The camera is in the group, not pointed at it
What a filmmaker travelling with you actually does for four days: the kit that comes, how much of the day is filmed, what happens when someone does not want to be on camera, and what lands in your inbox afterwards.
One filmmaker, and why not two
A second camera doubles the cost of the package and changes the trip. Two people with cameras in a nine-seat van is a crew, and a group behaves differently around a crew: quieter, more self-conscious, more likely to perform. One filmmaker who eats with you for four days stops being a novelty by lunchtime on day one, and that is when the footage starts being worth anything.
The trade-off is honest and you should know it. With one camera we cannot film two things happening in two places, and there are no reverse angles of a conversation. What you get instead is four days of a group that forgot it was being filmed.
| Camera | Full-frame mirrorless, two bodies so a failure does not end the trip |
| Lenses | 24-70mm and a fast 35mm prime for low light in homestays and markets |
| Stabilisation | Handheld gimbal. No sliders, no jibs, nothing that needs setting up |
| Drone | Sub-250g, flown only where it is legal and where it will not ruin the moment |
| Audio | Two wireless lavalier mics, offered not imposed, plus on-camera ambient |
| Backup | Every card copied to two drives the same night, before anyone sleeps |
What a filmed day looks like
Roughly four hours of a twelve-hour day is filmed, and it is not spread evenly. The filmmaker works the two ends of the day, when the light is worth having, and puts the camera away in the middle.
| Part of day | Filmed | What is usually happening |
|---|---|---|
| 06:00 - 08:00 | Yes, heavily | First light, the homestay waking up, breakfast |
| 08:00 - 11:30 | Selectively | Moving. Road shots, passes, one or two stops |
| 11:30 - 15:00 | Rarely | Lunch and the flat part of the afternoon. Camera in the bag |
| 15:00 - 18:30 | Yes, heavily | The best pass of the day, arrival, the market |
| 18:30 onward | Only if invited | Dinner and whatever the evening turns into |
Say "not this" and the camera goes down with no discussion and no negotiating. Nobody has to explain why. It happens on most trips at least once and it has never once been a problem.
Consent, and the person in your group who hates cameras
Almost every group has one. Tell us before departure and the filmmaker plans around them: they are shot from behind, in wide group frames, or not at all, and the edit is built knowing that from the start rather than fixed afterwards.
Everyone in the group signs a one-page release at the start of day one. It says two separate things, and you can agree to the first and refuse the second: that we may film you for the purpose of making your film, and that we may use clips on TourVlog's own channels. Refusing the second changes nothing about your price or your film.
Children under sixteen are only filmed with a parent or guardian present in the group, and never appear on our own channels regardless of what the adults sign.
What you actually receive
- The film. Five to seven minutes for a four-day trip, three to five for a two-day trip, in 4K, cut to a licensed music track.
- A vertical cut, sixty to ninety seconds, framed 9:16, captioned, ready to post.
- Every usable raw clip, ungraded, as camera files. Typically 60 to 140 GB.
- A folder of stills pulled from the footage, twenty to forty frames, in full resolution. People use these more than they expect to.
Everything arrives on one download link within fourteen days of your last day of travel. The link stays live for twelve months. After that we delete the raw footage, because storing other people's holidays forever is not a service, it is a liability. Download it.
The track is licensed for personal and commercial use on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. If you plan to use the film in a paid advertisement, tell us before we edit — the licence tier is different and we would rather buy the right one than have your ad muted.
When the film package is a bad idea
- One-day trips. The street food night gets a social cut only, and even that is three hours of material.
- Trips where the group is meeting for the first time. Strangers on camera on day one stay strangers on camera on day four.
- If the reason you want it is to grow a channel. This is a memory of a trip, not content strategy, and we are not the right people for the second thing.
- If your budget is tight. The trip is the thing worth paying for. The film is worth adding when the trip is already comfortably affordable.
What people ask before booking
Can I see examples of your work?
Not yet, and we would rather say that than show you somebody else's showreel. TourVlog is new. What we can do is put you on a call with the filmmaker who would travel with you, and show you unlisted work they have shot before.
Can I add the film package after I have booked?
Yes, up to seven days before departure, subject to a filmmaker being free. Inside seven days it depends entirely on availability.
Do you fly the drone everywhere?
No. Drone flight in Vietnam is restricted near airports, military sites and some border areas, and Ha Giang is a border province. The filmmaker flies where it is legal and declines where it is not, which sometimes means the shot you were imagining does not exist.
What if I hate the film?
Tell us within thirty days and we do the included re-edit, guided by what specifically is wrong. We do not refund the film package once it has been shot and delivered, and that is stated here rather than in small print.
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Tell us your dates and we will send a plan with a price
Dates, how many of you, and whether you want the film package. You get an itinerary and a total in writing, not a brochure.