A Notion-doc walkthrough of a four-step system for premium-looking content: the gear, the shot list, a five-minute color grade, and a nine-stage production pipeline.
Posted
6 months ago
Duration
Format
Tutorial
educational
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1.4K
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57 · 43
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
In a crowded feed your content's look is a proxy for the quality of your business, so a repeatable cinematic setup and workflow beats posting more often.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
A coach, consultant or service business owner who posts regularly but whose content looks like everyone else's and isn't bringing in high-ticket clients.
You're about to buy your first real camera setup and want to know which specs actually matter: 4K, 10-bit color, log, lens focal length and aperture.
You shoot talking-head videos at a desk and want a simple two-light setup and a five-minute color grade that make the footage look filmed by a team.
You work with (or plan to hire) an editor and need a clear pipeline so footage, scripts and revisions stop getting lost.
SKIP IF…
You want hook, scripting or content-strategy advice. This video is about how content looks and how it gets produced, not what to say.
You already shoot log with a LUT, three-point lighting and a B-roll library. Most of this will be review.
You film only on a phone and don't plan to buy a mirrorless camera; the gear chapters assume one.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
Posting consistently is no longer enough because the feed is crowded and viewers judge a business by how its content looks. The fix is a four-step system. Buy a camera with 4K, 10-bit color and log recording, pair a wide zoom with a fast 50mm prime, add a mist filter indoors and a variable ND filter outdoors, and light with a key light plus a colored back light. Plan both A-roll and a reusable B-roll library. Grade in three steps: match white balance to the key light, drop on one consistent LUT, make small tweaks. Then run every video through a nine-stage Notion pipeline with footage organized in Frame.io so an editor can work without you.
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Promises the exact four-step system for cinematic, client-converting content and plants the Instagram DM keyword.
00:28 – 02:05
02 · The problem: posting more stopped working
Crowded feeds and scarce attention mean viewers read content quality as business quality; better-looking competitors win leads with worse results.
02:05 – 03:30
03 · Results and the four-step roadmap
Five years of posting without monetizing, then 50K to 80K followers, $6K-$12K clients and doubled views once the system clicked. Lays out gear, shot list, color grade, workflow.
03:30 – 06:41
04 · Gear 1: the camera
Three non-negotiables: 4K, 10-bit color and log. Recommends the Sony ZV-E1, with the A7S III (his own), FX3 and A7 IV as alternatives.
06:41 – 10:11
05 · Gear 2: lenses
Focal length, aperture and prime vs zoom explained. Recommends a 16-35mm zoom for vlogs and a 50mm f/1.4 prime for talking heads.
10:11 – 13:25
06 · Gear 3: mist and ND filters
A 1/8 or 1/4 mist filter indoors to soften and bloom highlights; a variable ND filter outdoors to hold the 180-degree shutter rule without overexposing.
13:25 – 17:18
07 · Gear 4: lighting
Three-point lighting explained, then simplified to a key light (Amaran 300C with softbox at 45 degrees, matched to camera white balance) plus an RGB tube back light in brand colors.
17:18 – 21:10
08 · Step 2: the shot list
A-roll carries the message; B-roll builds authority by showing the life behind the brand. Capture both BTS moments and intentional reusable clips across work, travel, social and gym.
21:10 – 25:35
09 · Step 3: a five-minute color grade
Match white balance before filming, drop one consistent LUT in Final Cut Pro, then nudge highlights, shadows and midtones. Pro tip: preview the LUT on an external monitor while shooting.
25:35 – 29:50
10 · Step 4: the nine-step creative workflow
A Notion board moves each video from idea to script, film, color grade, Frame.io upload by month and A/B-roll folder, link, edit, review and post.
29:50 – 30:28
11 · Close and call booking
Invites entrepreneurs to book a call via the description link or DM the keyword on Instagram.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
If your content doesn't look and feel premium, people assume your service isn't premium either.
Competitors with worse results win podcast invites and five- or six-figure contracts simply because their content and positioning look better.
The founders winning online aren't posting more, they're posting better.
A cinematic camera needs only three features: 4K, 10-bit color and a log picture profile. It doesn't need to cost $5,000.
10-bit color holds smoother gradients and skin tones under a color grade, where 8-bit footage starts to fall apart.
Log footage is supposed to look gray and washed out straight out of the camera; that flatness is what gives you room to grade.
A 50mm lens at f/1.4 compresses the background and blurs it, which is most of what makes a talking-head shot look expensive.
Prime lenses are usually sharper and faster than zooms; the ideal kit is one wide zoom for vlogs and one prime for talking heads.
A variable ND filter is sunglasses for your camera: it lets you keep the 180-degree shutter rule outdoors without overexposing.
Three-point lighting is overkill for most talking-head setups; a key light plus a colored back light does the job.
Lock your back light to one brand color plus one or two secondaries so every video in your feed looks related.
Set your camera's white balance to the same Kelvin number as your key light before you hit record, not in the edit.
Load your LUT into an external monitor so you see the graded image while filming log instead of guessing exposure.
One LUT used on every video is what makes a brand instantly recognizable, more than any single grade.
B-roll you film once at your desk, the gym or on calls becomes a library your editor pulls from for years.
A nine-stage Notion board, from idea to posted, means every video sits in exactly one stage and nothing gets lost.
Takeaway
Premium-looking content is a system, not a budget.
WHAT TO LEARN
Viewers judge your business by how your content looks, and a handful of specific choices on set plus one repeatable pipeline get you a premium look without a film crew.
02The problem: posting more stopped working
Treat your content's production quality as a stand-in for your service quality, because cold viewers have nothing else to judge you by.
Prioritize looking better over posting more; competitors with weaker results win deals when their content simply communicates more authority.
04Gear 1: the camera
Buy a camera on three specs, 4K, 10-bit color and log recording, rather than on price; a mid-range body with all three is enough.
Shoot in log even though it looks gray on set, since that flat image keeps the most detail for grading later.
05Gear 2: lenses
Use a fast prime around 50mm at f/1.4 for talking heads to blur and compress the background, and a wide zoom for vlogs.
Choose primes for sharpness and low light, zooms for flexibility, and own one of each if you shoot both formats.
06Gear 3: mist and ND filters
Use a light mist filter indoors to soften harsh digital sharpness and give highlights a gentle glow.
Carry a variable ND filter outdoors so you can keep a 180-degree shutter without overexposing in bright light.
07Gear 4: lighting
A key light with a softbox at 45 degrees above eye level plus one back light covers most talking-head setups.
Set the key light's color temperature and the camera's white balance to the same Kelvin value before recording.
Restrict your back light to one main brand color and one or two secondaries so your whole feed reads as one brand.
08Step 2: the shot list
Treat A-roll as the message and B-roll as proof; showing your work and life builds more authority than describing it.
Capture two kinds of B-roll: everyday behind-the-scenes moments and intentionally staged shots you can reuse across many videos.
Build a B-roll library over months so each new edit pulls from existing footage instead of requiring a new shoot.
09Step 3: a five-minute color grade
Get white balance and exposure right on set so grading drops to applying one LUT and a few small tweaks.
Use the same LUT on every video; consistency across the feed is what makes the look recognizable.
Preview your LUT on an external monitor while filming log so you set exposure against the final look, not the gray image.
10Step 4: the nine-step creative workflow
Track every video on a staged board from idea to posted so each piece sits in exactly one stage and nothing stalls.
Organize uploaded footage by month and by A-roll versus B-roll, and link each clip to its video card so an editor can work without asking.
Keep final review and revision notes in one place so you approve or send back cuts without spending your own time editing.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
10-bit color
A recording format that stores far more color shades per channel than standard 8-bit video, so footage keeps smooth gradients and natural skin tones when heavily color graded.
Log profile
A flat, low-contrast picture setting that captures the widest range of highlight and shadow detail. It looks gray on camera and is meant to be color graded afterward.
LUT
Short for lookup table. A color preset you drop onto a clip in an editing app to convert flat log footage into a finished, consistent color look in one step.
Focal length
How zoomed in a lens is, measured in millimeters. Lower numbers like 16-35mm show more of the scene; 50mm and up frame the subject tighter and compress the background.
Aperture (f-stop)
The size of the lens opening. Lower f-numbers like f/1.4 let in more light and blur the background more, separating the subject from their surroundings.
Bokeh
The soft, out-of-focus blur in the background of an image, produced by a wide aperture and a longer lens.
Prime lens
A lens fixed at one focal length that cannot zoom. Primes are usually sharper and open to a lower f-stop than zoom lenses.
Mist filter
A diffusion filter that screws onto the front of a lens to soften harsh detail and make highlights glow slightly, giving digital footage a filmic look.
Variable ND filter
A rotating neutral-density filter that cuts the amount of light entering the lens without changing color, so you can shoot in bright sun with cinematic shutter settings.
180-degree shutter rule
A filmmaking convention of setting shutter speed to roughly double the frame rate, such as 1/50 at 24fps, which produces natural-looking motion blur.
Three-point lighting
The standard film lighting setup: a key light at about 45 degrees as the main source, a softer fill light opposite it, and a back light behind the subject for separation.
A-roll / B-roll
A-roll is footage of you speaking to camera that carries the message. B-roll is any supporting footage layered over it to show what's being described.
Frame.io
A cloud service for uploading, organizing and reviewing video footage, where editors and clients can leave time-stamped revision notes on a cut.
Resources
Things they pointed at.
06:05productSony ZV-E1
06:20productSony A7S III
06:25productSony FX3
06:30productSony A7 IV
09:48productSony GM 16-35mm (vlog zoom lens)
09:48productSigma 50mm (talking-head prime lens)
16:10productAmaran 300C with softbox
22:56toolFinal Cut Pro
26:00toolNotion (content pipeline board)
28:02toolFrame.io
02:30channelThe School of Hardknocks
Quotables
Lines you could clip.
01:24
“At the end of the day, your brand is a proxy for your business.”
one-line thesis, no setup needed→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
01:54
“And the founders who are winning aren't posting more, they're posting better.”
contrarian contrast in one sentence→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
17:47
“Great content isn't just heard, it's felt. And the way that you make people feel is through intentional visuals, not just words.”
“Here's a pro tip that I can't actually believe I'm giving away. When you're filming in log, I recommend you connect an external monitor to your camera and upload your LUT directly into the external monitor.”
self-contained tip with built-in curiosity→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
The Script
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
17px
metaphoranalogystory
All right, in this video, I'm going to show you exactly how to build a cinematic personal brand that grows your business. So in this video, I'm going to go over the exact four -step system that I use myself and I use with my clients to create cinematic scroll -stopping content that attracts and ultimately converts clients with your personal brand.
If you have any questions about this, you can always DM me the word cinematic on Instagram and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I get a lot of DMs. So I'm going to start with the problem.
A lot of business owners, a lot of content creators think that simply by posting consistently and sharing value that they're going to somehow magically get clients with their content. Six years ago, that might have been a strategy that worked, but today in 2026, content creation is just too competitive and that strategy doesn't work.
Your feed is more crowded than ever. There's more competitors posting online. More and more people are understanding the importance of content to actually grow their business which means that attention is scattered and scarce and the truth is if you're a business owner and your content doesn't look and feel premium especially if your service is people assume that your service your product isn't premium either and so if you want to charge high prices it really helps to have content that looks premium looks expensive and looks quality Because at the end of the day, your brand is a proxy for your business.
And unfortunately for you, competitors with worse results, with worse fulfillment, with worse products are stealing your leads. Basically, they're getting podcast invitations, five, six figure contracts just because their content and positioning is better. Right.
And so the truth is, it's really not about how much you post. It's about how your brand makes people feel when they land on your page for the first time. And the founders who are winning aren't posting more, they're posting better.
I know I repeat this a lot, but I really want to prove to you that, you know, this system works. For years, for over five years, I've been posting content. And for most of that time, I wasn't able to actually make any money or convert or monetize my audience.
But once I finally understood how to create the right type of content and, you know, create a premium personal brand, that's when everything started changing. I was able to scale from, I think, 50 ,000 to 80 ,000 followers in a few months. I started actually attracting clients who were paying me upwards of $6 ,000, $8 ,000, $10 ,000, even $12 ,000 for my coaching consulting business.
I was recruited to join one of the biggest content coaching communities in the world as a content strategist. I started getting viral videos more consistently and my average views, I think, doubled in the span of a few months after I finally understood and put all these four steps together. And I was really able to scale my coaching business up.
At the end of the day, I realized that the biggest opportunity for entrepreneurs posting content isn't a new funnel, isn't running better ads. It's really creating the personal brand that looks and feels premium enough to do the selling for you. All right, so here's the exact system that I use and I'm gonna go through right now.
Again, it's a four -step process. We're gonna start looking at gear. Then we're gonna talk about shot lists.
Third, we're going to look at color grading and how important that is. And then finally, I'm going to actually walk you through the workflow that I use for myself and that I help my clients with as well to help them grow their personal brand. So let's start with the gear.
A lot of people say your gear doesn't matter. But if you actually want a premium personal brand and content that looks quality, you need to choose the right gear. And so there are a few key components that go into that.
First of which is the camera, which is honestly the most important piece of gear that you're going to have for your personal brand. It's the most important part of your entire setup. Everything else that we're going to go over after the camera just builds on top of it.
You don't need to buy the most expensive $5 ,000 camera. You just need the right one, and that really comes down to having these three features that you can get in a lot of cameras. i'll give you my recommendation later on but i just kind of want to walk you through the non -negotiables for creating cinematic content first you need 4k quality most modern cameras have that obviously the more pixels the 4k quality allows you to have a clear image it allows you to crop in everything like that super self -explanatory the second is 10 -bit color this is a little bit more technical there's you know there's 8 -bit and then there's 10 -bit color and 10 -bit color basically just means it captures more colors in in the range of colors than 8 -bit so by having 10 -bit color in your camera you're having a lot more access to color data than standard 8 -bit cameras and this basically results when you go to to color grade specifically smoother gradients better skin tones and basically a color grade that's going to hold up better
as you're manipulating the image instead of falling apart and you know starting to distort like it will if you have an 8 -bit camera so if you're really serious about creating cinematic cinematic content creating content that that looks really good you need a camera that shoots 10 -bit color the second or the third part is really log shooting and so log is basically just a picture profile so it's basically a flat low contrast color profile that allows you to capture the maximum amount of visual information in your image or in your footage.
It looks gray and kind of washed out straight out of the camera when you're recording, but that really is the whole point because it gives you the most flexibility when you're color grading, allows you to do some crazy things. I shoot all my footage in log and it is the most important part that allows me to get such good colors when I go in and end up color grading.
It just looks richer, it looks more cinematic, especially if you can combine it with the right LUT, again, which I'll talk about a little bit later, but it's super important as well. So my recommended camera that has all three of these features, it's also very light and portable in terms of traveling and things like that, is the Sony ZV -E1.
Again, I've linked everything here. If you actually want access to this Notion dock that I'm going over, feel free to DM me. But I've included some other alternatives as well that have log, 10 -bit, and 4K.
Sony A7S III, this is actually the camera that I use personally. Sony FX3 is a little bit more expensive. Sony A7IV is better at taking photos, but it also does great at video as well.
Next is really the lens, right? And I recommend you have multiple lenses typically for your camera. There are kind of three concepts I really need you to understand before investing in a lens that are going to make a big difference.
First is focal length. So this is pretty basic. It just basically determines how zoomed in your shot is, right?
How wide or tight your shot is. So a wider focal length. So if you have a lens, you know, that's 16 millimeters.
24 millimeters 35 millimeters that's typically you know more zoomed out and will allow you to capture more of your environment so this type of lens is really good for content like vlogs you know outside shots lifestyle content stuff where you want to show the the surrounding area around you not just kind of you whereas a tighter focal length something like you know 50 millimeters 85 millimeters There are some lenses that go up to 200, 400 millimeters as well.
It's going to compress the background more and put more of the focus on you. And so this is really ideal for like talking head videos. So for instance, the camera that I'm filming on right now is a 50 millimeter.
And so it's tighter than if I were to use a 35 millimeter. So that's something to think about as well. The second part is aperture, also known as kind of f -stop.
So this does a couple things. The f -stop or the aperture value basically controls how much light enters your lens and how blurry your background gets. So the lower the number, the lower the f -stop, typically a low number is like f1 .2, f1 .4, f1 .8.
The more background blur you get in the image, it's called bokeh. And that typically gives your footage more premium cinematic look because it separates you from your environment or from your background. Typically, you want a lens that has a low f -stop or a low aperture because it lets a lot of light in as well.
So you don't need to have as much light in your scene or crank up your camera's brightness as much if you can have a low f -stop lens. again the lens i'm filming on right now is an f 1 .4 and then the last part is is fixed versus variable zoom lenses there are two types of lenses there's a lens that has a fixed focal length like we talked about up here so the one i'm shooting on now is fixed at 50 millimeters i can't zoom in i can't zoom out and then there's variable lenses which allow you to to zoom kind of like your iphone lens for example typically fixed or prime lenses lead to a sharper higher quality image, and usually a lower f -stop as well.
Variable or zoom lenses just give you more flexibility because they allow you to, you know, reach different focal lengths with one lens, but typically usually have a higher f -stop as well, so they let in kind of less light. Ideally, you have, you know, a zoom lens and then also a fixed lens, which is what I have. And then, so my recommended lenses, there's a bunch, but these are the two that I recommend.
This one is a zoom lens. It's good for vlogs and wider shots. And then this one is the one I'm filming on right now, is better for talking head videos.
So I recommend these two lenses. The next part is really filters. This is kind of optional, but these two things are important to actually get the most out of your lenses and your camera as well.
So I want to talk about a mist filter first. A mist filter, I love these things. So I'm using one on my camera right now.
It's also called like a diffusion filter. It's basically a piece of glass that screws onto the front of your lens and diffuses or softens the light as it hits your sensor. And there's different strengths of it.
So, you know, like for example, one quarter mist would be stronger. would have a stronger effect than like a 1 .8 mist filter. I typically use 1 .8 or 1 .25 as well.
And it just really blooms the highlights. It leads to this cinematic quality. A lot of times it does help, especially if your camera isn't of the craziest quality.
The camera can make things look a little bit too sharp or a little bit too harsh. And so the mist filter kind of adds that softness and that glow, especially to the highlights. That's going to make your image feel a little bit more like it's out of a film.
In terms of how to use it, I use my mist filter as long as I'm not outside. So basically any shot I'm filming inside, I typically have a mist filter on. Again, either 1 .8 or 1 .25.
Yeah, I don't need to go into too much depth on that. It's pretty self -explanatory. This is the mist filter that I recommend.
Again, it's important to make sure that you get the right filter size for the lens you want to use it with. So different lenses have different kind of widths. And so make sure that you get the right size of mist filter for your lens.
The second and arguably kind of more important is the variable ND filter. This is basically sunglasses for your camera. So obviously when you're outside, this is going to be...
um very important basically reduces the amount of light that enters your camera without affecting your color um and it really uh you know there's a type of of this nd filter which is called a variable nd filter which is you basically turn it and you can control how much light you want to block or how much light enters your lens which allows you to you know as lighting conditions change you can change the amount of light that your camera lets in this is important because um there's tip there's like a few settings that or a few standard practices that make the most cinematic footage and if you want to follow what's called the 180 degree shutter rule which is where your shutter speed is roughly double your frame rate in bright conditions this is going to naturally let in too much light and and kind of overexpose your image that's why having an nd filter helps bring that exposure back down so you can you know maintain the right shutter speed iso things like that while keeping the image as
as cinematic as possible and properly exposed in terms of how i use it anytime i'm outside i screw this thing on i basically just twist it until my exposure looks right while keeping my other settings the same and again if you don't have this outside your footage is going to look overexposed this is the one i recommend again make sure you get the right filter size for the lens that you want to use it with the last part is really lighting This is super important right now.
So I want to talk about this concept of three -point lighting in terms of movies, films, cinematic content. This is kind of like the go -to lighting setup. Honestly, for me, lighting is probably the most important part of having a good frame and having a high -quality image.
And it's really easy to do and make it look professional without actually doing too much. um again like it doesn't really matter how good your camera lenses are if your lighting's bad your shot's gonna look bad too so this is what you know a three -point lighting setup looks like you're basically facing the camera you have a key light on one side of you to 45 degrees pointing at you you have a fill light on the other kind of 45 degrees which is basically a little bit less bright pointing at your face and then you have a back light which is pointing kind of at the back of your head to separate you from the background.
In practice, a lot of times, and I think I go into this, I just use a two light setup where I just have the key light, which is right here in my frame right now. And then the back light, which is over there right now. I could have like a fill light over here if I wanted to, but I think it's just overkill a lot of the time.
Just in terms of terminology, key light is going to be your primary light source. It's going to be the main thing lighting up your face, and it is going to be the most important light. Again, a fill light is a little bit softer.
It's on the opposite side, kind of to reduce harsh shadows if you have them. And then the back light is positioned behind you to separate you from the background. You could also make it a different color.
A lot of times in my videos, I make the background or I make the back lights orange or blue or red or one of my key brand colors. But again, this is really how you can set up your lighting setup to make it look super cinematic.
I don't need to go a ton into the key light. I basically list the main light I use here. So I use the Amaran 300C and I pair it with a soft box, which basically just diffuses the light and makes it less harsh as it hits my face.
Again, positioned 45 degrees to... to one side of you and then above eye length eye level angle down at you one one pro tip here that is good to remember is make the color temperature of this main light the same number as the white balance in your camera so that the whites look white and this is more important when you go to color grade but it's just uh it's good practice to do this again i recommend these three lights here So this is the main light.
This is the softbox or the diffuser. And then this is going to be the light stand. Next for the tube light, I talked about how I skip the fill light here.
So we're going to go straight to the tube light. I position it behind me and basically separates me from the background. The one I have is RGB, meaning I can choose basically any color on the rainbow to dial it in at.
Typically, I would choose one main brand color, which in my case is orange, and then one to two secondary brand colors, which for me are kind of like blue and red. And so when I'm filming videos, I either have the tube light set to orange, which is most of the time, or blue or red, and never kind of any other color. So your videos and your feed look consistent.
This is the recommended tube light that I have. It's really good. All right, let's move on to the shot list.
So once you have the right gear, it's actually time to start filming the content. And this is where the shot list becomes really important. Most creators don't really do a shot list.
They just sit down, hit record and talk to the camera and then post the video. And ultimately that's why their content looks bland and kind of blends in with everything else. But the creators who have really cinematic, high quality content and personal brands understand that great content isn't just heard, it's felt, right?
And the way that you make people feel is through intentional visuals, not just words. And so that starts with understanding the two types of shots. It's really simple.
A -roll is any video of you actually talking to the camera with audio, right? So right now, what I'm filming right now is A -roll because I am talking, I am looking, you know, talking to the camera. It's not super complicated.
It's gonna be the foundation of every content. It's gonna be what your message is. It builds trust and positions you as an authority, right?
Your words are doing that for you, the story that you're telling. These are some example clips of A -roll clips of me, right? I'm looking into the camera or I'm looking slightly off and I'm speaking.
B -roll is any footage that isn't you talking to the camera. And so this type of footage gets basically layered over the A -roll. So your A -roll is kind of like the base layer.
It tells the story. And then your B -roll helps, you know, amplify what you're saying in the A -roll. It's layered over the A -roll to make more, you know, dynamic, cinematic, and emotionally engaging videos.
Especially for entrepreneurs, B -roll does something even more powerful. It builds authority and status by showing, you know, your life behind the brand. You could talk about...
your successes, your business, all you want, but actually showing what you're talking about, showing you building your business, showing the behind the scenes is going to make your message and your video way more powerful. There are really two types of B -roll that you should be capturing. One is BTS.
So these are basically clips that you capture as you go through your day. It's kind of just like documenting what you're already doing, right? You're already living your life.
Now get in the habit of filming it. These are authentic, unscripted moments that make your brand feel real because they are the second part is intentional clips so this is kind of where you set things up to specifically film b -roll videos and these are typically shots that you know you'll use across multiple videos and you'll be able to you'll be able to bring into multiple videos in the edit so like for instance you at your desk you know working you want to call you at the gym These B -roll clips can be used multiple times again and again in different videos.
And you film these once and then you basically have a library over time as you film more of this of reusable clips to pull from every time you edit. So I have some examples here. So for instance, like office and work B -roll, these are some frames that I have.
They're pretty sick. Lifestyle and travel as well. I'm just kind of giving you ideas for shots that you could get.
um and then you know gym and fitness so all these shots are b -roll um and they really help tell my tell my stories in a more powerful way i have an example shot list here um and i've broken it up by you know work and business shots lifestyle and travel shots networking and social shots and then gym and fitness feel free to kind of pause and and go through that or take a screenshot use this list as a starting point but then obviously adapt it to your own life and an environment as you go next let's look at color grading so color grading is is super important here and this is really where you transform your footage from flat and lifeless like we talked about earlier from shooting in log to cinematic okay um just just a kind of a pro tip here if you are shooting a log your footage is going to look washed out in gray straight out of the camera that's okay again log captures the most amount of visual information so you have the most control in this step while color grading and so the color grade is where we can take advantage of that this process can be super complicated or it can be super simple and achieve similar results i'm always in favor of simplicity so my entire color grading workflow comes down to
three steps and takes about five minutes or usually less so the first part is making sure your white balance is correct and this actually happens before you before you even hit record before you film make sure that your camera's internal white balance which you can choose matches the key light white balance again like i said earlier this basically means the whites will look white and and the colors won't look distorted if these numbers don't match if the white balance if the kelvin or the temperature of the light doesn't match your image is going to look off you're going to need to adjust the white balance which will take more time and the image won't look as consistent so make sure this is dialed in second step is to apply my lut and so a lut is just a lookup table which is basically a one click color preset that you can drag and drop over your footage to transform your log footage into cinematic color graded footage.
It's really simple. You basically just drag the LUT onto your clip in your editing software. So I use Final Cut Pro and then your footage will go from gray and lifeless to rich and cinematic in seconds, especially if you have the right LUT.
Here's a pro tip that I can't actually believe I'm giving away. When you're filming in log, I recommend you connect an external monitor. to your camera and upload your lut directly into the external monitor so as you're filming in log you can see what the image or what the footage will look like after your color grading so this lets you dial in your settings like your exposure your lighting with more precision instead of kind of guessing what you need to do to make the image look better i have a couple example images here of what it looked like as log and then what it looked like when i just dragged my lut on top So there's this one, there's this one, and there's this one.
You can see what a huge difference it makes, especially if you use one let consistently. That's really what's going to create that cohesive premium look that's going to make your brand instantly recognizable. If you want the let I use, feel free to purchase it here.
You can also DM me and I can send you the link as well. Happy to do that. And then step three is, So the first two steps are really all you need to create kind of to go from this left side to this right side.
But sometimes I make some minor adjustments to the image. You know, if you properly expose the shot, you know, it should basically be ready to go. But I usually make a small tweak.
I usually raise the highlights a little bit to make this kind of a little bit brighter. I drop the shadows to add a little bit more contrast. And sometimes I raise the mid -tones to just bring the brightness of the image up overall.
But again, very, very small tweaks, not doing too much to the image. My main takeaway that I want you to have from this is color grading isn't not really complicated. It's actually really simple, but it is important to have a cohesive look.
across all your videos and your content because that's what's gonna make it feel intentional and premium. And that's what's gonna separate the personal brands and the creators who look like they have a team behind them from those who don't. It's just gonna feel better to look at.
People are gonna watch it for longer. People are gonna share it more. It's just gonna build that brand and brand credibility way better than if you don't put effort into the videos.
And lastly, I wanna talk about my creative workflow. this is kind of like a bonus section um but i follow this process every single time to produce this content consistently um you know all the stuff we went over gear lighting color grading um it doesn't really mean anything if you don't have a repeatable process to actually create the content create the videos and you know take it from idea to you know finished video um my process looks like a notion content pipeline and you know i create an idea and i basically drag it As it goes along from idea to scripting, to ready to film, to ready to edit, to edit in progress, to needs revision, to rejected, to approved, to posted.
Super simple. I'm going to take you through my nine step creative workflow. First, I create an idea, right?
So I would just add an idea here. I add just the hook, the concept, my initial thoughts. Eventually, I have a ton of ideas in my content bank that I can pull from when I go to create content.
When I have the right idea, then I move it into the scripting stage, right? And so from here, when the video is in the scripting stage, I script it. I either script it word for word or I just add bullet points like talking points about what I want to talk about.
Knowing kind of what I'm going to say either exactly word for word or just in general saves me a ton of time before I even press record and make sure that I hit the topics that I actually want to. Once it's scripted, then I move it to ready to film. And then I get ready to film it.
So I first film my A -roll with my full cinematic setup, with my lights, with everything like that, with my microphone, the A -roll kind of that I talked about in step one. And then if the video needs specific B -roll shots that I don't already have for my giant B -roll bank of footage that I've been filming for years, then I capture that as well.
But typically I just film the A -roll and then, you know, My editor adds B -roll that's already pre -filmed when he goes to edit. Step four is, so I actually color grade my footage.
I color grade it before I send it to my editor just because I enjoy the color grading process. I apply my LUT like I talked about, make some small adjustments to the exposure to white balance. Every clip gets the same treatment, again, which creates a consistent cinematic look across my video.
Then I basically export my color graded footage. and upload it to this site called frame .io this is what a lot of filmmakers and people who take content seriously use and so i upgrade it or i upload it into folders organized by month so right now it's april so i would i would upload you know the video into the april folder and then within that month month folder within april i would have two folders one is a roll one is b roll so i would upload it in the appropriate folder there This basically keeps my footage organized and my editor can find what they need.
Step six, I then basically link the A -roll that I just uploaded to frame to the specific video in my Notion pipeline. So when my editor basically sees the video in ready to edit, if he clicks it, he can go in and see the link to that specific piece of A -roll that he's going to be building off of. to keep everything clear then he's going to move the video into ready to edit and begin editing um pretty pretty self -explanatory when they're done editing i'm going to review the video and when i'm satisfied if it meets my standards if i feel like you know it's a good reflection of my my brand and everything looks good then i'm going to accept and post it if not i'm going to add specific revisions you know inside this this this software frame .io and send it back to the editor to fix those up.
This system I use is really common because it works, right? Like every piece of content is clearly in one stage or another, nothing gets lost, nothing gets forgotten. And my content goes out consistently every single week without, you know, me spending all my time on it.
So guys, that's the end of this tutorial of how to build a cinematic personal brand. If you are an entrepreneur and you want to help building a cinematic personal brand, that doesn't just look pretty, but actually converts clients with content like my own, like my clients, feel free to book in a call with me here.
You could also click the first link in the description of this video on YouTube and book in a chat with me there. I hope this was valuable to you. I hope you got a lot of information out of it and I hope you actually start applying it.
And again, if you have any questions, DM me the word cinematic on Instagram and I'll get back to you. All right, guys, thanks for the time. See you in the next one.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The pitch is simple: in 2026, a service business gets judged by how its content looks before anyone hears a word. What follows is less a theory than a spec sheet, scrolled live through a Notion doc, covering the exact camera, lenses, filters, lights, grade and nine-stage production board behind one coach's premium-looking feed.
Frameworks
Named ideas worth stealing.
03:02list
The Four-Step Cinematic Brand System
Gear
Shot list
Color grading
Creative workflow
The overall structure: get the right equipment, plan A-roll and B-roll, grade consistently, and run production through a repeatable pipeline.
Steal forstructuring any how-I-make-content guide or lead magnet
04:12list
Camera non-negotiables
4K resolution
10-bit color
Log picture profile
The three features that matter more than price when choosing a camera for cinematic content.
Steal fora gear-buying checklist
06:41list
Three lens concepts
Focal length
Aperture (f-stop)
Fixed vs variable zoom
What to understand before buying a lens: how tight the shot is, how much light and blur you get, and the sharpness-vs-flexibility tradeoff.
Steal forexplaining lens choice to beginners
14:28model
Key plus back light setup
Key light at 45 degrees, above eye level, matched to camera white balance
Optional fill light opposite
RGB back light in one brand color plus 1-2 secondaries
Three-point lighting trimmed to two lights for talking heads, with the back light doubling as a brand-color signature.
Steal fora home studio setup
19:20list
Two types of B-roll
BTS: document what you're already doing
Intentional clips: staged, reusable shots for a library
Capture authentic day-in-the-life moments and a bank of reusable setups (desk, calls, gym) that an editor can pull from across videos.
Steal forplanning a monthly B-roll shoot
21:56list
Three-step color grade
Dial in white balance before filming
Apply one consistent LUT
Make minor adjustments to highlights, shadows, midtones
A five-minute grade that relies on getting exposure and white balance right on set so the LUT does most of the work.
Steal fora repeatable editing preset
26:08list
Nine-step creative workflow
Create the idea
Write the script
Film A-roll (and any needed B-roll)
Color grade
Export and upload to Frame.io by month and A/B-roll folder
Link the A-roll to the video in Notion
Move to Ready to Edit
Editing
Review and post or send revisions
A Notion board with stages from idea through posted, paired with organized Frame.io storage, so every video is in one clear stage and the editor always has what they need.
Steal forhanding production off to an editor
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
29:50link
“If you are an entrepreneur and you want to help building a cinematic personal brand, that doesn't just look pretty, but actually converts clients with content like my own, like my clients, feel free to book in a call with me here. You could also click the first link in the description of this video on YouTube and book in a chat with me there.”
Soft and late, after 29 minutes of free value. Backed by a recurring Instagram DM keyword (CINEMATIC) planted in the first 20 seconds and repeated for the Notion doc and the LUT, so the call booking is one of three low-friction asks.
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
Add Modern Creator as a preferred source and Google shows you more of our breakdowns in Search, Top Stories, and AI Overviews. It only changes what you see, and you can undo it in your Google settings anytime.
Add to Preferred SourcesOpens your Google source preferences with us pre-loaded. Tick the box and you're done.
A recorded masterclass on visual authority: six packaging decisions, five positioning questions, and the exact camera, light, grade and edit setup behind a cohesive premium feed.
A 23-year-old consultant walks through the slide-deck system he uses to post 7 reels, 2 story sequences, 2 emails and 1 YouTube video a week in about four hours of his own time.
An agency content director walks through a client's biggest batching day: a shot list, a from-scratch b-roll bank, a Friendsgiving campaign and a four-part series.
An 11-minute field test of the Godox ML100 Bi — three lenses, two softboxes, three room configs — to answer the question every home-studio creator is actually asking.
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