Intelligent Travel the official blog of National Geographic Traveler Magazine has tipped us off to a cool new project in the works from the Mother Ship.
It seem that in May, National Geographic intends to launch their own video site with user generated content much like YouTube. The site will be called Everyday Explorers and is designed to let us share our persona videos focused on four different categories. Those categories are: Wildlife and Pets, Weather, Favorite Places, and Greet Tips.
Since the launch is just a short time away now, they’re looking for some content to include when it opens to the public. If you’ve got something you would like to share, head over to this page to submit your masterpiece for all the world to see.
It looks like we’ll have a new source of adventure videos in the near future. I recently purchased a video camera of my own, and while I’ve played with it some, I have yet to do anything serious with it. Perhaps now is the time to put it to good use and submit some content to the site.
I’ll let you know when I hear about the official launch.
- Gear Review: The Xero Scrambler Mid is an Ultralight Hiking Shoe for Spring - March 1, 2023
- Gear Review: Yeti Roadie 48 Wheeled Cooler - August 18, 2022
- Kristin Harila Continues Pursuit of 8000-Meter Speed Record - August 16, 2022
Making a quality production has a lot to do with shooting ratio. Shooting ratio is the amount of time you record versus the amount you use in your finished piece. David Attenborough is said to have collected as much as 1,000 minutes of film for every minute that appeared on the screen in his nature documentaries.
If you’re going to upload a 3-minute adventure video, choose the best 3 minutes out of at least 60, if not a couple of hundred minutes you shot on location. It almost never happens that you can shoot 30 minutes on location and have even 15 minutes that’s actually interesting.
And finally, most camcorders have horrible, often unintelligible sound. If your camcorder has an external microphone jack, find out what kinds of mics work with it and use them. Place them close to who-ever is talking, or if the sound-source is distant, at least away from the camera. Often, it’s much better to have a separate sound person do this.
Thanks for the tips! Really good advice.
I’d also add, if your video camera has a “wind cut” option, use it. It can really reduce the ambient noise when shooting outside.