Explained: What are YouTube Shorts and tips to make

YouTube Shorts is Google’s rival to TikTok and Instagram Reels. Launched in September 2020, the short-form video format allows creators and artists to make videos of 15 seconds or less.

What is the USP of YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts is built directly into the YouTube app. With Shorts, YouTube aims to make it easier to create and upload videos right from one’s smartphone. And people who come to YouTube can find Shorts integrated into the YouTube experience, with a specific destination just for short videos.

YouTube has foundational creation tools, like a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together up to 15 or 60 seconds (options for both), the ability to record with music from a large library of songs, control speed settings, and more.

Shorts offers creators ability to add text, captions to videos; record up to 60 seconds, or even sample audio from other Shorts to remix into their own creation. In what is claimed to be an exclusive feature, it allows creators to remix audio from videos across YouTube. This means people can give their own creative spin on the content they love and help find it a new audience.

YouTube is also working on deeply integrating Shorts with the YouTube experience. For example, if you hear a snippet of a song on Shorts, you can easily find the full song, watch the music video, or learn more about the artist—all on YouTube. And that works both ways, as a create button has been added right on the watch page, so anyone can make their own Shorts with that audio.

How to create YouTube Shorts
Creating a Short with YouTube's short-form video creation tools allows you to record one or more clips that add up to 60 seconds. While recording with the Shorts camera, use the progress bar at the top of your screen to see how many segments you've recorded, and the length of each.

To make your Short longer than 15 seconds, tap 15 above the record button to record up to 60 seconds (60). Please note that recording with music from YouTube’s library or the original audio from other videos is limited to 15 seconds. Once you've recorded, you can tap Next to add details to your video. From this screen, add a title (max 100 characters), and choose settings, like video privacy.

You can select audience, for eg. “Yes, it's made for kids” or “No, it's not made for kids”

And, then simply tap Upload to publish your Short.

Tips to make Shorts and what not to miss

* Add music or other audio: The music and sounds found in the library are free to use, but only for personal, non-commercial use, unless you have the appropriate licenses.

* Adjust recording speed: Tap to speed up or slow down recording.

* Record with a timer: Set the countdown to record hands-free and choose when to automatically stop recording.

* Apply filters: Pick from a selection of filters. You can add different filters to each segment as you record, or apply them in the editing screen after you record.

* Align frames: Line up your next clip using a transparent overlay of the last frame you captured.

* Add text: Place multiple messages over your video and change the color, style, and alignment on the screen.

* Adjust timeline: You can also use Timeline for even more control over when text is shown in your Short. Drag the start and stop points of a text clip to control when text shows in your Short and when it disappears. Use this feature to trigger different messages at different times in your video. To reorder text clips, tap and hold them. Move clips from top to bottom to control the front to back order your text is shown.

* Green Screen is another way to remix with Shorts. It allows creators to use up to 60 second video segment from any eligible VOD or Short as the background for their original Short video.

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