What country would you visit if you couldn’t bring your camera? Would it be different than one where you could bring one? It’s impossible to deny that videography has meshed with travel over the past years of the boom in social media. We’re here to share some of the reasons for this collision, as well as tips for your next travel video.
Why do we film? Why do people take pictures of their food? Because they are compiling a mobile and digital time capsule. To be able to share with their loved ones years later some of the greatest memories, places, people, meals or experiences of their lives. For those who have ever had a video they cherished greatly (perhaps a camping trip from their honeymoon, or first family beach vacation), they might be able to attest to the pain losing it. Whether from not backing it up on an external, or losing the footage from a stolen computer or crashed hard drive. We naturally tie emotions to visual memories, and what better way to capture those moments than through film?
In a photograph, you can’t hear your lovers laughter - or comprehend how windy that winter was - without the motion of a video. Is is for this reason that the new fad of travel videos is taking over our global network, the internet. Everytime you pop on Facebook now you’ll see a video of some travel blogger on a beach. You’ll see advertising agencies utilizing short videos to capture what experience they’re selling. You’ll also probably feel much more moved by wedding videos than photography. You’ll stop scrolling on Instagram to pay attention to a video. Is this purely because our millennial ADHD minds prefer stimuli of multiple shots in a 5 second span? Or is it because videography enables a more organic and relatable connection to the images, more so than photography these days? For whichever the reason, the results are insurmountable.
Are you struggling to create travel videos from your trips? Compressing files, buying stabilizers and tripods, experimenting with 4k, or getting shunned by YouTube for using copy-written music? Maybe even as basic as brainstorming more creative transitions than the GoPro high five straight to the camera? Fear not, for beginners starting out you don’t have to start with the most high end gear, like phantom drones and Davinci editing systems. Gopros and even gimbals with newer I phones have surprisingly worked well for all the viral travel videos surfing the web. Especially if the videographer knows how to utilize slow motion in their editing for macro details. There are so many recommended tips for creating the perfect video - but it mostly comes down to what type of editing style you like. For example, a handheld personal Vlog in a new country would be perfectly matched with music specific to that culture. Whereas an action based video of your snowboarding adventure, would be more effective with an EDM track, aligning bass drops with your powder shredding shots. Stick to landscape mode to capture nature, and use manual settings to cultivate an artist approach with change of focus and depth of field for your in frame objects.
Keep adventuring, keep creating.
-Aqueous Films