Rhythm in YouTube storytelling

𝗥𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 Understanding rhythm is an unfair advantage in YouTube storytelling. It is underappreciated by many, yet critical for every viewer’s experience. The specific reason is because it is an inseparable component from tension, anticipation, and payoffs. It can either amplify or detract from any emotion it touches. Nothing in video is safe from rhythm. 𝗢𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺 I’m defs no professional musician, this is just how I think about rhythm when I’ve improvised piano. I’ve abstracted this for YouTube editing specifically. Bear with me as it will be rough and imprecise. 🎼 Time signatures: Every piece of music has a time signature, and similarly, every video has abstract sort of time signature. The vast majority of the time, videos do the equivalent of a safe 4/4 time signature. There’s this sense of a fairly comfortable viewing experience when things are done in this way. Changes between moments fall when they’re expected. It’s less common to see the equivalent of 3/4 signatures (waltz-like) or even crazier stuff like 7/8 (rushed, pressing, breathless). So there’s one avenue that can be explored. It’s not “tempo” and speed. It’s actually more about where your “hits” of the video are expected. For example, if you have 4 sentences that happen, then the 5th thing is the start of something new: 1. MrBeast: “I just bought this entire grocery store.” 2. “Which includes enough food to literally feed an entire city. 3. “And then I decided to trap this random guy inside.” 4. “And everyday you live here, I will give you ten thousand dollars.” 5. GUY: ✨”That’s wild dude!” 6. “(fast MrBeast): well I give it to you in 24 hours (guy) oh okay” Now, this example isn’t to overanalyse a MrBeast video, it’s purely just to illustrate that this cadence feels really natural and so people often default to it — as well as to illustrate how one can play with the beat’s expectation to mess it up and create humor through tension->release generated by rhythm. 𝗢𝗻-𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳𝗳-𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 - When things are on the beat, they’re satisfying - When things are consistently on the beat, they can get boring - When things are off the beat, they’re funny and cause a sense of novelty - When things are consistently off the beat, this is disorienting - Another word for this concept is “syncopation” 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 - This is the discrepancy between the melody (main voicing) and the base rhythm (the beat, if you well). - The overwhelming majority of people do things with no swing, in editing. - What if you either 1: delayed the delivery of the voiceover just slightly? or 2: pushed the delivery of the voiceover just ahead of the beat? - 1 creates a sense of laidbackness, and 2 creates a sense of rush and excitement. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 These non-exhaustive frameworks are subjective as hell, as well as really hard to explain. There is no data to support their use either, and they’re difficult to analyse through any standardised approach…so I couldn’t even bother to claim that they’ll have an impact on views for a video. I think they’ll have a very significant impact emotionally, though, and that in principle affect how a video performs. All I can really say is that I think when you try these concepts or hear these concepts in action, you’ll be pretty convinced about the difference in feeling it makes. If there’s something that feels missing in your video, try being a little more unhinged with the rhythm, and you might be surprised at what you find. For me, I’ll be making videos myself this year and so will be having lots of fun messing around with these personally. I think a lot of people may aim for “epic”, “wholesome”, “exciting”, or “heartwarming” as emotional aspirations. But I could only describe attempting 7/8 timing with voiceovers ahead of the beat, as being “uncomfortable”… …but that sounds fun.