Casey Neistat

Share things that you find Interesting.

Give people the impression that it isn’t polished, and that not a lot of thought has been put into it. But actually, you did put lots of thought.

Episode 1: Finding Ideas around you

Filmmaking process Two types:

• Spontaneous movie
• Movies he thinks a lot about, premeditated

The process of starting out is coming up with an idea.

Ideas are overemphasized. Casey’s most popular video is about the most expensive airplane seat. What role does the idea play then?

Ideas are the motivation.

Small Ideas = seemingly insignificant, spontaneous movie Big Ideas = premeditated

• The value is in turning those ideas into stories.
• The Bike Lanes - Casey Neistat, the frustration is the idea.

Bring the audience into the idea. Have the confidence to turn it in the video. Struggle to overcome. There is something compelling about that.

Great Ideas are universal. Ex: Nostalgia

Call-To-Action: Find interestingness in your own life and make your spontaneous movie. Go outside, look for some interestingness to turn into a movie.

Episode 2

You’re going to go outside and make this movie. Casey’s approach to Cinematography. It feels like

Three Kinds of shots:

• Wide Shot.
• Medium Shot.
• Long shot, flattens an image. Establishing shots.

Once you have an idea, you have to take an ANGLE.

• What is most interesting to me? What do I care about?

If I’m that interested, someone else will probably be as interested.

A story has a beginning, middle and end. Focus on the setup → establishing shots.

Longer lens flatten out the shot. (the more you zoom out, the more it’s curved).

Casey is Keeping track of what he has captured. Two wide shots away from intro shot.

Walking and talking shot is terrible. Put phone on somewhere. Would rather have a steady shot. Chaos plays a role, but not here.

Spontaneous. Dynamic. The tone of the movie is set.

You wanna be in my movie?

Expectations of what you wanted to capture have no resemblance to what you want to capture.

This is the virtual of spontaneous.

This always happens. Getting something that you didn’t anticipate. But Don’t quit. Just think. What kind of story can you pull out of what you shot.

What separates those who do and those who don’t is the willingness to overcome this part. Stare at a wall until you figure it OUT. WOW.

The ending is always the hardest part. It’s a punctuation mark. Without an ending, you don’t have a story. You never know.

Having the confidence. This conclusion will present itself. After some struggle.

He met a brick wall. But he had the confidence that he was going to find it.

Episode 4

The real storytelling comes in the editing process.

Pile of footage vs. a story.

Casey Neistat takes editing very seriously. It’s not knowing.

The writing takes place in the editing.

Genesis moment of the idea, the angle. Shoot the story. Finding the 3 acts.

Now you are back here, you have your parts, you have the understanding. Now, you put them together.

title:How to approach music
First identify the emotion that the music needs to convey. And then find the music. NOT the other way around.

It’s never easy to find the right song. The song can make or break your story.

Don’t look at the shot first with the song plugged in. Does is sound good? Does it sound fun? Does it sound interesting?

Matching works. And crashing works.

The best edits are the ones you don’t notice.

Book recommendation:

• Elements of Style → Omit needness words

What is the minimum amount of time, before the joke lands.

A song is never a soundbed. Let the audience digest that information.

Story is KING.

In you’re really careful with the song, if you’re looking for a perfect dip, it can be really satisfying.

There’s this term killing your babies.

That love of particular shot should not supercede the goal of making the movie great.

Chapter 6 - Part 2

You should tell a story that is personal to you.

Casey never writes script for these types of movies. He knows the core idea. He will discover that. Not sure what it is.

Intro lets you know the energy, the tempo

Always be on the lookout for those moments.

When times you are not in a rich environment. Look for friends to punctuate the movie. If you can bring in more characters into your movie.

The obstructions are opportunities. Because they create obstacles. They make the story more rich. The struggle make it more real and interesting.

Filming chronologically is the simplest. Because it’s hard to shoot afterwards. And do 1 project.

Chapter 7

Always be on the lookout for spontaneity.

Chapter 8

Casey almost never reviews his shots, because it slows him down. It’s great for efficiency, but when things don’t work out, hmmm.

Act 1 - introduction to the story, set out the mission, goes out on the adventure, journey to get the glasses Act 2 - make those glasses mine

Make your viewer as invested as possible in your story. In your journey.

Tell a story from these glasses.

Right when i get the last shot, I need to start editing, because the whole movie is in my head. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to finish the movie.

Chapter 9: Editing

No idea what he is looking for, no idea what he is doing.

I got all the ingredients I need to make an amazing meal. Now, I just gotta cook it.

LET HIM COOK.

Wow, Casey here speaks about one of the golden rules, that apparently, you are not allowed to follow. He says:

If you found a song from another movie, you are NOT allowed to use. You are NOT allowed to use any Wes Anderson songs. Because the imagery associated with the song is already associated with something else.

It’s actually crazy how Casey Neistat and Mr. Beast say the exact same thing, even though their content is so different.

You have 10 seconds to have you viewer care.

Put the credits at the end. Not at the beginning. You have to EARN it.

• This is exactly my philosophy on why I don’t promote my videos. I need to earn those views. I shouldn’t force those views upon my people

You can let the music work for you.

I think one of the things that Casey is really good at, and most people like myself, or any bad youtuber, when they vlog, is that they just talk about what is happening. They are unable to add another layer of complexity. Of interestingness. All these details are given so the viewer can care more.

Music is going to tell you how you feel. The absence of music will give that feeling of uncertainty.

The best editors are not defined by what shots they use, but by what they cut out. You want to strip everything down.

In my movies, I am very concise with what I say.

One thing that maybe I need to apply for my next video is to use more silence, and I need to do more talking. Without music in the background. I guess Michael Reeves doesn’t do this.

Casey Neistat loves continuity. That’s why he is able to give the viewer the feeling that he has 50 cameras.

Pacing is SUPER important. If it’s too slow, you stop caring. If it’s too fast, there’s too much information and it’s hard for the viewer to process. You need to find the perfect balance.

Let the audience in. Don’t tell them what is going to happen.

MUSIC: If you only like the intro of the music, you can just loop it.

One thing with the music transition is how you can seemlessly transition music. Right now, what I do I just stop. Do a voiceover without music. And then have another music play.

But if both music are similar BPM, you can cut them seemlesssly with each other. Remember, the best edits are the ones that you don’t notice.

Sometimes, you add a throwaday shot at the end for like 2/3 of a second, so it feels like the period of a sentence.

Chapter 10: Finishing Touches

Shot variety.

Perfection omits the human hand.

Your video is going to live on forever, so before you hit done, you have to make sure it is exactly what you want.

GH20105 Tires fell out at ~(-3:33)

Notes

He is amazing. High school dropout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxZPNxvqNsI&ab_channel=ThisGuyEdits

What I really admire, and want to do: Continuous Thought

• He shoots part of his storyline in one location and completes that thought in another one

It becomes a dynamic flow of story.

Like Casey Neistat in his vlogs seems like he always says the lines spontaneously, and he always knows what to say, but I’m starting to realize he probably says those lines 3-4 times.

And the only difference between me and him is that his is NOT afraid to say those things 4 times. He is not afraid to look stupid.

I shoot my Obsidian once and dread the idea of having to film it again. Well guess what? You want to do well on YouTube? This is what you need to do. If you want to deliver the highest quality content.

Casey Neistat repeats himself.

What separates those who do and those who don’t is the willingness to overcome this part.

His spontaneous vlogs. There is no secret sauce. It’s just within you.

“The process is having confidence in spontaneously capturing something that is real, the ending will present itself”

Trust the process.

It’s easy to give up.

Get out of your own way.

His Videos Analyzed

• Intensity - Casey Neistat
• my brother Van - Casey Neistat
• Bike Lanes - Casey Neistat
• Snowboarding with the NYPD - Casey Neistat
• [[private/$21,000FIRSTCLASSAIRPLANESEAT-CaseyNeistat|$21,000 FIRST CLASS AIRPLANE SEAT - Casey Neistat]]