Make a Good Travel Video
Making a travel video is an effective way to share your vacation experiences with your family and friends. Many people get video footage while traveling but they are unsure how to make a good travel video. Video production is a creative endeavour, and there are many approaches to creating a travel video. A few professional tips will help you get started.
Contents
Steps
Prepare Your Story
- Get an idea of what you are going to shoot before you arrive at your travel destination. If it's your first time there, do some research first so you'll be prepared.
- Find locations off the beaten path, which may have features different than those found in well-known tourist attractions.
- Decide what you want to capture in your travel video, such as food, people working or religious festivals.
Get Your Shots
- Use a tripod or rest your hand on something to hold your hand steady.
- Hold each shot for a minimum of 5 seconds without moving the camera. For shots with action, hold the shot for at least 10 seconds.
- Get two or three wide, establishing shots of your location.
- Take plenty of close-ups to show details. If someone is cooking, get a close-up of their hands or the ingredients. If you are in a taxi, get a close-up of the driver or the rear-view mirror.
- Do not zoom in while the camera is recording. Just try to get the camera as close as possible for your shot. When shooting from far away, zoom in and focus your shot before you push the record button.
- Vary your angles. Sometimes shoot from down low, up high, or off to the side.
- Talk to people. Interviewing local people will help you capture the culture of your travel destination. Adding local interviews to your video will also help break up you narration and keep your audience interested.
Record an On-Camera Intro and Out-Take
- Get in front of the camera and talk. This may feel uncomfortable at first, but it will make your video more interesting. Tell your audience what they will see, then tell them how you feel about. Be yourself and talk as if you were telling your best friend.
Narrate Your Travel Video
- Tell your travel story. For first time travel video makers, this is easiest done off-camera after you have been to your travel destination. You can edit in your on-camera sound bites later. Your narration is like a map, it is the story you are telling. Having this down first will help you decide which shots and sound bites you need. If you want to try to do this on-camera, you will have to be prepared at each location to record narration.
- Write down notes about your travel and create a short script.
- Practice reading your script and timing it. Take no more than 2 to 3 minutes. You need some spaces in your video without voice-over, so narration should be shorter than actual run time.
- Insert a blank video tape into your camera, then record your script using your camera microphone or an external microphone. Remember to pause between sentences so you can edit your audio.
Edit Your Travel Video
- Get some simple video editing software. Many digital video cameras and computers come with video editing software. You can also purchase inexpensive software online.
- Add your narration to your timeline first. This will help you decide what shots you need to "show" your story.
- Add your best travel shots to the timeline. Listen to your narration and show what you tell.
- Add sound bites from locals to give your travel video more flavor.
- Find music, and add it to your video. Local music or something that captures the feel of your travel destination is best.
- Re-edit your video. Follow the "10 second rule" of film production: Every 10 seconds should be an "ah-ha" or interesting moment. Take out anything that is boring, shaky, or sounds bad. Try to keep your video under 5 minutes for web distribution. If you have a lot of interesting footage and a strong story, you can try a longer format and archive on DVD. However, making a good travel video sometimes means keeping it short. Think of it as a video postcard. Keep the action moving and never let the story drag with long-winded commentary or redundant footage.
- Compress and upload your video to your favorite social network or video travel blog.
- Burn some DVDs for archiving and sharing offline.
Tips
- Get a video camera with a decent microphone. Good audio is one of the most important factors in video production, so invest in an external microphone, or even wireless microphone, before going for a more expensive camera. Be sure your camera has the right inputs for any external microphones. Professional cameras use XLR inputs, whereas consumer cameras use audio adapters of varying sizes. Check for camera connection options before you buy. Again, small and light is best.
- Buy a mini-tripod. These can be purchased almost anywhere you can buy cameras. A small tripod is easy to set up, helps you get the steady shots you need, and works as a sort of steady-cam for tracking shots.
- You need not buy expensive video equipment when you first start out. Most digital video cameras on the market will capture nice color and sharp images. Shop around and get something easy to carry that fits your budget. Bulky equipment will actually hinder you from getting good shots when shooting for travel videos. Keep it light and small.
