Wherever you travel, there are guaranteed to be compelling sceneries and natural sites and attractions for you to discover. From rolling green hills to open seas, lush forests to bustling city scapes, and mountains that reach the clouds to oceans deeper than infinity and even the Northern Lights, the world is just waiting to be explored by you. Your editing and composing skills should be working to capture and accentuate that beauty, especially if you want to create compelling travel vlogs and establish yourself as a travel blogger with a unique voice and vision.
In this article, I share some of the best tips and tricks on how to shoot and edit travel vlogs. This will help you up your vlogging game and create compelling travel videos that engage your audience and boost your viewership.
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Watch other successful travel videos
When it comes to video editing, oftentimes, you don’t know what’s possible until you see what else has been done. So, do some ‘market research’ by watching videos produced by established travel vloggers before you set off on your own. Doing this will provide inspiration not only for how and what you want to shoot but also get you thinking about how you can mix and match your clips together with an online video editor to create visual content that is unique, interesting and in line with the styles of travel vlog people are already watching.
As you get more discerning, you’ll be able to break down how vloggers do it all – what they capture, how they edit, and why it works. Alongside YouTube, you can find endless great travel videos on Vimeo Travel and other smaller, more niche platforms. Besides the content itself, you’ll benefit from an active community that can help you with any questions.
Set up before your trip
When you’re on your travels, you want to focus on shooting footage, not fiddling with settings, checking your SD card, or finding a place to charge your battery. So before you leave for the day, turn on your camera, look through the settings, and double-check that you have all your equipment charged and ready.
If you have extra vlogging equipment like a gimbal or microphone, set that up in advance, too. If you’re not well-versed in your camera settings, sit down and experiment with the different modes before you embark on your trip. See what you like the look of and what’s comfortable… you might even find some new tools to inspire your videos.
Think before you shoot and edit travel vlogs
Shooting tons of video gives you plenty of wiggle room in the edit, but it also means your SD cards will fill faster, and you’ll have more to sort through. Rather than shooting endlessly and figuring out what you need later, make a shot list. Even if you’re not sure how many vlogs you want to make from the trip, or what they’ll cover, you can figure out what each video needs.
Usually, that means taking some b-roll and filler content. Establish your essential checklist: some close-up shots, action shots, and some long takes of you talking, having fun, or participating in something. You can always veer away from your itinerary as your travel plans naturally unfold, but having a backup will ensure you film some usable content, whatever happens.
Weave a narrative into your vlog
If you’ve been shooting smart and capturing things throughout the day, you might find a story through luck – a surprise storm that derailed your plan, a new friend you made while waiting for the same train, or a rare sighting that brought your tour group together. But you can’t always rely on organic narratives to structure your vlog.
As you plan your trip, consider what will look exciting on camera and how you can build stories around the focal points. Research the area and events ahead of time to scout something that would make a perfect story, like a local parade or festival. With some inspiration and creative editing, you can weave a little story together that’ll keep your audience eagerly following along.
Don’t just focus on yourself
The appeal of travel vlogs for an audience tends to be virtually ‘visiting’ a new place with someone they’ve formed a digital connection with. That’s you – the vlogger. But even though you’re a key ingredient in the mix for a successful travel vlog, and travel can indefinitely help foster connections, you’re not really the focus. In this case, you’re the companion and guide.
Focus on what stands out in the destination you’re visiting, whether it’s the people, the food, the landscape or the unique experiences. Share the experience of visiting a new place or trying a new activity for the first time, alongside your own take on your time there. Your audience wants to feel like they’re right there with you, so be descriptive, use close-ups, and show them as much as possible.
Don’t limit your filming scope
It’s easy to get into a pattern when filming. When eating out for lunch, you might get into the habit of shooting the street, the restaurant or cafe, and the food that arrives on your plate. But that gets monotonous, and it doesn’t give you room to play in the editing room. Instead, capture the basics as well as whatever else catches your attention, like signs, sights, and details. These are all part of the travel experience, and if they interest you, they’ll likely hook your audience too.
If nothing out of the ordinary catches your attention, experiment. Try shooting at low angles and looking up for a dramatic, towering effect. Or take a moment to record the everyday, and play it back in slow motion. Maybe you could pick a stationary spot, and watch it change as different subjects enter and exit the frame.
Use motion & momentum for dynamic vlogs
With travel vlogging, you can’t get away with just setting up a tripod in front of a beautiful building. You have to walk through the building and show what it’s like from different angles, or people have to be bustling about it to convey a sense of local life and energy. Essentially, there needs to be motion.
You can make the motion, or you can capture it, but don’t let your video stay static or your audience will get restless. A travel vlog should be exciting. Even if you’re relaxing, people want to see the full experience… from sipping drinks to swimming to watching a gorgeous sunset. Try setting up a timelapse, which will allow you to show the whole sunset in a few seconds so your vlog doesn’t lose momentum.
Get close & personal
Watching people feel emotionally moved by an experience naturally makes us feel sympathetic to what they’re going through. But if you’re on screen talking to your audience at a distance, it feels much more impersonal than if you’re tightly shot. So, you want to get close-ups of you and the people around you feeling things, looking at the camera, experiencing the sights and sounds of travel for the audience to take in almost as much as you.
It might be intimidating at first to get your camera so close to your subjects, but that’s exactly why it’s so impactful. Be brave and share a little intimacy with your audience, and they’ll connect more strongly with the authenticity coming from your vlog.
Compelling travel vlogs: practice makes perfect
Of course, the best advice is just practise. Shoot and shoot some more, then edit and finetune your edits. Over time you’ll learn what works, what’s engaging, what you love, and how to share it with your audience.
Effort goes a long way in making something compelling, alongside these pro tips:
- Learn from your peers by watching existing travel vlogs.
- Get prepped by setting up your gear before you head out each day.
- Don’t just shoot mindlessly; consider a list of essential shots.
- Film yourself, but film your surroundings too.
- Construct a narrative through careful planning ahead of your trip.
- Keep an open mind to capture the interesting moments around you.
- Maintain fluidity through dynamic shots that convey movement.
- Be an authentic, vulnerable version of yourself to connect with your audience.
These guidelines will help you understand how to shoot and edit travel vlogs while discovering your key interests and developing your filming style. Be creative and experimental, and keep your vlogs exciting. By ticking off all these boxes, you’ll be well on your way to creating more compelling content for your audience.
Further Reading – Related
Interested in reading more on the topic of how to shoot and edit travel vlogs? You may find these articles interesting:
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