At the end of this video you're gonna learn how to film your own epic travel vlog
We'll share tips for those who are just starting out and techniques for shooting on the go
So keep on watching
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Hey everyone, it's JJ and Elliot from Filmora here to empower your inner video creator.
Welcome to the second video of our travel blog series. In this video
we're going to talk about how to film your own travel vlog by showing you what we use in our video and how you can
apply it to yours. If you haven't seen that video yet, you could watch it right here or
Find it in the description.
In the last video we went over planning your trip and briefly talked about gear.
Now we're going to go over the essentials what you need and why you need them.
For our video we shot with a variety of different cameras that we mainly shot with Sony DSLRs and an iPhone
There are tons of DSLRs out there
So make sure you do your research and pick one that suits your needs and your budget
When looking for a DSLR some aspects that you should looking to include variable frame rates for slow motion plus some picture profiles
decent with low light and
interchangeable lenses.
Shooting in 4k isn't necessary but it doesn't hurt to have as part of your camera features
Another thing to consider is the weight of the camera.
Carrying a DSLR all day can get kind of heavy. So we usually take the mirrorless camera because it's usually smaller and lighter
When it comes to travel filmmaking convenience is the key so getting a nice zoom lens is the best
There are a variety of zoom lenses out there, but you will want a wider angle one
Having a wider angle lens will help you film in tighter spaces capture vast landscapes and crop your image in post
We had the 11-16mm for the wide and to capture other focal ranges, we use the 24-70mm
One thing I think that's really important to filmmaking is some sort of stabilisation
This can range from a selfie stick, a gimbal, or a tripod, or any other piece of gear that you are going to be filming
yourself with that will give you some sort of stabilization
For filming yourself, we found that using your phone handheld is more than enough and for cinematic b-roll
we used a Zhiyun Crane 2 for steadier shots.
A gimbal is great for more smooth shots. However, if you're going to be changing your lenses, you're gonna have to rebalance your gimbal
So we suggest that you use one lens for the gimbal to get your gimbal shot
Make sure you bring extra batteries for your camera and audio gear
I found that some third-party chargers and batteries can be connected to a power bank like the one you use for your phone
I use these so I don't need to take as many batteries and I can save space
It really sucks when you're shooting some beautiful footage, but there's dust or debris on your lens or your sensor
So I always bring an air blower to clean my stuff
A microfiber cloth also works great if you need to clean finger prints off of your gear
For my travels, I like to bring three 64GB memory cards, and an SD card holder
This holder is super convenient and it keeps all my data safe
And it's always a good idea to bring an external hard drive and a laptop or tablet to offload data throughout the trip
In order to get some good audio it's a good idea to get a shotgun mic
This mic is convenient to use and a lot better than the internal camera mic. It works great for b-roll and vlogging
This one is a Røde Mic. There are many models out there. However, take a look and see what works for you you
Don't want to miss out on a great shot because you don't have your camera ready to go
So make sure to do this early
We use our phones for vlogging ourselves as we explore the city and we use our Sony
DSLRs to capture b-roll and scenic shots of what we were experiencing. When we were vlogging with our phones
we didn't change your camera settings. For your DSLR, there's a few things that you can do
First is setting your frame rate. We shot at 60 frames per second
we set it most of the time to slow motion because that gives us the cinematic quality of our b-roll and
options to speed it up in real time in Filmora9 if we wanted.
Second is picture profile. Every camera has its own custom picture profile setting.
For us, we selected a picture setting that gives us greater detail in the highlights and shadows
If you don't really care about color grading your footage too much
you can pick one of the pre-built settings available to you
By doing this, the raw footage will have a flatter looking image
But don't worry because it's a lot easier to color grade post
And lastly we set up our metadata on our camera so that when we import our footage, it's all organized and order of date
This will help you organize your footage and save you time when you're ready to edit
You always want to be ready to film but that doesn't mean you should be shooting constantly
You don't want to over-film and end up with more footage than you can handle while you're editing
Your priority is to film what is happening around you
You can always get your reaction to things after they happen
Remember, you can't go back and capture something you missed
That said, you don't need to be constantly rolling on your surroundings
Be ready to start if you see something you just have to capture
But for the most part you should have already planned what you want to film
For example, if you're visiting a famous landmark
You probably already know what you want to film there
In general focus on the moments that matter. You don't have to shoot everything
Just what's important
B-roll is everything you shoot that isn't yourself. It's important in travel videos when you want to share the things that you see
It's a good idea to film b-roll in slow motion
playing with the speed of your footage will help keep your video exciting and it's a lot easier to do if you start off with
slow motion clips
As mentioned earlier, I recommend shooting your b-roll at 60 frames per second.
Some cameras can do up to 240 frames per seconds, but depending on the action...
... that might be too.... slow
So make sure you double check and see how it fits with your b-roll
When you speed up a slow motion clip, what you're doing is throwing out your extra frames.
You can get smooth normal speed or fast motion Clips by speeding up the slow motion clips
When you're slowing down a clip shot with fewer frames per second
You have fewer frames in your video to work with
This will result in your footage looking choppy
You can't really recover those frames you didn't shoot. Slowing down normal clips can work out however
if you're filming in slow motion, it's generally better to film in a higher frame rate setting.
For our video we did a lot of in-camera transitions.
Which means some of the transitions were not done in post
For example in our travel vlog
we did an in-camera transition from Capilano Suspension Bridge to the beach
This transition was not planned
But it's a cool trick you could do at every location that guarantees you have a transition shot in case you need it
First, find a dark object in every location you're visiting, then create the transition by using it to cover the lens
Blacking out the frame
In the first location, we used a huge tree trunk and in our second location we use JJ's sweater
What we did was move the camera very close to the tree trunk until the frame was fully dark
then at our next location,
we brought a camera very close to JJ's sweater and moved out to reveal her filming the sunset
When doing in-camera transitions, it's a good idea to start your shot in total darkness and also end in total darkness
Doing this will give you the freedom to put your transition clips in any order when you're editing
You can film the vlogging portion of your video at any time of the day
You can do it when you're about to head out
When you're out and about or even when you've completed your day it all depends on how well or how comfortable you feel
when you start to vlog
You don't have to have a script but planning when and what you're gonna be vlogging will help you feel a little more
comfortable when you're on location
If you're not sure what to say, film whatever's happening around you first, then film your reaction to it all after
Also a good way to start and to get you into the groove of vlogging if you're not very comfortable is introducing where you are
And every time you're in a new area
This helps segment your narrative when you edit and also comes in handy with you forget where you went that day
So some tips for vlogging while you're filming yourself is if you're using your phone
make sure to look into the lens and not at yourself
Also be aware of your surroundings
You don't want to be vlogging and all of a sudden kind of run into stuff
Because that's not fun or safe for you or anybody around you. Okay?
Thank you for watching what gear do you take with you when you're out filming and do you ever shoot in slow motion?
Let us know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe.
Next up we'll have another tutorial where we'll talk about what to do now that you have all their travel footage
See you guys next time. Bye!
