Man loves exploring new lands and living new experiences. While it may not be feasible for an individual to travel to all the places that he dreams of, watching travel videos gives them an idea of how the place will be. The interest with which an average individual watches a travel video has led tourists to come up with travel videos that talk of their experience.
Tourism-based industries also create such videos to showcase a place and attract viewers to visit it someday. Contrary to popular beliefs, creating a travel video does not require you to possess a fancy camera or other recording instruments. There is no need for complicated transitions or fancy color effects. All you need to do is weave the story together and take is a systematic approach to video making. Here are the three steps that you need to follow to create a touching travel video.
Step 1: Come Up with a Timeline
Before you set out on an editing journey, you need to get your tools handy. These days most smartphones shoot videos in HD and 4K resolutions, and those are good enough for your travel videos. The first decision that you need to take in your travel video-making journey is taking a call on whether you want to edit the video on your mobile, tablet, or laptop. Then, depending on your editing proficiency, you can choose an editing tool.
For example, if you are a beginner with an Apple device, iMovie is the best bet for you, while Shotcut Free is an ideal choice for beginners who are keen on upskilling themselves. InVideo is a perfect choice for those who want to take a clean approach to video-making and do not want to install any application on their device. For season video editing professionals, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro are some of the best options for travel videos.
While you do have a lot of choices in terms of editing tools, it is important that you make a pick and stick to it. That way, you will pick up on the finer nuances of the tool and edit your videos better. While editing, try to go in chronological order and drag-and-drop the best ones to your timeline.
That way, the selection remains unbiased, and you have fewer footages in the timeline. Ideally, a travel video is 5 to 20 minutes long. Depending on the amount of available footage, audience, and video publishing platform, you can decide on the exact length of the video.
Step 2: Do Away with Unnecessary Clips
Before you get down to eliminating clips from your timeline, you need to have a clear picture of the intended use of the video. For example, if the target audience of your video is your peer circle, then you need to select the crème-de-crème of your video clips. Such an audience will lose interest in a travel video that is longer than a couple of minutes.
On the other hand, if your travel video is intended to promote a place among the general audience, you can make a video that is 5-6 minutes long. If the video is for people who have been on the trip with you, the audience is likely to relish every clip and will be satisfied with some repetition. In such cases, the length of the video can be as long as 20 minutes.
To do away with mundane clips, opt for the jump technique. Here, you edit your video in a way such that two sequential shots of the same subjects (from different camera positions) are weaved together. While this gives a fast-forward look to your video, you can ensure that your viewers do not miss out on important content.
While you can always experiment with the placement of video clips to tell a story, for travel videos, it is best to stick to the basics. By arranging your clips in chronological order, you ensure that your viewers are taken on the same journey as you. That way, they will relate better to the story and will enjoy it better.
Step 3: Make the Audio Edits and Synchronise the Clips
Once you have the rough edit in place, the next step is choosing a song for the video. Many novice editors make the mistake of using their favorite music clips when they set out to edit videos online. Make a conscious effort to understand what goes with the theme of the travel and choose accordingly. While choosing a song for your travel videos, make sure that they are royalty-free. Songs from the YouTube music library and SoundCloud are some of the best options. If you have the resources, you can consider composing your original music.
Once you select the song, the next stage is deciding its placement. For this, listen to the song and identify its best part. The best part may be when the singing starts, or it may be a particular point in the song when the tempo rises and abruptly drops. After you have identified the best part of the song, watch the video to identify the best clip in the initial segment. That way, you can arrange the song in a way such that the best parts of the video and the song are in sync.
At the last stage of your editing process, you need to come up with intros and outros that make the travel videos more interesting. Previews of things to come are an excellent way of creating intros that will have people engrossed. Alternatively, you can also have a text overlay that talks of your travel destination as the intro.
There is a lot of scope of experimentation on the outro aspect. However, a classic that never fails to amaze is one where the screen fades to black with the audio fading simultaneously.
Taking such a systematic approach to making travel videos will allow you to create professional videos in a matter of minutes. As you set out on the journey of creating mesmerizing videos that allow the audience to travel with you, here’s wishing you bon voyage.
