How to Make a YouTube video

YouTube provides one of the simplest ways to get your video online and polished.

Not so long ago, a home video producer had to carry a large digital video camera and then use specialized editing software to produce an attractive video. Now, however, you can record a video on a point-and-shoot digital camera, transfer it to your computer’s hard drive and upload the video to YouTube.com, where you can edit your video in a few minutes. YouTube offers step-by-step instructions that show you how to edit your video, add special effects or even add music from YouTube’s Audio Swap library.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Recorded video saved to computer

Upload Video

1. Go to YouTube.com and sign in to your account. If you do not have a YouTube account, create one at the YouTube sign-in page.

2. Go to your YouTube channel and click the “Upload” button. Click “Upload Video” and choose a video file to upload.

3. Wait for your video to upload as a .wmv file. When your video has finished uploading, you will see a link where you can view your video. Click on that link.

Edit Video Information

1. Click on the downward-pointing arrow located to the right of your channel name to edit the information about your video. Click “Video Manager” and then click on the video you want to edit. Video information you can edit includes captions, the title, annotations and privacy settings -- whether you want it to publicly viewable or private. You can also re-edit the video information, such as changing the titles, captions or annotations after you edit your video footage.

2. Click the “Edit info” button, located along the top left corner of the page. Write a short description of your video and then enter tags and appropriate category for your video. YouTube provides tags for you to choose from, and you can create your own as well.

3. Click the “Settings” tab to choose private or public viewing and whether you’ll allow comments or video responses. You can then add or edit existing annotations, captions or subtitles. You can choose to make your video viewable by anyone at all or viewable by link, or you can keep it private, so that only people you specify may view the video.

Edit Video Footage

1. Click “Video Manager” from your channel page and then click “Edit video.”

2. Watch your video play in the Original and Quick Preview windows. Hover over the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button above the Quick Preview window. Click “I’m Feeling Lucky,” which is a one-click fix for lighting and color. If you are satisfied with the results, click the blue “Save” button. When YouTube has finished saving your edits, you can make additional edits. If you’re not pleased with the results of clicking “I’m Feeling Lucky,” click “Revert to Original.”

3. Hover over the “Fill Light,” “Contrast,” “Saturation” and “Color Temperature” buttons to adjust these settings as you like.

4. Click the “Trim” button to adjust the start and end times of your video. Then, drag the brackets on the timeline to trim your video and click “Done” when you are satisfied with your changes.

5. Click “Stabilize” if necessary to correct for camera shake.

6. Save your edits by clicking the blue “Save” button. Saving will take a few minutes. The status bar in the YouTube window let you know when your video has finished saving the edits.

Add Special Effects and Audio

1. Click the “Effects” button if you want to add special effects. Choose from among Black and White, Sepia, Cartoon, Cinemascope, 1960s, Thermal, Combustion, Satellite, Heat Map, Pixelate, or Neon Pink or Neon Green. Click a special effect to see how it looks in your video. Continue clicking different effects until you have decided which effect you want.

2. Click the “Audio” button to use YouTube’s Audio Swap library to replace -- that's replace, not add to -- the original audio in your file with music. From the page of musical selections that appears, choose an audio selection to preview with your video. If you like the selection you’ve previewed, click it to add to your video. If you’d prefer select a different audio selection, try other selections in the audio menu. The Audio Swap feature lists dozens of selections that are timed to the length of your video. These are recorded selections from known artists. These selections range from Alternative, Big Band, Bluegrass, Blues, Classical, Folk, Hip Hop, Indie, Jazz, Pop, Punk, R&B, Rock or World Music.

3. Click “Save” to save the effects and audio in your video. Wait for your video to finish processing, which will take several minutes, depending on the length of your video.

Tips & Warnings

• YouTube supports videos in HD and a variety of formats.

• New members can create videos that are less than 10 minutes long and less than 20GB in size. After you’ve made a few YouTube videos, YouTube will enable your channel to load videos that are 15 minutes or longer.

• Uploading videos requires Firefox 4 or higher, Google Chrome or Internet Explorer enabled with Silverlight.

• Even a short, 30-second video takes several minutes to save.

• You will be able to view the previous version of your video while changes are processing.

• Your video must consist entirely of content that you created. Do not upload TV commercials, music videos, concerts or commercials without permission. See YouTube’s copyright tips and community guidelines for more information.

References

• YouTube: Upload
• YouTube: Video Manager
• YouTube: Video Editor
• YouTube: Audio Swap
• Google: YouTube: Private Videos and How to Share Them

Resources

• YouTube Help