Let's create a video series

Let's get our hands dirty, shall we?

I've started a new series of magical videos so that I can share with you the experimentation, evolution, and ultimate success or failure along the way.

Lately, I've been getting the sense that 'performing' for the camera largely feels outdated. Gen Z grew up talking to their phones, so they have no sense of a fourth wall between themselves and the camera.

That revelation led me to trying a more candid style of video where I'm speaking to the camera before something surprisingly magical happens.

What I made

Almost like if Harry Potter were to make a mundane vlog, the simple gag in this video is that I don't need to hold my microphone like most filmmakers - I can simply levitate it around my head.

I think the visual effects editing is strong! It's a fun bit of floaty physics.

I'm happy with the presentation of the video. It feels candid enough, although I might dial down the enthusiasm so that it's less forced.

Also! I filmed, edited, and posted this in a single work day. That's exciting to me to have a creative format that I can fit into my larger production schedule (I'm currently animating a commercial for a big company).

What I'm going to fix

What (painfully) stands out to me after posting is that this video lacks an opening hook. The scripting is bad!

✨ The most captivating videos instantly set the context for what's about to happen and the fun is in sticking around to see if our expectations are met.

Imagine someone standing on the half-court line of a basketball court. You instantly know what's about to happen (they'll throw the basketball), but you don't know what the outcome will be (swish, airball, or something unexpected).

I was recently doing a 1-on-1 call with a magician and pointed out that simply having the deck of cards visible at the start of a video instantly provides context that a magic trick is about to happen.

I failed to set up that level of clarity in the opening of my video. In the first five seconds, you don't really get a sense of what might happen (the analytics show that a majority of people swiped away before seeing the editing trick).

What's next

For the next video, I'll focus on better setting up the context that something magical is about to happen.

Stay tuned!

(here's some behind-the-scenes)