Dissecting Casey Neistat's Videos

Intro

A large part of what makes a Neistat video interesting is the man himself. His ability to “yap” in front of the camera and structure a normal day into an story sets him apart from other vloggers. That brings me to Step 1. To make a good vlog, your vlog needs to carry a message. This message is often the title of his video (yes, ik… duh).

How he make movies

Let’s first discuss the content (script, music, excl the way he films).

He starts with up-beat backing music. Music sets the tone for the video.

Then he leads with a hook. “A lot of people talk about my glasses” -> We are intrigued… “Why?” -> “So let’s talk about my glasses”. This is the Exposition.

What follows is a slight deviation from the hook. He provides context aka Inciting Incident and Rising Action being his car commercial shoot.

Notice as well the presence of both the voiceover and the clip’s own description of the event. The description lives independent of the event. It’s just what’s there. The voiceover ties these clips together to construct a narrative.

There are two ways he transitions between clips. The first is following the beat. Has the clip showed what it’s meant to show? If so, wait for the next beat before transitioning to the next clip. The second method is via an in-clip speech cliffhanger. “It’s raining out… [pauses]… shit.” then immediately follows with a beat from the backing track. The pause temporarily breaks the tempo, and the beat following the “cliffhanger” brings the audience back to the tempo.

The music pauses briefly whenever he makes a point or transitions between stages of the story framework. When switching tracks, the initial backing track fades for a voiceover before the next track begins.

He has many clips to illustrate each part of his story. The clip for a corresponding voiceover segment usually starts briefly before the point is made. Notice how the clip shows Neistat’s face covered in white before the voiceover speaks it. I suspect this is due to how our brain perceives things quicker than what we hear, so having time to view the scene first allows us to understand it slightly, which allows the voiceover to sound more coherent and make more sense.

…to be continued

How he make vlogs

…to be continued

Disclaimer: The ideas presented in this post are solely my personal perspective and have not been substantiated by any verifiable evidence. Please form your own opinions on such matters.