Studying references

Goal

Learn to break down other people’s videos into reusable patterns, and use those patterns to build your own ideas without copying anyone.

The principle

Every creative field learns by studying work that came before. The writer Austin Kleon puts the idea in his book Steal Like an Artist: you do not copy a work, you study what makes it work and rework that with your own material. In short video, there are many proven structures. You do not need to invent a shape; you need to understand a few shapes well and fill them with your own story.

The line between learning and copying is simple:

• Learning: you take the structure (a hook type, a pacing pattern, a way of ending) and apply it to your own content.
• Copying: you reuse someone’s words, footage, jokes, music or distinctive style as your own. Do not do this. It is unfair to the creator, and it can hurt you too: Instagram lists content that was already posted on Instagram among the things that reduce Reels reach (source).

Choose your references

Pick 20 videos. Criteria:

• They are in your pillars, or close to them.
• They are videos you watched to the end. That is a strong signal that something worked for you.
• Mix: some from big accounts, some from small accounts, so you see patterns and not only celebrity effects.
• Include a few that you disliked but could not stop watching. Those are instructive.

Do not only pick people who do exactly what you do. Great ideas travel between fields: a cooking creator’s structure can fit a coding video.

The breakdown table

For each video, fill one row. Use a spreadsheet or table in your notes.

#	Link	First line (exact)	First frame	Promise	Beats	Turn	Ending	Ask	Length	Why I finished

How to fill each column:

• First line: write it word for word. This is where you learn hooks.
• First frame: what is on screen at 0:00? A face, a text, an object, motion?
• Promise: what did the video imply I would get?
• Beats: count the segments and note how long each lasted.
• Turn: was there a twist? Where?
• Ending: how did it end? Did it loop to the start?
• Ask: does the video ask the viewer to do something (comment a word, save, follow)? Where does the ask sit: in the hook, in the last seconds, only in the caption?
• Length: in seconds.
• Why I finished: be honest. Curiosity? Humor? Recognition? A visual?

Find the patterns

After 20 rows, look down the columns.

• Which first lines share a shape (a question, a bold claim, a number, “I…”)?
• How many seconds does the average beat last?
• Which endings loop?
• What did you finish for reasons you can name?

Write down 3-5 patterns in plain words. Example patterns:

1. “Starts mid-story with the result, then explains how.” (6 of 20)
2. “Three numbered tips, each one sentence.” (4 of 20)
3. “Starts with a statement I disagreed with.” (5 of 20)
4. “Ends on the same line it began.” (3 of 20)

These patterns are your toolkit. They are not property of any one creator; they are common structures.

Subject sets the ceiling

Studies of single accounts, where the creator stays the same and only the idea changes, keep showing one thing: the gap between a creator’s best and median video is huge, and it follows the subject more than the production. The same camera and the same editing can give 20 times the views. Videos built on a personal stake (a move, a job change, a confession) tend to beat neutral explainers, and expertise works better as the credential than as the hook. These are observations from a handful of accounts, not rules, so check them against your own table.

Add one more question to your rows: what is at stake, for the viewer or for the person on screen? If a video has a strong structure but nothing at stake, note it and move on.

Optional: look at the niche, not only at people

If you are unsure whether anyone wants your topic, spend 30 minutes on a quick demand check, mainly for YouTube, where people search:

1. Type your topic into the search box and write down the first three or four suggestions. These are real queries.
2. Open the top videos for one query. Look at the title, the cover and the channel.
3. Follow the recommendations from the best one until you find a video that clearly stands out from the rest.
4. Repeat for the next query, and stop when you understand the niche, not just one competitor.

If people already look for what you make, build around that demand. If not, tie your topic to something they already want: viewers want a result and rarely care about the mechanism until it is connected to the result.

Turn patterns into your own ideas

For each pattern, write two ideas using your material.

Pattern 1 (mid-story with the result) + your inbox idea about avoiding a task → “I avoided a twenty-minute task for two weeks. Here’s what finally made me start.”

Check each idea: if the original creator saw it, would they recognize their video, or just a familiar structure? If they would recognize their video, change it.

Respect and rights

• Do not download and re-upload other creators’ videos.
• Do not use their audio recordings of speech.
• Use music according to the platform’s licensing for your account type.
• If you want to react to or discuss a video, check the platform’s tools for that (for example, features that let you respond to a video) and credit the creator.

Common mistakes

• Studying only huge accounts. You see the celebrity effect, not the structure.
• Writing summaries instead of exact first lines. The exact words matter.
• Collecting without analyzing. A saved folder is not a study.
• Imitating the voice. Copy structures, not personality.

Exercise

1. Build the table with 20 videos. Take two sessions if needed.
2. Write 3-5 patterns.
3. For each pattern write two ideas in your own material.
4. Put your best five into the idea inbox.

Daily practice

• Minimum (keeps the streak): a voice note of any length.
• Today’s take (about 30 seconds): Name one pattern from your breakdown table and apply it to your own idea.
• Weeks 1-2 everything stays private; from week 3 follow your publishing plan.
• Don’t watch the take right away (lesson 4.1). Tick the day in your tracker.

Reading (optional)

This week’s book, about 15-20 minutes: Chip and Dan Heath, Made to Stick. A loose suggestion; it does not have to match the lesson. More in resources and the schedule.

Checklist

• I have 20 rows in my breakdown table.
• I wrote 3-5 patterns in plain language.
• I have 6-10 ideas that use these patterns with my material.
• None of my ideas reuse someone else’s words or footage.
• I recorded today’s voice note and take.

Sources

• Instagram: ranking explained
• Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist

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