Feature and above photo by shapeshift.

The days of sharing vacation memories though boring slide shows are long past. Turning hours of camcorder footage into something more watchable than a dull slide show, however, is another matter. The key to a great travel film is music.

Here are a handful of ways to get the music you’ll need for a killer soundtrack:

Copyrighted Music

Does it seem like the easiest way to score your movie might be to drag a few choice tracks from iTunes or a CD into your video editing software? Well, hold on a second there, Michael Bay — do you have permission to use those copyrighted tunes?

Without diving too deep into the nebulous waters of international copyright law, it’s best to assume that you can’t get the rights to recorded music unless you are willing to pay handsomely for it.

There are, however, two possible exceptions. The first is private home use, which means you’re just making the movie for your own entertainment and aren’t going to show it to anyone except maybe your grandma and cousins. In the United States, home use is considered fair use of copyrighted material, and most other countries have similar provisions.

Photo by Square Eye.

You Tube

The second possibility is YouTube, which has negotiated deals with the world’s “Big Four” record labels, Warner, BMI, Universal, and Sony BMG, to allow its users the right to use those companies’ songs in their videos. Since the Big Four have swallowed up most smaller record labels, this includes 71% of the music sold each year.

However, the record labels only hold the licenses for specific recordings of songs, and the National Music Publishers Association, which represents songwriters and composers, is involved in a class-action suit against YouTube for copyright infringement. So you’re cleared to use major label recordings, but without permission to use the songs themselves, it’s still copyright infringement. See how quickly this gets convoluted?

But even if copyrighted music was totally good to go on YouTube, there are plenty of other places you might want to show your travel movie. If you ever plan on entering it in a film festival, showing it at a conference, getting it on television or even just distributing copies on DVD, you’ll need to clear your music licenses.

Covers Of Copyrighted Songs

If you’ve ever bought a budget CD titled something like “Best Classic Rock Songs!” only to be disappointed that they weren’t the original, famous recordings, it’s because it’s cheaper to license a song than a specific recording.

The same goes for a filmmaker who records her own acoustic version of “On The Road Again” to play under video of hitchhiking across Alabama — she only has to get permission from the record company and the songwriter.

If she wanted to use Willie Nelson’s version of the song (or Bob Dylan’s), she would need permission from the recording artist as well, which is usually far beyond the budget of a backpacking filmmaker.

Photo by Rabble.

Make Your Own Music

Of course, the filmmaker who performs and records her own cover of a famous song is only one step away from being totally free of copyright concerns by writing the songs herself. It fits in with the Do-It-Yourself culture of backpacking, but big Hollywood filmmakers like Clint Eastwood and Robert Rodriguez score their own films, too.

Windows users can download the free program Acid Xpress, and Mac users can turn to Apple’s Garage Band to help create original music for a movie score.

You don’t need much musical know-how to work either of these programs, which are based around creating songs out of sequences of short sound files called loops. Each comes with a library of ready-to-use, royalty-free loops, and plenty of others can be found online.

Stringing loops together is easy as using drag-and-drop video editing software like iMovie or Acid Xpress, so filmmakers should feel right at home, and adding your own vocal or instrumental track is also a piece of cake.

There’s no reason you need to score your travel film with the music you listened to on your trip — instead, why not use the music you created while you were there?

Photo by Leo Prieto.

Some tips to consider:

- If there’s a specific song you really want to use, consider putting it into your video editor first and cutting the video to fit the rhythm of the song rather than trying to shoehorn the song in after the film is edited.

- You know you’ve immersed yourself in a culture when you’ve found the local music scene … or at least chatted up some street musicians. Ask them if you can record some of their music to really get an authentic soundtrack. Just be sure to tell them how you’ll use it.

- Why not make a music video about your time overseas? Check out these examples from Korea and Germany

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community connection

There are dozens of talented filmmakers from amateurs to professionals in the Matador community.

Interested in learning more about how to become a Backpack Filmmaker? Check out this article.

Feature photo by Tiago Daniel. Photo above by nathangibbs.

Photo by Midnight-digital.

Though I knew nothing about poker when I quit my suit-and-tie desk job, I quickly picked it up on my travels around the world. Since then I’ve played hundreds of hands of Texas Hold ‘Em and met plenty of poker players, many of them fellow globetrotters.

I guess there’s something about taking a calculated risk that links both travelers and poker players because there seems to be a lot of crossover.

Although illegal in the United States, it’s quite possible to earn an income playing poker online almost everywhere else in the world as long as you have an Internet connection, knowledge of the game, and willingness to take a calculated risk.

Is it worth it? Here’s a look at some of the pros and cons:

Good News: You can play anywhere, from Bali to Siberia

Well, anywhere that you can get an Internet connection that isn’t in the United States. In today’s globalized, wi-fi world, that’s not much of a problem.

Sites like Poker Stars, Paradise Poker and Party Poker are easy to use and offer free software that you can download and use to play against hundreds of thousands of poker players all over the world. Some companies even let you play via cell phone.

Photo by -RobW-.

Good News: Anyone can learn to be a pro

While poker involves big elements of luck, so does just about anything. In the long run, skill will trump luck in poker.

Unlike most gambling games, in poker, the axiom “the house always wins” does not apply because cash flows from player to player rather than in the direction of the house. Most casinos make very little money from poker tables; instead, the most poker skilled players are the ones who rake in the dough.

This means that poker is actually something you can learn to do well, and there are plenty of books and websites devoted to teaching you just how to do that.

Bad News: You can’t pick it up in a day

The reverse side of this is that if you want to make money, you have to actually know what you are doing. That means putting the legwork in – playing lots of free or cheap poker to practice, reading poker guides and refining your strategy. Trying to jump to the big leagues too quickly is the fastest way to lose money.

Photo by m00rango*.

Good News: You just have to win 51% of the time

Once you are able to constantly break even or turn a small profit at the virtual table, you can turn poker into a reliable source of income. You can’t expect to do it by winning a few big hands a day, though. Big hands don’t always come.

It’s a much better to aim for long-term profits by playing as many games as you can, with an expectation that you won’t win every single hand, but you’ll come out ahead more than half of the time. Fortunately, most poker sites let you play multiple tables at once, giving you lots of chances to maximize your profits.

Bad News: You have to put in the hours, just like a real job

In order to milk the most out of that 51%, you’ll be spending hours in front of the computer playing half a dozen poker tables at once. If you really love the game, that’s probably fine.

If you don’t, it can seem like a lot of number crunching, not that different from processing spreadsheets or balancing budgets. You might as well go back to the cubicle.

Good News: It doesn’t take a degree

Sure, not everyone will want to put in the legwork or be comfortable taking on some of the risks it takes to become a good poker player, but those willing to spend the time and do the work can turn poker into a reliable source of income.

You don’t need a killer resume, letters of reference or a college degree. You can set your own hours and work from a couch. And you never have to wear a tie.

Photo by stenbough.

Bad News: All you get is money — yes, that’s bad news!

So you don’t need a resume to play poker, but you can’t exactly put it on a resume either. Most “real” jobs offer some degree of professional development, career opportunities or social networking.

Some of these things do exist in the world of online poker, mostly through satellite tournaments, where players compete for a trip to play in a high-stakes game at an actual bricks-and-mortar casino, usually somewhere exotic.

The chances of winning aren’t high, though. Besides money, all you can get out of playing poker is the ability to play better poker. Considering all the other opportunities available for travelers around the world, that’s not necessarily a great investment unless you never plan on doing anything else with your life. But no one said you had to make it a career.

In the end, many globe trekkers may find it more rewarding to work their way across a country, earn their way doing volunteer work or even simply saving up for a year before taking a big trip.

On the other hand, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of turning over pocket aces.