How To Shoot Travel Videos: 8 Effective Tips

Instagram users upload travel photos and videos every minute, and they know a lot of lifehacks that they have learned during shootings.

13:55 31 October 2020

But not everyone becomes a popular blogger traveler and ambassador of world brands. The difference between these two categories of people is that travel bloggers have found their niche and settled in it. You need to do the same. Choose for yourself a style and manner of travel - for example, a very low budget (or free at all) travel guide across the East or, conversely, a super-luxury Europe: a food trip across Italy, a solo or family trip to all states of America, hitchhiking with six friends (a very difficult task) or a trip to the jungle with extreme adventures. There are a lot of options, and you can combine several at once. But this way has a drawback - your subscribers can get confused: are you traveling in search of food or exotic adventures? Although, no doubt, these two directions are very attractive.

 

The main advice is to shoot videos to promote your blog! This trend is more than one year old, and the impact of visual content on the minds of travelers and their viewers only increases with time. Your subscribers watch videos on computers, tablets, smartphones: videos about tours, cities, and places, and no advertising will work better than quality content.

 

Typical questions of novice Travel bloggers:

 

• How to promote an account with the video?
  
  
• Who should shoot video content?
  
  
• And the main thing - about what and how to shoot?
  
  

There are many reasons for entertaining, interesting, and commercial videos that can attract a new audience to you. And for this, you don't need to take an entire studio for trips: you can make good videos with GoPro, a camera, or even a smartphone.

 

We have prepared some tips for you on how a newcomera should shoot a travel video by themselves:

 

1. Think through the plot, timing, and shooting plans in advance.

 

Yes, this advice is obvious and trivial, but it is the beginning. Think about what you're going to talk about and how you're going to do it, what duration of the video should be, and what you're going to do with the shooting plans.

 

Exception: you want to shoot an art-house movie with a "one-shot" shaking camera. In all other cases, specify the film sequence you want to shoot.

 

The tour/trip program should be taken as a starting point. Think about what you will see on the way and what you especially want to include in your story. What will really attract attention? Make a list of the most interesting places and build a script based on it.

 

2. Shoot in landscape mode, not portrait.

 

Portrait format (vertical) is good for online broadcasts in social networks using Periscope or Snapchat. In other cases, use landscape capture (horizontal). Such a video will be more advantageous to look at YouTube, Vimeo, or other video hostings.

 

3. Take your tripod with you.

 

A small "tripod" on which you can stabilize your camera, tablet, or smartphone will take your shooting to the next level. Once you eliminate the "shaking hands" effect, the picture will look much better and more professional.

 

4. Shoot during the day.

 

If you collect video footage on the way - during a personal trip or a group tour - you will not have the opportunity to pull all the equipment of a film studio with professional equipment on your shoulders. But you may use online tools like this one to edit your videos. Most likely, you will have a smartphone or a camera, which means you need to take into account the capabilities of this equipment. One of the important rules, in this case, is to shoot at maximum during the daytime when the natural light is good. "Twilight" shots are unlikely to be included in the final version.

 

5. Record stand-ups in a quiet place.

 

Z stand-up is a speaking person in the frame, which becomes an alternative to "beautiful" shootings. A common mistake of beginners is to shoot in a noisy, windy place when in the end you get only a picture, and words are not understandable. It is a shame.

 

There are two ways to let the speaker be heard: the first one is to take wireless microphones with you, the second one is money-saving - to record the stand-up in quiet places (in a room, for instance).

 

6. Think about both the visual and commercial attractiveness of video.

 

When you shoot a video, remember the main thing: you shoot your vacation or "activity" to "sell" it later to your audience. Make sure your viewers understand perfectly where the video is made, who is offering the tour, and finally put in the video all the benefits of traveling with travel agents and a call to action. In this case, you will be able to become an ambassador to some travel company and get all the benefits.

 

7. Keep making videos, and do not be afraid to post them.

 

Move away from the dead point using only organic (free) promotion - both long and difficult, but you will definitely see the progress. After uploading the first video to YouTube or Instagram, don't be upset if only a few hundred people watch it. The number of views will gradually grow, but only if you upload new videos online. Consistency and plan are important for every online promotion channel.

 

8. Create variety.

 

If you do decide to publish videos regularly (which we strongly recommend), shoot as much material as possible during your trips and make different stories out of it. Going to promote city tours? Make one video about the city districts, another - about good cafes and restaurants or entertainment. Tell us what to do in a day or vice versa, share the program for several days. The more variety you have, the better!