The secrets behind making a viral food video
Sam Way, AKA @Samseats, has 12 million followers on social media, and his distinctive, fast-paced editing style (complete with ASMR sounds), is a major reason why…
Image source, Samseats/YouTubeWhen Sam Way was starting his career, he didn’t consider becoming a chef – nor aspired to become a social media star, but in a bid to add to his CV he began to vlog his passion for cooking and quickly gained millions of fans worldwide.
So, what’s the secret to his success and how long does it take to create a 60-second video? The answer may surprise you.
From office worker to celebrity cook
Sam, 23, always loved cooking. His parents had a love for homemade food and encouraged Sam to get involved in the kitchen too. As a child he was taught to perfect the basics, including how to make a good bolognese and to how to poach an egg.
Soon, he was cooking just as much as they were. “I started teaching myself small, random things from baking bread to making sauces.”While making different dishes had become a passion for the Oxford native, he didn’t consider it as a career, he just saw it as a relaxing go-to hobby. But finding a job he enjoyed was proving difficult.
“I left school without any A-levels, and I didn't go to university. I decided I just needed to follow my own path.
"I got a job in property – working alongside estate agents and doing a lot of cold calling. Six months later, I knew I didn't want to do the job anymore. It's a good industry but it just wasn't for me. I’m not suited to an office job.”
Deciding to make a move into hospitality, Sam was concerned that without qualifications or experience, he wouldn’t find employment. “I started making [cooking] videos online for the sole intention of building a portfolio… to show potential employers what I could do, because there was only so many times I could write 'I'm passionate about cooking' on my CV.”
When his minute-long videos proved immediately popular, Sam had a re-think about his future. “Within a few weeks, I started getting 100,000 views on my videos. And then it grew exponentially, with millions of views. It was really at that point I thought I might try it as a career.
“I wouldn't change it for the world now. I love what I'm doing. It's such an exciting job because I get to travel, I get to experience so many things and meet so many amazing people. But I never set out with the intention of being a content creator.”
The secrets to Sam’s video success
Image source, Sam WaySet yourself a challenge to watch one of Sam’s videos on TikTok or YouTube and try to count how many shots each video has. You’ll probably give up after the first 50, there are just so many – in fact, there are multiple shots per second. And yet it all flows together, and the recipes are easy to follow. So, does he have a big team shooting and editing his videos on expensive equipment? Not, exactly…
“I do all the shorter videos myself. I just film them on my phone. At the very start I was just propping my phone up on stuff but now I have a tripod set up with an attachment for my phone. And I have added some studio lights, but that all gradually fell into place.”
Each video contains hundreds of shots – painstakingly edited together. While it’s now Sam’s distinctive style, it started off as a necessity due to the recipes. “I was doing these long dishes and you have 60 seconds or less to fit all the elements in. So, you're like, ‘how am I going to do that?' It has to be short and snappy.”
His fast-paced videos appeal to the audience too. “People now need to be engaged so quickly, otherwise, you just scroll on. It needs to be quick enough to get people’s attention but also you need to make sure the audience will be able to comprehend and make sense of it.”
Just as Sam didn’t have any formal food training, he didn’t have any qualifications in video editing either – his experience was limited to making little videos of his holidays as a keepsake. He learnt on the job. “I feel like if I look back at my first videos and compare them to now, I can see such a difference in my editing in the sense of how slick it is, the colour grading, the sounds – all of it.”
Talking of the sounds, the noises that accompany each shot, whether it’s a lid being opened or the sizzle of something frying in a pan, have added to the appeal of his videos, winning him an allegiance of fans.
He's become a firm favourite in the food ASMR scene. Many of his clips can be found on ASMR YouTube compilations and now, he uses the hashtag ‘ASMR’ on his videos.
Given all the elements involved with each film, it’s a time-consuming process to make each social media post. Sam explains it takes about three or four days to produce each 60 second video and they are all filmed in his own kitchen, not a studio. “I will spend probably a day planning and testing everything I need to do. I do as much research as possible because I like to cook international dishes, so I need to make sure I'm respecting those dishes, whilst not appropriating anything. Also, I’ll be going through the process of getting the ingredients and the equipment.
“Filming will take one to two days. Typically, in the kitchen I could probably get it done in a day but when you're filming it takes a bit longer because I have to move the camera all the time and re-do shots. I don't help myself in the sense that I like to cook quite extravagant things… And then a day for editing. It’s a long process.”
On YouTube, Sam also films longer videos which allow him to go into more depth, but these are filmed separately and are quicker to produce because less editing is required.
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Sam’s choice in recipes
When looking at Sam’s videos you’ll notice he tries out various types of cuisine. “As I as I've got older, I’ve wanted to explore food beyond the UK and Europe. I love Japanese food. I love Mexican food. I love South Korean food…” realising he’s about to list every country he adds: “There's just so many different countries and so many different amazing foods. And that's part of the reason I enjoy doing this. Food is limitless when you're looking at it internationally.”
When Sam started out, friends and family would ask him to make specific dishes – “I was [living] back with my parents, so for a few months they were getting these extravagant meals every few days. I think they were pretty happy with that,” he jokes.
Now it’s his audience putting in requests. “People from [lots of] different countries ask me to make their favourite dishes and national dishes – some I've never heard of before. So, I research and they're amazing!.. For example, I have quite a few requests from people in India for various street foods.”
Sam is keen to experience as many foods as possible and travelling to different regions has become a big perk of the job for him. This year he’s already been to Mexico and by the end of the year will have added Japan, Vietnam and India stamps to his passport.
While his career is going from strength to strength, Sam’s not getting ahead of himself: “It has been a whirlwind of a year and a half since I started and I'm still finding my feet, honestly. I think when you’re doing content creating online there's not one point where you’re like, 'yeah, I'm really comfortable in this now. I know what I'm doing for the next few years'. Things change. I've got a lot of plans but who knows?!”
“I think my goal is to be that little voice who's going to help bring in younger audiences [to encourage them] to start cooking themselves. I just want to inspire people to fall in love with it as much as I have.”
Originally published June 2022.
