Okay, future (and possibly current) World Racers! Are you interested in making videos to document your World Race experience? I'm in no way an expert (in fact, I had never made a video before Month 1) but I'd love to give you some advice on how to make a kick-butt World Race video, learned through my quest to make an awesome video for each month of the Race.
1.) Your video should tell a story
What kind of story do you want to tell about your month? Do you want to focus on ministry? The fun times of the Race? A specific event that happened that month? As you shoot your footage throughout the month, keep this tip in mind. You want all your clips to flow well and tell a story of some sort. I don't mean they have to be in a rigid order of "day one, we cleaned; day two, we played with some kids; etc." but you should have an overarching theme to the video. One of the videos I'm pretty proud of in this aspect is my Bulgaria video. I feel it tells a good story of our month and what we did, and the clips are ordered from the beginning of the month to the end. But be creative! You don't need to keep your clips in order; just figure out what story you want to tell and tell it!
2.) Your video should be paired with a great song
This is one of the most vital elements that launches a video from "meh" to "WOW!" A great song that flows well with your video is essential. I try to pray and ask God what song I should choose (He cares about the small things too!) at the beginning of the month. That way, as I live each month, I have that song as my background music. I tend to shoot my footage more accordingly, and my eye is drawn to scenes that will flow well with the song. Did I pick an upbeat song? I need more footage of activity, people moving, dancing, etc! Did I pick a slow, thoughtful song? I need more footage of closeups, details, and scenery. This means I'll have plenty to work with at the end of the month. If I haven't picked a song before the end of the month, I always sit down and pick it BEFORE I start putting clips together. That way, I get a good idea of how I want to order my clips, and it's a lot easier to match clips to the music. It's so much harder to pick a song that fits after you've made the entire video! You can have the most amazingly shot footage in the world, but if it's not paired well with a song, it won't make a great video. I feel like my Thailand video did this well.
3.) Watch other people's videos
When I was praying about going on the Race, I watched a ton of Racer videos. I'm a visual person, so the videos were a great way to get a taste of Race life. My personal video hero is KJ Blair, who made some pretty incredible videos on his Race. I learned a lot from watching his videos. I also watch every single video that my squadmates make, and I learn from them too. The more videos you watch, the more you learn about how to arrange a video, how to shoot creative shots, and more! There are much better videographers out there, and I want to learn all I can from them. It's also helpful to re-watch your videos. I've learned a lot since my China video from Month 1, and it's good to go back and watch how I've grown in videography.
4.) Develop an eye for shooting creative footage
This is something you have to learn for yourself by getting out there and doing it. You'll have your own style and perspective that will develop if you put in the effort. I didn't always shoot creative footage; it was something I learned by shooting a LOT of video and by watching other people's videos. Just keep your eyes peeled for good shots. Where's the action? Where's a good vantage point to see the action? What are the details of your environment? Will this shot look cool shot from below? Above? Far away? Close up? Just keep your camera handy and practice! Some of the best shots I've gotten have been "lucky" shots where I just whipped out my camera and shot what I could, other amazing shots have been the product of shooting video from a few different perspectives and choosing the best clips. Some of my favorite shots are in my Japan video. Practice, play around, and have fun!
5.) Be original!
Stay creative and original! No one can tell the story of your World Race like you can. Even your teammates will have different experiences, thoughts, and perspectives than you do. Celebrate and embrace this fact, and work hard to develop your own style! I also try to use songs that no one else has used (although some of my squadmates have used ones I've used) and to only create videos using my own footage. Sometimes you can also break out of the "monthly video recap" mode and make a video featuring dancing, or a video parody, or a sweet April Fool's video. Bottom line: it's your video, and your story. So tell it the best way you can!
