In YouTube storytelling, you don’t need speed - you need density. Big difference. I continue to observe channels blowing up on the back of super well thought out videography and scripting, without the need for either to go super fast. Speed is an artificial construct by the YouTube + editor. But viewers are not all about speed, because speed itself isn’t a reward. If anything, letting the video breathe is really really important. But even getting density right is an art in itself. I’ve made this mistake personally, by making videos hyper dense with information at times, which also doesn’t keep retention. The density is actually in density of reward. A reward, broadly speaking, is just the fulfilment of whatever emotion or insight your viewer was hoping to get by watching your video. In the simplest narrative terms, people think about payoffs, but honestly it goes beyond that — the development of which is a huge skill in itself and often quite specific to your niche. It’s too vast to explain every specific of why every video works - and it’s not valuable to you if I just tell you, either, because I feel like I would have stolen something that could be very valuable for you to discover yourself. Because those rewards have to be initially *felt*, in order for you to use them accurately as a tool. Otherwise, one might just try it out because someone said so once, and fall into unconscious competence as opposed to conscious competence - since it seems to work but they don’t know why. So basically…anytime you like something in a video - take note of it. You don’t even have to analyse videos hardcore, exactly. It’s often better to loosen your “grip” on the intensity of your observation, because observations are both more simple and more accurate. Whether you want 1M+ views, or just want a few superfans of your work, the simple act of observing and then implementing is probably one of the most important ways to improve your YouTube videos significantly. “Just make good videos” is the credo of many gigantic creators, but this is a concrete step as to how that will serve you well.
