How I make Video Intros, Thumbnails, and Titles

Thumbnails

The Easiest Way To Shoot High Quality Food Photos Like A Pro! | Food Photography

Fulfill the thumbnail by assembling ingredients together to form the thumbnail picture in continuous video

Hero shot features the completed food, and the fresh ingredients are at the background bokeh

Intros

Hooky fast cuts like this video:

How To Make 8 Types Of Dim Sum | Handcrafted | Bon Appétit

Voiceover: Today, I explore how I can turn these ingredients into this beautiful dish. <Dish name>

• Today, I explore how to make <dish name> from scratch

• Today, I explore how I could make fresh <dish name> at home

• Hey friends, I would like to show you how I make fresh <dish name> at home.

Visuals: people see the thumbnail of the completed dish plated with key ingredients on the background and click > snap cuts of close up shots of ingredients

Version 1: snap cuts of close up shots of ingredients, then bokeh background with nothing yet

• one by one place ingredients at the background

• then place the dish in the focus spot

Version 2: bokeh background, manual focus on the dish spot but not placing the dish yet,

• one by one place ingredients in the background at the designated spot

• then place the dish in the focus spot. The dish is piping hot. <This fulfills the thumbnail>

• next scene, prep table with the first ingredient and what to do with it.

Version 3: bokeh background with the ingredients there already but no final dish yet

• one by one remove the ingredients (preferably in order of preparation because this transitions nicely into the next scene where it’s preparing the first ingredient)

• then place the dish in the focus spot.

• Actual thumbnail is just the final dish without the ingredients in the background, for a cleaner look when looking at the All Videos page

Version 4: bokeh background with the ingredients there already but no final dish yet

• snippets of the food preparation in left, right, centre angles (too production intentive)

• Cinematic fast cuts of macro video shots of food steaming hot (left, right, centre angles)

• one by one place/remove the ingredients into frame, stop motion (preferably no hands so it looks instant and does not drag on video time)

• then place the dish in the focus spot, stop motion appear, piping hot

• Actual thumbnail is just the final dish without the ingredients in the background, for a cleaner look when looking at the All Videos page

Then J cut (still showing thumbnail and voiceover starts) into voiceover and ingredients preparation 1

Music: drum beats, strings, like epicurious, Ethan Chlebowski,

Titles

Some titles out there grab attention by using loud, ALL CAPS, or make big bold claims. But it’s not exactly the vibe I’m going for. The choice of words in the title is a style and a brand. What my brand is something weird but promises deep insights after watching.

Titles should tap on my audience’s curiosity, emotions, or interests.

Come up with good titles first because it sets the direction of what I should make and the content that follows to fulfill the video idea. If done the other way round, there could be a disconnect between the title and the video content, leading to viewers dissatisfaction which may hurts the video performance as viewers drop off or never come back.

• Summarise and condense knowledge

• Big numbers

• Show persistence

https://www.marketingexamined.com/blog/paddy-galloway-youtube-guide

Key Messages

• Film food prep in 1 plane, below my head. Then when it comes to tasting, film on the opposite plane. So it looks as if Natasha or the viewer has watched the entire process and is now tasting it

• Link recipes, ingredients, and related food videos in videos to form a network of valuable info

• Show multiple variations of food and results of experiments to understand what is the most preferred way to prepare something

• You can’t present everything or condense every important nuance into the video. Else the video becomes bloated, long length, and boring. So have to prioritise the backlog of content to determine which points get presented and which go into the video description.

Slogans

• Make fresh food from fresh food

• Fresh

• Fresh food

• Made fresh

• When food is made by hand with time and attention, you can taste it. (Stolen from Masterclass Poilane Bread making class ad)