help me explain by making video of trip
 

I have many friends who just don't get what my adventures are about. They all kinda glaze over when I try and explain and say where? how? and so on.

My plan is to try and explain by means of a video of our next trip, my wife and I that is.

I have one of those small bullet waterproof HD 1080 DV cameras which does make good video recordings. The sound is no good and mounted on the bike or helmet it will only show boring road journeys which I hate to see. It's just not interesting enough for me let alone "non believers " Some footage will be useful obviously and can be cherry picked . Its there so may as well use it.

To capture the other stuff I need to get a hand held cam with a screen so I can see what I'm shooting. Also add audio description where required. Now this is where it gets complex for me. Never messed with all this stuff. Tech stuff does not scare me, but I am fully aware of the problems of compatibility between various equipment and the fight that usually follows to get it all to do what you want. Bearing in mind I have this cheap bullet DV cam and need some hand held device, the end result will need to be messed around with, using video software.

What software is going to give the least trouble for me using two DV cams?
I am hoping that all I need to do to make it easy to start with is buy another HD 1080 DV cam ( hand held). Is this enough to make editing straight forward or is it far more complex. ?
Or is this trouble in the making and better to use one cam for everything?

All the edit stuff will be done at home on a PC on our return. The video thing can not take over the trip and become a PITA but it would be nice to have a go.

Get yourself off to the Adventure Travel Film Festival...

Any cheap hd camera will do the job Ed March shot his whole dvd on a Lumix camera with hd video , the main issue you will face is shooting techniques , learn the basics and stick to them , the most important rule is a still camera , not shaking in your hand or zooming in and out, panning in any direction needs a very steady hand or some extra equipment . If you have a spare few quid get on Mr Vinces film course , its not the be all and end all but he will drill the basics into you and from that base you can make a good film .

It sound's like you have the same set up as me. I do a lot of filming. Never will win an Oscar. It's in the editing that you get to change the footage you have made. Every one I have done, I alway's think I could have done better.


I use Micro Soft Movie Maker That come's free with the computer. Not too bad.


Don't go out and buy an editing program. If you can't use Movie Make. You woun't manage a brought suite. After that it's just practice with what you have. Go out on a ride round local. Then play with what you have. If it's just a 20 minute film. It's enough so you can go over it again and again. Getting it better each time. When I do mine, I get my girl friend who live's with me to look at them. She can tell what need's changing.
John933

video
 

If you want your video to tell a story of your trip, a bit of planning your clips will be needed, a video of just the road ahead shot from your helmet or bike will soon bore your audience. So lots of clips of the the scenery, villages and the bikes plus a bit of commentary or voice over, a few selfies to the camera at various points of interest all adds to the mix. Remember the audio, as it is essential to a good video, if your talking, get the cam in as close as you can, this helps isolate the voice from the background noise, better still get a tie-clip Mic and plug it into your cam (if you can). I use a gopro hero 3 to good effect, stick it on a monopod and it's good for walking around with, mostly people don't even notice you filming and the audio is not to bad with the open back housing (no mic input though) it can also be mounted just about anywhere you fancy from a tripod to a suction cup.

there are some really good video's on u tube!

The commentary is excellent too! and some of the are captioned.

also some of the overland travel blogs are well written!

boilsoft make some nice easy to use software too!

I got it !!!
 

I found what I needed to make it all fall into place windows movie maker ! It's perfect for me to get started. Now I think I can explain this adventure stuff to my friends.

Had a play with some video footage from a short trip to Croatia last year, there were lots of short clips as it was unplanned. But I can see, with careful thought of what to shoot it can tell a good story. Cant wait for next trip to try it out.

I can see lots of late nights with this.

you can have a laugh at my expense by viewing my first effort > www.timag.co.uk/vid/croatia.wmv

equipment list
 

Ok so far the stuff I have together consists of the following:

Bullet cam HD1080
Handy cam small cheap Panasonic HD1080
Telescopic stick thingy ( mono pod?)
Mini flexible tripod
String / big piece blue-tack / Gaffer tape.
mem cards - lots!
USB charging cable for cams - can charge off bike.

For when I get back:

PC with windows "movie maker"

All the stuff is quite inexpensive and I believe that is enough for a first effort, and hopefully the sound will be ok when required.

So am I missing anything?

Looks like you are off to a good start..

I would suggest though.. That if at all possible.. Use 2 cameras of the same type. Although both are 'HD' cameras.. the video from each will look different. Sure.. it will be a bit more trouble to stick another Panasonic cam to your helmet.. the end results will look more consistent..

A couple layers of cloth over the microphone on your helmet cam can help the wind noise problem you will have.. You will have to experiment with what type & how much.

Don't bother with doing 'voice over' commentary as you go.. Unless it is just for personal notes.. Even a bad microphone.. at home.. with a blanket over your head ( & the mic ) ( think of it as a sound tent ) will sound TONS better than voice over recorded with the cameras mic while on the road..

"B Roll" Need lots of B Roll. As discussed above.. Need video of road signs, panoramas of places you stop at.. Exteriors, interiors, traffic going by.. Anything that is of interest..

Even if your shots have just a second.. or even less of something interesting there will be times & places where you can cut & combine a lot of these little b roll snippets into something cool.

& finally.. be sure to post a youtube link so we can check out your trip!

Shooting
 

Good audio is very important, wind noise is always a problem with any built in mic. Look at the Sony blue tooth Mic - It's very good. Or the ZOOM mini is ace for around £100. You do want plenty of face to camera stuff with clear audio. As mentioned, B roll is important - you need loads of it to string the better pieces together. Film every thing - If you don't film it, you can't use it !!

Two hard drives minimum as back up - WD fail but the Lacie rugged is good, The 1.5t work well.
Editing takes loads of time and effort, a day for a 10min clip, Final cut Pro for Mac is the industry standard and cheap now but takes time to learn and If you are on Windows it's not worth swapping to Mac unless you plan to make money from your output.

Look for different angles to shoot from, perspective can make a bland piece interesting, never pan or zoom but it's great to have something moving in the shot or through it.

The main point is - let me know when you upload your work, I'd like to see it.

Cheers

Paul

I have been playing around with the two cams and have found settings which suit both and footage looks the same on both in good light. So thats that sorted. Now audio is my next problem. Its crap on both and no external mic. So im thinking to put one on the panasonic. Somehow :D

Next backup. You dont get many mins footage per Gb ! Shocked! Is there a hd which will copy sd cards without a pc? dont really want to take a laptop too. Or 100's of sd cards.....

sent with tapatalk.

I did try, a couple of years ago, a hard drive with a built in card reader, and it broke down on me pretty fast, nothing I want to recommend any more. The any option I can think of if you don't want to bring a laptop is a portable hard drive and a card reader, and then relying on finding internet cafe's along the road.

I'm starting to favour the option of card reader / hdd as it is probably easier to protect a portable hdd than a laptop. I know from experience that a laptop will fail if bumped around too much. Solid state devices are very expensive for a good storage capacity. I have four 32Gb cards plus a few odd smaller size ones so another option is to get a few more and then just seek a cafe when required. No deaths should result from any failings with this. It will be learning curve, but less steep thanks to all you hubbers.

Many things involved in all this video lark! Not even started yet :eek3:

Bit of a follow up on the issue of transferring video to HDD without a PC.

I come across a piece of kit which does it with out the need for a pc or power supply, or wires for that matter.

Wireless Hard Drive, iPad Hard Drive, Wireless Storage | Seagate

I wonder if anyone has tried one ?c?

Its a Seagate wireless plus drive. basically a box with a 1Tb HDD a battery and wifi & USB connectivity. you can transfer files from a "device" ( my android smart phone) to the HDD via wifi. So by removing the SD card from cam and putting in phone and then transferring to HDD you have a copy of your card. my phone / cam and the HDD can all be charged from the bike inside the pannier while travelling.

I think I'm sorted. Just remains to see how reliable it will all be on the road ?

Lessons learnt on first try at video
 

Ok .........so trip done.
I had two issues with my first go at video on a trip.

1. As it was the first time I was continually worried about batteries running out so only filmed occasionally. Due to this missed some good stuff! As it turned out the battery lasted really well. Also was so busy enjoying it I kept forgetting to film. :oops2:

2. My camera lady ( the wife) is crap at filming stuff..........I have lots of sky shots from many countries...........or no shots of the intended items but good footage of the inside of a bag or back of my bike jacket....:(

However :clap: ......... I do believe I have enough footage to put something together which I can show to non believers and hopefully that will explain why I and all you folks love this lark. I will of course make it available via the hubb somehow. It will be some time off though. Much work stuff to do before I start the editing.

Just for interest the seagate wifi hard drive seemed to work well transferring stuff as required. Took a while to get the hang of how to do it using the "app" but OK once mastered. Never charged the battery at all. It kept working despite 1 off up a mountain, very bad roads, 40+C temps, rain and damp getting to it and one crash. :thumbup1: