Not a lot of good ideas popped out at me when I had to decide a theme with 5 in it. So what did come to mind was my 5 favorite hikes. So I stuck with that. I ended up spending most of the weekend hiking, filming and editing. I wanted to improve my video skills so I watched a youtube video on how to make impactful videos. They had some really good advice. The biggest tip that I took from that video was to record movement. Either someone moving, or create movement by moving. 

To record I used a crosstour action camera. It is a wide angle lens, high definition action camera, much like the go pro. I also used a gimbal. The gimbal is a handheld mount for the camera. It reacts to your movements to keep the camera level at all times. Although there is still a lot of room for improvement with my video, the gimbal really helps keep the camera much more stable. Especially if you are walking. Even with the gimbal, I was still getting a bit of stopping of the camera with every step. I also tried some close up techniques to try to make the video more interesting. I would try to find something straight and run the camera down it. I think I can be more effective with this technique in the future. 

I also brought along a Canon T7I. The T7I is capable of capturing good video. But without the advantage of a gimbal for it I recorded video with the cheap action camera. I used the Canon to take pictures to accompany my video. I was able to take some really nice photos, but they seem to be losing quality with every transfer between the editing program and posting to youttube. That will be something I will see if I can improve on for my next video. 

This is not my first video production. I have made a handful of videos in my time based tools class. But I have also made a few outside of school work. When I say a few, I mean 3. I would say check them out on Youtube, but don’t. They aren’t very good, and kind of embarrassing. I did really enjoy making this video. I was regretting picking such a time consuming activity, but in the end, I’m glad I did. It was much more fun having free reign to do a project that was all my own. 

Hope you enjoyed the video!