5 Tips for Creating Cinematic Travel Videos
If you’re someone who loves to experience the sights and sounds of travel, you may also be someone who loves to capture your adventures through the art of filmmaking. While it may be easier than ever to shoot videos while on the road, capturing video content that truly reflects your experiences, while also showcasing them with a bit of cinematic flair, can be challenging. Luckily, there are a number of tried and tested filmmaking concepts that can instantly make your videos more cinematic - and they don’t involve downloading any extra video softwares or purchasing expensive LUTs. The best part? A lot of these filmmaking tips can be applied to mirrorless and cinema cameras, as well as smartphone cameras! That’s right. Even if you’re using your iPhone to create travel content, you can start creating cinematic masterpieces today. Ready to get started? Here are 5 tips for creating cinematic travel videos:
Start with an Establishing Shot
Filming cinematic scenes with epic lighting and nice blurry backgrounds is cool and all, but what’s really cool is showing your viewer where exactly your travel video is taking place so they’re not lost and confused throughout the video. The easiest, and most common, way of doing this is to start your scenes, or overall video, with an establishing shot.
An establishing shot is essentially one clip that gives an overall view of where the rest of the scene will take place. For travel videography, you could use a drone (if you’re allowed to at your chosen destination) to get a nice aerial shot of your surroundings, or you could use a wider focal length while filming on the ground to really showcase where the scene is about to take place. Also, it can help to add a bit of small text that outlines where you are as well. This can be as simple as just stating the town, province / state and / or country that you’re in (i.e. O’ahu, Hawaii). It’s a small detail, but it will really help your viewer establish where you are, and provide them with some context as to what’s coming throughout your video.
Create Cinematic B-Roll
When creating travel videos, I like to think of B-roll footage as all of the detailed clips that really showcase not only the place you’re currently in, but also how you and your travel companions are interacting within in it. To give you an example, if you were filming a travel vlog, your main footage could be you speaking directly to the camera about your travels, while your B-roll would be footage that supplements what you’re saying, and really helps drive the overall vlog story.
With travel videography, there are really two ways to capture stunning B-roll footage. Firstly, try utilizing a wider focal length to really take in the whole scene. I like to use a 35mm focal length, as it’s wide enough to capture a solid field of view, but it’s also not too wide where it starts to introduce distortion. By using a wider focal length, the viewer will really be able to gain a better sense of your surroundings, along with what you’re doing in those locations.
Secondly, try using more of a telephoto focal length, such as 85mm, to really capture the details of the place you’re visiting, while also creating a nice level of compression. 85mm lenses may be synonymous with portrait photography, but they’ve also been a staple of B-roll filmmaking for years. This is because they allow you to isolate your subject, providing way more focus on the details you’re trying to convey in the scene. The compression can also help make subjects / objects appear larger and more in the frame, which is key for travel videography, as landscapes, such as mountains, often appear smaller when using a wide angle lens. Combat this by utilizing a telephoto lens to really bring those landscape elements and details to life.
Film in the Best Lighting Conditions
Let’s face it, it can be hard to film in the best lighting conditions when we’re on vacation or travelling. Most of the time, we find ourselves out exploring our chosen travel destination during the day when the sun is super bright. This is great for generally enjoying a vacation, but that harsh bright sunlight can really wash out your video clips, and require you to use really narrow apertures to limit the amount of light you let into your camera, limiting the depth of field you can create (not great for cinematic B-roll). Sure, you can utilize an ND Filter to help block the light from entering your camera, therefore allowing you to film with a wider aperture, but you’ll still be left with washed out looking scenes!
To get the best colours and depth in your videos when travelling, you need to film during the morning or in the evening. The first few hours after sunrise and the first few hours before sunset provide really nice golden light, and create nice contrast between the shadows and highlights within a scene. As a bonus, the first 20-30 minutes after sunset also provides a really cool cinematic look called “blue hour.” Depending on the overall vibe you’re looking for with your video, blue hour can really create a level of ambiance and intrigue that’s impossible to recreate during the harshest lighting conditions around midday.
So, next time you’re travelling, try waking up for sunrise or heading out to take some content towards the end of the day. You’ll likely find some incredible lighting scenarios that instantly up the cinematic look and feel of your videos.
Utilize the Right Frame Rate for Your Scene
I’ve covered the best filmmaking settings in another article, but frame rate can really help set the cinematic tone for your travel videos. The most commonly used frame rate in movies is 24 frames per second (fps). This frame rate helps create a realistic motion blur when subjects or objects are moving within your clips. Because this frame rate is utilized so frequently in movies, anything we film in that frame rate will have a recognizable, cinematic quality to it.
Depending on what you’re filming, you could also try filming in higher frame rates, like 60 fps or 120 fps, and then slowing them down to create a really smooth, cinematic shot. The more frames you capture per second, the smoother the slow motion video will be. Higher frame rates and slow motion videos are great for action elements like surfing, cliff jumping, etc.
I would recommend using them sparingly, however, and only for things that really justify slow motion. Again, because a frame right like 24 fps creates a realistic motion blur for our eyes, higher frame rates that reduce that motion blur effect can actually start to look unnatural for us. So my recommendation would be to film your travel videos in 24 fps, and then capture certain scenes in 60 fps and 120 fps. Just remember that, if you shoot a video in 60 fps, you’ll need to slow it down by 40% when you bring it into your 24 fps timeline to achieve a smooth slow motion effect.
To determine how much you need to slow down your high frame rate footage, simply divide your video timeline frame rate into the footage you need to slow down’s frame rate. For instance, if your timeline is set to 30 fps, and you have a 120 fps clip that you want to slow down, divide 30 by 120, which will give you 25%. You would then slow down your 120 fps clip by 25%.
Focus on the Story You’re Trying to Tell
When filming travel content, it’s easy to get caught up in just trying to capture beautiful clips of your surroundings, but remember that all great videos, whether they’re travel videos, commercials or documentaries, all aim to tell a story. Your travel videos should too.
Whether you’re creating a travel vlog, a travel guide or even just a short vertical video, take a moment to really determine the story you’re trying to tell in your overall video, and how your current scene can help you do that. What details can you capture through B-roll that really help show the story? What clips can you capture and edit together to help lead the viewer further down that storyline, and keep them engaged until the end of the video?
This focus on the story, as opposed to just focusing on beautiful travel clips, may seem simple, but, trust me, it can go a long way towards really elevating a travel video. Think about the best travel guide videos you’ve seen. The best ones, of course, provide travel guidance, but they also go the extra mile to truly show you the details of exactly what they’re providing guidance on.
So next time you go film a travel vlog, really think about the story of what you’re vlogging about, and try and capture the clips and scenes that will really immerse your viewer into that storyline.
Conclusion
Translating your epic adventures into cinematic travel videos can be challenging, but, with a few techniques and filmmaking concepts, it can be a breeze. First, try starting your videos and / or scenes with an establishing shot to really give your viewer an idea of where you are, and then utilize cinematic b-roll to showcase the details. Next, utilize a frame rate of 24 fps to give your shots a movie-like vibe, while also incorporating some high frame rate shots for super smooth slow motion, when required. Then, try to film your scenes when the natural lighting is at its best. Lastly, don’t forget the story element of filmmaking. No matter what kind of video you make, the story will always be what encapsulates your audience; let your video clips be a tool to show your story.