Editing a Travel Video. Beginner Guide

Travel videos are now on the edge of their popularity. It’s hard to say how many people call themselves travel bloggers. Still, only some of them are really popular and successful. What’s their secret? Most popular travel vloggers catch the attention of the audience with their unique presentation of the stories, sense of humor, and just love for what they do. If you think you have it all and want to try yourself at shooting travel videos for a YouTube channel or personal blog, then you should learn to use not only your camera but also video software for editing your footage. 

The future of video production companies seems to be bright and cloudless. What if your travel blog will also grow into something more? Anyway, everything is in your hands. And if you are ready to work on your vlog, then this guide to editing video can become your first step on the way to success.

Before the Edits

Getting your own travel blog is not just about the editing process but about choosing colorful or unusual locations, which will attract the attention of your audience. Depending on the style you choose your blog may tell about the country you travel to, a specific region, or some local peculiarities, like cuisine, tourist attractions, shopping, and others.

Another thing to take care of is to get the hardware. If you are an amateur, the latest series of iPhone to shoot high-resolution videos may be enough for you. Professional travel bloggers prefer using professional cameras. Whatever you choose for yourself, it will all do. Make identical settings on all the cameras you plan to use. This will simplify the editing process greatly as you won’t need to change any file format. 

Still, a camera is not the only hardware that you will need. An external hard drive is a must-have for any travel blogger. It will allow you to have a copy of all the footage without the risk of losing everything. If the storage device lacks space, you can use some video compression software to reduce the size of the files.

Step 1. Organize Your Footage

One of the crucial moments in video editing is organizing your footage. You need to label every clip and file you are going to use in the editing process. This saves tons of time as you can find anything you need in no time. Depending on the video software you use and your personal preferences, you can either add the entire footage to the timeline or work with separate pieces classified by theme or location. Whichever is comfortable for you will be OK.

Professional travel bloggers often use Adobe Premiere Pro to create their videos. This is advanced editing software, which might be difficult for beginners. If you are one of them, try more user-friendly tools, like Movavi video editor.

Step 2. Trim and Cut

This is one of the most time-consuming stages in editing your video. With hours of footage on your hard drive, you need to squeeze them into a 20 – 30 minutes-long travel video that will keep your viewers’ attention from the first to the last second. 

You probably know that the entire footage can be split into A-rolls and B-rolls. The former are you speaking into the camera and the latter – all the other video clips that include landscapes, locals, details, and other things that caught your attention on a trip. 

Your final cut should contain A-rolls supported by several B-rolls. This will make the video exciting yet not overloaded with your speech. Some editors start with cutting the B-rolls, which don’t add much to the video concept and story overall. You can follow this principle to reduce the amount of footage you are going to work with further.

As you are done with that, start cutting and trimming the A-rolls. They will become the basis for your travel video. In the end, the length of your footage should already be about half the size of the original one. Yes, this means you’ll have to cut out a lot, but this also means that you’ll keep only the best and most exciting parts of your adventures.

Step 3. Reorder Your Footage to Create a Story

Now that the amount of information you need to work with is smaller, you can start rearranging particular scenes to create a story. Each scene of your travel video should have a logical beginning and a logical ending. For instance, while telling about the local food in Vietnam, you can open the scene with a fisherman catching the fish tell then tell about the peculiarities of the local cuisine and finish the episode with you tasting the fish your viewers have seen caught. You can also put your comments over the B-rolls to continue the story you’ve started in the A-roll. 

To add some wow factor to your travel video, add the footage shot by a drone or a GoPro camera. Such B-rolls will help deeper immersion into the location you tell about.

Step 4. Work on the Audio

Videos without music are doomed for failure, so don’t ignore such an editing stage as adding audio layers to your footage. Not only will the music help you understand how quick each shot should be, but it will also create a special atmosphere for your viewers. 

The music should reflect the local flavor; tell what the character of this country or region is. If you can find the right melody, you will surely get your audience into the right mood. Music is often the thing that decides how your video should be laid out.

Step 5. Work on Color Correction, Graphics and Other Details

You just can’t skip this step on the way to a perfect travel video. All this job aims to polish your footage and finalize all the pile of work you’ve already done. By making the color correction, working with color grading, you can make a huge difference in your travel video. But please, don’t overdo it. Everything should look natural. The same is true for graphics. Use it only if it is appropriate.

Balancing the sound level is another crucial thing to do at this stage. Make sure the music doesn’t cover your voice, and you can be heard well throughout the clip. 

Experienced vloggers know how much subtitles mean for their video to get popular. Follow their example and add subtitles to your film too. They will allow people to watch your video soundless yet follow the line and be engaged.

Step 6. Prepare Your Video for Exporting

To share your video on social media and all sorts of video-sharing platforms, you should adjust it to certain requirements. This can be done with the help of video converters, which compress the size of the file or change its format in a blink of an eye. Some of the best video converters include Leawo, WinX, and FonePaw. They can convert your movie to any needed format without quality loss.

Summing up

Editing a travel video is never an easy job. But once you work out your own editing style and master the skills, this will become much easier. Good luck with your travel vlog!