- Camiguin Island, a small archipelago
surrounded by cerulean blue waters,
perfect white sand beaches,
and seven very characteristic volcanoes.
Hmmmm.
Did I mention one of them is still active?
Oh good heavens me!
The lands are fertile and the
sunsets are said to be magical
but what else does this island
have in store you may ask.
Well, I invite you to find out here today,
as we go behind the scenes.
(upbeat music)
And then when I get towards
the end, I'm gonna whip it.
All right guys, welcome
to Camiguin Island.
Right now we are on a tricycle
and today we've got a bit
of a challenge with us
because the sky is completely gray.
As a travel filmmaker
it's always a challenge
when the weather doesn't cooperate
but that will just be an extra challenge
for us to overcome today.
The behind the scenes.
Thank you.
Room tour.
What's up guys?
Welcome to the View Hotel.
Probably comes out to
just shy of $40 a night.
Now, you're thinking about getting
into travel filmmaking and the
thing that you need to know
is that your beginning to the video
is one of the most important parts.
You need to start with
something that's engaging.
There needs to be some form of a hook.
It could be an interesting statement,
it could be a crazy little
skit that you've produced,
or it could be shooting it while holding
onto the back of a tricycle.
It's more engaging than, hey guys,
welcome to Christian's travel channel.
Now your intro is
actually double important
because of a little something
called retention rate.
This is something that
YouTube closely monitors.
Basically it's this.
If you only have 15% of your audience left
after five seconds of your video starting,
YouTube is in no way, shape, or form
going to push or share your video.
It will actually be deprioritized.
If you have a high retention rate,
that's where you start
getting suggested views.
That's where it starts
pushing you to the home page
and that is where you
really need to hyper focus
on making things engaging,
getting that old fishing hook out,
and most of all, telling
people why they're there.
Instead of just creating
a two minute cinematic
highlight compilation of your travels
throughout Southeast Asia that
have absolutely no meaning,
try to put a spin on it.
Tell people why they should watch this.
Are you gonna be able to learn
something by the end of it?
Are you gonna be telling
your story of traveling
through Southeast Asia?
Just putting together a cinematic sequence
just will not do it anymore.
This is YouTube 2018
and what worked in 2015
no longer works.
So you need to hone in on your skills,
your storytelling abilities,
and let's go start off
our day here in Camiguin Island.
Most people would just get on
their motorbikes, but not us.
We are travel filmmakers
and we're gonna spend
the next three minutes
shooting some B roll.
So one of my number one tips
if you're gonna make travel videos
is show the travel in between.
Don't just magically talk
about going somewhere
and then whazam, you're there.
Unless it's intended, you can
do cool transitions like that
but if it's just constantly like,
yeah we're gonna go here
and then you show up there,
it's like okay, but what
happened in between?
It's nice to film a bit of the travel.
I've got this quote, feel
free to quote me on it.
I made it up myself.
It's that travel is not
about the destination,
it's about the journey.
Meet Alex and Betty.
They are twin sisters
and they've been living
in Camiguin Island for
nearly five months now,
teaching free diving out of a dive school.
Right now we're going
to cati baia sam falls,
and how far away is it?
- Six kilometers.
- Six kilometers away?
And who's she?
- Titi from.
- Hi Titi!
- Hi!
- We're having some trouble, oh shit.
- (laughing) The front break
won't stop us from sliding.
- Let me get a, beep beep.
- When you're making travel
videos, there will be
a lot of things that will
be out of your control,
that's essentially what travel is.
Today the weather has been extremely gray,
which is always a bit of a challenge
when you're making a
video, and in today's case,
not only was it a gray
sky, but it actually led
to them closing the water
fall, so unexpected challenge,
what is the solution?
Well, we can either come back tomorrow,
or we could get our immediate results.
We're gonna fly this over
the walls, over there,
to try and find that view right there.
Not much luck with the water
fall but the drone shots
were beautiful, and I was actually able
to get it up into the clouds.
When I brought back the drone
it was covered in water,
I actually lose complete
visibility at one point.
We're now going 19 minutes
away, according to Google Maps,
to a local hot spring, we gotta be quick.
- Let's go!
- One of the most relevant
things in all of travel,
is of course going to be expenses.
So what I like to do is to share prices
with either having titles
on top of the video,
or by actually recording
the price on the menu,
or on the sign, wherever I can see it.
I like to sometimes just
insert it so people can see
for themselves how much it would cost
to have a similar experience.
So its 50 pesos per person
so about a dollar to get in.
Wow the water's really blue.
Luke warm springs, they're not very hot.
- No, go.
(laughter) You look so funny.
- It's said that if you
drink from this water,
you'll live to see 100.
Oh, it's warmer in here.
Ah, famous hole.
- So you put your hand here,
- The hot hole?
- You will feel warm weather.
- Ooh I can feel warmer.
Today has definitely been
a very short day here
but I'm excited to see more of it because
it's definitely one of the more dramatic
and interesting islands
that I've seen already.
Good morning!
- Morning!
(engine revving)
- That doesn't sound good.
(engine revving)
(cheers)
Good morning guys, we
got a bit of clear skies,
and right now we're about to
do, what is one of the most
iconic things to do here in Camiguin,
and that is the sunken graveyard.
An entire graveyard site
was pushed into the ocean
by a volcanic eruption.
Now one thing you may have noticed is
that I just inserted two time lapses,
one to show the passing of time at night,
and another to show the sun rise.
Now I actually used it because
I didn't have any good
footage from last night
and I didn't have any good footage to show
the starting of the day.
Now how I got that footage
is by story blocks,
and yes today's video is
sponsored by one of my favorites.
Now if you don't already
know what Story Blocks is,
basically, it's the
ability to access footage
from around the world, shot by all sorts
of different shooters,
and to be able to download
it unlimitedly and use
it in your projects,
still be able to monetize them on YouTube,
or whether it be for commercial work,
all while paying a relatively
small subscription fee
to make that happen.
It's been a game changer
here, it's an amazing way
to fill in the gaps when you're
missing footage somewhere,
and one of my favorite
things about their service
is that once you're subscribed,
it's unlimited downloads.
So, if you're in a position
like myself, and you've got
a lot of videos that
need a lot of cinematics
and you've got a lot of missing pieces,
well this is the perfect place to be.
Check out the link just down below.
It's time.
In total it was 450 pesos for
the two of us to go here with a guide.
This is the cross that
was sent into the ocean
in 1871 during the volcanic eruption,
and up to this point used
to be above sea level.
Yeah, this audio is a lot better right?
Well, for most people,
audio is one of the things
they actually emphasize the least.
It is one of the most underrated
things that you can do
for your filmmaking, is to make sure
that you're getting clean sound.
Either use text on screen to make up
for the missing information,
or do voice over just like this.
Okay guys, so the snorkeling was awesome,
the visibility was really good,
but the water wasn't
super blue just 'cause
the sun wasn't completely out.
But it seems like it's actually starting
to come out which is really exciting.
I wanna share something with you
that's super important
in making a travel video.
It's not having the most expensive camera,
it's not about having the
most amount of cameras,
it's about having the right camera.
And for me today, the GoPro was the one
that allowed me to share the
adventures that went underwater
So that's where making
sure you have the equipment
that allows you to tell the story,
and that's where GoPro
has been so essential
in my career as a travel film maker.
It's allowed me to share
things like diving,
rafting, canyoneering,
all those fun adventures
that just cannot be possible
with a big camera like this.
What did you order?
- A waffle.
- So that's you on the cover?
- Yes.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
- A full time model.
- Can I please have an autograph?
- These are the real full sized ones,
they're like the size
of her body basically.
- Yeah.
- So if you guys want
to learn free diving,
and you're in the Philippines,
Corma Dive Center,
ask for the twins!
- They're celebrities here,
they have a magazine cover.
- Yeah, they've been such a great guide
to the island so far, it's been amazing
to see it through their eyes.
One of the magic keys
to a good travel video
is gonna be having a story arc.
So, introducing the problem,
and trying to overcome it.
Well, we've just found our problem today.
It is right back here.
We're up at the top of
one of the mountains here
and our tire has popped
in a very untimely place.
We're gonna keep pressing on until we get
to the waterfall 'cause it's
just a few 100 meters away.
We'll try to find somewhere
to repair it on the way back.
- I also think that a travel
video shouldn't be perfect,
I think whenever there is an accident,
or an inconvenience it makes it real
or more interesting to watch so.
So don't avoid to put
those things on your video.
- Yeah.
- This is bad, this is really bad.
- Gotta go slow and steady, and hope
the tire doesn't break.
Hi buddy.
- This one is the twin!
- He's a twin!
(laughter)
Finally a benefit to hanging
out with Cati here, discounts!
(laughter)
He's dancing to despacito!
This waterfall is beautiful, guys.
I'm surprised I did not have
such high expectations for this.
If you can do it, I recommend
either bringing a tripod
or having a second shooter with you
that can help support you in getting shots
of you experiencing the landscapes.
Swimming in the water,
going under the water fall,
all these things help people
feel more a part of the video,
more a part of the
adventure, and that's why
I love to shoot Cati
because I like being behind
the camera, I can't do both.
I can't be behind the
camera and in front of it.
- If I stand next to that
waterfall you will see
how big it is, you will not
only see it in your screen,
and that's what I think is very essential.
- So it's time to separate
our video from the rest,
and one of the best ways to do that,
for me at least, has been cinematics.
So I want to show you what
I do to make that happen.
The first thing I do is I take my camera,
and I'm gonna switch it into manual mode.
I shoot automatic settings for vlogging,
but for cinematics we
have to go over to manual.
Whether you're shooting
with your cellphone,
whether you're shooting
with your One DX Mark 2,
there's a few things you can
do to achieve similar results.
First thing I wanna do is, if
I'm focusing on a landscape,
I want to find a way to make it look like
there's nobody else here.
There's actually a group
of people behind you,
there's another photographer,
there's a few kids around,
and sometimes they can
be nice little elements
to the landscape, but
typically I'm gonna want to
try to make it look like we
have this place to ourselves.
Now that we're shooting
in front of these people,
we basically have the
waterfall to ourselves.
One of the best things that
you can do when shooting
is really just to change up
the different focal lengths
you're using by changing
lenses, changing the zoom length
if you have a zoom lens,
changing your height,
whether it means climbing up
in a tree to get more height
or crouching all the way to the ground.
It gives it totally different
look to what you're shooting.
I'm gonna put my camera
strap around my neck.
I'm gonna zoom in to
35, and do a slow pan.
This adds point of contact to your body,
allows you to be more
stable in your hands,
it'll definitely help you
if you're planning to
do any panning motion.
Another great thing to play with,
is what is the foreground?
What is the thing between
your subject and the camera?
If it means simply putting
a fern in front of the shot,
it can change the shot all together
and make it so much better.
So don't be afraid to play
with the positioning of the
camera, get creative with it,
and make something you're proud of.
So something I like to do is camera whips.
So, if I'm following the
motion of the waterfall,
let's say starting from top to bottom,
I'm gonna go slow and steady
and then when I get towards
the end, I'm gonna whip it like that.
It'll look a little something like this.
As you can see, it was super
simple, super easy to do.
It's all done right here in hand.
It's something that will
help you take your shooting
to the next level.
What I really like about this lens
is especially when you're at a busy area
you can really isolate
what you wanna shoot,
and you can cut out a lot of the people.
Whenever I shoot cinematics,
again it's really important
to use the manual settings.
I like to shoot underexposed,
especially with my Cannon cameras.
It just does a better job in
the post corrections later on
when they're shot a little bit dark.
Obviously the waterfall is the
main thing to look at here,
but shoot the surroundings.
You can tell a story by
shooting a little water droplet
rolling off the leaf.
That could be just as important
as actually the waterfall,
in making somebody feel like
they're part of that moment.
(upbeat music)
That whole cinematic sequence
may have seemed super
effortless, but in reality
that was the equivalent
of about 45 minutes or capturing shots
with different lenses, different angles,
shooting over a few of
them a couple times,
and that's what you get right there.
It's a lot of work to make
something look really beautiful,
and that didn't even
include flying my drone.
That would've been another 15,
20 minutes if I had sent it out.
But one of my tips, if
you don't own a drone,
if you're not traveling
with one, then go over
to Story Blocks and you can actually
insert look alike clips,
that will allow you to have
a more complete story.
That's something I did a lot in Dubai
because it's actually
illegal to fly there.
You can 100% own and
monetize that content,
so it's just completely brainless,
it's such a help as a filmmaker.
The bike is like fishtailing everywhere,
and we have 3 kilometers
'till the next mechanic.
- [Cati] Are you doing that on purpose?
- No, it's like skiing.
- [Cati] I feel like I'm
gonna fall any second.
- Wow, that's a beautiful dog.
Is it because of the flat?
- Because you traveled here so far.
- Oh traveling so far, flat
tire's made the tire hot.
I'm not proud of this
but this was their idea,
the twins so kindly gave us their scooter,
so that we can make it to
our final destination today,
before the last boat leaves,
which we basically have
to book it there now.
They're gonna wait with the
scooter to get that repaired,
and all fixed up, and we will see them
in a little bit later tonight.
Thanks guys, you're the best!
Are there any boats going left still?
- Yes, how many are you?
- For two.
We made it just in
time, I think we're like
the last boat here leaving today,
and we're going to white island,
which is about 15, 20 minutes
away off of Camuigan mainland.
One thing I wanna mention
is that all my videos,
whether I'm vlogging
or shooting cinematics,
if it's not slow motion, I'm
shooting 60 frames per second.
In post production I have
the ability to half speed it
and it still looks really nice.
Whereas if I'd shot 30 frames per second,
I don't have the ability
to half speed things
without making things look really choppy.
But I'm always shooting
in my 1080 setting,
it does just fine for me.
- Even with this one
you can shoot 60 frames?
- Yeah.
- So it doesn't have to
be a professional camera?
- Yeah that shoots 1080 60
and it looks really nice.
(boat revving)
What do you think of the island?
- It's so beautiful.
- This is white island,
and I know the microphone
is just getting destroyed right now,
but you need to come here late in the day,
there were so many people earlier,
so we were like well
we'll come back later,
now there's maybe three other groups here.
The most important part
of any travel video
if you plan to post it on
YouTube, is the thumbnail.
I have had a particular
photo in mind all day
and it pretty much looks
something like this.
This beautiful blue
watered white sanded island
is perfect for a thumbnail.
(upbeat music)
And we made it back in one piece.
When you're working on
your big travel video,
it's super important that
you also highlight food
because for a lot of people,
the food is as important as
the waterfall or as the sunset.
We're actually ending
out trip here in Camuigan
at the very same place we started it.
This is Hayahay Cafe,
and it's a coffee shop
of our friends' actually which
we met through another friend
it's a long story I
won't totally get into,
but it's also the reason
that I met these guys.
And so this is a local secret,
Cati and I had lunch here,
we're having dinner here, and the food is.
You gotta check it out
if you come to Camuigan.
That's the owner, sorry
she couldn't be here.
I like to show, not just
the food, because you know
it's great to show the final product,
but a big thing to restaurants
is also the atmosphere.
So, the minute I walk
in I like to give like
an opening shot to show
what it looked like
the moment you walked into the restaurant.
What the experience of eating it is like,
that kind of thing.
We're saying goodbye now,
thank you so much guys.
- You're welcome.
- You guys are amazing.
This is just a small
glimpse of what goes in
to making this possible,
now if you wanna see
my step by step process
of making a travel video,
one of my favorite travel
vlogs I've ever made,
I did an entire screen
recording of the process,
as well as a talk
through to explain to you
why I'm doing certain things
and that entire course
is available to you with
the link down below.
Whether you're using Adobe or Final Cut,
this will be a game changer in helping you
make the best travel videos possible.
Taking your cinematic and story
telling to the next level.
I also wanted to give a
shout out to Cedu Pacific,
for flying Cati and I
around the Philippines
as well as hooking up
the flight back to Bali
and guys, if you're new
to the channel here,
a huge thank you for
watching up to this point.
Hit the subscribe button if
you're not already subscribed,
join team get lost because
every Saturday we have
a brand new video, and as always guys,
let's get lost again in the next one.
