Week 4: Detonator Video
Detonator videos
15-minute study
Launching a detonator on your channel can take out years of frustration in the valley of despair; slow growth, low views, zero clients from YouTube.
It will be the breakthrough for your online success. You can multiply your monthly views, generate traffic, get leads and clients.
So let’s get to work.
🔍 Find an outlier you can reverse-engineer
Pre-production
First, you’ll need to find an outlier video you can create on your channel.
Optimally it should be from outside your niche, to have a fresh idea for your target audience.
The easiest way to do this research part, is by installing the free VidIQ extension on your browser.
I’m using the paid version, but it’s optional at this point.
Where to start looking?
I want you to change your perspective how you see YouTube videos from now on.
Browse your YouTube home screen and check the multipliers.
Whichever video catches your attention, analyze the title and thumbnail to understand why.
You might find an idea instantly for your channel.
To go deeper, browse channels that you are subscribed to. Go on the channel page and list the videos by Popularity.
This way you see their outliers at a glance.
What stands out?
Could you make a similar video for your channel?
To go deeper, browse channels that you are subscribed to.
→ Go on the channel page and list the videos by Popularity.
This way you see their outliers at a glance.
What stands out?
Could you make a similar video for your channel?
You can also use YouTube search
Search outliers from other niches. For example, if you’re a ghostwriter, see which videos are doing well in scriptwriting or fiction writing.
Then you can expand your search to filmmaking, business channels, sales training and so on. Let creativity be your guide to find fresh ideas.
The goal here is to find a video that is at least a 10x outlier with an idea you can adapt to yours.
And we're not stealing here. We're farming ideas. All the big channels pay big money to do this work. Why? Because it's worth it.
Build your own Swipe file
When you find interesting ideas, save them. I simply use the screenshot function in Windows (by pressing Win – Shift – S) to grab the packaging for my swipe file.
IDEA FILTER
Once you have a bunch of ideas, run them through a checklist to make sure they can act as Detonators:
- Can I make this video with my current means?
- Does this idea align with my channel and personal brand?
- If done well, could this video get 100k views?
- Am I excited to do this?
Skip ideas that do not pass this checklist.
By the end, you should have a shortlist of 5 potential ideas. Pick one.
✍️ Write the detonator script
Writing the script
I have a secret weapon for writing great outlier script. It’s easy and often ignored.
→ Editing.
So to write your draft, watch the video that you are reverse-engineering, and write down the structure. For example:
- Hook, question, social proof, introduction: hero, goal and enemy.
- Promise, foreshadow a risk, why people should watch
- First trial, obstacles, outcome, etc.
As you see, you’re not writing the content, but the structure.
Does it hold your attention?
Some outlier videos become popular only due to great packaging. So it’s advisable to review the video first to determine if it actually has a good structure. If not, find a better reference for the content (just keep the outlier packaging).
Once you have the structure, now it’s time to make it yours.
Flesh out the script based on that.
Three things to keep in mind when writing a detonator script:
- Focus on the benefit of the viewers
– what are they getting out of this. - Simplify more, and then simplify again
– Use layman language and make it easy to understand. - Tell personal stories in detail to get people more invested
– Make it anti-AI.
Don’t rush it. You can use AI to help you out if you’re stuck, but the final script should always be in your own words.
Writing a good script takes an hour or two.
And that time is a smart investment for two reasons:
- You're teaching yourself to communicate better.
- Your video has a higher change to become a detonator.
Once the script is done, let it rest for a few hours or a day. As I said, my secret weapon is editing. That’s usually what makes a good script great.
It’s really simple. Read your script aloud. Whatever feels off or unnatural, you simply change it to sound better.
It might also happen that you’re not happy with the first script. Then rewrite it.
✅
↑ This advice might sound backwards at first, as we tend to focus more on the shooting and video editing.
But when you think about it, great script should exist before we shoot anything.
Just look at IMDB with thousands of movies with low ratings. Most of the disappointments could have been avoided if they’ve just made the script better.
Now your script is done. What next?
Plan the shoot.
Planning the shoot. What does it take?
Is it a one-shot A roll with a handful of B roll clips?
Or does it take multiple days with vlog style updates and a voiceover clip at the end?
Write a simple outline. Sometimes this is unnecessary if you’re just making a regular video.
But think, if this is supposed to be an detonator, how can I elevate the production to make it stand out?
And it can be as easy as shooting at two locations instead of one.
Simply think ahead.
All this, by the way, doesn’t happen inside 1 day. Detonator type can take 3 days or more to finish. So pace yourself.
📹 Shooting your detonator
Hey, you got this. We’re not making Hollywood films here. Just simple YouTube videos that have a good chance of blowing up your channel!
Minimum requirements
The only thing you need to do is to make sure your video production meets the minimum requirements for people to watch it.
They are simply:
- Good sound quality without excessive room echo (and clear voice)
- Even light (that is not directly above you)
- Smartphone or webcam with a clean lens that can shoot 1080p, full HD videos (leave 4K for nature documentaries)
- Clean, uncluttered background
- Groomed, energetic version of you in front of the camera
Optional:
- Tripod and teleprompter to make shooting and reading the script easier
- 1 or 2 led light with diffusers for better lighting
That’s it. We don’t need expensive studio lights, drones, DSLR cameras or high-speed car chases to make detonators.
Those are just cool excuses we can skip.
📷 On Camera
And on that note, you don’t need to be a Hollywood actor, either.
Take a look at your favorite channels. Most of them are not models, but just regular people with interesting ideas.
Just know that you fit in as well as anyone else. Look at it this way. There are already 120 million channels on YouTube, so having one more doesn’t make much of a difference.
So when you have everything ready, shoot the video. If it went well, shoot whatever b roll you need and start editing.
If it didn’t go well, simply shoot another take. Often the second take is more natural and fluent.
If your inner critic is giving you hard time with negative comments, shut it up and replace it with positive affirmations. You are good enough.
Just focus on having positive energy and open body language.
🎞️ Editing a detonator video
Let’s keep the editing simple.
- Drop your A roll in the timeline, and cut out fluff.
I’m personally using Gling AI to cut bad takes, pauses and filler words out with AI.
It’s about $15 on a monthly subscription, but saves me more than 4 hours of editing per month, so for me it’s a no-brainer deal.
- Add the b-roll (helps to have a list)
- Overlays & onscreen texts
- Your videos, photos, screenshots
- Illustrations, AI generated images
- Royalty-free stock footage
- Transitions, video effects, sound effects
How much B roll should you have on your video?
I like to have something happening on screen every 5-10 seconds.
This way the viewers doesn’t get bored so easily just watching my face.
You’ve probably noticed that watching these videos.
My advice would be to add something on screen at least 4 times per minute.
This will help with the retention rate.
Retention rate is the graph to show you how many people watch until the end.
We want higher retention rate to signal the algorithm that our video is worth watching.
That’s why we add B-roll, sound effects, and even background music if it fits your video.
But at the end of the day, keep it simple. If you’re a beginner at video editing,
just drop some texts and extra clips here and there to give the video some variation.
You can add more stuff in future videos as you become faster and learn new tricks.
⏱️ One advanced tip to stay on track while editing:
I have a goal to edit 1 minute per hour. I set a timer for 60 minutes, place markers on the timeline and focus on editing that 1 minute. This helps me to stay focused and not wasting time creating something unnecessary complex.
When I finish editing or the timer runs out, I reset it, move the markers to the next minute, and so on.
OK. Let’s say you finished your edit. Now, render that baby out and watch the final product.
In most cases, you notice one or two last things to fix. Go back to the editor, fix them, and render the final final version.
🌐 Upload to the interwebs
You know most of this stuff already if you’ve uploaded videos.
But here are some important things to do:
Packaging
Here’s an analogy:
If you write the most amazing book that makes J.R.R Tolkien and Stephen King pale in comparison, but it has a pasty poop-color cover with an ugly font and boring title, no one will ever know. Because no one will ever pick it up!
Same applies for YouTube videos.
If your thumbnail is average, bland, messy, too crowded or confusing, people will not click it.
If your title is boring, very few people care to watch it.
So to avoid that, and create irresistible packaging instead, remember these 3 rules:
- Less is more
- Open loop
- Professional
Let me explain each:
- Less is more
- Good design is about space, hierarchy and contrast.
- Have only 3 elements in your thumbnails.
- 3-5 words
- 1 symbol
- You
- Have only 1 point in your title, keep it under 9 words
- Open loop
- As explained in the video, you need to raise a question in people’s minds when they see your packaging.
- Question creates curiosity, curiosity drives action = click
- Ask yourself: Does this packaging raise a question that demands an answer?
- As explained in the video, you need to raise a question in people’s minds when they see your packaging.
- Professional
- Your picture
- Sloppy, blurry frame from your video doesn’t cut it for the thumbnail
- Take a separate photo for your thumbnail with sharp details and good lighting
- Thumbnail text
- Pick a easy to read font that looks professional, scale it to fit the image
- Avoid using text effects
- Your picture
Let's wrap it up
OK. Congrats if you got this far. I know, it’s a lot. But it’s all worth it, if you’re serious about YouTube.
Final steps.
Action list:
1- Use the outlier reference thumbnail and title to create your own
2- Write a description with time-codes
3- Add some relevant tags
4- Add an end-screen
5- Publish & Share on social media
TIME TO BLOW THINGS UP!
You've read enough. Let's make it happen!
Believe you can do it.
– What you believe is possible for you is possible. So why not believe it and get on!
