Fushimi Inari timelapse! What I learned from my first video

Are you learning how to edit travel videos? We're no experts: we are normal travellers, we enjoy visiting new places, filming our adventures, and sharing them with fellow travellers through videos and blog posts. It was always Darek who filmed and edited our travel videos. What I (Giulia) want to share with you is what I learned when I did it myself for the first time: what I did well, what I could have done better, and what was just plain wrong. Amateur advice from an amateur youtuber :)

Keep going and you will finally find yourself alone!

Our trip to Japan was our honeymoon (itinerary here). We spent two weeks there, two amazing weeks, trying to enjoy it and savour it as much as possible, while filming and documenting for our friends and family at home. You know the feeling, right? The once-in-a-lifetime experience that you want to record and live at the same time, and you're afraid of messing up. Darek was a pro: he recorded during the day while already thinking of how to edit it in the evening, mixing sightseeing with memories. I decided to do an experiment at Fushimi Inari-taisha, the famous shrine of 10000 gates in Kyoto: I wanted to  show what it's really like for normal people like us to hike to the top of mount Inari. I would film everything on the GoPro, and later on squeeze it into a timelapse. The crowd, the queues for selfies, the maps, the forks in the road, the shrines, the shops, everything! Right? Wrong.

It was only while editing on my super basic iMovie, using 3 functions, that I realized how important it is to film it right, in order to spend less time editing.

So, here is what I learnt, so that you may avoid making my same mistakes:

BEFORE AND WHILE FILMING

• Watch some examples to get prepared

Check out similar videos for inspiration. Do you aim for artistic? Or informative? Can you speak comfortably to the camera? We mixed a bit of everything and it did not come out well. If I had watched a couple of amateur timelapses, I would have noticed how shaky they are, how long the hike takes, what is interesting and what is boring.

• Make up your mind before you start filming

During the hike, I filmed everything: in front, above, around, myself, behind, us speaking, us waiting... I thought it was going to transmit the realistic experience of all the stimuli around you, the details and the big picture. Well, when the speed is 8x faster, it turns out to be a nauseous video of shaky images, glimpses of our faces, and blurry segments. I should have decided what to focus on, and kept the camera more steady.

• Know your gear

I used the GoPro just a couple of times before the big day. I tested some Field of View options but I did not pay attention to the audio. I got the field right, but it was quite a noisy surprise when I started editing. I definitely should have made more experiments before the big day.

• Take your time

I knew my editing skills were very basic. What I did not know was how hard it is to improve them :) Instead of learning editing, I learnt that it's better for me to spend some more time filming, waiting for the right moment, capturing the right angle, than spending much more time editing material that is just not good and does not fit well together.

EDITING

• Video first, music second

So, I had 4 files of 17 minutes each. I start with the first, cut here and there, faster this, slower that, add the second file, the  third, the fourth... I just have to speed it up, right? And then add some music to it, right? Wrong. After all this work, I realized that the complete, real experience I aimed to transmit actually made the video dizzy and confusing. One second of forest outside of the Torii gates, repetitive glimpses to the top of the gallery, turning around for Darek, turning to the side for shrines... I had to cut many little pieces in order to make a more stable flow along the path, and then fix the music again. In the end, I did not have any patience left, but there was certainly much more to improve.

• Show it to someone

It was Darek who pointed out how nauseous the first draft was. I watched the clips so many times that I did not notice it! Instead, he instantly pointed out the shaky parts, the boring parts, the nice and interesting parts. His feedback made it easier to fix lots of mistakes.

• Keep it real for your audience

While editing, remind yourself of the objective of your video. What is your audience looking for? Something artistic, informative, personal? We were too shy to talk to the camera, but we still aimed to show in an objective way the hike to the top of Fushimi Inari shrine and all that it entails: the crowd, the effort, the amazing scenery, the length, the arrival, the satisfaction. We want other fellow travellers to know what they will find. Learning about a 1-hour hike in a 10-minutes video sounds like a good deal!

Here's the final result. Considering my beginner skills, I think it's quite alright!

Were my tips useful? Did you enjoy the video? Let us know in the comments!

Follow us on our next trip :)

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Bologna Travel Vlog - new video out!

Two lovely days in beautiful Bologna: lots of sunshine, walking, architecture, history and food! Get inspired for your next city break with our video :) 

More tips on what to do and see here and feed your hungry soul with our tips.
Looking forward to your feedback! Cheers :)

Exploring Austria

As I (Giulia) sell trips to Austria for a living, it was only a matter of time before travelling myself to these places. Plus, it was Darek's birthday and national holiday in Hungary: did we need any more reasons? So off we were, to cover in 5 days the Wachau valley, Salzkammergut and Salzburg, and Innsbruck.

Austria is small and we borrowed dear Zsófi's car, so we tried to split the distances in a clever way. As couchsurfers looking for a bit of extra comfort, we were very satisfied with Airbnb: in all three locations we were hosted in special homes by warm and open-minded people who made our holiday even more authentic.

1st day: 320 km until Krems, then peaceful sightseeing along the Wachau valley and towns for 40 km until Melk, finally 20 km until our Airbnb host.

2nd day: 200 km until Mondsee in the Salzkammergut region, then 30 km around lake Mondsee and Wolfgangsee, finally 200 km until our Airbnb hostel in the mountains close to Innsbruck.

3rd day: Only 60 km to go to Innsbruck and 80 to come back, with a stop at Achensee.

4th day: 190 km from Innsbruck to Salzburg. 

5th day: 550 km from Salzburg to Budapest, with a stop at Mondsee.

TOTAL: 1700 km, around 170 € + 10€ vignette

Considering the short time available, we are quite satisfied with the itinerary. The highway connecting Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck (through Germany, no toll) is very useful, but on the side roads we also had the possibility to dive in the autumn foliage and escape civilization. Also, it was always Darek driving, thus the stops and rests.

Wachau valley: the scenery from Krems to Melk is a peaceful and ancient fairy tale. Gentle hills and tidy vineyards on the northern bank, steeper rocks covered with woods on the southern one, diving into the Danube. Krems is a pretty Austrian town, its main pedestrian street has with colorful houses and fancy boutiques - we just had lunch and a stroll.

We kept driving on the northern bank and drove around the village of Dürnstein, where is the castle where king Richard (of Robin Hood) was held captive (and his ransom paid for the city walls of Vienna!). Finally, in Melk we visited the Benedictine Abbey, a true must-see (very well organized with an enormous parking on top of the hill; ticket for adults 10€, with guided tour 12€). Luckily, we joined a guided tour, because the written explanations in the rooms are not enough (there are also booklets on sale). The enormous, bright yellow building occupies a hill overlooking the town of Melk, the Danube and the whole valley. The itinerary shows the history of the Benedictine monks and of the monastery itself, using colours, lights, sculptures, mirrors and much more to help the visitor feel all the events that happened there - a very unusual exhibition. The impressive library boasts books dating 800 years back!  Just looking at them makes you imagine the monks bent on the pages, writing for years and years. The highlight of the tour is the baroque abbey church, a triumph of wealth, gold, decorations and details - after all, the noblemen who funded it wanted the glory of God together with their place in Paradise! The whole tour lasts around 1 hour and the church is worth the whole trip. Check the wine at the souvenir shops - we bought a very nice red, whose label was designed by the students of the high school within the Abbey itself! After that, we found the town underneath the Abbey very empty, because of the season and the already chilly weather. On the contrary, the abbey was very crowded with organized trips. After a short walk in the very short main street, we hid from the cold at Café Corrado, a very welcoming and simple coffee and cake shop. The waitress and the owner were extremely friendly and played along my surprise: I asked for a candle on Darek's cake to celebrate his birthday, and they came up with a decorated plate with a firework candle, and singing!

Salzkammergut: the beautiful Austrian lakes near Salzburg were our destination on the way from Melk to Innsbruck. Unfortunately, the rain did not stop one single second during the day and the clouds were covering the mountains, still we enjoyed some very picturesque sights. We exited the highway at Mondsee and went to visit St. Michael's church, which features in the "Sound of Music" movie, a beautiful baroque combination of delicate pink and gold decorations and dark black altars, covered by an amazing gothic net-vault. From there it's a short drive to St. Gilgen (where Mozart's mother was born) a small town overlooking Wolfgangsee, where the funicular to mountain Zwölferhorn starts. We had an excellent lunch at Gasthof Zur Post and finally drove around the lake to St. Wolfgang, where we ate a delicious kaiserschmarn at the famous White Horse Inn, overlooking the lake. All the towns were simply stunning, the houses painted with bright colours and traditional frescoes, wooden balconies and thick doors - we want to go back there one day, when the weather is better, to see all the things that the clouds and our umbrella were hiding! Even in these conditions, with the lakes flooding the fields and the canals, the scenery was very pictoresque, with mist rising and the autumn foliage brightening up our way. Because of the weather, we only spent 5 hours in this region, before making our way to Innsbruck. On the last day, when we left from Salzburg to Budapest, we made a quick stop to Mondsee, and just a glimpse of the peaks and sunlight convinced is to come again!

As we were crossing the mountains towards Innsbruck I fell asleep, as usual, and woke up to the traumatic sight of 10 cm of slushy snow. We went on and on in the darkness, exited the highway, on and on through a valley, took a side road, up and up, more and more narrow... I remembered that we had booked a traditional hostel all covered in wood, but I was not expecting that! The Blue Bird Hostel in Gatterberg was a very pleasant surprise: a traditional house, half built of wall for humans and half in wood for cows and hay, located on a very steep mountain road in a village crossed by a winding road. The theme is snowboarding and the target are young people who are looking for a cheap and friendly place to stay, not too far from the slopes. We sat down at the wide and cozy kitchen table and had a long chat with the owners, a young couple of travellers, and a couple of young Austrians who were indeed going snowboarding the following day. Our room was an Austrian dream: covered with Swiss (cembro) pine wood from floor to ceiling, a wide and soft bed on one side and a sofa on the other, the windows overlooking the valley and the peaks on the other side... It is absolutely worth the climb!

Innsbruck: so in my head all Austria (apart from Vienna) was wooden houses and pastures, and of course I could not have been more mistaken. Innsbruck is quite a big town (the winter Olympic games of 1964 and 1976 were held here) located on the river Inn. It was originally a roman colony, but it flourished during the Middle Ages thanks to the Habsburgs, who ruled over Austria for centuries - as a consequence, the old town boasts Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. The main street, Maria Theresia Strasse (there's a hidden cheap parking at the crossing with Maximilianstrasse!), starts with a triumph arch -looking slightly out of place- and continues with Neoclassical and Baroque buildings, some large and strong, some narrow and delicate, some plain and sober, some rich and golden... A truly diverse and marvellous sight. In the inner city, Maria Theresia Strasse becomes even more narrow, until the main square concentrates all of these different styles and centuries: the ground floors of the buildings have bare and strong Medieval pillars, the Golden Roof is a Renaissance masterpiece, and finally the Heiblinghaus is a triumph of Rococo exaggerations. We continued on the medieval path to the left, until the river Inn and the mountains. The modern buildings of the congress centre, to the north, are worth a view, and if it had been sunny we would have definitely taken the cable car up the mountain. Coming back to the city centre, we had a look at the St. James' Cathedral (Jakob in German), a splendid example of the 18th century Baroque style. What we really loved was the Hofkirche, the Court Church adjacent to the Hofburg (entrance together with the Tyrolean State Museum, 5 euros). It is the memorial to Emperor Maximilian I, built in 1553 in Renaissance style: the enormous cenotaph (which does not actually contain the body of Maximilian I) occupies the center of the nave, while the sides are crowded by 28 bronze statues of ancestors, relatives and heroes that the emperor himself valued as important. The audio-guide is well done and explains in detail the characters and the innovative molding techniques developed by Dürer. A true must-see!

Salzburg: the city center is divided by the river Salz, although the true old town is located on the west side, under the imposing fortress of Hohensalzburg. A very rich and ancient city, it was ruled for centuries by prince-bishops, who consequently built 44 catholic churches and left only 3 protestant ones standing (and their main entrance could not face the street). A very quick sightseeing tour by Panorama Tours gave us an introduction and showed us some sights outside of the city centre: Mirabell palace, one of the Mozart houses, the Leopoldskron Palace... But the real attracction is the old town, where a guided tour would be mostly interesting. The shopping street of Getriedegasse shows terrifying price tags and an endless sequence of identical souvenirs, but just raise your eyes to be enchanted by the wrought-iron shop signs, as elaborate and golden as possible. The hidden courtyards by the sides sell much pretties souvenirs and are much more fun to photograph. After wandering around the main and enormous cathedrals, we decided to take the funicular up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress (8 euros for the two ways ticket, without the museum ticket). Unless you are into history, a walk around the fortress will do: the view from the walls is stunning, and we were lucky enough to catch the last warm afternoon rays. It is an extremely complicated citadel, developed over centuries, with fascinating additions and changes that result in random windows in the walls, arches that don't match, angles that don't fit... It must be terribly crowded during the summer, but we had enough time to wander and wonder about how it must have been to live there.

Our plan for the evening involved finding some food and squeeze into one of the Jazz Festival concerts that had been sold out or overbooked. We gave a shot to Afro Café and we hit it: somebody called to cancel their reservation the moment we came through the door! Excellent and savoury food, unusual wine from Africa and South America, and the company of a Nigerian-German girl-singer plus boy-guitarist: such an enjoyable and unexpected night. To catch up on the lost Austriannes, before heading home we stopped by the Augustiner Brau, the real experience for beer drinkers! Very wide halls (for smokers and non-smokers), crowded with tables, are connected by a corridor lined with counters of traditional food, shelves of stone mugs and a simple bar of beer barrels: grab some food, get your mug filled with beer, head to a table and enjoy! The atmosphere is relaxed and jolly, with both locals and travellers filling the halls and the outside garden. Did I mention it is a monastery?

Our last attraction, for the late Sunday morning, was the M32, the modern art museum built on top of a side hill. If the view from the Fortress is magnificent, the view from the M32 is even more stunning, as it includes the imposing Fortress itself! Take the lift and have a cappuccino on the outside terrace, which is sunbathed during the morning: it is a very fun place for people-watching. 
We finished our trip with a long five-hour drive home, very satisfied with our Austrian exploration.