I had imagined us having dinner on the balcony in the sunshine,” said Alex as we watched the snow falling thick and silent. It was hardly BBQ weather.

And that ladies and gentlemen is as far as I got writing about my little trip to Switzerland! Why? Because I got that far and thought, “Hmmm maybe I could make a film out of it.”

One of my goals for this year was to dedicate some time to learning how to make little adventure films. I figured the best way to do that was to just film and create until I get better! When I learnt to take photos, I just carried a camera with me a lot and took pictures. Lots of pictures. The more I took the more I started to notice what looked good, spot patterns and improve on mistakes.

At the moment I’m in that stage for film making and taking. I feel like I still film parts of adventures fairly haphazardly. But, even from the small number of videos I’ve made (you can see them on YouTube) I am learning SO much. Everything from framing, audio, editing, talking to the camera…

A Film About Switzerland

Whilst out in Switzerland, I took some videos of the trip. We spent our time:

up in the mountains
sight-seeing in Bern
half-asleep on trains (because 6am is 5am UK time)
playing in the snow
eating dinner on the balcony
eating dinner at a vegan restaurant in a converted bus…

I’ve got clips from all of that. But how to fit it into a coherent and interesting visual story is a puzzle. Or at least, it’s an interesting problem that I haven’t considered before. Storytelling via the written word is something I’m extremely familiar with. At first I thought it would be the same with visual media. But the more I play, the more I realise it’s not.

So what I’m saying is that I haven’t finished the film yet – sorry. I was still in denial about this right up until this morning. But after spending a weekend out on Dartmoor for Ten Tors training and then having a job and all that, there simply wasn’t time.

Plus I should probably run it past Alex before you all see it, to check she’s happy with her part in it. Or if, for example, I need to cut her out entirely (Alex, when you read this, don’t worry – I’ll message you!).

The Finished Article

When I’ve finished the film, I’ll embed it here. And of course tell all of you on social media to come back because it’s done.

>> Insert film here<<

Actually, it might be easier if you just gave me a cheeky follow on Youtube. My channel is very new still and I’m trying to find a way of regular creating that works with the other things going on in my life. Please don’t think I’m off on a campaign to become a famous Youtuber. I’m just playing, in the same way a child plays when you give them a new toy. The difference is that I’m happy to share the journey with you 🙂

If you’d like to watch me grow, please do give that channel a follow! And/or the Instagram account I’ve finally set up (@travellinglines) where I’ll be experimenting with vertical video too.

Thanks – and don’t worry, more adventures soon!

Emily