How do different tiers of Video Creators film their videos?

Every day, we watch videos on Youtube or other platforms like BiliBili. Have you ever wondered how these brilliant content creators work behind the camera? Producing these high-quality and enjoyable videos might be harder than we imagine. When I tried to film my first presentable video, it actually took me 2 hours to find a good spot with great lighting and another 3 hours to film one clip without awkward pauses.

In the winter of 2021, I was able to conduct user research on over 20 participants who were active video makers. It was interesting to watch the video they posted and learn about the secret of producing it. Also, it was unsurprising that different levels of content creators had different habits for filming videos. Some casual Youtubers mainly film for fun while some serious and professional video makers see it as a job and try their best to fit what the market wants.

According to the participants’ fan base and their purpose towards video making, I mainly classified them into three groups, beginners, mid-level and top-tier. Within the beginner groups, there are casual beginners, who don’t care about fan growth and just want to enjoy filming, while there are fan-seeking beginners who have a very clear aim of becoming professional and even full-time influencers. I would discuss their needs and filming habits in the following paragraphs.

For each group of people, I would like to dive deeper into three parts. 1) Who were they? Who they were and how they identify themselves were the keys to understanding their motivation and their inner needs. 2) How did they present themselves? Presenting oneself using videos was not a natural act for humans, so looking closely at the way they expressed themselves through cameras was a good approach to understanding how they placed “me” in these videos. 3) How did they film? In terms of what equipment they would use,

Notes: All the data and observations that I mentioned here were based on my participants. Since this was a limited sample, it didn’t necessarily represent the demographic characteristic. It was good enough to take them only for reference purposes.

Casual Beginner

Who were they?

Among all the casual beginners that I interviewed, most of them were colleges student (with 1 recent graduate). They had the habit of making vlogs of their daily life, therefore editing and uploading these clips wasn’t a different task for them. Instead of filming the videos on purpose like other groups, these casual beginners considered taking videos and sharing them online as just part of their life.

To dive deeper into their needs, their inner motivation was documenting their own life. Such a ‘self-centered’ purpose would lead to a filming habit that they cared less about the quality of the videos and what their fans want. Relatively, they had fewer followers, which were usually less than 12k. Most of their followers were friends or people who lived a similar life, like other college students or even fellow students at the same school.

If we place this group of people among average people, there were some interesting findings too. They were more artistic than their peers, even though some had an engineering background. Also, they were more active on social media like Instagram or WeChat. In some way, they were the KOL(Key Opinions Leaders) in their own circles.

How did they present themselves?

Only 30% of the time during videos that they were showing their faces. And when they did so, they really didn't care much about lighting and makeup. Conveying the authentic self through cameras was their goal. Only one participant said that he preferred to used use filters to make him look better on screen because being in front of the camera made him a little nervous.

Some of them talked in the videos while some of them don't. It depended more on the content of the videos. However, when they did speak, they wouldn't prepare in advance, meaning there was no script. And they also wouldn't retake the videos and relied on improvision. They talked mainly because they wanted to express their feeling and emotions at that time. Communicating with audiences mattered to them but they also thought that it was important to communicate as a true self, not a rehearsed figure. Meanwhile, around 50% of them think eye contact was important.

How did they film?

The most common equipment they used was iPhones. They believed iPhone’s camera quality was good enough for their usage. Also, there were casual beginners using vlog cameras like Sony or Cannon. Those who have professional cameras would still use phones as a supplement as they might want to film something spontaneously on the road.

Other than the camera, they didn’t purchase much. They were usually very happy with natural light, while some did have lamps but seldom used them. Also, Some of them might have a basic microphone.

Fan-Seeking Beginners

Who were they?

I want to be a professional content creator and have been trying out different social media platforms.

All of them told me that they were pursuing a career, mostly part-time, as content creators. They were in their early 20s and excited about different career possibilities with the prosperity of Instagram, Tik Tok, and Youtube. The major difference between Fan-Seeking Beginner and Mid-Tier Youtubers was the different stages they were in. The mid-tier group usually has been influencers for a longer time and consequently had a larger fan base, while the Fan-Seeking Beginners were still trying out what was suitable for them and how to manage different social media platforms.

As a result, their needs were to find out what they could produce that could attract fans the most. They spent a lot of time on reading comments and analyzing the market trend, so they usually had their own understanding of the audience's preferences across different platforms and would adjust their content according to it.

By chance or not, the fan-seeking beginners that I interviewed had fewer followers than the casual beginners. In some ways, they were not successful yet because of the slow growth of followers. However, what should be noticed was that they were not discouraged by it. They showed great passion for making content and made goals like uploading videos or posting content twice a week. They carefully measure what parts of their videos could attract more audiences and what parts had counterproductive results. Fans matter to them but they did emphasize that what was more important was their interest in video making and having the fun of being professional content creators.

How did they present themselves?

Most of the time, they showed their faces and bodies, because they were either talking to audiences or acting or dancing for audiences. And eye contact was very important as they saw it as a way to directly ‘talk’ to people watching their videos.

Generally, they prepared more than the casual group. They often had rehearsals before the actual filming and would film the clips again and again to have the best outcome. And most of them would wear makeup when shooting the videos. Actually, deciding what to wear and how to do the makeup was an important part of the preparation. They also talked about the fear of being in front of the camera, which would make them behave slightly unconfident or awkwardly. But such nervousness would fade as they shot more videos and practiced more.

Were they becoming someone else when trying hard to win fans? Even though I didn’t ask them directly, I still believed that the answer should be no. They mentioned that they were being another self when shooting, discovering a more outgoing, energetic, and crazier version of themselves. At the same time, they really enjoyed the work, which was likely because of aligning with what they really wanted deep down.

How did they film?

All of them had professional cameras, and most of them had lighting equipment, tripods, and microphones. That being said, they used their phones as well, mostly for outdoor shooting or less professional scenes. Also, some mentioned that they would use the help of others to film the videos. They talked about how they got inspiration from upper-tier YouTubers for how to film and what kinds of equipment to buy.

Mid-Level

Who were they?

Making videos is a serious side job of mine and I am making money out of it.

The mid-level group that I interviewed had a much larger fan base and the average views of their videos were high and constant. They had a very clear idea of what content they should make and what their fans liked most. For example, one participant only made funny acting videos and one participant mainly made chatting videos on Japanese culture. Some of them were part-time and some of them were full-time.

How did they make money? The most direct way was earning incentive rewards from video platforms. After thousands of views, the platform would usually give the creator a certain amount of money based on how many people watched the videos. However, they said such earnings wouldn't be enough to make a living and usually they relied on advertisement partnership if they were doing full-time. The influencer who created content on Japanese culture had his own Japanese lessons targeting people preparing for a language test, from which he mainly generated his income.

How did they present themselves?

It was no surprise that they showed their faces or emphasized who they were by using some branding techniques. And the awkwardness with a camera was no longer a problem after years of practice. Not all of them did make-up before filming but probably because all my mid-level participants were males. At the same time, they believed that maintaining eye contact was very important.

They also mentioned the process of creating content, like writing scripts and practicing acting. During the actual filming, they rehearsed and had multiple takes just like the fan-seeking beginners. Those who were doing part-time, they figured out a way to squeeze video creation into their life, such as creating during the weekdays and shooting over the weekend.

How did they film?

They had professional cameras and seldom use phones to shoot. But I would like to point out that such observations could be only true with my mid-level Youtubers and there were other mid-level Youtubers who also used Phones. However, they did claim that they cared little about the price of the camera or other equipment since such cost would break even soon.

Some of them had editing buddies or shooting buddies, who they considered to be part of their video-producing team. But there were people who work on their own. One difficulty they spoke of was how to maintain a certain filming quality during travel or after moving to a new place, as it was unlikely to move all the heavy filming equipment with them, and arranging a new background could be a challenge.

Top-Tier

Who were they?

Creating videos is my only job and bring me good income.

Here comes the top tier. And I was fortunate enough to interview one of my favorite YouTubers. They were usually at the top of their field, one of my participants was the most famous video game streamer and another was a top 1 Youtuber on personality topics.

Finding an advertising sponsor wouldn’t be a problem for them because of the crazy fan base that they had. Some of them were working as individuals, while some of them were partnering with influencer agencies, which helped with branding, fan management, and advertisement partnership.

Seemingly, they had been on the video platform for the longest time, which could be an explanation for the accumulative fan base. Interestingly, some people expressed a passion for being a Youtuber and creating new content every day, while some said that it was just a job that happened to bring great money so they decided to stick to it.

How did they film?

Just like the mid-tier group, they were not price-sensitive toward equipment. Ang sometimes the filming setup they had was almost movie standard. One participant had a studio set up with a green screen, multiple professional cameras for different angles, three to four filming lamps for lighting, and a teleprompter for pre-prepared scripts. Maybe because of the fantastic equipment they had or because of years of filming experience, they were the group that complained least about filming. Instead, they said that they spent most of their time on content creation, like script writing and acting performance. One of the challenges they had was to keep producing something new to entertain their fans.