I’ve been making YouTube speed art videos for awhile now and, in general, it’s a lot of fun. It can also be stressful trying to come up with new ideas and stick to a schedule, but I still enjoy it. At some point I’ll put myself in front of the camera, but for now most of my videos are almost entirely speed designs.
My process for making my YouTube speed art videos is that I first do a test design, then film it, then edit it, sped up to music. It’s a simple process, though the creative concept part often takes time. Here’s a bit more about the process.
Step 1: Design Test
When I have a design concept I want to film, I’ll usually do a very quick mock design first. This is just to make sure the images, fonts, and colours all work okay together. At this stage, most of my ideas are scrapped. I’m pretty particular about what I put on my channel, and any ideas that don’t work just get deleted. Once I have an idea or concept I like, I’ll get ready to film.
Step 2: Filming
I’ll use my test design file to create a blank document from. That document is the size I need it to be already, and usually has guides set up. I figure the prep stuff is kinda boring on YouTube, so it gets skipped in the filming.
Once I’m ready to film, I open Action. This is the software I’ve been using for years to film videos on YouTube (I used it previously for my gaming channel).
While I design, I film my screen. If I get stuck and I’m not sure where to go next in a design, filming stops. Then I might spend a few minutes just starting at the screen figuring out my next move. This happens a lot during the design stage. Even though I’ve usually done a test design, I change my mind about colours and composition constantly while I film.
Step 3: Editing
Next, I bring the video files into Adobe Premiere to edit. I arrange them in the timeline, then speed up each file by about 450 to 600 percent, depending on what the design was. If there is more use of drawing tools, I’ll keep the video faster. If there’s more filters, layer effects, and things viewers will want to follow along with, I keep it slower.
After all the footage is sped up, I’ll watch all the footage to make sure I captured everything I wanted to, and that it’s in the correct order. Then I’ll add a title at the beginning and choose some music. I like a lot of the music in the YouTube music library, so lately that’s what I’ve been using the most. I’ll watch the whole thing again, making sure the cuts at the end line up with the music. Then I export.
I use the built-in export preset of YouTube 1080p Full HD. Each speed design I do takes anywhere from fifteen minutes to forty-five minutes to export. While I wait, I watch Netflix. (I’m currently watching Altered Carbon)
Step 4: Uploading to YouTube
After the video is done, I’ll watch it again to make sure it exported properly. Then I head to YouTube to upload it.
This part is pretty straightforward if you’re familiar with the process. I write the title and description, upload a custom thumbnail (created in Photoshop), set the tags, and schedule an upload time.
I try and schedule videos in advance, by at least a week. I schedule my videos to go up every Wednesday at noon. Why Wednesday? No idea; I just picked a day of the week and went with it. Why noon? A while back I read something that said noon was the best time to upload a video to YouTube, and I was like “okay then”.
Making YouTube Speed Art: In Summary
In case you skipped the stuff above just to see the software I use, here it is:
Design Software: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Affinity Publisher
Filming: Mirillis Action
Editing: Adobe Premiere
If you want to know anything else about my YouTube speed art process, just let me know in the comments here or on my YouTube channel. I love to hear from you 🙂
If you want to learn how to use Adobe Premiere to make speed art videos and other awesome videos, check out the Adobe Premiere Pro Classroom in a Book.
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