Me: Mom. I'm going on a road trip. Mom: Where are you going and how with this lockdown? I just bought a car and she thinks I am jumping on the highway now but she doesn't know about this channel. Thank you for taking us along on your road trips.
Your videos are inspiring to me. I live vicariously through your travels. I'm not in a place in life that affords me the opportunity for travel currently. I'm a road geek, bridge geek, weather geek, and music geek from childhood. And I love it when all of those areas of geek overlap! Thank you for your videos and your knowledge. Safe travels!
Hello Jim, I just wanted to say thank you for making these videos. I am a fellow Roadgeek as well and we are planning on taking a 2 week trip through New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado after the virus is over. Your video's have given me lots of inspiration and ideas for our Trip Video. The Pictures and Videos that I get, I am hoping that the family can experience our trip even better with road clips like yours. Take care out there on the road and I wish you safe travels!
“Road Geeks”… I like that! I recently started doing these videos as a hobby that would get me out of the house (hardcore introvert here). Prior to getting started in this, I had ZERO video experience. I’m quickly finding out that the iPhone is a finicky device to shoot video with (serious lens flares are a real thing). Thank you for taking the time to make this Q&A video. Much appreciated! New subscriber here.
The reason why real-time video seems so slow when you're watching it is that the camera's lens encompasses a lot narrower field of vision than your eyes do when you're in the car. Essentially it's the same effect as when you zoom in with the camera and movement seems slowed down because of the narrow angle.
BTW I'm European and I've been to the US 3 times so far, and it was an amazing experience. I'm watching your videos to get that feeling again and I can't wait to return to the US as soon as possible.
Excellent explanation, well said, glad you have enjoyed your trips to the US and hope you can come back....I hope we all can travel normally again soon.
Hey Jim! Really enjoyed this Q&A! One question that i have is: How often do you get "frustrated" (lack of a better word :) ) by bad drivers when making these videos? Keep up the excellent work, thanks a lot for the effort you put in!
Thank you very much, it happens as far as the frustration, no more than regular driving I suppose, but when filming I do make more of effort to keep the view ahead of me clear, so it seems to be a bit more magnified there.
If I can speak my mind, I think this video was a great idea, just like the personal commentary at the end of your videos are a good idea. I watch several similar channels, recording roadtrips around the world, and very rarely you get to see who's behind the camera, and there is a certain curiosity to it, so thanks for these videos. Greetings from Italy!
I’ve been watching your vids since I was 10. Your vids are very pleasant and relaxing to watch and got me interested into freeways and exploring our beautiful landscapes. I’m 18 now and hopefully can visit some of the beautiful landmarks/highways in your videos sometime soon. Thank you Jim for all you do!
I like your answers 😉. Freeway Jim (Bob Seger - looking) road guy. Who knew this would work way back when. Was an idea of mine long before I ever saw these driving videos on YT, so maybe we were cut from the same cloth just a bit. Thanks for all of it! 🌷
Jim, my wife and I have been enjoying your videos for what feels like forever. We typically will stream to our Apple TV and watch the big screen while sipping coffee and talking weekend mornings, So glad you do what you do, thanks, you rock!
Really enjoyed the 20 questions video and you answered a lot of the same questions I had about your channel and clued me in on some misconceptions I had about your videos, like being a truck driver...not :-) Love your channel and love your videos and how nicely done they are.
Watching this, imo that's a major thing that sets you apart from other people who make videos similar to this. The music. You take time to find a great song that will give off the vibe and location of the video. Other videos are great too but your videos besides having just the footage, you try to give us the vibe and almost make us feel like we are there. Keep up the great videos Jim we all appreciate you. Always looking forward to see where you drive next
Vegas to Denver may be the most scenic drive on the Interstate in the country. I drove through Glenwood Canyon before the freeway came and I said no way they could build a freeway.
An informative FAQ that also reflects your fine-point editing, I’ve seen many Q&A type videos that are rambling with jump cuts, you were very on point. I really did not contribute much to this, your viewers asked all the questions, it was just noting which ones came up the most.
I’ve communicated with you before but I don’t know if I ever commended you on what you have done by bringing the 48 states of Interstate highways to everyone....The Interstate system is akin to a motion picture cataloguing the beauty and magnificence of this country in all of its various landscapes-swampland, deserts, mountains, plains with the interstate highways as the means to access them....I started in 1972 taking pictures of the road when the system wasn’t complete and still do now and with my iPhone I record videos of interesting interchanges and areas, but not to the level of expertise you have attained....hopefully with cheap gas and the lifting of restrictions more people will drive to destinations and some can make that BIG trip cross country and really see how beautiful a drive it is....My only regret is that we don’t have the big cars that really are in their element gobbling up the miles in living room comfort that they had in the 50s-70s.....
Thank you! You are so right about the Interstate system, love the comparison and description you gave. I sure wish I started taking photos and video when I was younger, lol. We do have an equivalent to the big comfortable cars comparable to those of the 50s-70s, they are called SUV's and Luxury Pick-Up Trucks, lol.
Thanks for posting this! You answered many of the questions I had regarding your videos. You definitely deserve to be paid for your high quality videos which I greatly enjoy.
Next time you're through Houston, would love to buy you In-N-Out as you enjoy the Katy "Not So" Expressway. ;-) Keep up the great videos. It's always a good day when I receive notification of a new upload!
Very interesting! I can definitely relate to your comments on California and Seattle. Texas does have some amazing interchanges and so many are fairly new and modern. I remember going to Dallas for business in 1996 and it was pretty impressive then, but just 15 years later the number of freeways and "mixmasters" they had built were very impressive! Some of the intercity drives can be dull, but once you get toward El Paso, the change in terrain makes it more interesting if you live in a part of the country that looks very different. Finally, I can appreciate not wanting to lug all your gear to Europe, but that question made me think that some European videos would be very cool and different to the American eye! That being said, when I am over there, my favorite way to travel is high-speed rail (of which I have made a couple of videos but not nearly as polished as yours!). Of my various trips there, I have rented a car only twice but had planned to make it a third later this month before corona changed my plans for me. :(
Thanks for putting out a FAQ for your channel, you answered a few questions I had. I don't know if you remember, but we traded some road pics back around 2000, I was interested in comparing the bridge railing styles around the country and your pictures were a great resource for finding these. Around that time, I had sent you some road videos I had done of CA, hope it helped to inspire you to go on with this hobby into the great work on your channel.
Thank you and yes I remember, if anything your pics gave me a greater appreciation for and inspired me to want to see California and I eventually made it out there (three times now).
Sitting at the computer desk, thinking "Why hasn't RU-vid chosen Jim to give tips to creators", Then This. lol However, Jim, I will admit your 'shelter-in-car' video was fricken' amazing, YOU ROCK, DUDE!!!
Hi Jim I have been watching your videos for years now and its a nice change of pace from the normal stuff you get on RU-vid. I really think you have a talent for these kind of videos, know one else has that flare like you have. Well just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your work. Thank you for the years of entertaining videos.
Hey Jim great video you made. I have been watching for at least a couple years now. I don’t remember when I started watching but it’s been great content to watch and keep up the great work!
Thank you Jim for all the videos that you've made, I enjoyed the trips and the scene, discovered new music and rekindled old favorite ones! if i was a passenger in your trips i sure am happy that you're driving! good music and great roads to travel!
I wonder if someday you'd consider flying and renting a car, and filming some of the expressways in both Hawaii and Puerto Rico? I bet those would make for some interesting videos, for sure. I remember street viewing some of the expressways in Hawaii(namely O'ahu expressways were what I was interested in), and some of those looked like they'd have interesting scenery. Including H3 from Kaneohe, to Halawa on the O'ahu Island. I wonder if the O'ahu H1(to 3, and any others I missed) would be on your maybe to film list, besides the Ontario expressways like 401? I really enjoyed watching this Q&A session, and thanks for doing it! And I agree with another person, that record companies should be paying YOU for the usage of their songs! Since if anything, sometimes a RU-vid video has turned me onto bands I never had listened to much of their songs before, myself. I.e. I was turned on to the band Muse, from hearing their songs in a few YT videos.
I don't see myself flying anywhere to film, not with my preferred equipment and I would not go to Canada just to shoot the 401, the Gardiner through Downtown Toronto looks more interesting.
I’ve been subbed to you for awhile I think. I don’t know when exactly I came across your channel but you have always produced my favorite driving videos. The amount of knowledge i have gained from your videos is seriously awesome! From music I didn’t know to seeing what the roads/highways look like in places I’ve never been. Thank you for all that you do
I remember you from the MTR days, so long ago. But one thing that the introduction of RU-vid did was shift the roadgeek game away from those who could write well and take still photography well, to those who could do videography well. Which means, e.g., you, who I remember wasn't quite the biggest roadgeek going in the MTR days, is probably the biggest one, or at least, the primus inter pares, now.
Maine has so many side routes off route 1 that are definitely worthy of exploration. Cute little coves, lobster shacks, rocky pine tree embellished ocean scenery abound! Trouble is, there’s too much of it,and it would take years to fully see it all. It’s a very complex coastline. But I would suggest Acadia National park and up into Baxter state park as premium filming opportunities.
Great video, thank you for answering so many questions, some of which I had thought of, and others that I had not thought of, but which were equally interesting. Now for question #21: You look fairly young, how do you have the time to do these long cross country trips? Doesn't work get in the way? And question #22: were you a radio DJ somewhere? Your speech sounds very much like a radio person. very cool
Thank you I'm glad you enjoyed it. #21 (which I may use when I do the next 20 questions), I only take one major trip a year, I am not on the road near much as it may seem, I just make the most of it. #22 No, I've never been a DJ but when in college I was interested in a career in broadcasting but chose another path, but thanks, I'll take that as a compliment.
A hobby that is great enough to start yet another channel (which brought my total, at the time, to 6 channels...Or was it 7?). I had been doing something kind of similar before, but once I stumbled upon your channel, and discovered the RIGHT way, it all became a whole lot more fun! And the fun will continue hopefully this summer (be gone, covid 19).
#21: Are you ever going to drive the insanely long drive to Fairbanks and then Anchorage? If so will you cover that wilderness on camera? I’d LOVE to see a Freewayjim video where you travel from somewhere like Calgary or Edmonton to Fairbanks and/or Anchorage! ;)
No, I don't do videos like that, the camera might overheat, lol, 2+ hours is the longest I've continually filmed and honestly, long clips like that are harder to work with.
Something to try in terms of music is to use copyright free music. There are countless places you can get this. There's the YT channel NoCopyrightSounds, and RU-vid even has the audio library, which is full of free to use music.
I loved your Key West video and you did an excellent job with the music. You do an excellent job both with editing, driving and music. You do such an excellent job with shooting. I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks so much for this video, this helped me a lot because I’m trying to make videos of my own. Whenever I try to record I keep screwing up the dash cover. In the best footage that I have so far I used a black blanket but I failed miserably and for like 25% of the footage when I’m facing the sun you can see the creases in the blanket and see where the blanket ends and it almost looks worse than if I just didn’t use a blanket lol. Also I tried editing the footage into a video but I miscalculated and now have too much footage for 1 song yet not enough footage for 2 songs and now I’m stuck, and I also don’t know if the music I’ve used so far even works lol. You make doing this look so easy, it’s so impressive.
Thank you very much, it took some trial and error, I'm always looking at ways to make it better and easier. Time it so you don't have to record into the sun, that is something I take into consideration although sometimes it can't be helped, but on trips, I do try to plan certain, special things (like I-70 west of Denver) so that I'll get favorable lighting conditions, in some cases that means stretching it a little longer the previous day or stopping short, also there have been times I've back-tracked just to get favorable lighting.
Very Enjoyable & informative I hope this first one can serve as a start point for the next ones. Is it time for a monetized channel ? No Music in this one ... no problem..Just open a new window of yours and play it in the background. Good Job Jim I learned a lot here
This is a video I may save if I get into your business. I would like to do a series of videos covering U.S. 101 in California from U.S. 199 north of Crescent City all the way down to LA. Any Patreon for you like Interstate Kyle has ? (He may steal my idea and that's OK).
Thanks, Jim. I love watching your videos and these answers are very informative. One question I have is, where/how do you save and store all your files?
Great question, I use a G-Drive Studio 8TB Thunderbolt External Hard Drive (see link) as a scratch drive for working on the videos and I also store the raw footage there. I back up the raw footage and the finished videos on a separate, portable external drive. www.tapeandmedia.com/g-technology-g-raid-studio-thunderbolt-2-8tb.asp
Yes, when travel allows it I will shoot some routes that I did years ago, not only for the changes but I'm using much better gear now than I did before 2013. I've done that in some places already.
I could see Jim having a lot of fun with southern Ontario and Montréal. Southern Ontario would work especially well since it's so close to the border that it could be incorporated into a larger trip without going too far out of the way. Of course there is the passport issue and whether it would be worth it just to film a few videos - too bad enhanced licenses aren't more common across the US. Passport cards are, though.
That's hard to quantify but the research is being done as part of the process while making the video, I probably do more research on the roads being featured than the city/town.
Is the video editing software you use free to download? Also, what has usually happened when your videos "go missing" or appear to have been taken down by a copyright claim?
No, the software I use costs $299 and is worth every cent. When a video goes missing on YT, it's simply gone, off the channel, I still have a copy of the video and the original footage/files, so at some point (like this year) I can always remix it with another soundtrack and such.
Have you ever tried making your own signs? Such as Photoshop or Inkscape? I think that would be so much better than taking a picture with a camera, but I love the process that you do with it.
I usually crop out the freeway signs form the google maps street view. I’m not gonna make driving vids, I might just like use city skylines to build a freeway. Lol
Are you familiar with the channels Unclecoolie Productions or Barbiepole Dancer? Keep up the excellent work, looking forward to seeing more videos, all the best.
Hey Jim! You should consider going into Canada. I've made the drive to Fairbanks, AK. We crossed into Canada on I-5 to Vancouver. Which in my opinion is a better looking city than San Francisco. All through British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and to Fairbanks. If you are able to find the time someday I'd highly recommend that you do it.
For all of those who were looking for the "how to make road videos" guide... facebook.com/notes/freewayjim/how-to-make-road-videos-a-comprehensive-guide/10151368506039879/?hc_location=ufi
Jim, in relation to Question 4, it's interesting that almost all your cars at home are luxurious. Why did you buy those luxury vehicles for the trips you've taken and driven back then, especially the 2017 1st Generation Genesis G90?
RU-vid (I guess!) says that your video entitled "I-71 North: Kentucky to Cincinnati, OH" dated April 13, 2010, has been blocked on copyright grounds. I assume that's due to the music (ELO's "Shine A Little Love"). Would it be possible for you to repost this video with other music? Alternatively, if you are unable to do so, I would be willing to pay you for a copy of the finished video (i.e., just the clip that you posted) if it's possible for you to provide that to me. Thank you!
That's old footage David and not up to the current standards of this channel so I won't be making a new video of it but if you just want a clip of the raw footage for your own enjoyment then contact me via the email at the very end of this video for further discussion, hopefully, I can locate the file.
@@Freewayjim, thank you very much for your quick reply. I will contact you via email over the next few days. BTW, I want to take this opportunity to publicly tell you how much I appreciate the time, effort, and resources you devote to producing such an outstanding channel. Your videos have brought me much enjoyment over several years; particularly the ones which bring back special memories (the one I mentioned above being one of those videos; having grown up in Lexington, KY, I-75 N to Cincinnati was an oft-traveled route for Reds games and countless other occasions). More than anything else, I have loved roads from at least six years old - and as you mentioned in this particular video, it's great to know that there are so many people that share my enthusiasm!
Jim, sorry for the late comment here, really a question. You say in the video that often someone rides in the front seat along with the camera rig. Can that person actually ride comfortably? It looks like one would need to be a contortionist just to fit in, much less sit comfortably.
They can handle it for short periods of time (30-90 minutes) which is why there arent a lot of very long uninterrupted videos. My son is 6' 5" and has never really complained about it, he gets comfortable first then he knows how to set up the tripod in a way that doesn't really constrain him without compromising the view we get up front, my wife got good at that as well as the 2019 trip progressed. It took a little work to get it right initially but once we did it's been pretty seamless going forward.
I think this was a great primer. By the way, I think your into song may be part of another longer song called "Oceano Lounge Groove" by a group called "That That Is". I only stumbled across this by "shazaming" songs that I like and purchasing later on in iTunes. Here is a link to that song: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FpltrJmhUig.html It starts at about 20 seconds in and there is more beyond it.
