Become a Travel Video Producer

Platforms to Distribute your Travel Videos Online

There are many ways to shoot video for the web that can help create money to support your current and future travels. We will start with making your own travel program.

You should decide what your program is going to be about. How is it going to be different and why should anyone watch it? Who cares? What do you have to say or do that is different or better than what people are already doing everyday?

Decide these right off the get go and save yourself time later. Sure, your original idea will get reshaped or molded to fit what your doing, but you need solid pre-production before going into this. If you go in unprepared, then you can expect an unorganized story with no real theme. Have a look at 95% of YouTube's current Travel videos for examples.

Outlets for your video

Independent Documentary Film

If you are creating a long form travel documentary while on your trip, then consider creating a website or a blog that follows you on the creation of your documentary. People can follow along and buy the DVD at the end of the trip. By then you will have a full on documentary to sell on your blog. If you've been keeping up with blog posts and gained a solid readership, then you should have a group of potential buyers who are interested in purchasing it.

A Map For Saturday - A great example of a video professional who already had experience in video production then decided to travel and document his trip. After the trip his documentary aired on MTV's True Life and he sells his DVD directly on his Website for $20 each. It is a great movie that shows the life of a world backpacker. So, you think you can do better? Give it a shot.

Sell Your video to Travel Sites

One website that is paying for video content is TripFilms.com. They are currently offering several videos jobs for which the producer will be paid $25 each, plus a hotel accommodation. To get paid for their videos you need to have uploaded a few videos previously to ensure your quality of shooting.

I remember when they first came out I was paid $500 for one video I shot in the Caribbean. At that rate I could spend the whole day making sure everything looked beautiful and well lit with proper audio. Nowadays they are getting enough submissions for free or paying only $25 each. And at $25 for each video, efficiency is key. This is where you would really need to push out enough videos to make it worth your while. This is where practice and understanding your workflow are very important.

Another platform for gaining viewership to your online travel videos is with Matador TV. Part of the Matador Network of travel websites. This is a great platform for your travel videos to pick up steam. While they don't pay, it is an outlet for the next Sarah Brown, Ian Wright or even, dare I say, Rick Steves? So keep on travelin'!

Sell Stock Footage

To make some longer term income off travel videos you have stock video sales such as Pond5, one of the most popular stock video sales websites. They sell your HD and SD stock video clips to other producers and editors. With clips starting at $5 and higher they have video in almost every genre you could imagine.

You too can upload your video to Pond5 and watch the sales roll in. This is also a good website to have in case you are editing and need more b-roll. You probably won't get rich selling stock video online, but it is a nice source for beer money and exposure.

Pond5 Stock Footage - Upload via this link and sell your video online with Pond5.

Make Your YouTube Channel

Create a YouTube Channel and post travel videos online. A great example of this can be found on Overlander.tv YouTube Channel. Mark Shea, a self proclaimed Backpack Filmmaker, is the creator of Overlander.tv and has millions of monthly viewers. His most recent series of online video is of the people he meets along his world trek and it's called “Meet The Locals” .

On his website, Mark shares some great advice on how to make money with online videos. One method he employs is by using his popular YouTube channel as a platform for sales. As some of you already know, when you post video to YouTube you can get offered to become part of their ad program and earn money off the ads that appear on the bottom of posted videos.

People, such as myself, like to point out those who have earned big time money from YouTube. The top earners are said to be making over a quarter milion per year. While I think lower goals are more realistic, that is pretty good reason to run out and buy a camera on your lunch break.

Sell Video Services to Businesses

And finally, a way to make money from video is from selling video production services directly to businesses and websites as you travel. This will require not only the video skills but some salesmanship as well. Your game should be top notch as you now have to bring the professionalism as you are working for clients. Sorry to report, you can't get drunk on mojito's the night before.

For this to work, you will have to propose an original web video idea to a few local businesses. It helps if you have some past video examples to sell them with. You also need to have the right skills to make their video work for their target demographic. This requires knowledge of marketing and advertising.

Selling clients on whether they should buy a video from you or not is one part, but to make sure the video you produce for them is effective and earns them money is your ultiimate goal. Then they will come back to you as you have become a money making choice for their company.

Here is some idea to help you decide what your video production gear package and services are worth. Veterens in the industry charge over $2,000 per day with a full gear package and high end HD camera. The average day rate for a freelance camera, light kit and audio is about $1,250 per day. Without gear or with a very limited package should run between $500-750 per day.

At the end of the day, it is a bit of the Field Of Dreams logic. If you shoot it, viewers will come... just make sure it doesn't suck. Then you need a platform to showcase it. Sell your videos, show them for free, or offer video production services to private businesses. Use the method you feel will work for you.

If you put your self out there, and if the work is good enough to speak for itself, then you can eventually get paid for shooting and editing video while traveling.

Producing Online Video - Where many people begin there video production exploits.
Professional Video Production - Where to find work that lets you travel if you are already a video production professional