This personal project marks the completion of the third round of my travel vlogs. Last summer, I explored the Seto Inland Sea (near Hiroshima) and recently finished releasing seven episodes on YouTube. It’s a gratifying feeling to mark the end of 2023.
I started creating travel videos during the pandemic for a couple of reasons. First of all, I wanted to support Japan’s tourism industry, which suffered from international travel restrictions. Secondly, my unique qualifications, stemming from my adventurous solo travel experiences since my teenage years and proficiency in two languages, made me well-suited for this project. Lastly, I wanted to help non-Japanese travelers in discovering hidden gems in the countryside.
For those interested in video production, here’s a glimpse of my setup. Well, it is very basic so that I could move quickly while enjoying the trip with my father. My primary camera was iPhone Pro. When speaking on camera, I used Rhode Wireless GO, Rhode Lavalier GO and Manfrotto tripod. Driving and biking shots were captured using GoPro. I utilized the BeastCam app (similar to FilmicPro) on my iPhone. The video specs were 4K, 24fps, 100Mbps data rate, H.265 codec, and QuickTime file format, resulting in about 1GB per minute of footage.
Out of 300 video clips and 1,300 photos, I edited down to 42 minutes of content across seven episodes (or an average of six minutes per episode). When lacking B-roll footage, I reached out to places I visited and searched for stock photos on Wikimedia Commons. Post-production averaged out 30 hours per episode, following this methodology: B-roll assembly –> research –> fact checks –> script writing –> script review by my family –> voiceover recording –> video editing –> acquiring missing B-roll/photos –> map creation –> graphic and text overlays –> audio/music editing –> color correction –> video review by my family –> YouTube publishing –> English caption insertion –> Japanese caption translation.
While 200 post-production hours could have been lucrative as a client project, the invaluable positive feedback from friends, colleagues and total strangers on YouTube made it truly worthwhile.
