(upbeat electronic music)
(fades to inspiring electronic music)
- Alright, so this is a more typical Lofoten day,
I believe, well actually it's getting nice now but earlier
today it was rainy, cold; it's still a little bit cold.
Much colder than yesterday,
or the other days that we've been here.
There's actually super, super tropical...
I never, ever thought I would feel like I'm in Maui
in the Arctic Circle, in Lofoten, Norway.
Stuff happens, I guess.
But I thought it would be fun today to talk about
how to actually make epic cinematic travel films.
Because I get asked that a lot, and also a lot of you
who have been here for a longer period of time know that
this channel actually started as kind of a travel channel,
travel feels, or that was like a big portion of it.
It still is, but it was never really the main thing
in the content in the end.
But if it wasn't for epic cinematic travel films,
I probably wouldn't be here today.
This was actually one of the very first epic travel films
that I made; roll the clip now.
(dramatic electronic music)
And here I am again in Norway, like in that video.
This time in Lofoten, which is probably the most epic place
I have ever been to in my life.
At least, it's definitely up there.
Top three, I would say, for sure.
And we could talk about camera settings,
and using an ND filter, and keeping your shutter speed
at double your frame rates.
Using fast lenses, low number apertures,
color grades and animorphic crop and all that stuff,
et cetera, et cetera.
But let's talk today about more of the practical things.
I'm assuming you guys know all that stuff.
If you don't I've made a whole two videos actually
on cinematic camera settings so you can go watch those.
But let's assume that you know all that stuff,
and let's talk about the other stuff that's involved
in actually making one of these more cinematic,
epic travel films that you might want to, I don't know,
make just for your memories, or just for fun.
Or maybe for a company, or for your YouTube channel,
or whatever.
That being said, I would say practice the crap
out of the settings part, because if you don't know
the settings, inside and out when you're at home
in your comfortable environment,
in your bedroom or out in your town,
you're gonna get flustered when you're traveling.
And it's a bit stressful, and there's people out,
and they're watching you, and all that stuff.
So make sure you do practice those things.
But there is a lot more to cinematic epic travel films
than just the camera settings.
First off, do your research.
This is tip number one; do your research.
Talk to any friend that you know that's been to that place
that you're going to.
Scour Instagram, the Internet; find the best places.
And I'd say Instagram is a really good way to find them.
Look up the place on Instagram.
Look at different Instagrammers that have been
to those places.
Instagrammers are some of the best people for
location scouting: finding the best locations.
So do your research, because that's really gonna
make or break your videos a lot of times.
If you go to the wrong places, maybe they're too touristy,
or they're just not cool, epic places and you're missing
the really, really nice spots, then yeah.
Your video's not gonna turn out very good, or cinematic,
or epic.
Number Two, your best buddies are gonna be sunrise
and sunset.
These are literally the most important times
that you should be filming your travel films.
And I actually plan the whole day kind of around those.
I want to be at one of the most epic spots I can find,
especially at sunset, because sunset you kind of have more
time to plan, and stuff like that.
I want to always be somewhere really good for sunset.
And this trip is a little bit funny actually, because
they kind of have an eight hour golden hour.
It doesn't really get dark, so we've actually shifted
our whole daily routine to go around that.
So we've been sleeping until like maybe one o'clock,
one in the afternoon, I feel like a teenager again.
Then we've been kind of editing and offloading footage
and all that during the afternoon.
And then we've been going out at like 6:00, 7:00 p.m.,
that's when we start our day and start filming.
And then we'll be out 'til like 4:00 a.m.,
Actually I think every night we've been out 'til 4:00 a.m.
And then we just do that whole routine all over again.
We've planned the whole day around the best times of day
for filming and doing photos and all of that stuff.
(upbeat music)
So I note, there's a lot of jellyfish here in Norway.
That's a jellyfish, that's a jellyfish.
That thing's a jellyfish.
Apparently that one's really bad.
Markus picked one of those up yesterday.
But that one: you don't want to pick that one up.
Number Three: whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
It's a bit shaky here.
Number Three, I would say always hike up.
Get up, go up higher whether it's a building, or a mountain,
or hill, or anything.
Just go up, the views are always gonna be worth it.
Especially if you are doing drone shots,
or really any kinds of shots.
It just looks really cool when you go up.
So make sure you're hiking, no matter where you go
in the world, there's always a hike to do.
And speaking of drones: you need a drone.
I mean, you don't need a drone, but you need a drone.
Drones are just so good for showing those epic,
cinematic landscapes.
There's really no other tool like a drone.
We've mentioned it like at least ten times on this trip.
Imagine the time before drones.
It's hard to even remember that.
Some of the shots, for example, we were on a beach
doing the bonfire and stuff.
You would have never, ever been able to do that before.
Because a helicopter would have just kicked up the sand.
It would have been horrible.
A drone, there's just so many options,
so many opportunities with it.
Especially when there's cinematic landscapes.
There's no better way to show
your environment, where you are than a drone.
So I recommend getting a drone.
Even if it's just like the Mavic Air, get a drone.
Next, make sure you're actually filming people.
It's so important to include people in the shots,
and not just have epic landscape, after epic landscape,
after epic landscape.
Like if you've watched any really like, like a drone film,
most of them are just landscape after landscape.
There's no characters, there's not really
that much going on, it's just these landscapes.
So make sure you're including a friend, yourself,
anybody in those clips.
Even just set up the camera and walk by it.
Or sit it up so it looks really nice on a cliff
and just stand there, take a photo, take a video clip.
Make sure you're including people.
Get some of those feelings: the laughing, the smiling
and having a good time and just reacting to the environment.
That's gonna make your videos so much more interesting
and, I think, epic in the end.
When you see a car going down just this amazing road,
versus if it was just the amazing road.
It's way better with the car.
Number Six is more of a personal preference I think,
but also I think I have a good point here:
use wide-angle lenses, especially when you're in
epic places like this and it's cinematic, you know,
the landscapes are just beautiful.
It's really nice to have a wide-angle lens that shows more
than just one little bit of the scene,
kind of gives you a better picture of
where you are, actually.
Plus, I like this interaction where it feels more like
you're with me, than versus even if I was
you know, thirty-five...
It feels like I'm a little bit farther from you guys.
Your not as...you're kind of looking in.
I like this better, where we're close.
You feel like you're here with me,
and that's what I want to give you guys
when I'm making an epic travel film.
I want you guys to experience what I'm experiencing.
(upbeat music)
And then last but not least: just have fun with it.
If you're not having fun,
your videos are definitely gonna suffer.
Plus, it's more important to make cool memories than to
get epic footage, epic photos.
So, make sure you're having fun with it,
not just for your sake but also for the people around you.
If you're always just stressing about getting
the perfect shot, nobody's gonna like being around you
and they're not gonna want to be in your video,
and you're video's gonna end up sucking.
So, make sure you're having a lot of fun
while you're making that film.
I'm most likely crazy over-exposed right now, aren't I?
Alright, that's it for my tips, now it's actually time
to go out and do what I'm telling you guys to do.
I'll give you guys a quick little tour
of where we're staying.
(grunts)
(door creaks)
Boys, is it time to go film yet?
- Naaah... - Naaaaaah.... (laughing)
- (Laughs loudly)
(inspiring electronic music)