edit, because she wants the main focus to be on what she's saying, not all of the crazy exciting things going on around. Her, she just has to trust that her viewers will want to listen without trying to trick him into it.

And to maintain an authentic tone, you can't go and throw in loads of manufactured excitement. And that's actually one of the biggest problems I see with hype editing. People tend to apply it to content that it just doesn't fit with because they think retention is all about editing effects.

And it's just not at all. It's a lot more about the way you order your information and the creative ways you work out how to get that message across. So, what kind of editor should you be and which one of these strategies should you use?

Well, actually, you should use all of them. Every YouTuber I just showed you, no matter what side of the argument they're on, is actually doing the same thing as their polar opposite. They all use text characters showing, not telling, sound, movement, and these really are the basics to master.

So, the thing you have to ask yourself isn't which one do I use, but how do I work out how far I take them? And so you can answer that question for yourself. I'm gonna read you what might be the hottest take on editing of all time, but it's really going to help you pick your side.

Recently, this message popped up on my Twitter, and I don't manage to verify it. But either way, it makes my point perfectly. It's supposed to be a message from Casey Neistat where he's talking about making YouTube videos.

Now, it's quite a long message. The first half just completely tears into hype editing. But this was the line that I think matters the most for you when Casey says, "The best steakhouses in the world serve their fillet on a plate with nothing else.

Shitty franchises cover theirs in sauce to distract you from the fact you're eating dog food. " But I actually have a problem with this because I like franchise food covered in sauce. And when I go into a posh steakhouse, I ask for ketchup because who are you to tell me how I can eat my food?

You do not have my taste buds. And that's editing. Billions of viewers all around the world will all have different tastes.

All you have to do is ask yourself, "What kind of viewer do I have? The billions who love franchise food or the kind they eat their steak raw? " Think about your viewer's expectations when they click the tone you want to create, style like they'll trust with your idol audience.

And then just choose a side, edit for them and forget everyone else because no matter which side you pick, someone probably will not like it. So live by the ethos "You do you boo" and you'll be okay without an ethos. But there's actually something else I've not spoken about that makes a really huge difference to your video's tone and energy.

And I don't think enough emphasis is put on this because if you get good at this, you could potentially edit less but still maintain energy. So to learn how two gigantic YouTubers use this to build their channel to millions of subscribers, watch this video next because it's good, even though I say so myself. I mean, Aaron actually commented and said it was good too, so the.