how to make a good film out of your trips
 

Hi all
i hope that is not a repeated topic !!
most of us like taken good photos ,making good films show it to friends seen it after many years and remember the good old days
OK so now what is your recommendations to make good film out of your trip
how to mount action camera ? cameras on the bike ?
what is the good hints and tricks to make stunning film with your footage ?
for example my self i have 2 action camera ( drift with remote control ) that i usually wear it on helmet and an old go pro without any remote controls i usually mount it on front of the bike
so i always have almost same footage .....
any other places to mount the other the go pro and still can be able to witch it of and on while im riding ??
what is the best easy software to do editing for videos ??
thanks a lot and waiting for your feed back

depends on what you are trying to acheive
 

Everyone these days has some sort of action camera. Millions of hours of on board stuff which might mean a lot to the person riding but can be rather boring when stuck together as 4 min piece with rock music or similar.

The problem is, we are all subjected to 2 second scenes on TV and film and audience bores quickly. Trying to make it interesting can be hard. However if there is a story then it becomes a lot easier. A story is what people want to see, even if the video is crap or the sound not so good, the story is the force behind it all.

If you can edit into a story with beginning, middle and end you will have acheived something interesting. Even if its just for yourself.

I have hours and hours of video from past 10 years, most is not really usable as I can't fit it into some form of story.

The edit does take a long long time unless you are lucky enough to have great footage in a nice logical sequence. Dont want to scare you but allow one hours work for 1 minute output. Thats how long it generally takes me.

I have 1TB of video from recent trip, it will take me 2 weeks just to sift through this lot, let alone put something together. Time consuming but rewarding in the end .... I hope :)

If you are looking for different camera angles and scenes etc, just watch TV and picture yourself behind camera, you can appreciate the amount of work that goes into even the most dull TV show.

As for editing, I use Sony Vegas, most professionals use Final Cut pro. There are several others out there but are all fairly similar. Even the very basic windows video maker thing can do.

I'm no expert but I've been editing for few years, not all great, but passable. I'm lot faster now and have learned a lot.

Good luck!

I know you said old Go-pro, but how old? Go-pro do their own editing software
http://shop.gopro.com/softwareandapp, I use it. But I think it can only be used on the Hero versions. You can do a lot with it but it took me some time to get used to it. There are some videos I edited using the software on my Thailand/Laos Ride report
Go-Pro also do an app for your phone to make your Go-pro remote controlled, again it is for the later versions

I would have thought that Drift would do there own editing software although I have not looked

As for mountings for the cameras, just experiment with different areas, Body harness, handlebar mount, mount to the side of the bike.

Wayne

I have a actioncam and recorded a lot in Italy when kayaking and canyoning.

The downside of my camera is, the shakyness. Most of the footage is not really watchable. It's shakes luke crazy. Specially when mountainbiking.

After this I make sure to record some things I like but also a lot of useless shit. Like boarding the plane, leaving the country, and of course the shit of you yourself riding towards the horizon. (Don't forget to go back and pick it up). It also feels lame, but place the camera in the fridge and grab a beer. Record yourself waking up. Making coffee (place it in a cupboard). All the shots from the helmet are nice , but it is crappy editing. The shots of daily life (pitching a tent, taking a shower). Make the video watchable.

I use Adobe premiere. A beast of program but I also "downloaded" a lynda.com tutorial about how to use it. This helps a lot! I did do this in the bosses time.. making it even more fun :cool:

But all the hours from Italy... the first video was 12 minutes and boring as hell. So the edit a major vacation in 2 minutes... is very very difficult.

Post the result though, curious!

Alex

As others have said take a close look at how the professionals do it - Top Gear for example, or even Henry Cole's Greatest Motorcycle Journeys stuff. The first thing you'll notice is that the filming is everything. It's not a car / bike trip with a bit of filming done whenever is convenient, it's a film shoot done on the road.

You'll need to think about how you want to portray the journey in advance, come up with a story, a purpose, complete with highlights, low points, stress, conflict and (hopefully) eventual success. That'll mean filming in hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, at 3.00am, in pouring rain / sandstorms / breakdowns / when the police stop you etc. Only filming during the good times does, by and large, dull viewing make. If you're travelling with someone who doesn't share your vision or enthusiasm it can make for difficult times (a circle I'm trying to square over an upcoming trip at the moment)

Then give the footage to someone else to edit - because they won't have the same attachment to the footage you got round those wonderful bends just as the sun was setting. They might use some of the GoPro stuff you shot when the camera was attached to the spokes and which you thought was really arty but more likely they won't have the faintest idea what it's all about and dump it. If you really have to edit it all yourself you must have your original story in mind all the time and edit to illustrate that.

Good luck with it. I've blown hot and cold over how much filming effort to put in on trips over the last ten or fifteen years and not all of my efforts have been worth viewing. A couple of them still have the raw footage awaiting a start to any editing as I know how effort it be to get something decent out of it. To do these things well probably takes more input and thought than the trip itself.

Hello Steven
thanks for the reply
yes you are right ,,, i have morethan 10000 hours of filming from my previous trips ,but most of them look the same (at least to me ) most of them from helmet angel and yes it is boring ,
i will try to be more better and make a story and try to film it ,
will be happy to see some of your movies
cheers

hello Wayne , i have the old go pro i think hero only it is not close to me right not but i got it for at least 5 years now and to be honest i find it useless without any remote control ,and im sure it is not the one you can work it with the App perhaps it is time to get a new one ,but the tight budget is always a problem ,hahahaha
thanks mate

Hello Alex , thanks mate
would like to see your videos please

Video's are not online so that's a bit difficult. Also, there not as cool as I hoped them to be. I do! Have a video online here; made with a friend of mine. I like it:
https://youtu.be/mXPoZWyHkEY

Also, I check the videos from some.of the sport events I do:
https://youtu.be/-NrP8Z5MiNI

There is endless footage out there to see what's cool.

On the other side... 10.000 hours is beyond handling in my opinion. Just shoot good, short footage. Don't record by simply turning in it on the morning and off when your to bed. Useless!

Alex

This to my mind is the most important thing if you want to subject others to your video. I spent hours and hours editing things only to be disappointed. Until I tried the above. :thumbup1:

The motorcycle on the road stuff is hard to make interesting at the best of times, if that's all you film best keep it "offline" :innocent:

I do it simply for personal consumption and to show friends what options there are available other than hotel/beach holidays. I am pleased to report I have converted a number of friends :thumbup1:

I worked with two cheap HD cams and basic windows editing software and have been surprised at the quality of the results, even for a total beginner like me. I had never owned a video cam before and took off for a months trip and filmed loads. I think I had 80hrs and got 25mins of film edited down.

That first attempt taught me so much. Next time I will have a much better idea of what is required to make it more interesting.

Just go do some filming / edit it / learn from it. Do it again and so on....

Good Film
 

This is a film that I made for our Cairo to Cape Town trip.
Have a look and let me know what you think ???:innocent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7lnlhFyMYg

Cheers
Paul

Paul that is absolutely fantastic... wow, awesome job! :thumbup1:

What video editing software did you use? I'm a newb to video editing but am looking to put together some vids of upcoming Africa travels.

My only suggested improvement to your video would be to add place names... for instance, I was wondering the names of some of the towns where you got great footage of local celebrations and people... would like to visit those places myself! :)

Editing
 

I used FCP X & Motion, I take on board of what you said....but I have a series of other films I made on individual countries that I have made or in the process of completing which are alot more in depth re: places & cultures etc.
That film I posted was more of a long trailer.
The festival was the Camel Derby in Maralal in Nth West Kenya (Lake Turkana area) The Bull jumping ceremony we just stumbled accross that in the Omo Valley.
Glad your enjoyed the film.
My wife & I are about to ride up the Cape Town to Spain now & we plan to film as well.

Cheersbeer
Paul

Paul I loved the Nepal film. So much so I'm going there in a few weeks hiring a bullet and doing it with the wife!


regards Tim sent by tapatalk

Great Video. True. But even if you only hve photos and no special effects just tell your friends about your trip and then record it to get a film of it. Specially in countrys like Germany your not allowed to use music from other people in your video ;)

https://youtu.be/WkClxaL0Qn4

Blog
 

Tobias,
We are heading up the west coast & I have just read your blog.
Thanks for leaving some co-ordinates for us.
Great Blog !!!
Cheers
Paul

One advice I would like to give for making best pictures out of your trips is not to be hesitate taking too many pictures. If you like something in your journey, take out your camera and take the snap. You can later sort out the good and bad pictures and make a great album of your journey.

Making an interesting film is a bit like starting a conversation with a stranger in a bar - you gotta start off with something interesting, and keep it interesting, to hold their attention. Mixing still shots with video works well, especially if you add a slow zoom to the still shot - humans are drawn to moving objects. 4 seconds maximum for still shots. If the audio is sub-par, you can always dub over it later. These days too there is map animation software that shows your route moving across a map and that really adds a bit of pizaz.
Be prepared for lots of tedious hours editing though, to do a good job you can spend two or three weeks to edit simply one day's riding.
Check out my video of a single days riding:
https://youtu.be/6jdeYzGchVg
the above 24 minute video took me about 9 days to edit.

Having just come back from a month long trip on an classic bike where film and stills were high on my agenda, let me tell you how it went: badly is the one word summary.

Reflecting on it, a few reasons come to mind. Firstly I was travelling with someone else (on an identical bike as it happens), and recording stuff wasn't as high on their priority list as it was on mine. So inevitably that led to stuff I wanted to do being skipped.

Secondly, it's hard to ride and film at the same time if you're riding solo. I had two GoPros mounted on the bike and even with a remote to control them it's an awkward process. So road safety (inevitably) comes first and often opportunities were missed or took second place to survival. Going back to reride the same stretch of road but this time with the camera turned on mostly fell foul of point one.

Thirdly, equipment reliability. One of my GoPros developed a fault during the trip. It would record video fine when it was hand held and off the bike but with the engine running - ie on the road - it came up with an error message time and time again. Stills were recorded ok but not video. My guess was that it was the high frequency vibration from the engine at the root of it but there was not much to be done on the road other than try to work round it.

Fourthly - time schedules, even unofficial ones ('we ought to make it to X today') play havoc with trying to record your progress. If producing video was a major priority I could see 100 miles a day being about as much as you could accomplish. If you have a limited amount of time for the trip then making progress vs recording progress becomes a serious issue.

And all that is without working out why you're doing - having a 'game plan' and an end goal for the footage. The more I try to do this the more admiration I have for people who seem to do it well. I've yet to go through my raw footage and maybe the secret is all in the editing. I'll see over the next few weeks when I look through it all. Perhaps 'if you can't make it, fake it' is the approach to take. It is make-believe after all.

And in a year it got 202 views. Would you say that's worth 9 days of your time?

This is not to criticize your editing job at all - it is simply a reflection of a simple fact... Nobody cares to watch anyone else's vacation videos. Take photos as a memory for yourself, and unless you luck out to having an onscreen personality AND can commit nearly full-time to making videos, you're far better off spending that time making money at work for your next trip.

Yup, and that's before you worry about the gopros' batteries. :)

I have a two-channel dashcam permanently mounted on my bike. Front and back. Whenever the ignition is on, it is loop-recording to a 256gb memory card. And if there is a particularly nice moment, I can press a button on the remote control to lock the current file from being overwritten. No battery worries. I can also set it to timelapse, 1 frame per second or slower. Can get the footage off with a phone app, or remove the memory card to dump footage to a computer quickly.

Result? I still grab maybe one timelapse clip per big riding session, just for my own pleasure. Ultimately, nobody cares because they weren't there, they don't have the memory of emotion attached. That is absolutely fine.

yes youre quite correct - time spent editing is no guarantee you'll get views. Case in point: this one I spent zero time editing, its just pure helmet cam footage with no commentary, yet garnered more than 23,000 views! https://youtu.be/2pgXqq5Ej-U .

But, the above video didnt really take off until it had been online a couple of years.

Its a bit like making music as an unknown musician. If you do it just for fame, it will probably show, people wont like it. If you do it because you enjoy it, that will also show, and you might just succeed, though the odds are against you, because so many others are also competing for viewer's eyeballs.
ps Im retired anyhow so going back to work to save for next trip not really an option for me. 8 years was enough!

All good and valid points above! I went through several go pros (and other brands proved even less reliable). Riding with another rider who isnt into recording everything is always gonna be a problem. I think at the beginning of your trip you should decide: what is more important to you as the rider, having a smooth, fun ride, or stopping and documenting everything as you go, which adds enormously to the time spent getting to your destination. AND, remember you will also add even more time, multiplied by a factor of up to ten times, editing after your trip ends.
Ive watched quite a few "how to be a successful YouTuber" videos and the consensus seems to be the easy days of launching a channel and going viral have long gone, and in fact you'd be lucky to get real traction until you have posted at least 100 episodes, have 4000 hours of watchtime and 1000 subscribers. They set the bar high.
Some people, like myself, enjoy the doing it the long way. But not everyone does (or have the time to do so). You know some of the more famous YouTubers have editing teams doing the hard years for them... they just upload raw footage and let the pros do the editing. Fine if you can afford their services, but I would not like that way, firstly because its expensive and secondly you lose creative control and whatever they produce will be different to what you envisaged.
I would be hesitant about "faking it" - these days people can see through fakery pretty quick and you might lose a bit of credibility if it becomes too obvious. Maybe "fake it", but only as part of a self-deprecatory joke. Ed March is the master of that technique.
One other tip: dont rely on helmet cam footage alone, have a handycam with a decent zoom in your tank bag. You can capture things far away from the roadside without getting off your bike, which saves quite a bit of time.

That's been my approach. Cameras on the bike but a small (pocket sized) handcam that I take everywhere with me as well. Most of the footage / stills I shot were done on that, but it's no good (obviously) for on-bike use. Fortunately I have no desire to become a YouTube hero, so most of my footage is for personal / family viewing. As such a few technical flaws are 'just too bad' and what I missed will ever remain my secret.

One final observation regarding GoPros (or any camera that spends days fixed to the bike); traffic fumes / dirt etc doesn't take long to cover the lens in muck, particularly if its been raining. Quite a bit of what I have is unusable because of dirt on the lens.


https://i.postimg.cc/j5Xv93pF/Maroc1.jpg



https://i.postimg.cc/cCLTNMZ4/Bayonne.jpg

Great sound:

Sound is faaaaar more important than the visuals. Poor sound and a film becomes unbearable. At a bare minimum you need a lavalier mic. In addition you ought to have a sound recorder.

Drama:
A concept that seems to work: Start the film with some sort of conflict (weather, customs, technical issues, etc). Show what leads up to the conflict. Resolve the conflict.

If there is a series, leave with some cliffhanger or a taste of what comes in the next episode.

B reel is your friend
Use multiple cameras and sound sources at the same time. Take time to record B reels and to take photographs. It will rescue supoptimal shots and also make your film much more enticing.

360 camera:
a 360 camera is awesome for awesome B reel. Insta 360 x3 has recently come out - worth a look. Also, when riding a bike - keepig focus on the road and the scenery at the same time isn't easy or safe - a 360 camera will aid you! Get a long selfie stick and a bunch of mounts, and the creative possibilities are endless!
.
POV action camera and a second camera:
Point Of View let's the viewer immerse themselves. The most natural position is a chin mounted camera (not on top or the side of the helmet). A second camera on the handlebars facing the rider is also a great idea. This second camera can also be moved arround in various positions on and off the bike to capture B reel. If you have more than one camera (recommended), one should be a 360.

Don't get high on you own supply:
99% of everything you record should be cut - sound and video alike. Don't go on long rants. Don't show long sequences. Each video cut should be between 1-7 seconds max - most around 2 seconds. Your rant can be much longer.

When you plan your talk - plan to talk in short bulks and pauce in between. If things don't come off right, you can always keep the film rolling and have another go, and then use B-reel to make it all nice and tidy in post production.

Stable shots:
Unstable shots are unbearable to watch. Use a decent action camera with stabilization and make it even more stable in post.

Length of video:
It's been mentioned keep it short and enticing. Let people use their own imagination to fill in the gaps or create their own stories in their heads - don't show them everything. You want to entertain or create a documentary for the history books? K.I.S.S. - keep it short sweetheart!

Detail is boring!

Beauty:
It helps if your shots are esthetically pleasing to watch. If you have a lot of b-reel and still photos - much can be done in post to make your film beatiful. Research how to make b-reels - a few techniques will take you very far! Besides that, lighting, filters, etc will apply. But, again - b-reels will save your day and make up for much artistic talent you may not have.

I thought that was 'stupid'. No, not your post, but the last word in K.I.S.S. But of course in these bewokened times you need to mind what you say as even an abstract idiot has feelings. So 'sweetheart' it is.

No arguments with any of the rest of it except to remark that following your suggestions - sensible though they might be - involves a huge commitment to the video process and that inevitably will be to the detriment of the the 'biking' part. Fine if you're the one pushing your video vision but companions may not be as dedicated to the production requirements. I've had that again and again on trips where I've wanted to do something more along the lines you outlined but those with me have vetoed the multiple takes, early mornings, 'interviews', pieces to camera etc that are needed. It's not really surprising that the default has become a number of riding clips edited together with a pirated rock music track overlaid to drown out the sub standard sound. Often it was either that or the divorce courts.

Things have moved on with the advent of 'professional adventurers / influencers' in recent years with their message to sell but that's not the majority of us.

A seven year old thread.

Has anybody actually managed to make a watchable "what I did on my holiday" film?

Your Granny watching doesn't count.
Forty seconds where you nearly die doesn't count.
The endless equipment reviews don't count.

Sorry, I just aren't really interested in your holiday anymore. Mondo Enduro will be 20 years old next year and was a novelty. The ones with the actor were the Hollywood version and needed the support vehicle to carry the gear, producer, director. These videos have become like cop shows on TV, running traffic lights and having gun battles just doesn't cut it , you need the detective to be a vampire or the murderer or both. As something real, stupid or bad behaviour is worse that the boredom of "aren't we brave, we are so far abroad they might need to stamp our passports".

I wish you luck and hope you succeed but personally I'm writing a novel about a psychologist changing the fuel map on a Moto Guzzi. It's part detective story along the lines of WTF did the Italians do that and part her internal torment over taking the left side throttle body away from the factory settings. In 50 years time they'll think I was as clever as the Pirsig bloke :D

Totally agree on the kit, I used to get through the helmet cam remote controls at about one a year.

Andy

I've sat through Austin Vince's presentation on how to film your trip several times and I've still got no idea what he was talking about :rofl:

I guess it's just a feeling that after 50yrs of bike travel I surely ought to be able to improve on the fuzzy snaps on a Kodak Instamatic that was the cutting edge of (my) technology in 1970. I actually took an old Instamatic with me on this summer's trip and I'm not sure things have actually moved on that much. GoPros, iPhones, my little Panasonic travel camera, all of it stuffed into bags or mounted on the bike but you have to do something with it all to get results. It all seems a bit like having a bike all loaded up and looking the part but then discovering you don't know how to start it. All the gear and no idea as they say.

Crickey, so many thoughts and questions there.

This was taken on a 70 year old camera and processed in coffee and fish tank cleaner

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0BMRpZT/R1-02870-0009-7d4b5.jpg

Is it a good image? Very average to my own amateur standard. Certainly not interesting unless you know what it is.

The camera (folded) is bigger than the box an iPhone comes in. You get 12 frames at over a quid a go and then need to hide under the bed clothes to unload it.

It's like riding a classic bike though. You think about each action and people are often interested. Not that many though to be honest. I enjoy using it/ fighting it.

I've been trying to take better pictures for 40 years. I don't think you can teach it. You can show people how to use their equipment (and modern phones work) and get them started with the rule of thirds, depth of field, shutter speed choice etc. You can introduce image manipulation afterwards. You can't make them lucky to be there when a particular image exists and you can't tell them which style they'll like and others might appreciate. If you want to be bored find images ten camera club judges agree are good.

Adding movement and sound and expecting people to like it for five minutes is just even harder to me.

Good Luck

Andy

fwiw. the main take-away from any of Austin's presentations (other than his random preoccupation with the naked male form) is that if you want to make a film, then that has to be the priority - ie. you have to be a film maker who is using a motorcycle as part of the story, not a motorcyclist who fancies making a film.

As has been mentioned previously in this thread, this means that scripting and setting up shots has to take priority if you want something genuinely watchable and professional looking... and that puts a very different dynamic on the trip as a whole, particularly if you're riding with one or more other people, they all have to be on the same page and as enthusiastic as you are about creating an end product.

As an example, I've heard Austin recount a number of occasions during Mondo' (and Terra Circa) where he'd either ride ahead or wait behind, often for an extended period of time, just the get 'the shot' he felt he needed to drive the narrative, often much to the frustration of his companions - which explains why it took them 440 days to ride around the world perhaps!

Ultimately it's like anything creative - while the tools might be increasingly available and affordable these days, it still takes a degree of talent to make anything genuinely worthwhile.

Jx

Oh he must have been a laugh a minute to go round the world with. :rofl: Actually he is a laugh a minute if you sit through his talks or prop up a bar with him, but get up the next day and do it all over again ... :rolleyes2: :rofl:

Thing is, I agree with him. You can't steer with one hand and film with the other, not if you want anything watchable anyway, and there is a huge gulf between the stuff that gets (got?) into his film festival and 10secs from your phone on WhatsApp. Most of us would hope to fall somewhere in between - a little bit of effort in order to produce something a little bit better, but when the result turns out to be not what you'd hoped, well, the try harder with better equipment next time bandwagon starts to roll.

I don't actually think that bike journeys are a particularly good subject for video (or stills, come to that). Mostly it's just rolling along though scenery - which is fine for 10-20 secs of screen time and then becomes increasingly boring. You have to tell a story, and that involves people mostly. If your travelling companions are reluctant to appear on screen and you lack the confidence to talk to strangers or the connections to get you into places you're not left with much. It doesn't matter how fancy your equipment is, if you're restricted to clips of mountains or beaches or sunsets it's never going to be more than an aide memoire.



I think people half expect 'handwavium' results, and the closer they are to the clueless end of the spectrum the more it becomes press the button and pray. I spent 30yrs working as a pro snapper so I have a pretty good idea how much time, effort, commitment and 'vision' goes into constructing images - for that's what it is, you're making an image, not taking it. The equipment is almost irrelevant. Trying to tell a story over a series of still images is very much like video production except the sound man gets a day off.

The difference between doing it professionally and recording your bike trip is that the pro assignment has a client breathing down your neck and you have a responsibility to him / her to do whatever is needed to come up with the goods. If that requires getting people to act out of their comfort zones (etc) then that's what you're being paid to do. Unless you're obsessive it's not quite the same on your own time. If you want to spend an hour setting up a shot or sit around waiting for that perfect evening light without being paid then I'll see you when we get back. I think most people have that 'time's winged patience limit hurrying near' feeling in the background when trying to do more than point and shoot, and mostly it shows.