5 reasons your travel video SUCKS

These are great tips for shooting a travel video!

What sucks about a travel video: It’s all about you — aren’t there other people around you or traveling with you? You choose the wrong music or no music. The background is too dark — find the light. You think we need to see all of the electronic gadgets you brought with you. You think we need to see pictures of your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/partner/kids you left behind; you chose to travel solo. You ramble on and on without saying a word.

What doesn’t suck about a travel video: It’s under five minutes and poignant. It’s entertains while it teaches. It gets to the point. You put some thought into the travel video — like you’re shooting a short film.

Funny and really good tips, although there can always be exceptions to every rule. We’ve had great success in sometimes combining photos and video. We’ve had some very successful long videos too.

http://www.youtube.com/user/soultravelers3

Our very first Soultravelers3 travel Youtube video went viral with over 1.2 million views & was played on world BBC this week and we’ve had several other viral videos. No one ever told us how to do them, we just jumped in and learned a long the way, which I think is important too.

The more you approach it as art, the better. Make a small movie out of every short video, tell a good story and smart editing are keys.

you are %100 correct there my friend…there are no set-in-stone axioms for videos, writing, photography ect. Having an eye for story and love for travel ( and a willingness to keep learning ) are the most important elements.

If you are good, or are brimming with natural talent ( um, being played on BBC is a strong indicator of natural talent!! Nice work! ) then like Neo fighting foes in the Matrix you can bend the rules and even break them.

If you rock, then you will have a rockin 12 minute mini travel film.

If your photos are dope, then you can have a dope photo montage…

For the rest of us, and I can attest to the general state of noobie travel videos, there is a well wore trail of suckiness that leads to the watering hole of lame travel vids.

I don’t want to be malicious, ( I have committed many of these sucky travel video crimes ) and I certainly don’t want people to give up or not create videos because they are not “good enough”.

I just want to humbly shepherd whatever flock there may be out of the barren fields of Suck and into the verdant plains of Awesome.

I watched your linked video and it is a great example of how to create a sweet little video snack. The photo montage is seamless integrated into the video, the music is upbeat and fun, the video is short and there is this really friggin cute kid…all elements of Awesome!

thanks for bending the spoon Soultravelers3!!

Josh-
I agree with most points, however if you do have the equipment needed to get some shots (out the window) your video can actually turn out that much better, precisely because so many people can’t pull it off

-Joel

Why not film criminal activities in foreign countries? Public urination, vandalism, harrassment….. that is the most interesting.

In most cases I agree with you, but often the airport/bag shots are interesting to a few people, so why not put them up? I always find it interesting to see what’s in people’s bags.

Thanks for the tips Joshua

Darcy and Joel ~ you are absolutely right. Sometimes with some people. But while scouring the interwebs for travel videos to populate MatadorTV I can’t help but notice trends of suckage…

Thanks for your kind words!

You are a funny & clever writer too! The help IS needed. I agree with you 100% with “the general state of noobie travel videos” and I sometimes can’t believe how bad some of them are, even with some really big time travel names. Your “trends of suckage” is funny, but sadly true. People really do need to pay attention to what works and put on their artistic hats when trying to make a video.

The average travel video on Youtube gets less than 100 views, many are under 50, which is some social proof right there, that help is needed, because some of them come from people with fairly large blog followings. What is the point of going to the trouble of making a video and putting it online if only 10 people watch it?

Some of creating viral travel videos is just luck ( like the BBC finding ours out of the millions on Youtube & doing a story on us around the world. I haven’t even seen it there yet, but keep hearing from others in many countries who catch it on TV. If anyone finds a url link let me know). BUT paying attention, listening to feedback and putting your heart and soul into them increases the chances.

We’re artists so that life/work experience has certainly helped us. Even when we jump into a brand new form, we think quality in presentation is always important. We have over 200 hours of video from our on-going family world tour, so we could have a ton up, if we just cranked them out without thought. We have only put 41 up so far because we put time and thought into each one. We have built an audience that eagerly awaits each one. We enjoy the artistic pleasure of making them, but it takes time, thought and effort to make a good one.

Our fans have called them ” little movies” and I think that is the way to think of videos. Take your time and put your best stuff out there would be my top advice. It’s much like photography, it is not the camera, it is the eye. Be an artist!

“I just want to humbly shepherd whatever flock there may be out of the barren fields of Suck and into the verdant plains of Awesome.”

Keep at it Joshy, you are doing a great job & it is badly needed!

I agree for the most part, though I don’t mind airport shots at all, as long as they are QUICK. And though I usually appreciate video snacks, I’ve watched some that are 10 minutes (and i watch shows on tv that are an hour with commercials..) and i still wanted more, so i think it definitely can vary. If you have a lot to say/show and you are great at what you’re doing, I prefer them long! But not if it’s full of filler or lameness.

My biggest pet peeves on travel videos are bad visual & audio.. which sucks because that’s exactly what my camera provides, and i cry on the inside whenever I watch my own footage! :’(

Smashing piece…
So very true. Major boo boos.
Have made many of those mistakes myself.

I live in Amsterdam, and am currently working hard on my writing, and trying to give my photography some attention. The ultimate dream is to get into presenting, and host a travel show.

Here are some examples of what I have done. Bear in mind that these were challenges for a competition, and we only had a day to shoot and edit them.

http://www.runawaybrideandgroom.com/ultimatejob/blog/read/39/173
http://www.runawaybrideandgroom.com/ultimatejob/blog/read/283/173
http://www.runawaybrideandgroom.com/ultimatejob/blog/read/311/173

I live in Amsterdam. Any ideas how / where I can get more into the presenting side of things?

Bear

my thoughts exactly– i work in radio as my full time gig and our boss always screams at us “less is more” .. couldnt be more true.

WOW!!! Is he ticked off about other people! WOW! Must have been a bad trip…(any meaning yiou care to use would appear to work here!)

If you wok for a boss who screams, you are working for a very insecure man, and a very bad leader of people! Change stations as soon as possible. I did broadcasting foir 40 years. Sc reamers know very little about people; even less about broadcasting!