YouTube video ideas: 28 ideas for beginners and growing channels, with edit prompts

"Everything I use to make videos, and what I'd skip."

Make a 9 to 11 minute 16:9 video. Open with a 20 second cold open of the best wide shot of the full setup, then my line "everything I use to make videos". Add a chapter marker and a lower third with the item name each time I pick up something new. Cover every cut in my talking with a close-up of the item I'm talking about. Keep the music low and duck it further whenever I speak.

"I've never done this before. Let's see how bad it is."

Cut this into a 10 minute 16:9 video in the order I filmed it. Keep my reactions to mistakes, and speed up the slow middle stretches to 4x with a small "4x" label in the corner. Add a progress bar along the bottom that fills as the project gets closer to done. End on the finished result held for 5 seconds with no music.

"These are the ten questions I get asked the most."

Make a 12 minute 16:9 video with ten chapters, one per question. Put each question on a full-screen title card for 2 seconds before I answer it. Cut every pause longer than half a second. Add captions at the bottom, white with a black outline, and show the question number in the top left corner.

"Okay, explain it like I've never heard of it."

Cut this two-person conversation to 9 minutes in 16:9. Switch to whoever is speaking, and use the wide shot when we laugh or talk over each other. When I name a term for the first time, show it as a text card on the right third of the frame for 3 seconds. Remove the long setup at the start and open on my friend's first question.

"I own 23 pens. Let's find out which ones are bad."

Make an 11 minute 16:9 video. Build a tier list graphic on the right side of the screen with rows S, A, B, C and D, and add each item's name to its row at the moment I say the rank. Keep the full list on screen for the last 20 seconds. Use upbeat background music at low volume and cut every pause.

"By the end of this video you'll have made your first one."

Make a 14 minute 16:9 tutorial. Add a chapter at each new step and show the step number and name as a lower third when it starts. Cut to the overhead camera whenever my hands are doing the work, and back to my face when I explain why. Zoom in 20 percent on the hands for any detail shot under 5 seconds. Keep music off during the steps and use it only in the intro and outro.

"I used both for a month. Here's the one I'd pick."

Make a 10 minute 16:9 comparison. Use a split screen for every test, the first option on the left and the second on the right, with the name over each half. After each test, update a small scoreboard in the top corner. End on a full-screen verdict card with the winner's name for 4 seconds.

"You need five things. Everything else can wait."

Make an 8 to 10 minute 16:9 video. Each time I introduce an item, show a clean product shot of it on a plain background with its name as a lower third. Add a running checklist on the left side that ticks off each item as I cover it. Put the "skip these" section after a chapter break with a slower track.

"Mistake number one cost me a whole year."

Make a 12 minute 16:9 video with one chapter per mistake. For each one, show the old footage or photo with a red "before" label, then cut to the current version with a green "now" label. Open each chapter with the mistake on a title card. Bring in a soft piano track under the whole video at low volume.

"Here's how it works, start to finish."

Make a 10 minute 16:9 explainer. Each time I name a new part of the process, add an animated diagram that builds one piece at a time in the center of the frame, with me shrunk to a circle in the bottom right corner. Show the complete diagram again at the end for 8 seconds. Use calm instrumental music at low volume and caption only the key terms.

"Day 1. I already regret this."

Make a 13 minute 16:9 video from my 30 daily check-ins in date order. Show "Day 1" through "Day 30" as a large counter in the top left that changes at each new day. Keep the days where something changed at full length and cut the quiet days down to one sentence each. At day 30, play day 1 and day 30 side by side in a split screen.

"Same project, two budgets."

Cut this as a 12 minute 16:9 video that alternates between the two builds at every step. Put a price tag graphic in the top corner that shows which version is on screen. Line up matching camera angles so each cut between the builds lands on the same framing. End with both finished pieces side by side and a slow push in for 6 seconds.

"Can I make this with what's in my kitchen?"

Make an 11 minute 16:9 video. Keep a small picture-in-picture of the original in the top right corner for the whole video so viewers can compare as I go. Add a chapter at each attempt or major step. End with the original and my version side by side, full screen, held for 8 seconds while I give myself a score out of 10.

"Everyone says to do this. So I tested it."

Make a 10 minute 16:9 video with three chapters, one per tip. Open each chapter with a screenshot of the tip, with the account name blurred. End each chapter with a stamp that says "works", "sort of", or "skip", based on what I say. Cut every pause and caption my verdict lines in yellow.

"What's the one thing you'd tell a beginner?"

Make a 9 minute 16:9 video. Group the answers by theme instead of by person, and add each person's first name as a lower third the first time they appear. Cut between people on the beat of a soft instrumental. Open with a 15 second montage of the funniest one-word answers.

"I left halfway through the year. Here's why."

Structure this as a 12 minute 16:9 story in three chapters, before, the decision, and after. Open on the hardest sentence in the story, then cut to the beginning. Cover my talking with old photos and clips from each period, with the year as small text in the corner. Drop the music out completely while I describe the decision.

"Everything that could go wrong that day did."

Make a 9 minute 16:9 story time video. Keep my face on screen for most of it and punch in 15 percent on every sentence that ends in a laugh or a twist. Add a dark, slow track that starts only when the story turns bad. Put the date of that day on screen in the first 5 seconds.

"This was the year I finally started posting."

Make a 15 minute 16:9 video with twelve chapters, one per month, each opening on a full-screen title card with the month name. Use my voiceover clips over the footage from each month, and fill the gaps with clips cut to the music. Grade every clip with the same warm look so the year feels like one piece. End with a 30 second fast montage of the whole year, one clip per beat.

"She's run this shop since before I was born."

Make a 12 minute 16:9 mini documentary. Open on 30 seconds of cinematic b-roll of their hands working with no voice, then bring in their first answer. Add their name and role as a lower third in a thin serif font. Cut out my questions so only their answers remain, and lay b-roll over every jump cut.

"It started with a sketchbook my aunt gave me."

Make a 10 minute 16:9 video in date order. Put every old photo on screen with a slow zoom and the year in the bottom left. Cut back to my face only for the lines where I reflect on the past. Use one gentle track for the whole video and raise it slightly in the gaps between chapters.

"I have not watched this since the day I posted it."

Make an 8 minute 16:9 reaction. Put my old video in the top two thirds of the frame and my face in a rounded box in the bottom right. Freeze the old video each time I start talking, and resume it when I stop. Add a "then" label on the old video and a "now" label on my box.

"I've used this every day since March."

Make a 10 minute 16:9 review with chapters for what I like, what broke, and who should buy it. Show a close-up of every scratch or wear mark I mention, with a circle around it. In the last chapter, put a pros list on the left and a cons list on the right, adding each line as I say it.

"You sent me 200 submissions. I picked 12."

Make a 12 minute 16:9 video. Show each submission full screen for 3 seconds first, then put me in front of it green screen style while I give feedback. Add the submitter's username as a lower third. Give each one a score card from 1 to 10 at the end of its segment, and end on a grid of all twelve.

"Let's make this from nothing."

Make a 14 minute 16:9 process video from about three hours of footage. Keep every section where I explain a decision at normal speed, and speed up the repetitive parts between them to 8x. Show the elapsed real time in the top right. Add a chapter at each new stage and end with a slow orbit around the finished piece.

"This lamp has been with me through four apartments."

Make a 9 minute 16:9 tour that plays as one continuous walk through the room. Hide the jump cuts under b-roll of the object I'm talking about. Add a small floor plan in the top left corner with a dot that moves to the part of the room I'm in. Use soft lo-fi music under the whole video.

"Someone asked if I'm ever going to finish the big canvas."

Make an 8 minute 16:9 Q&A. Before each answer, slide in the comment as a styled card from the left, with the username blurred. Cut all my pauses and filler words. Alternate between a wide crop and a close crop on each new question.

"Month four. Here's what worked and what didn't."

Make a 10 minute 16:9 update. Open with a 20 second recap of the past month, three clips with the key number from each as large text. Use chapters for what shipped, what broke, and what's next. Put screen recordings full screen with my face in a small box in the bottom right.

"I wanted to ask you about the year you almost quit."

Cut this hour-long two-camera conversation to 15 minutes in 16:9. Keep the answers with a story in them and drop the small talk. Switch cameras to whoever is speaking and use the two-shot for reactions. Before each new chapter, show a pull quote from that chapter as full-screen text.