Today’s topic is – ‘how to make travel videos?’ In this article, I will tell you eight practical tips on making travel videos for beginners. Do you know how to film yourself correctly to make it interesting to watch?
After my student’s video about the trip worldwide won the award from the TV channel “My Planet” for the best video report about the trip, I began to receive a lot of questions about travel video and editing. Bellow, I will try to answer all of them.
How to Make Awesome Travel Videos?
Of course, bringing incredible photos from a trip is cool, but getting a stunning video means bringing with you live emotions that you can charge your friends, family, or even the entire internet. Therefore, if you do not know how to make a video about a trip, I will give you advice on that.
Therefore, before I give you some tips regarding travel video filming and editing, let’s take a look at a travel video by tropia and on the example of which there will be further tips:
TIP #1. Shoot A Lot
You will be surprised, but the key to the video’s success is a lot of footage from the trip. Let it be unsuccessful takes, repeated shooting of a place from a different angle, a wobbling camera shooting on the go, and other moments.
All this will allow you, sitting down for editing, to have an excess of the video sequence to leave only the best shots in the final video subsequently. That’s when you will be able to shoot great videos from any travels. So I always travel with 2-3 GoPro cameras to shoot multiple angles at once.
TIP #2. Don’t Shoot on The Go
If you think that the camera shake from walking will not be so noticeable because you are shooting a beautiful landscape, you are very mistaken.
There is nothing worse than getting the viewer, and even your friends, to watch the swaying view of the mountains as you walk. So you can get seasickness without even having been to the sea.
It is better to shoot while standing in one place, and already during editing make a beautiful Ken Burns effect. And no annoying shaking.
Also, film your walking instead of filming on the go. It can make a static video of a landscape or city block come to life when you walk in front of the camera like an average pedestrian.
TIP #3. Don’t Shake the Camera
The human eye focuses much faster than any camcorder’s autofocus. The mistake of many beginners is the desire to show the maximum per unit of time.
Don’t move the camera too fast so that your viewers don’t get dizzy, and your technician can shoot a video in perfect focus without missing out on small details.
You can always speed up the footage captured with the camera on the computer, but you will not slow down the blurry video; there will be no clarity.
TIP #4: Cool Videos = Cool Equipment
If you want to shoot cool travel videos, then get ready before you travel. You will need a camera (or preferably two), an external battery, a pair of 32Gb flash drives, an external hard drive (you want to shoot many videos, right?). And preferably a tripod if you’re going to diversify your videos.
I edit my videos on a MacBook Air using Final Cut, but I started with Windows and Movie Maker. I know a few movies and a dozen iPhone-only shorts, so don’t be afraid to start small, but always aim for more.
So grab your laptop, camera and go on the journey of your dreams. Don’t forget to charge the batteries. 🙂🙂🙂
TIP #5. Use A Tripod and GoPro
Every day there are more and more new videos shot on a tiny action camera GoPro, and this year we will even see the full-length film “Hardcore,” entirely shot with these cameras. The new, fourth-generation camera allows anyone to get it for themselves because the most superficial GoPro Hero now costs $230.
By purchasing a tripod on Amazon for $15 via the internet, you can get very unusual angles for your cool videos. You can also take a selfie video using a tripod, even if you are traveling alone.
And of course, the side effect of shooting with a tripod will be increased attention to your person. Many foreigners will come up to ask you what kind of thing you have in your hands and how it works. 😉😉😉
Wherever you go, I recommend taking out insurance so that if something happens, you do not spend your money on treatment – comparison of insurance prices in a convenient aggregator. Risks from coronavirus are also included in insurance.
TIP #6. No More Than 7 Seconds in Total, PLEASE
If you are shooting an utterly dynamic clip, and your journey is not a romantic adventure but drive and action, then remember when you sit down to edit – not a single frame of the final clip should exceed 7 seconds in timing.
Even if you talk to the camera, switch from your face to the landscape and back every 7 seconds. That is why I gave you the first advice because by shooting a lot during the journey, you will always have a margin of the video sequence, and you can always insert frames on the so-called cutoff.
Dilute the panoramic shot by the person filming this panorama (remember, I spoke about shooting with two cameras?), and smoothly return to panoramic views.
TIP #7. Use Moisturizers & Microphone
The more moisturizers and unique gadgets you have, the better your video will be in the end. Use hoods (lens attachments) to avoid over-exposure and direct sun exposure to the lens.
Use the lavalier microphone to walk around town and give live commentary as you shoot videos while staying a reasonable distance from the camera. Choose a camera with remote control if you often travel alone to film yourself from the side.
Practice more, shoot a lot of videos, and you will notice how the latter’s quality gets better and better with every video you shoot.
TIP #8. Adjust The Settings
On the Sony Alpha 6300, which I am currently shooting vlogs with from my second circumnavigation, I set the following default settings in the camera itself:
- Sharpness: 0
- Contrast: -1
- Saturation: +1
- Color tone: +1
These settings give me a more vivid picture even without post-processing. And during editing, I need to add a little more contrast to some frames, and everything is ready. Experiment with the settings on your camera and see how the same shot works best.
Question: How to shoot a video blog?
Answer: If you want to shoot your vlogs, then, of course, you can try to do them on GoPro without additional gadgets. In this case, the main thing to remember is not to film your speech on the go. Everything around you will shake, and gusts of wind will spoil the sound. Never forget about color correction; otherwise, only your close friends will watch your videos.
But on my example, I realized when I switched to a DSLR (even crop) how the quality of my videos increased. No other GoPro will give you the same picture quality as a DSLR, albeit cropped. I shot all the videos from the second trip around the world on a Sony Alpha 6300.
Question: What lens should I use for vlogs?
Answer: A standard (often whale) lens is not quite suitable for vlogs. The Sony Alpha had a 50mm lens. But when shooting a face, you get a too-large frame, and very often, the focus is not caught when you are taking a dynamic shot and focusing now on yourself or the subject behind you. And the third factor is that there is no optical stabilization in the lens.
You need a zoom and a wide-angle lens with a focal length of 18 or 24 mm for vlogs. And preferably with stabilization.
You may also like to read: Best Camera For Video Vlogger and Youtubers in 2020
Question: Can I shoot a vlog with my phone?
Answer: Yes, not unless you have a fourth-generation iPhone or lower. Because starting with the iPhone 5, the front camera began to shoot in HD, and the video quality became much better. In general, even full-length movies are now being shot on phones, not like ordinary vlogs.
For example, you can use different lens attachments to get other effects or optical zoom if needed. The FilMic Pro application is to work more professionally with the camera settings on a smartphone and fix the necessary parameters. Therefore, if you only have a smartphone camera at hand, you can shoot cool videos with it.
