But, what if you want to film a great looking video, and have none?

Well, some of the biggest and best YouTubers on the planet have no friends, and yet they still manage to create cinematic videos all by themselves.

But how? I had to know, and so I spent days incessantly watching 4 of my favorite YouTubers' entire channels, until I had some answers.

So in this video, I want to share 4 tips I discovered along the way, and the one thing they all have in common, so you can use them to start making better videos, without ever making a friend.

But first, what does it mean to be cinematic?

It's a term I don't really care for, but it's all over YouTube.

And to me, it really just means looking, sounding, and behaving like a movie.

Of course, that's pretty vague, and how do you do that?

Well, depends.

Here on YouTube, that usually means buying some new equipment.

All you do is buy this camera, and it looks like a movie.

I bought this lens, and it was like, boom, Netflix.

I'm telling you, this light gave me six-pack abs.

Actually, I'd probably buy that last one.

But for this video, I don't want to focus on camera gear, and instead, I'm going to look for tips anyone can use to make their videos more movie-ish.

Is that a word?

And so to start, I watched the entire channel of a YouTuber that I think makes incredibly cinematic videos, mostly by herself.

If you don't know Carissa, she's documenting her real life, turning the mundane into the spectacular.

And it's easy to get immersed into this world she's created.

Relaxing, calm, and upbeat.

Take a look at this sequence.

Because she films most of her videos by herself, accomplishing a sequence like this requires a combination of two things.

The first is called coverage, which, at around three hours of watching her,

I found she talked about here.

This means getting a variety of shots for the scene you are filming.

I'm not going to lie, this takes a long time.

So she's setting up the camera, filming a take, moving the camera, and repeating the process over and over again.

And it's a lot of work.

A long time.

So she's setting up the camera, filming a take, moving the camera, and repeating the process, getting a variety of shots along the way.

And this is really important.

You can never have enough coverage because, well, variety is the spice of life.

I always try to get at least five types of shots when filming a scene.

A wide shot to establish a scene, a medium shot for dialogue and action, close-ups to convey emotion, inserts to focus on specific details, and a creative shot to just have fun with it.

And yeah, that's all great.

But the second is what really creates that movie magic.

So what is it?

Just like Tom Cruise or Margot Robbie, she's acting.

You might be thinking, well, what are you talking about?

You just said she's documenting her real life.

And yeah, that's true to a degree.

The experiences may be real enough, but her videos are filled with her faking it.

When you're creating a video by yourself, you're in charge of everything.

And it's inevitable you're going to be doing a million things, like setting up equipment, checking camera settings, and reviewing your footage all the time.

And that can be pretty draining.

But you don't want your audience to feel that.

You want them to feel like it's organically happening for the first time.

I'm acting in all my videos.

In real life, my name is Matt, and I own a pet supply shop.

Sup?

Actually, I was just acting there.

Or was I?

Now, clearly I'm no thespian, but I found the best way to do this is simply repetition.

The more takes I do, the more relaxed I get, and the more natural it looks.

And doing more takes allows you to play with different energy levels and speeds, so you have choices in the edit.

I always try to do at least three takes for everything, although it usually ends up being closer to ten.

On to the next YouTuber.

He's a filmmaker that makes a lot of short documentary-style videos.

I've seen a few in the past, and I think they're excellent, so I decide to watch the rest and see what I can learn.

I think anyone who's watched one of Nicholas' videos is immediately blown away by the filmmaking.

One of the biggest keys for filming alone is effort.

When you don't have others to help, you have to work harder to get the same results.

And you can tell Nicholas puts in the effort, filming during sunrise and sunset for amazing landscapes, using slow motion for emphasis, and flying FPV drones for camera movement.

Because of this amazing B-roll, it's really easy to get sucked in.

Four hours and 17 minutes had gone by before I noticed my retinas were burning.

But while my eyes recovered, I realized it wasn't just the flashy B-roll that made his content so good.

In fact, sort of the opposite.

Take a look at this sequence from his last 7 days to live video.

Throughout the hike, Gabriel and I reflected on the last years of our lives, and whether or not we lived those up to our own expectations.

So, I gotta admit that throughout the last couple of days,

I haven't really been thinking about death at all, but now that I only have 3 more days left to live, this experiment actually starts to become kind of real.

It's a lot of effort.

If I only had 7 days to live, I'm probably just gonna binge eat on the couch and watch reruns of The Office.

Instead, we have it all.

The mountains, the water, the slow motion.

But mixed in with all those clips?

A simple handheld shot anyone can do.

Because he's often the only character in his videos, he uses these to talk about his struggles, or emotions, or whatever he's trying to accomplish, and intercuts it with amazing B-roll of him doing those things.

And it's the combination of the two that creates visual contrast that causes you to constantly pay attention.

Not every shot has to be amazing.

Great.

So, maybe focus on getting a few really great shots, and then for the others, a contrasting style that's much easier to film by yourself.

And for an extra tip here, there's something I notice missing at times from that amazing B-roll.

Or, should I say someone?

Nicholas.

Just because you're filming by yourself doesn't mean every frame has to have you in it.

Use objects or your environment to enhance your story, so you can occasionally stay behind the camera and get a more dynamic shot.

This next YouTuber redefines what it means to be cinematic.

Because he doesn't rely on scripting, fancy editing, or color grades.

Yet his videos still seem like mini-movies.

And he's made a lot of them.

Over 1100.

Well, let's be honest. Of course I didn't watch all of them.

The first thing I noticed about Casey's old videos is that they're not polished.

There are certainly seeds of what's to come, but a lot of these first videos are pretty amateur.

This should hopefully be inspiring, because everyone starts at the beginning, and as long as you keep at it and try to improve, you will.

A few hundred videos into his channel, and you can see that as his style solidifies, there are tons of filmmaking hallmarks that he does well.

Like composition, sound design, 3-act structure storytelling, and a whole bunch more.

It honestly deserves an entire video on its own.

But day after day of watching his content, one thing repeatedly stuck out.

I remember seeing this interview with Casey, where he said this.

I f***ing hate camera movement.

He really does.

As his videos went on, there was less and less camera movement.

If you're filming by yourself, this is great news, because a tripod's a man's best friend.

Like a three-legged dog.

But always using a tripod results in a lot of static shots, and that can get boring.

So how are Casey's videos rarely, if ever, boring?

While the camera may not be moving, something in the frame almost always is.

I think this is my favorite tip, because when you're filming by yourself, this is way easier to do.

Instead of shaking the camera, shake something in front of the camera.

Instead of a camera tilt, tilt your body.

Instead of a rack focus, focus on a rack.

Actually, don't do that last one.

This last YouTuber makes works of art, both on canvas and online.

I covered a number of his techniques in my last video, but there's a lot more to discuss.

In fact, recently he was interviewed about his filmmaking process, and there were some great insights, like...

To film that, I used a c-stand, yeah, to get a top-down shot.

And then I used two skateboards to move it.

Which shows it's important to use whatever you have to get the job done.

And I think that's a pretty good tip on its own.

But more importantly, it's just a small part of something much bigger.

The majority of Gawx's videos are shot entirely by himself, in his bedroom.

And no, they're not for OnlyFans.

I think for a lot of us, shooting by yourself in a bedroom would be pretty limiting and uninspiring.

But his videos are quite the opposite.

In fact, if I had to sum him up in one word, it would be...

Creative.

He's so creative, it kind of feels untouchable.

But if you start at the beginning of his channel and watch every video, you can see all the strides he's made.

Not just in filmmaking like Casey, but in creativity.

And I think it's those very limitations that's grown his creativity.

So, just be creative, right? No problem.

Okay, not quite. But the good news is, it's a skill that can be learned with time and practice.

So for me, what I do is just let my mind wander and try to think of the biggest or coolest way to film a scene.

And then when I have something I like, I shave it down until there's something I think I can actually do.

If you've ever started a sentence with,

Wouldn't it be cool if...

It's probably a good idea. Write it down.

It's easy to make excuses, but instead of thinking of all the reasons you can't, instead think, how can I make this more interesting because of my limitations?

If you haven't guessed already what all these YouTubers have in common, it's pretty simple.

They all do every one of these tips and a lot more.

Because creating videos by yourself is hard.

And yeah, it could drive you a little crazy.

I get it. Every frame of this entire channel has been done by just me.

But when I finish a video, I'm like, wow, I did that all by myself.

And it makes it worth it.

Although sometimes it's nice to have a friend.

Oh, and if you want to learn more about how to create videos like Gawks, click here.