Hello! I’m Sven Pape. I’m an A.C.E. award-nominated editor, filmmaker, educator, and successful YouTuber. I’ve cut for James Cameron, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Webber, and more. My projects have played at Sundance, Cannes, in theatres, and on major television platforms. But nowadays, I’m best known for my YouTube channels, This Guy Edits and This Guy’s Tesla.
My journey to YouTube
In 2016, while working with Sundance filmmaker Mark Webber, editing his feature film Flesh and Blood, I decided to start my channel, This Guy Edits. The goal was to create a place where people could simply watch me edit and ask questions. This would be similar to what we see on Twitch and the gaming world. The initial goal was to help build buzz around the film. But it became more than I could have ever imagined. As I learned the craft of YouTube content creation, I began changing the direction of the channel. I began to dive deeper into celebrating the art of editing and the “invisible performers” inside the cutting room. The channel currently has 450K+ subscribers and has accumulated over 40 million views.
While growing my channel, an amazing community of like-minded individuals who love filmmaking, especially editing, began to form. They would ask great questions. And I loved to spend time giving them answers, whether explaining an editing concept or discussing my career. Most questions were job-related from people who wanted to make content for a living but didn’t know where to start. I would never say I’m an A-list editor or YouTuber. But I’ve been able to build a stable career as an independent entrepreneur. So now I get to pick and choose my projects nowadays. And I wanted more people to be able to do the same.
Starting my own course
In 2019, I launched my course, The Go-To Editor, and created a place for this community to come together. Since then, 1,200+ students have enrolled to learn hands-on editing based on my experiences while using actual feature film dailies. In addition to storytelling, the course focuses on editing career strategies.
My course mainly focuses on traditional narrative editing techniques. But as I create more content, I’ve learned a lot about the methods necessary to develop engaging creative content for online platforms. My YouTube editing techniques somewhat differ from the films I cut. The reason is that moviegoers are captive audiences stuck in the theater without distractions when watching traditional media. However, on YouTube, there’s a non-captive audience with tempting content begging to be clicked. And because of this, we must approach how we edit YouTube in an entirely new way, focusing on the first few seconds to hook the audience and set the stakes. However, there are many traditional storytelling concepts from the film world that should be utilized for YouTube content that are often overlooked.
That’s where I feel I have an edge: combining traditional with innovative concepts, so there is never a dull moment.
And after meeting more like-minded creators within the YouTube space, I’ve realized an enormous need for more talented storytellers and editors. Unfortunately, YouTube doesn’t earn the respect it deserves from the entertainment industry. Many filmmakers look down on working for a YouTube channel. But as I see it, YouTube is a patchwork of content creators sharing their love of a niche with a community of like-minded individuals. And it is an innovative outlet that allows more people to share their authentic voice, creativity, and storytelling talents while making a decent living. I truly believe anyone can begin making great content if they have a little knowledge, true passion, and curiosity. This is where I decided I needed to blend all three of my own passions into a new course.
What makes the YouTube Kickstarter stand out
My love for editing, content creation and teaching gave me an idea for a new course – The YouTube Kickstarter. And it made sense to partner with EditMentor with their interactive, gamified platform to educate everyone and anyone on how to create content that people will want to watch. My goal with this course is to save you the time I spent learning to craft engaging and valuable content so that you can make your own videos with confidence.
Throughout this course, I’ll guide you through my process of creating successful YouTube content that shares a unique story, earns followers, and builds a community of like-minded individuals. First we dissect some of my good and bad YouTube videos and highlight some essential tips. Then we break down building the host’s voice, creating the hook, maintaining audience engagement, and designing next-level sound! We wrap things up with an overview of how I formulate many of the stories I create on YouTube. This blends techniques traditionally used in filmmaking but adjusted for a YouTube audience. After you’re done, you’ll understand how to craft videos that hook an audience and keep them watching through intentional storytelling that sets stakes, provides value, conveys passion, and ultimately earns likes and subscribers.
Head over to EditMentor.com to learn more. You can also sign up for a free account and preview a few challenges. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and see what content this course inspires.
