The goal of this campaign embodies our YouTube travel channel's mission to entertain, inspire and educate a travel-focused audience. We choose projects that will take our audience with us virtually to explore the world. This adventure project was intended to push the boundaries of what we have done for adventure vlogs in the past. We wanted to pull all of the stops and test what we learned to this point.
Unlike traditional "attention getting" YouTube video editing techniques, we employ a blend of cinematic filmmaking and vlogging. We are leveraging over 30 years of traveling and filming experience which began long before YouTube existed.
This film, “Other Worldly Iceland” builds on what we have learned from previous projects, such as our award-winning short documentary, “A Day with Alaskan Bears” (2024, IMDB). We love projects that test our skills while we film in unpredictable conditions. This project also required more cameras and planning than any previous project.
With the Shorty Awards as a vehicle, we will share who we are, make new connections in the entertainment community, and hopefully achieve the distinction of taking home a Shorty Awards trophy and help our "KovACTION Travel" YouTube community and brand grow.
The project concept "Other Worldy Iceland" came to life after two visits to iceland. We had already fallen in love with Iceland when we discovered "Icelandic Roamers". We reached out to the head of the company, Miro and presented our concept to him. As a fellow photographer, drone pilot and creator, Miro was happy to drive us to the locations we couldn't previously get to with a rental car. He was willing to help us document our experience. We booked Miro and planning got underway.
We shared a map of what we wanted to explore in one day. Miro helped us fine tune our wish list into a workable plan. Miro said we could attach cameras to his 2012 Land Rover named "Mr. Powder”. We packed all the necessary gear that we might need. That consisted of four action cameras, two pocket gimbal cameras, four wireless microphones, three drones and several mounts, batteries and chargers to be sure we would be ready for anything.
We created a storyboard for the start of the day. We filmed b-roll before Miro arrived and then also filmed his arrival. We filmed our (storyboarded) planned b-roll of the Land Rover with Miro to kick off the film. After Miro arrived, we knew the day was going to unfold before our eyes.
We had the freedom to try any shots we could think of. We mounted cameras on the dash of Mr. Powder; One cabin facing and one looking over the hood. We used hand held cameras to get some shots inside the truck to mix up angles. The drone fleet captured aerials and follow shots to make the viewers feel like they are there with us. That is always our goal. The gear and batteries were constantly being charged to keep them ready to go. Miro served as an invaluable third cameraman. We focused on what shots would work with our gear and with our run and gun shooting, we achieved consistently immersive shots all day. We filmed our reactions without a script. With Miro we were a team of three.
Iceland's brutal and changeable weather tested us all day. Our second stop, Haifoss was so windy, we worried we might lose the drone, but Miro encouraged us to film. The shots were breathtaking! We fought rain and flew the drones in outrageous conditions, filming, landing, toweling them off and flying more. We would occasionally stop for b-roll opportunities with the ground cameras (using tripods or magnet mounts and clamps) to make the film more immersive. All day we captured what we needed to produce a fun and engaging story. The unexpected lurked around every corner, and we embraced it.
Every surprise was an opportunity. We made use of every moment. At the end of the day we had cameras full of video clips. After twelve hours we had the pieces of our puzzle we needed to edit our cinemantic adventure vlog. That's when we began final production and magic happened.
We knew this project was a success as we edited the intro/trailer at the house in Iceland that night. Production took months, then weeks of polishing for the film you see today. We are the actors, camera operators, directors, editing and sound team. We are very proud of this production. The natural chemistry with Miro and us on camera is magical. We used new editing tools to improve our production quality. It's fun, informative and looks great on a movie screen.
This project was rewarding because we were able to experience Iceland's beautiful Highlands while filming to tell a fun and informative story that influences others to follow in our footsteps. It holds true to our mission as a YouTube travel couple.
We want out stories to take viewers away from their daily routine and troubles for a while. A viewer battling endometrial cancer wrote and thanked us and said our Catskills NY video helped her stay positive during chemo as she planned a return trip. Our parents in their 80’s are former travellers. They inspired us to get out and travel the world. Now they watch and travel vicariously through us. They were inspirational and now we pay it forward. This film is dedicated to them.
We always learn something and this time is was a host of audio challenges. Learning can be painful but that's how we grow and improve.
We hope to be nominated and genuinely hope you enjoy our docu-adventure!
Chuck and Lori Kovac
