It’s a great idea to add a video to your holiday listing on Responsible Travel. A video can help to generate more interest, boost search engine results and give customers a clearer picture of the trip.

How to put a video on your listing?

Send an email to sam@responsibletravel.com and include the video, either as an attachment or link to where he can download the file from (preferably a .mov, .mp4, .wmv, .avi file), and instructions on which product page you would like the video to show. Please do not supply a link to a YouTube or Vimeo video.

Please do take a few minutes to read the below guidelines before submitting your video.

Video House Style

This is the style which all videos must follow, to ensure consistency and quality throughout our site.

The video should be a varied, realistic overview of your trip. Ideally there should be footage of the location, accommodation, the activities you offer, and clients enjoying the trip. There should not be footage of activities or locations you do not offer in this trip. This is to ensure the video on all individual holiday pages are giving customers a realistic impression of the particular trip.

No image slideshows. As every page already has an image carousel, we ask that you upload your best still images here instead.

No branding. As with all content on our site, there can be no logos or references to your company name. This includes both graphics in the video and logos prominently visible in the footage, e.g. on tshirts.

No text. We ask that all the necessary text is included in your trip description. This is to make sure typefaces are consistent on our site.

Fully licensed music which covers the film being hosted on responsibletravel.com

Reasonable quality footage. Ideally of at least 1080p and reasonably well filmed. This can be achieved with almost any modern camera, iPhone or Android phone.

Reasonable length. Different lengths of videos can work for different things, but generally between 1 and 3 minutes works best.

Filming your trips

These are beginner tips covering a range of cameras, for Responsible Travel members looking to start capturing their holidays on film.

General Tips

• Use the camera you have. You don’t need to buy an expensive camera to shoot good footage for online videos. Most Android and iPhones can shoot very high quality footage. Composition, a steady hand and capturing authentic moments will go a lot further than spending lots on a pro camera.
• Have the camera with you all the time. The best things to capture on film often happen spontaneously or at unexpected moments, having the camera accessible is half the battle.
• Vary your shots. Get a wide range of shots to create a diverse engaging film. Get shots of the landscapes, of the activities, close ups of details, faces. Shots of customers enjoying the trips and reacting to the experiences are really valuable.
• Keep the camera steady. This is absolutely the most important technical point for beginners. The shaky hand-held style is very hard to do well! Use a tripod, balance the camera on a steady surface, or at the absolute least hold your camera still with both hands. Compose a shot, and stick with it for at least 10 seconds.

For iPhone and Android

• Turn your phone horizontally. It may sound obvious but shooting a vertical video with a phone is best for certain social media apps like Instagram or TikTok. It’s not so good for YouTube or our product pages however.
• Don’t use the digital zoom. Zooms on phones are bad, and can reduce the image quality. You can always crop in on details in the edit, with more control and a lot of modern phones have telephoto lenses so you can zoom in.
• Shoot in HD or 4K. Find the video settings on your phone and select the highest resolution possible. You may need to clear space on your phone to do this.
• Clean the lens carefully with lens or glasses cleaning wipe before you start filming.
• Slow, fluid movements. If you want to pan the shot, you need to be steady and controlled, to allow the camera to get all the information it needs. If in doubt, stick to still shots.

For GoPros / Other action cameras

• Select your resolution. Depending on which camera you have, it’s likely that you’ll have a choice of resolutions ranging from WVGA (too low-quality for most) up to 4K. If in doubt, opt for something in the middle, such as 1080p.
• Experiment with mounts. There are lots of ways of mounting a GoPro, do some research and work out the best mount to use for the activity you’re filming.

For DSLR & Mirrorless cameras

• Make sure your shots are in focus by either using Continuous Autofocus or focusing manually if you have time. Many DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras have a useful function where you can zoom in on the LCD screen to check exactly what is in focus and what isn’t.

Editing your video

If you're stuck on what program to use to edit your video, there are a few free video editors out there such as Microsoft's Clip Champ or DaVinci Resolve which vary in complexity from simple to more fully featured. There are also phone apps which you can use such as CapCut. Do have a look on the app stores available to you and find something that suits you - there are plenty of options out there and many are free, or offer free options.

Additional notes

It is your responsibility to ensure that any content (i.e. music, images, videos), you send us is an accurate representation of your product and that you have all relevant licenses/ permissions in place for the reproduction of such.

In the case that Responsible Travel ever wish to use the film, or clips from it, in another context, we will only ever do this with your express written permission.

It is at our discretion to not upload any video which we don’t feel matches our guidelines or is not appropriate for our site.

Please contact sam@responsibletravel.com if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing your videos.