YouTube Video Shot List Template
Most YouTube videos are not lost in the edit because the ideas were bad. They are lost because the footage to build them does not exist. You filmed the talking head, you got the main demonstration, and then you sat down to cut and realised you had nothing to put over the middle four minutes.
This shot list is built around that failure. It covers the hook, the body of the video, the B-roll you will need to cover your own cuts, and the handful of shots that are almost always missing when it matters. Film it top to bottom and you will have a video you can actually edit.
The shot list
Hook (film this last)
Film the hook after everything else. You will know what the video actually became, and the hook will be sharper for it.
- 01Hook line to camera — the promise of the video, under 10 seconds
- 02Alternate hook take with a different opening word
- 03Visual payoff shot — the result, the finished thing, the before/after
- 04Cold open moment — the most interesting 2 seconds in the whole video
Talking head / A-roll
Your main coverage. Get a second angle even if you never use it — it saves every jump cut.
- 05Wide talking head — full setup visible, establishes the space
- 06Medium talking head — chest up, your default cutting angle
- 07Close talking head — for the emotional or emphatic lines
- 08Second angle, 30–45° off the main one, for cutting between takes
- 09Pickup takes of any line you fluffed, framed identically
- 10Reaction beats — you nodding, laughing, pausing, thinking
B-roll — the cover
The rule of thumb that saves videos: film three times more B-roll than you think you need, and film each clip for at least 10 seconds.
- 11Hands doing the thing you are talking about — close, slow
- 12The subject or product from three distances: wide, medium, macro detail
- 13Over-the-shoulder of the screen, notebook, or workspace
- 14Establishing shot of the room or location
- 15Movement shot — walking in, sitting down, picking something up
- 16Slow push in on the main subject
- 17Slow pull out revealing context
- 18Texture and detail shots — surfaces, labels, materials, light
- 19Something happening in the background of your space
- 20Cutaway of you looking at or reacting to the subject
Demonstration / main content
- 21Full uninterrupted run-through of the process, wide
- 22Same process again, close on the hands or the detail
- 23Each individual step isolated, so you can slow it or repeat it
- 24The moment it works — filmed from two angles if you can repeat it
- 25The moment it fails, if it does. Failures earn more retention than successes
- 26Screen recording or phone capture of anything digital
Structure and transitions
- 27Chapter markers — a clean beat before each new section
- 28Transition motion: hand passing the lens, walking through a doorway, whip pan
- 29Matching in/out pairs for any transition you plan to use
- 30B-roll specifically shot to sit under the sponsor or mid-roll read
Outro and end screen
- 31Sign-off to camera
- 32Wide shot with room in frame for end-screen cards
- 3320 seconds of clean, quiet action for the end screen to sit over
- 34Thumbnail stills — shoot these deliberately, not as frame grabs
Tips for this kind of shoot
- Film B-roll for 10 seconds minimum per clip. Three-second clips are unusable the moment you want to slow one down.
- Shoot your thumbnail as a photo during the session. Frame-grabbing from video gives you a soft, badly-lit thumbnail every time.
- Say your key lines twice, back to back. The second take is almost always the one you use, and it costs you nothing.
- Before you break down the setup, read this list back. That two-minute check is the entire point of having one.
Use this list on your next shoot
Storeyz keeps your shots in story order for planning and regroups them by location for the day — then you tick them off on your phone as you get them.
Questions
How much B-roll do I need for a 10-minute YouTube video?
Plan for roughly 20–30 distinct B-roll clips of at least 10 seconds each. That sounds like a lot, but a 10-minute video typically uses 3–5 minutes of covering footage, and you will discard a good half of what you shoot.
Should I write a shot list if I film alone?
Especially if you film alone. There is nobody else to notice a missing shot, and no second person to send back for it. A shot list is the substitute for a crew.
What order should I film a YouTube video in?
Not script order. Film everything that shares a setup, a location, or a light together, then move. Film the hook last, once you know what the video became. Storeyz keeps the script order and the filming order as two views of the same list so you do not have to choose.