WWW.PSDLY.

COM

Hey, we're Nathaniel and Johnny!

Nathaniel Drew is a travel photographer
and filmmaker who fell in love with
languages many years ago and has
dedicated himself to slow traveling
through Latin America and Europe and
documenting his experiences online.
Johnny Harris is a one-man-band
filmmaker and journalist. Formally
educated in international relations and
self taught as a cinematographer and
motion graphics artist, Johnny uses visual
story telling to bring viewers to new
places and show them why things happen
they way they do.

Nathaniel & Johnny

In this course, learn how to capture your travel experience and how to share
your story through video.

This course guide summarizes everything we talk about in

the video. This is a digital file you can download and print
out or keep on your phone, tablet, or computer.

1
https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 1
https://www.psdly.com/free-course
WHAT IS STORY?
LESSON 2
JOHNNY EXPLAINS STORY
Story isn’t just one thing. Story is a flexible and personal concept that will take on a
different meaning for each storyteller...it's a flow of information that connects in a
way that lets a viewer feel or understand something.
Try to find your own intuitive definition of what story means for you.

Ingredient #1: Forward Motion

This is the most fundamental principle of storytelling. Forward motion means
that the information you are presenting in your story “pushes” the story to the
next part.
Ingredient #2: Tension
A vital ingredient for any story; it's what gives your story weight.
Ingredient #3: Resolution
Make sure to resolve that tension, which can be a powerful way to communicate
the main idea of your story.

LESSON 2
NATHANIEL EXPLAINS STORY
My mantra is that story is about truth-telling.
Universal languages are languages that we all speak, in a figurative sense, as human
beings, that go beyond spoken language.
As long as you’re being truthful and touching on these universal languages, you can’t
go wrong.

Angle — This is the place to start. Angle is a massive element in storytelling that helps
provide direction, specificity, and clarity.
Action — It is always better to show instead of just tell. And this is always going to be a
gravitational force to fight against, because it’s always going to be easier to just say an
idea rather than show it, or capture it.
Vulnerability — This is an element of the story that’s always a bit tricky. If it were easy,
everyone would do it.
Uncertainty — This is what Johnny calls “tension,” which is something you hear a lot
about in movies and movie making in general.

4
www.bit.ly/Amandacourselist
 CHAPTER 2
https://www.psdly.com/free-course
THE LEVELS OF STORYTELLING
LESSON 2
LEVEL 1: LINEAR
This level is all about simplicity, capturing your trip as it
Strong visual
happens, and editing that footage into a story that more or less
stories at any
reflects the linear flow of your trip. Usually, this involves an level rely on
entirely chronological retelling of what took place. The focus VISUALS
here is forward motion.
You should aim for movement shots of going from one place to
the next, establishing shots of the new place, and then action
shots of what you are doing in that place.

LESSON 3
LEVEL 2: ARTISTIC NON-LINEAR

You still have to weave together something linear to help build out scenes to your
video, but the major difference here is that your story can be less linear.
It won’t be a perfect reflection of your trip, scene by scene. Instead, you mix it up.
There's still forward motion, but now there is tension and resolution.
This level requires more forethought and editing chops since a lot of this kind of
story comes together in the edit, since it’s not just a direct reflection of your trip.
There is also a greater influence on how the story is being presented.

LESSON 4
LEVEL 3: EXPLORING SOMETHING DEEPER

It’s about answering a question – a curiosity about how something works

Nathaniel's approach: “exploring a personal theme.”
It makes my travels more meaningful. It ties my experiences into a bigger context
of my life – figuring out who I am or the kind of life I want to lead. It also helps to
provide an angle.
I have an idea of what kind of theme I want to explore beforehand.
This way, you’re not just sharing your experience and exerting your influence on
the audiovisual experience that your audience has, but you’re sharing a piece of
you.

LESSON 5
LEVEL 3: EXPLORING AN ISSUE

It’s about answering a question – a curiosity about how something works.

Johnny's approach: “exploring an issue or topic.”
Focusing on big questions and issues that I can explain or better understand.
I research the story before I'm filming. I'm doing some research on the ground
but overall I know what I want to say.
This is a much more difficult task because the topic or issue you are explaining
doesn’t naturally line up with your trip.
https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 3
https://www.psdly.com/free-course
IDEATION, SCRIPTING, AND STRUCTURE
LESSON 1
NATHANIEL'S METHOD:
Option 1:
Find your idea first, and let that inform your
travels.

Option 2:
Do the travels first, and let that inform your
ideas or stories. This option is more oriented
around your lifestyle.

Nathaniel's preference:
"A lifestyle-first approach that follows my
curiosities and lets my travels inform my
stories."

JOHNNY'S METHOD:
I follow a few key guideposts for generating
ideas of what stories I want to tell and how I
want to tell them.

1. Music:
Music is a powerful ideas generator for me.
I’ll often go to a music library and just start
listening to music. I try to visualize what this
music would go well with.
2. Visual Anchors:
Visuals that I can’t stop thinking about.
3. Audience:
Who are you telling your story to?

Story inspiration comes from a lot of

different places, like music, visuals,
conversations you have, research
you’ve done, and above all, your own
curiosity. When you are naturally
curious about a topic or
place, the story you tell about
it will be much stronger.
5
https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 3
LESSON 2 WWW.PSDLY.COM
STRUCTURE PART 1: ON PAPER

Level one stories don’t need structure

During pre-production for your level one story, you should make a shot list to
remind yourself of the types of shots you need to get.

Start your stories with a hook

Offer a promise to your viewer. Show them something that signals that this video is
going to be something compelling, and set expectations for what is to come.

Switch it up
I really believe that a good story oscillates between different types of energy and
pacing. Switching it up helps keep the viewer engaged and interested.

Thinking in Scenes
It really helps to think in terms of scenes, just a visual moment you can wrap up and
use to push your story ahead. Each scene is like a little level one story. It's just a little
moment that you tell visually. Jott it down so that all you have to think about is
capturing the scenes well, and then in post, you can arrange those scenes.

Extra Tips...
You’re not going to make a masterpiece on your first attempt. Or the second, or the
third.
The magic of filmmaking is all of the invisible decisions that go into it that the viewer
never sees. What to cut and what to include and what to focus on.
Find and gather music that captures the feeling that you're looking to create.
It’s about feeling: music can establish that really quickly, by setting the pace and the
energy.
Consider mashing together ingredients from all over the place that maybe feel
loosely connected.
Use a quote that seems relevant or resonates. Write it down along with any personal
ideas on the topic.
Vlog a variety of situations, and film the things you find beautiful.
Capture moments that tie the story together, shots in cars, planes, or arriving
somewhere new.
Just focus on footage for now so you'll have options later.
Hopefully, if you’ve been intentional about it, it will all be loosely connected to a
central theme.
Scripting can be something that you start doing in parallel with capturing materials;
when you start to feel ready to begin tying things together and searching for an
overall flow to things.
Write how you speak. Pretend you're talking to a close friend and write those words
down.
Use the materials you've gathered to figure out what has to be said, and what can
just be shown instead.

https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 3
https://www.psdly.com/free-course
LESSON 3
YOUR STORY PROMISES
You must have a promise built into the beginning of your story (also called a hook).

Types of Story promises:

1 Sometimes the story promise is “let me take you on an adventure like this

2 Sometimes the story promise is a question that you are promising to answer

3 Sometimes it’s "I want to teach you something"

4 Sometimes the story promise is one of setting up some tension that you
imply is going to be resolved

Entertain and/or Educate

Figure out your story promise by thinking about what you want to learn/what
captures your attention.
Build videos around those questions.
What you create should answer those questions.
Then use the thumbnail and title as a way of announcing to the world what you’ve
created.

HOW CAN THIS

TEACH ME
SOMETHING?

S
C AN THI
HOW IN ME?
T A
ENTER

https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 4
https://www.psdly.com/free-course
ON THE GROUND
LESSON 1
BEING ON THE GROUND
Everything you’ve planned and outlined...will be different when you’re on the ground.
No amount of planning can prepare you fully for the realities of a trip and
the story about that trip.
Like travel itself, travel storytelling requires the ability to embrace uncertainty and
take in novel information without trying to force it into your preconceived notions.
Don’t lock yourself in beforehand, as this can be restrictive to your creativity anyway.
Remember: the point of travel is to expand your perspective.

Things to keep in mind when you head out on your trip:

Be ready. Insanely ready. This is so simple and still so hard to master. It doesn’t
require any special ability, it just requires a lot of attention and discipline.
If you want your story to feel authentic, you’ve got to capture authentic moments
and there’s no predicting when they will happen.
It’s infinitely better to capture the moment than to have no material at all.
This is part of a bigger concept that I call “reducing friction.” And by that I mean:
what are ways you can make it easier for yourself to capture moments so that
the gear or the technical side of things doesn’t get in the way.
Do not be afraid to ask. A lot of great moments must be sought out. It’s gonna be
uncomfortable, you’re likely in a foreign place.
I’ve found that people are often open to sharing. Not always, and you should be
as respectful as possible, but showing curiosity and respect for someone’s
culture can really open them up.
Put aside expectation/judgment and prioritize documentation.
So many people stop short because they feel discouraged, but I think that’s a
shame. You haven’t even started really, you’re just capturing moments!

https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 4
LESSON 2 WWW.PSDLY.COM
GEAR. DOES IT MATTER?

Having fancy gear does not automatically mean your travel story will be fun to watch.

"I see so many travel filmmakers with fancy

cameras showing me really beautiful images
and timelapses. But I have no desire to watch
it because there’s no story. There’s no
promise. No tensions. No forward motion. Just
a bunch of eye candy. Which is fun to watch
but gets old real fast." J.Harris

Really nice gear can often turn into a barrier since it can turn into an obsession with
getting the perfect technical settings and not about capturing the visuals you need to
stitch together a story with good forward motion.

The technology we have nowadays is incredible. You don’t need the best
camera. I love my Fuji which is cheaper than other alternatives and I have no
plans to switch. I’ve created a system that works for me that considers visual
quality without breaking the bank and making my setup too cumbersome.

Nathaniel's thoughts

Reduce friction (especially in the beginning). It’s better to make things easier for
yourself. Your phone can do an incredible job.
You shouldn’t worry about messiness. There is so much you can do afterward,
patching things together at home with a voice-over or sitting down and filming
yourself speaking. There’s actually a lot of flexibility built into the process.
Also “messy” has become an aesthetic with the advent of video online. It feels raw
and authentic and does not necessarily detract from your story if you make sure to
present the information clearly. A shaky video shot or iffy audio can be overlooked if
things are nicely pieced together.

https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 4
https://www.psdly.com/free-courses
LESSON 3
VISUAL EVIDENCE AND ANCHORS

Hunt for visual evidence: Any visual that aids the viewer in understanding the story.
While on your trip, your job is to hunt for visual evidence that you can later use to
construct your scene.
Tying multiple elements can be huge – explanation + action + interaction.
Use visual evidence in your own life as evidence for the things that you talk about.
You can talk all you want about philosophy, or share ideas about what life is about,
but it’s more powerful to capture life as it’s happening and to share those moments.

Strong visual
stories at any
level rely on
VISUALS

LESSON 4
HOW TO BRING YOUR VIEWERS TO A PLACE

Visual evidence is the lifeblood of a good visual travel story. That visual evidence will
vary depending on what you are trying to show and say. But one genre of visual
evidence that every travel story will have, is establishing the place. After all, the place
(the city or country or whatever), is the stage upon which the story is set.
Capturing a place requires a deep sense of intention and discipline. Make sure to get
a few important location shots to help bring there with you and help them feel
grounded and connected to the place. Doing this is half the work of telling a good
travel story. Once you’ve established a solid sense of place, you’ve just built a stage
upon which you can tell the story you want to tell.

https://t.me/psdly
LESSON 4 https://www.psdly.com/free-course

How do we do it?

Be steady
Rule of thumb: let go of the camera for 5 seconds.
Go wide
Your travel story should have a few of these shots in every new location you visit.
Seek interesting details
Every place has unique details, either in the architecture or streets, or shops and
markets. Using your camera you can decide which of these details you want to draw
attention to.

Think in levels. Can you capture a variety of close-up, middle, and wide shots? They
all add variety to what you’re sharing.
Wide shots, from a wide-angle, or a drone, help establish and give context.
Narrow shots provide details and add richness to what you’re sharing. In my
language learning video, while driving, we have close-up shots of me at the wheel,
medium GoPro shots that share me and my friend in the car, and drone shots that
show the car and where we are. You kind of need all three. It’s possible to tell the
story without all three, but the story is stronger for the variety of information that the
combination of shots provides.
Place an emphasis on what you feel. Help people be there with you. You are a big
piece of that. So I’m always vocalizing how I feel, as in literally narrating to the
camera.
We’ve talked about music, labor over it. It’s not worth taking a shortcut on that one –
music makes or breaks your piece. Music will help your audience be there with you if
you’re intentional enough about it.
But there is more than just music to think about. Sound Design is massive. It can
really bring to life the visuals that you’re showing. Unfortunately, this is an often
overlooked element of audiovisual storytelling because it is ~invisible,~ but I’d go so
far as to say that it can be as much as 50% of the storytelling. So keep that in mind.

https://t.me/psdly
 CHAPTER 4
LESSON 5 WWW.PSDLY.COM
WAYS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR STORY

A few last on-the-ground tips that can help strengthen your story:

Including interviews from locals can bring depth to your story, because suddenly
you’re sharing multiple different viewpoints and perspectives, not just your own.
Talk to the camera when you are in a moment. Reflect or point things out, share
what you think and feel in the moment, or the things that capture your attention.
You can easily edit out most of it, but little moments of you sharing helps maintain
that dynamic of being a virtual friend that’s sharing a new place.

Try listening to music while walking around a new place. I pretend that my eyes are
the camera and I'm taking in all the visuals with the music helping inform the tone.
This helps me visualize how I want the edit to actually feel.
I also look for highly local experiences that can inspire me to tell a certain story.
Local experiences (e.g. visiting a local library or a local open mic night) are a catalyst
to new ideas and can help you bring new depth to your story. Even if the result isn't
a whole new idea for a story, it might just be an addition to your existing story or a
scene in your story. Whatever it results in, it’s often worth it to push outside the
gravitational force of the tourist activities and immerse yourself in a local experience.

www.bit.ly/Amandacourselist
 CHAPTER 5
https://www.psdly.com/free-course
POST PRODUCTION
LESSON 1
BUILDING A STORY IN POST
Nathaniel's Method:
Think about it like you’re shaping clay. It’ll be ugly for a while until it isn’t.
My goal is to try to establish even just a loose story arc, and then go through that
over and over again, tightening it, adding elements, seeing what works and what
doesn’t. Each round brings me a little closer to where I’m trying to go.

My process as a series of stages:

Laying out your materials

Organization

Review

Selection

Assembly

The final 3 steps are on repeat over and over again as many times as you need until
you feel happy with what you’ve created. Sometimes that can be hours, sometimes
that can be days, and sometimes that can be weeks. Depends on what you’re trying
to do.

https://t.me/psdly
 The Process
https://www.psdly.com/free-course

LAYING OUT YOUR MATERIALS:

Starting out, I might throw the materials that I’ve captured all in one place, usually in
a really rough timeline. This is the place to start, and it helps me to see everything all
in one place. Don’t try to figure things out before doing this. It’s like trying to do
calculus in your head. Just lay it out and see what ideas are sparked within you.
Start working on a script. Usually, as I do this, I write down thoughts and even record
some of those thoughts as voice-over and see how they sound/flow with some of the
music that I’ve picked.

ORGANIZATION:

I organize my footage chronologically or by camera type. I like marking things out in

different colors so that it’s easier for me to differentiate.
The next three steps are fairly condensed together. You look at what you have, you
pick what stands out to you or what you want to play with, and you lay it in the
timeline.
REVIEW:

Re-watching material and chopping it up can help you get clarity on what you might
want to use.
I usually start by reviewing interview footage, or, if I’ve already written a script and
shot myself saying things I want to say or recorded voice-over, I start by reviewing
those. This ties into the next step.

SELECTION:
I’m picking moments to see if I can start laying things down to create a loose story
arc.
You have to start somewhere, so you can start by selecting your favorite moments
from the beginning of the trip, or any favorite moments that particularly stood out to
you.

ASSEMBLY:
I then begin laying things down in a super rough timeline, just to see how things
might flow. Do my ideas connect ok? If not, why? Maybe I need to add something
here to help connect things. Maybe that intro is kind of boring and I can juice it up
with something a little more exciting that happened later on.
The point is, I can’t know until I see and hear it. So that’s what I do first.

Clarity will come slowly. Trust the process.

https://t.me/psdly
 https://www.psdly.com/free-course
LESSON 2
ORGANIZING FOOTAGE FOR STORY
Johnny's Method:
I categorize my footage depending on where it goes in the story.
Go through footage, open a sequence, called selects, and make labels using
adjustment layers. Try to decide where stuff goes without having to touch the raw
footage.
I liken this to chopping up all my vegetables before even starting to cook. I love to
have it all chopped up.

LESSON 3
THE POWER OF MUSIC
You can have all of the perfect footage to work with, but without the right music, it
can somehow still not make sense. All of the elements need to come together
cohesively or they will fight against each other.
It’s all about feeling, you’ve got to feel it.
Sometimes I hear a song and I know it’s going to be for a specific section. But often I
just like the vibe and I’ll figure out the placement later.

I try to build a story structure that goes from serious to light to emotional to
serious to light etc. And I do this with music. I have a few main categories I
think about with this:
Thinky music, which is usually not too emotional. It's more neutral or
more serious. It's good for history and explainer sections.
Feely music is more emotional and more for emotional, touching,
compelling, beautiful moments.
Fun music is light and not too emotional, but not too thinky or serious.
I usually download tons of music. Like 30 tracks for one video. I get unlimited
downloads so it's not like I'm paying for each download. So the more the
better. I like to have a lot to play with. Similar to my selects process, this is
like cutting up the vegetables. I want to have this all in the editor and then I
can build the edit without any friction.
Johnny's thoughts
Basically, music is not something to skip over, it has a massive impact on the feeling
of your piece, and it’s more accessible than ever with libraries like Musicbed
More importantly, this is one of the most fun elements of audiovisual storytelling for
me. This is one of the things that excites me the most. When I land on a track that
just fits with my vision and that I want to edit to, I can hardly help myself, I’m already
diving into things.
Let the music be that thing for you. If you don’t care about monetizing your
creations, then the entire world of copyrighted music is at your disposal. And if you
do, there are still so many incredible music options for you to play with.
Let this excite you and ride that excitement.
The edit is where you ultimately make the structural decisions that will result in your
final story.
https://t.me/psdly
LESSON 4 WWW.PSDLY.COM
STRUCTURING A LEVEL ONE STORY
Method one is to take all your footage and just dump it into your timeline. And use
tools like the rolling edit tool to trim it back to be shorter.
If you want to grow as a storyteller, learning to visualize your edit on paper first will
be something you have to learn.
A "shame draft" is an edit that is so full of holes that you feel ashamed to show it to
anyone — it's just the skeleton of the story. No fancy visuals, no music, no nothing.
Just the words being said and text on-screen that indicates what you will be seeing.
The shame draft allows you to feel out the story. Does it flow from one scene to the
next? Is there a sense of forward motion to keep things moving forward? Are there
any big gaps? Do some of the scenes last too long? Is there tension? Resolution?
How can I trim this down? What parts feel superfluous and unnecessary? Are you
switching the energy up?
Once your shame draft has been scrutinized and trimmed down you can start to
layer on b-roll.

LESSON 5
GIVING YOUR EDIT EMOTION AND FEELING

There is a sort of discipline that is required no matter how you choose to approach
post-production and the creation of a story in post. It’s always going to take lots of
work and effort. This is required if you want to tell an original story that stands out
and that you’re proud of.
This is particularly hard when you’re in the early stages and you think what you’re
making is ugly or unclear. I still deal with that to this day. It is hard.
But you’ve got to trust the process and you’ve got to push through those feelings
because things tend to sort themselves out if you can stay committed and continue
to pass through your work to polish, expand, and fix weak areas.
You’ve probably consumed tons of online videos and films and TV shows. Trust
yourself to know what feels good and what doesn’t feel good, and follow that feeling.

https://t.me/psdly
LESSON 6 https://www.psdly.com/free-course
REVIEWING YOUR WORK

The first step for me is to take a b-roll pass. I throw down more than I need at first
and then I’ll come back and trim. This should give a lot of life to the piece. It helps
beef it up visually.
Second, I look for places for breathing room. Sometimes I frame out breathing room
in the shame but often I find places where I need to let the edit breathe by creating
space between scenes.
This is where you need to call in what I call "Fresh Brain." You’ve now looked at this
story way too much and you don’t see it clearly. So you can do two things about this.
First, you can really try hard to watch the story as if you are watching for the first
time, trying to empathize with the first-time viewer. Fresh brain.
Or, you can bring in a literal fresh brain, a different person, and get their honest
feedback on if they followed the story or not, and where they dropped off.

Once you feel strongly about your structure and story arc, I think injecting vlog
moments and other pacing changes can help your video breathe and it can also help
keep things moving along. I don’t like to be sitting and talking for too long. Even
laying in b-roll can help keep things moving along, and I like to add b-roll in at least
pairs, and the visuals can connect and build off of each other.
A lot of movement comes from cutting to the beat and from changing paces –
sometimes the music should move more quickly and so should the cuts, and at
other moments, slowing things down makes more sense so that you don’t wear out
your audience.

Your story is done. Now you have the option to share this story. You can upload to
the internet for an audience or just keep it for yourself. I promise that in 10 years
you’ll be glad to have it even if you’re the only one who watches it. Remember that
crafting a travel story is primarily about being able to capture, remember, and give
meaning to your travels.
Let us finish up by saying one last important thing here which is that you only get
better at this by doing it...a lot.
Once you put your work out into the world, move on. Start your next project, keep
going, keep experimenting.
But don’t forget about what you’ve done. Reviewing your work and how it makes you
feel can be invaluable. What worked and what didn’t work for you?
Even just the process of making this course and reviewing my own work helped
illuminate certain thoughts of my own about my work, what I like and what I dislike.
Checking in regularly, every few months let’s say, can be a meaningful exercise. With
a little bit of space to step away first and come back with fresh eyes, you can more
clearly see the areas that you could work on more in future videos.

https://t.me/psdly