The difference between a built-in webcam and a high-quality camera is night-and-day. Even if it's just you talking into a camera, the audio and visual quality you get from a high-end camera will make your videos stand out.  The equipment isn't necessarily expensive. A stand-alone webcam will work better than virtually any built-in webcam, and will only set you back a few meals out. If you're filming actors or anything other than yourself, you'll want a decent camcorder. Taking videos with your phone is convenient, but if you want to keep an audience you'll need better production values than that. If you're going to be recording your screen, find a good screen recording program such as Camtasia or the free Open-Broadcasting-Software(which can also do live streams). Filming your computer screen with a camera while you use it will make it nearly impossible to see what's going on. Unless you're doing improv or filming something you don't have control over, you should prepare a script and rehearse it. This will lead to less awkward pauses and will improve the flow of your videos.  Youtube doesn't allow videos longer than 15 minutes unless you meet specific guidelines. Keep this in mind when writing your script, and break up long videos into a series. See this guide for detailed instructions on writing your first script. Do a dry run of your script a few times before you turn on the camera. This will help you iron out any kinks and solidify your talking points before you begin filming. You don't want to be reading directly from your script while filming, so practice is important. Before you start filming, gather everything you're going to need for the video. For example, if you're recording a tutorial on your computer, make sure all of the windows you need are open and your important files are easy to access. If you're filming a scene, make sure that all of your props are in order. While preparing to shoot, make sure that the lighting is good enough so that everything can be seen. Do a test shoot with the camera to check the lighting. Once you've got everything ready, it's time to start rolling! Shoot your video, and don't be afraid to do multiple takes. You can splice and edit in your different takes during the editing process.  Remember, don't read off your script! You want your talking to feel natural, and people will be able to tell when you're reading off a page. If you're directing other actors, check out this guide on good movie directing techniques. Before you start editing, take a few minutes to watch everything you recorded. If you aren't happy with any part of it, reshoot that part now while everything is still set up. This will save you a lot of time in the editing process. Use your favorite editing program to build your video using all of your footage. You can cut and paste clips so that takes you shot later on can be placed anywhere in the video. There's a lot to keep in mind when editing, but you want to focus mainly on making sure the video flows smoothly from topic to topic, and that there aren't any errors.  Use transitions to hide cuts between takes and to take the viewer from one scene to the next. Continuously review your video as you are editing it. Make adjustments to the timing of scenes so that you don't linger too long on one or leave another too soon. There are a variety of guides on wikiHow for using different video editing programs, including Windows Movie Maker, Avidemux, Adobe Premiere, and more. There are also guides on general editing practices that can help you with the basics of editing. The introduction is an important but brief part of your video. Most introductions should be no longer than 5-10 seconds, and should quickly inform the viewer what channel they are watching and what the content of the video will be. Your introduction will help viewers identify you video when they see it elsewhere on the web, and will help keep them watching your video for the content.  If your intro is too long, it will drive away a large portion of your potential viewers. If you have a log or other Channel art, make sure to include it in the introduction. You can use Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas to add professional effects and transitions to your videos. When you upload your video, you can set the thumbnail. This is the image that appears for the video when it turns up in search results or is listed in your Channel.  If your account is not verified, you will only be able to choose from a few preset thumbnail options. Make sure you verify your account by submitting your phone number. Custom thumbnails allow you to create a "Title Screen". This can have text on it, your logo, a screenshot from the video, or anything else to help draw the viewer in. A popular strategy is to include the title of the video as well as some custom graphics. See this guide for details on adding thumbnails to uploaded videos or videos you've added in the past.
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One-sentence summary -- Get some good equipment. Write a script. Rehearse before shooting. Prepare anything you need. Start filming. Review your recording. Put it all together. Add an introduction and effects. Create a good thumbnail.


Before the negative event, what was going well?  Find something that was on the upswing that is related to the bad news.  It’s important to present this first. Do not ever present the bad news first. If you do that, the audience will often focus on that and you will lose their attention – they won’t even hear the good news. Give them something interesting so they’ll want to hear more. After the initial good news, lead directly into the bad news.  Don’t segue with "and now the bad news" or you’ll deflate the positive impact the previous good news brought. When you state the bad news try to be somewhat monotonic in nature but don’t waiver and don’t be apologetic. You’ve stated exactly what happened. Now, most importantly, what did you learn from it? Bad things do happen; accept it. But you can use those events to improve. This is most commonly called a post-mortem analysis. Done properly, such an analysis can lead to dramatic improvements. When you present your summary of the post-mortem, you will be telling the audience how this negative event poses a future benefit. Yes, it happened. No, it wasn’t a good thing. No, you’re not trying to dodge responsibility. Your objective is to state the news and nothing but the news. You’re simply going to put it in such a way that the audience recognizes you as a person of integrity. When done properly it’s likely you’ll get a round of applause by using this method. Instead of a blame fixer, be a problem fixer. Don't try to assign the bad news to someone - not even to yourself. Quibbling over who did what to whom behind which barn isn't going to solve anything. We were having a good day, something bad happened, here's what we're doing about it.
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One-sentence summary --
Identify the good news. Present the facts. Outline the positive results. Avoid excuses. Avoid finger-pointing.