Tips for Travel Video: Use Voice Over To Tell Your Story

11/5/09  Print this post Print this post    1 Comment      Written by Joshywashington
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One of the best ways to make your travel video a captivating story is to add narrative through voice over ( VO).

I CAUGHT this vid on YouTube and wanted to point out that some really solid VO can keep your audience interested and establish a narrative flow.

Aside from being fun to watch, this travel video is an excellent example of what can make a great travel video. Notice that from the get go the VO establishes who the characters in the story are and their relationship to one another.

Also notice that interviews play a key role in telling the story of the brothers adventure. You won’t always have the camera running when something important happens. What you can do is take some establishing footage after the fact and splice it together with an interview where you describe what is not being seen. The audience has a good imagination and will fill in the gaps.

While the footage is good, I believe what makes this video exceptional is the attention to narrative and story. A solid narrative voice can go a long way my friends. For more video tips read Tips for Travel Video: The Elements of a Story. And don’t forget to check out MatadorTV; presenting the very best travel videos.


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About the Author

Matador ID: joshywashington

Joshua Johnson aka Joshywashington is a soggy Seattle based adventurer with a penchant for misty mountains and black coffee. Read Josh's BLOG, watch his VIDEOS and connect on TWITTER. He and his wife Bridget operate their New Media production company, Confluence Creative Media from Seattle and L.A.

1 Comment... join the discussion!

  • Travel-Writers-Exchange.com replied on November 6, 2009

    Ah yes, voice overs. They are tricky to incorporate into a screenplay from a writing stand point. They can add dimension to your travel videos. You could say that your video is like a “short film” and voice over will give it that something special.

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