Traveling is soulful, fulfilling, and something that every individual loves. Travel videos are not just stunning, but they fill the lives of the viewers with passion and adventure. It’s a fun experience to make travel videos, but there’s a huge learning curve.
Though it is a rewarding experience, making travel videos is not that simple. But, of course, if you have a video maker, things can get easy.
Just getting to the destination and shooting great videos using the right equipment is not enough. Unfortunately, many travel videos online have not gone viral despite being filmed at the best locations.
Poor music choice, low-quality video, and bad editing are factors that can create a failed travel video. However, you can avoid this failure by using these 7 practical tips:
1. Choose a Definite Style for Your Travel Video
You need to research and experiment a lot before taking up the task of creating a travel video. If you are a beginner, experimenting with varied travel visuals and sticking to the type you find easy will work.
Whether it is a documentary narrating cinematic compilations or a story, or a vlog-style video, choose the style that best suits you. Go off the beaten path with your travel video style, if you want.
Make your own plans of shooting instead of joining the other tourists. This will help you find a lot of travel video scopes. It will also help you in making cute discoveries. Stepping off the common tourist trails and going somewhere the visitors do not go often will make your travel enjoyable. And you can incorporate the same in your video.
2. Do Proper Research
Doing proper research means watching more and more travel videos and learning from the same. No, you must not copy the style and the content of the videos you watch, but you can always take inspiration from them.
Going through a number of travel videos will help you learn about composition, lighting, and recording videos at right angles. If you search YouTube for videos, you will find that visuals from the experts are highlighted as tutorials on tips on making travelogs and camera setup.
Going through these videos will help you learn the basic travel video-making skills and use the same while recording and editing videos. Do not rush with this. Take your time because rushing never delivers the best results.
Put in a good amount of time in capturing shots of the surroundings, people, and things. There is no need to go somewhere twice for the proper lighting. Instead, chuck out some free time and use it to get the lighting right.
3. Know The Equipment You are Using
The most important equipment you use for shooting a travel video is the camera. Make sure the camera you are using helps you take stunning video shots. But it is only possible if you have proper knowledge of the equipment.
It does not matter whether you are using a phone or a DSLR camera for the shoot. What’s more important is the video quality. Therefore, knowing the camera and the correct settings for capturing beautiful videos is necessary.
It will help you experiment with all your shoots if you know the camera and all its in-built tools and functionalities. Also, make it a point to get your camera or your smartphone ready for the travel video recording before venturing out.
Ensure you have extra accessories handy so it does not become a trouble for you if your camera or smartphone stops working suddenly. Be prepared for all situations that come your way.
4. Edit Your Video To Give It a Professional Touch
Editing is one of the crucial parts of making a travel video. You must edit your video so that all the unnecessary clips do not hamper the quality of the video. Also, work on putting all the different sequences in place. Do this in a way that they appear meaningful wherever they are placed.
This will change the entire dynamics of your travel video. Here it becomes essential to use a video maker to help you with color grading, voiceover, and transitions. An online video editing tool can also help you offer good quality background music to your video.
The way you edit your video will make a major impact on your video’s entirety and quality. If, by any chance, you have ended up creating a long travel video, edit it in a way, so it gets short and simple. Give a professional touch to your travel videos by adding voice overs using text to speech tools.
After two minutes or so, your audience will get bored regardless of how incredible your video is. Therefore, it works to stay snappy and stick with just one subject.
5. Plan the Story or the Concept
You must interestingly narrate your travel story or provide valuable information to generate interest. Your travel video should not lack order. Plan the entire sequence of the video if it is not organized correctly or if it does not narrate a story.
Failing to do so can make the video look gibberish. Instead, try stitching video footage together while using a video editing tool to create a video that appeals to the audience. Every destination has a story, and video gives you the best scope of conveying what you see. Think about the elements that make a place exclusive and feature them in your video.
6. Avoid Excessive Footage
Simply shooting anything that comes in your way of recording a travel video is not advisable. This way, you will end up with excessive footage, and the editing part will get difficult for you.
To stay right on track, shoot just the matter that is needed leaving everything else out. This way, you will have the proper information to convey in your video, and you will also not have to put a lot of effort into editing the video.
7. Use Natural Lighting
Natural lighting available at sunrise and sunset adds great beauty to travel videos. Therefore, you must make it a point to get up early and shoot your videos during dawn. In the same way, shooting travel videos or landscapes during sunset will give you stunning footage while adding an edge to your travel video.
Final Thoughts
Creating a travel video means you must work till it is perfect. You do not require top-notch tools and gadgets for this job. Even the most basic ones will do. What’s more important when making travel videos is getting to the depth of the elements that make thoughtful and simple shots.
