Workflow for making interesting videos

Question

I'd like to start a bit of a travel video blog about my adventures, but I'm wondering how I can:

1. Make my videos interesting, and

2. Make them look and sound reasonably professional.

I currently have the following devices at my disposal:

• Canon 60D + lenses
• HD capable point and shoot Fujifilm camera
• Zoom H1 Mic
• Pretty average tripod
• MacBook Pro with a range of different software available.

What tips/workflow advice would you give for getting started out?

Answer 1

Little bit confused. The title of the question refers to workflow but then in the description you ask for advice on how to cut it together...

Might just do my best to answer both.

Workflow. You should shoot on your 60D mostly as that'll give you the better looking image. Use the point and shoot if you're doing anything that might compromise the safety of your gear, like skateboarding. So you have your footage. Dump it onto the computer and convert it using MPEG Streamclip, I would recommend converting the footage to Apple ProRes 422. Import transcoded footage and audio from Zoom mic (if any) into preferred editing software. Edit it. Export to these parameters if you are uploading to the internet.

Interesting product. There are lots of techniques you could use to make a video interesting and it depends largely on the footage that you have. You haven't specified what style of travel video that you want to make and I won't sit here and explain all the different types (mainly because I don't know and secondly because it would take ages). But I will suggest two that stand out to me.

1. Think of it as a music video. Film things that look interesting, film the people that you meet (ask permission), film your feet – literally film anything that looks cool. You should of course film the landmarks if there are any. Get a large variety of shots: extreme long shots, mid shots, close ups, even macro if you can. In my experience, the more close ups you have the more interesting a video like this will be. And then, using the workflow I described earlier, cut it together. Pick a song that you think matches well with your footage and then cut to that. You won't have to worry about your audio if you choose this path as you'd just use the music and delete the camera's audio track in FCP.
2. Chat to camera... Pretty straight forward. Go somewhere quiet (and scenic if possible, but quiet is the main thing), set up your camera on a tripod, set up your mic and place it in the best position, hit record and chat away.

Hope that helps.