Like any good book, movie or campfire story, your videos need structure. This structure should be easy to follow and repeatable so that your life as a video creator becomes easier. By video structure we are simply referring to a basic Beginning, Middle and End setup. The great bonus is that with this structure you develop a style of video that is completely unique to you. Let's get into how to give your videos more structure.

The beginning of your video is going to be the introduction of what is to come. As far as the Internet of things is concerned, Youtube in particular, people want answers fast. Not only do you need to tell your viewers what they can expect you also need to wow them with amazing moments of what is to come. Look at it like your are watching the trailer to a movie just before you are about to watch the movie itself. This little trick will keep them watching all the way through if you get it right. Here are a few methods you can use:

1. Just say it straight
Tell your audience with the first sentence of the video what's about to happen. You can get straight to the point so keep it really short. Remember that you don't need this to be the first thing you film. Maybe do it half way through the day or even at the end.

2. Highlights
When compiling your video leave a gap in the beginning of the edit. I usually leave anything from 10 to 20 seconds depending on how much footage I am going to work with. Then once you have completed the edit go back over it and pick out the 10 best shots you have. Copy these and paste them in the front of the video. Make sure to shorten them to only a catchy glimpse. This is only a quick highlight montage. You don't want to give too much away.

3. End at the beginning
A quick method is to take the conclusion of the video (the ending) and copy it to the front. This way the video starts where it ends. It's a fantastic trick used by many directors in movies as well. 

4. Creative mix
Regardless of what you do for your introduction, it must be creative & informative at the same time. Use elements of all of the above to create a perfect little trailer that will make people want to watch the featured content.

The Middle is the main part of the video. It makes up the bulk of it and I therefor refer to it as the The Body. The Body is the vehicle to transmit your message to your audience. This blog entry is not about deciding what to film (we cover that in another blog) so we are going to assume that you know what you are filming and what message you are wanting to part with. With that said let's look at the structure of how the body works.

Question your Body Parts
Each limb, organ & muscle has some function that makes you operate as a person. A story's body needs to be looked at the same way. To do this we must look at our story and ask a question for each part. Let me use an example:

My story is: Im going Hiking on a Mountain.
My Questions are: Where, who, when, how & why?

Where: Table Mountain    Who: My Best friend & myself       When: September Reunion     How: 2 Day Journey from California      Why: Life long dream come true.

Look at all this new information! I'm now ready to build a story with all these new body parts. Treat each one of these "limbs" as a separate scene that will ultimately be your body. 

Like with your Introduction you can be creative with this part, but remember to also be informative. Part with some emotion about how you feel and what people should do. Leave your viewers with room to take in the journey you just shared with them.