Tricks to Storify Your Travel Video
I shoot videos and landscapes when I travel overseas. Obviously, I cannot shoot to a script or have much of a plan, since this is an unplanned vacation.
How would I construct a story from random scenes in Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna, Budapest, etc? Usually I end up with a string of shots without any story. This is not what you recommend in your book.
My friend Wendy will be travelling with me, but how could I include her in the video? Shots of her looking at the Danube from Buda and from Pest don’t seem to have much interest. Shooting her eating sauerkraut, etc. wouldn’t cut it either.
Any ideas?
–John Lambert
What’s great about your question is that you know there should be a story to your video, you just don’t know how to get to it. Which is a great question: how do we “storify” video when we can’t plan?
To come up with ideas, I recommend variations on the idea of brainstorming— by asking questions of yourself in different ways, you can make quick lists of ideas (in your head or on paper), choose the best one(s), and shoot. Here are a few tricks to help you storify fast:
Lens in: I wrote a whole post about the idea of looking closer and closer at the details of what you’re shooting to find story. If you become extremely interested in what you see, “zooming in” like a lens does (only, you know, metaphorically), your audience will be fascinated by your interest.
If I become intensely interested in Wendy eating sauerkraut, a world of questions come to mind. Each might be its own video, or part of a greater whole: What utensil does she eat it with? What food goes with it? What is the restaurant like? Is the sauerkraut different at different restaurants? What does she love about sauerkraut? What’s her earliest memory of eating it? What does her face look like when she likes it? When she doesn’t?
Look for the Obstacle: Every day of travel has a challenge- a place to find, a new food to try, people to meet. If you’re lucky there are physical challenges- a journey by canoe, a hike or hang-gliding session. Try building stories around these challenges. Figure out who the hero is and think beginning/middle/end of that specific challenge.
Create a Journey: Think about each separate piece of your trip as a journey. The journey to set up the trip, from “I have an idea” to “Getting on the Plane.” Surprise Wendy with an unexpected gift, and track the story of getting it. Or tell the story of a single day, and let chronology guide you.
Interview strangers: Open your circle beyond just you and Wendy. Who can you meet? What can you learn about their lives, or the way they see issues? Seek out street food recommendations in Budapest by asking humans, see if you can get yourself invited to a bar or party. Or just ask their view on local culture, their lives, or how they see America.
