Colorado - Horse Ranch Park - Video Travel Guide

[JimFox]

Colorado - Horse Ranch Park - Video Travel Guide

Creating Travel Guides is something that I have desired and done to a limited degree in the past. This last summer though it hit me that doing a Video Travel Guide as opposed to using just still photos is the real direction that I wanted to go.

Two reasons for it. 1st, I love to share and educate others on photography and the beautiful locations around us. 2nd, it would be a great way to share FocalWorld with other photographers who may not know about us since the Video's will be hosted on YouTube.

I have done processed 3 video's so far. I recorded about a dozen places during my fall color trip, but I picked 3 to process first to get a feel for how to process them since this is all pretty new to me.

It took me a while to find a competent easy to use Video Editor since I am way to busy as it is, so I needed something simple with enough bells and whistles to accomplish the task. After some research I settled on Movavi. It has some quirks and glitches, but seems the most stable for being an inexpensive editor ($39). I had also bought an inexpensive Action Cam ($50) to start with. I didn't want to throw a ton of money away at the beginning incase this turned out to be something that wasn't going to work out or something I wasn't going to enjoy.

So if you are still reading, here is what I need from everyone.

Please view the 3 videos (I am copying this text to all 3 to start), and give me feedback.

I need feedback on everything. From the Titles, transitions, to the text used in the video. Any suggestions for the disclaimer also is desired. Just anything that comes to your mind, share it. It's been a journey just editing these 3, as I have refined my process with each one. But now, I don't want to edit anymore until I get the feedback and determine the exact look and wording of each one.

This first batch is a real learning process, and the video's I do a year for now will probably look nothing like this first set, but a guy has to start somewhere.

Thanks so much.

 

[AlanLichty]

Interesting concept and starting point. Does your video software compress the original automatically for reasonable storage sizes? Do you have any editing abilities for the exposure in the video? It seems a bit bright.

Titles and transitions seemed OK to me but I am not someone with much experience with trying to do things like that at all.

Do be careful handholding such a device while driving. Washington and Oregon can both hit you with a pretty hefty fine for handholding anything like your camera or a phone.

 

[Kyle Jones]

I'm finding the transitions a little distracting. I usually use a cross fade myself and I'd probably aim for a quicker transition. I do like being able to see what things look like along the roads as well as key directions. At the same time, I might like a little less road work (starts to look much the same) and a little more from the sites once you arrive - but that's just me.

If you really want to go professional, you may want to edit together the clips without sound and then to a rehearsed voice over back at your computer. That's definitely more work than I've ever wanted to do...

Nice start!

 

[lionking]

I think its a great idea, video skill require some work, but the content is interesting.
IMHO its worth developing.

 

[JimFox]

Interesting concept and starting point. Does your video software compress the original automatically for reasonable storage sizes? Do you have any editing abilities for the exposure in the video? It seems a bit bright.

Titles and transitions seemed OK to me but I am not someone with much experience with trying to do things like that at all.

Do be careful handholding such a device while driving. Washington and Oregon can both hit you with a pretty hefty fine for handholding anything like your camera or a phone.

Thanks Alan.

Surprisingly in the Video Editor I can do basic adjustments like Highlights, shadows, Saturation, etc. So I already went and did some highlight recovery on each clip as I processed it since being such a wide angle it's so hard to avoid the sun and having really bright areas.

I do have a mount where I can attach the camera to the windshield, but it seems like a pain when I want to shoot out the side window. But that's something I can work with.

Thanks!

 

[JimFox]

I'm finding the transitions a little distracting. I usually use a cross fade myself and I'd probably aim for a quicker transition. I do like being able to see what things look like along the roads as well as key directions. At the same time, I might like a little less road work (starts to look much the same) and a little more from the sites once you arrive - but that's just me.

If you really want to go professional, you may want to edit together the clips without sound and then to a rehearsed voice over back at your computer. That's definitely more work than I've ever wanted to do...

Nice start!

Thanks Kyle. I played a bit with the transitions, trying to find one that wasn't hokey looking, but was enough of a transition so that it was clear it was a transition. I can definitely look at the cross fade.

Your comment about too much roads though sent a small tear down my cheek. When I had gotten the idea for this, I had seen some other videos that were boring as all get out with 10 minutes straight of the same road. So I decided then I could do a video with less roads, just road sections where there are key elements. So I did put in a lot of effort to cutting the roads to as minimal as possible. In most cases, if the road is in there, it's either because there is a direction change, or I am giving valuable advice about something. So I can look at cutting roads more, but I think I got them to a pretty bare minimum now. If there are any specifics where you thought the road was too long, just tell me the time of the video, so I can look at that specific area on it.

I do want to spend time on the video showing the actual site. I tried that. But will keep that in mind to make sure I am getting enough time on the ground. My goal is to try and keep the video lengths between 5 to 9 mins. I don't want them too long, and for some of these it is a challenge to get the traveling part in along with the photography part at each location. The CR5 one originally was 20 minutes, May told me it was too long, so I had to go back to the cutting room floor and I trimmed it down to 9 minutes, but man it's not easy to cut.

I can separate out the sound track, but yeah that would be a lot more work. One thing I had noticed with recording the sound outdoors is that especially if it's windy, there can be some weird sounds with the mic. One of the reasons I had chosen this particular Action Cam, was that it had an input for a mic, 95% of them didn't unless you went to the GoPro. So from what I have read, the sound quality is really good on what I had done compared to how bad it could have been had I not had the mic. I will have to toy with this idea... I think in one aspect it's nice hearing the ambient sounds in the video, but on the other hand, I can definitely clean up some things by recording the voice later.

One thing that's bad with YouTube, is you can't edit an existing video you have on there and replace it. You have to delete it, and upload the new version. Which that really stinks since then the URL is changed, so then any existing links wont work.

 

[JimFox]

I think its a great idea, video skill require some work, but the content is interesting.
IMHO its worth developing.

Thanks Andrey, it's a work in progress. I do believe the idea has merit, and I am having a ton of fun doing them. I do figure it's something I will be working on and refining over the next few months. I have trips I am planning to Yosemite and Death Valley to shoot some more. So this time now is valuable as I edit what I had shot in Colorado and see what worked and what didn't. So everyone's feedback right now is helpful.

 

[JimFox]

One more thing, even if you skip all the way to end of the video, I need some thoughts on the Disclaimer I added. It's a crazy world we live in, and everyone wants to blame someone else for their own stupidity. So I need thoughts on if the Disclaimer looks okay, or if I need to add more words. And if I need to add more words, what words do I need to add?