I Reviewed 200+ Video Outlines to Find This (4 Ways to Script YouTube Videos)

I reviewed hundreds of videos to pull out 4 major ways on how to script, outline, or plan your YouTube videos, BEFORE recording.

Check out my YouTube system Project 24! https://channelmakers.com/go
This guide shows each step to build a successful channel: https://youtu.be/aBUcO_wAf08

I use vidIQ on my channel: https://vidiq.com/channelmakers
This is why I use vidIQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gKpLNGRVlc

Chapters:
0:00 Before You Record
0:53 First Type
2:51 Second Type
5:40 Third Type
7:23 Fourth Type
8:14 The Outline Options

Got something to share with me (feedback or an interesting YouTube find)? Go here: https://airtable.com/shre0hEysXMEeEz9g

#growonyoutube #youtubeplanning

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i feel like something that’s rarely ever

talked about on youtube is what goes

into preparing a video before you record

and i’m not talking about shots or

scenes or camera angles or any of those

things i’m talking about how do you

actually plan or write down bullet

points or a script for your video howdy

howdy everyone nate here i found four

major ways to go about doing this and

the best part is it’s not just from me i

ask you for your best examples of

outlining your videos maybe you’ve tried

a few different ways and you’re not

quite satisfied with how you’re doing it

thus far so my goal with this video is

to help you choose a new way perhaps if

you’re looking for a new way or just be

inspired on how you can better pre-plan

or outline your videos so what i did is

here in my youtube community a little

while back i ask you how do you outline

your videos and i ask for a screenshot

of the actual outline for a real video

on your channel and boy oh boy did you

respond thank you so much i got hundreds

of responses from you so as i was

looking through all of these i went

through and i picked out a few of my

favorites this first category i’d call

the scripting it out where you write out

almost word for word what you’re going

to say in the video and this first one

is from the channel home studio

simplified now because robert is

covering a fairly technical topic in his

videos it makes sense in this script to

go through and mention each of the

points that we’re going to talk about as

well as specific points that we need to

make in order to make sure that we say

what we’re saying correctly next more

script style if i can say that correctly

more script style of outline is from the

channel marcus vance he’s doing very

well with this he covers a lot of

medieval weapons fantasy as well as real

weapons the note gave was i didn’t

upload any outline because i usually

operate from a script that i don’t

deviate from too much next one that

stood out to me is from the channel

chala he does some really great stuff

with retouching people’s art and shows

the process and roasts people’s art and

a whole bunch of cool stuff but for the

script i’m going to show this to you

look at this it was so scripted out it’s

so tiny i can’t even read it here i

think maybe while i’m talking i’m going

to have it scrolling by next to me right

here you see what i liked is the note

that chala gave with this he said this

is one of my most successful videos and

a big part of it why it succeeded was

the pre-production and outlining stage

of it so what he did is he went through

and he researched similar channels and

similar videos and he took meticulous

notes of what they did what they covered

in their video and he made sure that his

video covered a similar structure

hopefully i’ve gotten through scrolling

through the entire outline here by now

because it’s time to move on next one

this is from the channel made on tape

which by the way i love how niche this

channel is it’s for a very specific

audience and you can tell it’s doing

very well for that audience and if we

look at the outline it’s scripted almost

word for word including the uh the title

here phew uh okay now we saved an old

vcr from going to the radio shack heaven

and the story behind this video was he

got it from his dad it was the vcr they

literally watched growing up and i love

that this script includes a very

conversational text element see this it

says hi-fi stereo and that’s not

referring to video quality this thing

records good sounds it’s outlining

interesting things within the script

itself in a very conversational tone all

right and now we move on to more of the

bullet point style of outlining videos

this is perhaps more of what i do

personally on channel makers on this

channel first one comes from the channel

dana shockey and i picked this one

specifically because i was hoping i

would find an outline like this one let

me show you guys what it looks like it’s

a work of art i love it i love it this

is the outline of an artist and if i

look at the comment that dana included

with this first of all very

complimentary they call me a good egg i

appreciate that but this video was going

over an entire year’s worth of all the

different hair colors that dana had used

uh throughout the entire year and so

dana purposely wanted to make sure that

they stayed on a timeline of covering

each of the aspects and not just ramble

throughout the video next one this is

from the channel the wool patch and the

note steward gave with this mentions

from watching your channel ideas 2022

video which if you haven’t seen it yet

i’ll put a card for you up here um

stewart now knows he’s a tradesperson

and it’s perfect for the channel and so

the outline is very bullet point-ish

let’s make sure i cover this aspect and

then the chapter two this aspect in

chapter three this aspect next outline

is from the channel the aquarium library

and his note with it was this is one of

his first viral videos and a majority of

the views came from brows which is

awesome the other interesting thing here

was he mentioned that this video he had

purposely intentionally planned out more

than similar videos but when you look at

the outline that he shared it’s just

questions which is very interesting

because it spent so much time in the

world of building aquariums and was so

knowledgeable about it he could create

an entire 55-minute video off of just

answering a few interesting questions

the other thing i wanted to mention from

the note he included with this was love

what you’re doing and hope one day

you’ll be able to join project 24 if you

are not familiar with my youtube program

project 24 i’m just gonna put a little

plug for it right here it is incredible

and perfect for channels like this so if

you have something similar going on

you’re building your own channel i would

love if you just go check it out it’s at

channelmakers.com next outline is from

the channel sage and stone homestead

which i love the vibe of this channel

everything about it the topics

everything’s awesome and if we look at

the outline of this video it was they

knew their audience very well they’re

actually part of project 24 and they

knew that these were the pointers the

audience was interested in of farming in

the snow and so they covered each of

these aspects it’s very bullet point but

making sure that they don’t miss

anything next outline is from the

youtube channel the brie i hope i’m

pronouncing that right this one stood

out to me because they started her note

with howdy howdy nate and how can i pass

that up right but actually the other

reason why this one stood out to me is

because look at how cool this outline is

it’s color coded based on what is

happening throughout the video this font

in this color is a leading thought or

idea this one is a potential video title

uh this is extra comments i just love

how it was organized this way and by so

doing it made it easy i mean from my

perspective i’m not obviously not the

one making the video but it made it easy

for me to understand the flow of the

video and so i’m gonna say if your

outlines are feeling a bit stale maybe

try something similar to what the brie

is doing here all right moving on to the

next outline type this is what i call

more of the three five this is what

this is what i call more of the free

form or zero outline style first one’s

from jesse at plot37 and it’s

interesting because if we look at the

note included with this outline jesse

says nate i have absolutely zero outline

ever some of my videos are quite fact

heavy but i just wing it so if we look

at the outline

boom this is all we got

i love that we included an image anyway

thank you jesse that just gave me a

laugh today next one’s from the channel

mr hobbies this one was interesting

because also the included note with this

was i make notes but not always and

they’re short this was a tutorial that i

knew really well so i only had the one

line if we look at it it’s literally

only one line that’s the entire outline

for the video awesome next channel is

jania vlogger all about genealogy and i

love that this outline was handwritten

very freeform freestyle thought and also

whenever a handwritten one showed up for

me i just had to pick it out because i

don’t think i could personally do it i

am way too digital to do handwriting i

would be scribbling out i’d be

rearranging i’d be doing all of that but

i appreciate that people are still able

to do it so i had to pick this one

because i thought it was awesome next

one’s from the channel carson j marbles

this one was very interesting because

there was no included note but all they

do to outline their videos is script the

introduction and then just free from

from there in fact the note down here

into a script for my last four videos i

just started talking my vids so that’s

all i do next one is from the channel

omni tierra now this one could arguably

be included in the next segment style of

outlining but i included it in this one

because i mentioned in their note that

they rarely ever even script videos

because it’s all about them traveling

around with their dogs it’s more of

let’s just record for a while see what

happens and then create the video in

post oh and they mentioned when they

submitted this for my review they sent

it from their tent in baja mexico that’s

a pretty cool story right there next

style of outline i wanted i wanted to

make sure that i didn’t miss in this was

what i call the post recording outline

meaning you record a bunch of stuff and

then you kind of put together piece

together a video or a story line after

the fact which is the case with this

channel montu plays they mentioned in

their note usually i start with the

subject for the video which is an aspect

of the game i play which is stellaris

and i then record a video or audio for

20 to 30 minutes until i’ve made all the

points i think i want to make then i cut

that down to a three to twenty minute

video which is also the case for this

next channel andrew w they mentioned in

their note the screen cap of the outline

so the the screenshot here is just the

outline the chapters that are included

in the video and then they say i

typically have a rough outline in my

head and then start building my projects

and let the process dictate my chapters

once i have the project finished i go

back and look at how i can add in

context for certain areas of the project

and then i do voiceovers or b-roll so

when you’re looking to outline your own

videos the first thing you want to do is

boop the like button on this video so it

can spread to more people thank you for

doing that but really i see four broad

categories for how you outline or plan

out your videos beforehand you’ve got

scripting the video which can often look

to the extent of word by word writing it

out and even using a teleprompter as

desired you’ve got bullet points more of

loose form let’s make sure i cover these

points in the video i can look at my

points and then turn back to the camera

and record a segment and then look back

at my points and turn back to the camera

that’s more the style i personally use

you’ve got your free form or almost zero

outline where you just go from what you

already know in your head you just

create a video maybe you have a single

sentence and you say this is what i’m

going to cover in the video and then the

last format is where you create a video

you have maybe an idea of what you’re

going to do but then in post recording

you take the clips and you form a

cohesive hole out of it so if you’ve

been using a certain type of outlining

your videos i’m going to encourage you

right now if you’re feeling stagnant

especially try one of these other ones

and go check out these channels if there

was one of them that stood out to you

that you feel like you would like their

content go check out the channel and see

how they produce videos also if you’re

at this stage in your channel where

you’re looking to uplevel and you’re

looking to improve a variety of the

technical aspects i created an entire

video where i pulled out a lot of data

of a lot of video descriptions and i

pulled out the best practices from my

own experience and from analyzing

hundreds of other videos so i put that

in this video here for you to watch next

and go in the youtubes