English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

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1

GLOSSARY

tour bus – a large bus that carries people to many destinations while they are
exploring an area, usually on vacation
* This tour bus takes us to all the important sites in and around the city.

footage – recorded video, especially that has not yet been edited or changed
* Film studios shoot hundreds of hours of footage to make a two-hour movie.

voice-over – a voice that is heard while video is seen, but not produced by any
of the people shown on the video
* Nancy has such a beautiful voice that she could do voice-overs for commercials
and TV shows.

segment – one part of a video, film, or TV show
* The next segment of the film is one of my favorites.

travel video – a video that shows what a faraway place looks like, designed to
inform people who have never been there and/or encourage people to go there
on vacation
* This is a great travel video about the Trans-Siberian Express.

to edit – to change and improve a video by connecting footage in different ways,
changing the color and lighting, and adding music and other sounds
* How long does it take to edit each episode of Friends?

shaky – with many small movements; not steady
* As Jeremy got older, his handwriting became very shaky and difficult to read.

tripod – a metal device with three legs that can be lengthened or shortened,
used to hold a camera still and up high
* Move the tripod a little bit higher so the top of the waterfall is in the photo.

camcorder – a camera that records video; a video camera
* Don’t forget to take the camcorder to the graduation ceremony.

motion – movement
* Please remain seated while the train is in motion.

to ruin – to destroy; to make something worthless
* Too much rain will ruin the potato crop growing in the fields.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

2

close-up – an image of something very near to the camera lens; not far away
* Actors and actresses tend to wear a lot of makeup for close-ups.

wide-angle shot – a photograph or video made with a special lens to show a
very broad (wide) area
* You’ll need a wide-angle shot if you want to take a picture of all this beautiful
scenery.

gear – equipment used for some particular purpose
* Giovanni has a lot of camping equipment: a tent, a sleeping bag, a backpack, a
first-aid kit, and a camping stove.

left behind – not taken with the rest of a group of people, often because one was
too slow or arrived late
* Bernard walked so slowly that he was left behind by the rest of the group.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

3

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What does Matilda mean when she says, “I’m just getting some footage of this
area”?
a) She wants to walk around the area one more time.
b) She wants to record more video of the area.
c) She wants to measure the size of the area.

2. Which of these things is not part of Matilda’s gear?
a) The tripod.
b) The camcorder.
c) The wide-angle shot.

______________


WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

motion
The word “motion,” in this podcast, means movement: “The magician made a
quick motion with his hand, and suddenly a rabbit appeared in his hat.” The
phrase “slow motion” describes how action can be slowed down in a video so
that one can see the details: “The referees watched the game in slow motion to
look for fouls.” In a formal meeting, a “motion” is a proposal to do something:
“Kyle made a motion to donate $1,000 to the charity.” Finally, the phrase “motion
sickness” refers to the feeling of nausea that some people have when traveling
by car or bus: “People who sit in the front seat are less likely to suffer from
motion sickness than people who sit in the back seat.”

left behind
In this podcast, the phrase “left behind” means not taken with the rest of a group
of people, often because one was too slow or arrived late: “Drive faster or we’ll
be left behind by the other cars.” The phrase “behind bars” means in jail or
prison: “He spent 20 years behind bars as punishment for his crime.” The phrase
“behind the times” means old-fashioned and not modern: “Quentin is a nice guy,
but his sense of fashion is behind the times.” Finally, the phrase “behind
(someone’s) back” describes doing something in a secretive way so that he or
she does not know about it: “It’s mean to say things like that behind Reya’s
back.”

English as a Second Language Podcast

www.eslpod.com

ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

4

CULTURE NOTE

National Geographic

National Geographic, which was previously known as National Geographic
Magazine, is the main monthly magazine of the National Geographic Society,
which we talked about in English Café 312. First published in 1888, it now has a
“circulation” (the number of copies of a magazine or newspaper that are
distributed) of 8.2 million in 34 languages. It is easily recognized by the bright
yellow “border” (outside edges) on each “issue” (one printing of a magazine).

National Geographic has many articles about geography, art, history, culture,
science, and more. Each issue contains many articles to read, but the magazine
is even more well known for its “stunning” (very beautiful and impressive)
photography. In the past, before the “advent” (start; founding) of television, the
photographs and articles in the magazine served as a window to the world for
people who would never be able to travel to the faraway places “featured”
(shown; highlighted) in the magazine.

The magazine also has many map “supplements” (additional materials) that are
folded and inserted into the publication. The “cartographers” (people who make
maps) focus on specific themes, such as how a war “played out” (happened) in a
particular area, or how energy “consumption” (usage) “varies” (changes; is
different) over time or by region.

The magazine has won 24 National Magazine Awards, three General Excellence
Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), and the ASME
Magazine of the Year Award in 2011. In 2008, the “editor” (the person
responsible for choosing the content of a magazine) of National Geographic was
named Editor of the Year at the American Magazine Conference.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – c

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

5

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 833: Shooting
Travel Videos.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast number 833. I’m your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California. Visit our website at ESLPod.com. Become a
member of ESL Podcast and get the Learning Guide for this episode.

This episode is a dialog between Matilda and Cesar regarding going on a trip and
making some videos. Let’s get started!

[start of dialogue]

Cesar: Hurry up! We’ll miss the tour bus if we don’t leave right now.

Matilda: I’m just getting some footage of this area before we leave. “This area is
known for its...”

Cesar: Now what are you doing?

Matilda: I’m doing a voice-over for this segment. Voice-overs are very important
in good travel videos.

Cesar: You can add the voice-over when you edit it. Let’s go!

Matilda: Just give me five more minutes. Hmm, this footage is turning out to be
too shaky. Hold on while I set up the tripod.

Cesar: We don’t have time for that. Grab your camcorder, and let’s go.

Matilda: Too much motion will ruin any travel video. Wait! I want to get a close-
up of that building and a wide-angle shot of this entire area. Hey, where are you
going with my gear?

Cesar: I, and your gear, are going to the tour bus. I’m not going to get left behind
– again!

[end of dialogue]

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

6

Cesar begins our dialogue by saying to Matilda, “Hurry up!” “Hurry up” means go
faster, you’re moving too slowly. “Hurry up! We’ll miss the tour bus if we don’t
leave right now.” “We’ll miss” means we won’t be able to get on the tour bus
because it will leave without us. A “tour bus” is a large bus that carries many
people, sometimes twenty, thirty, or more people. And it takes you on some sort
of tour. So, you go around and you learn about different things or perhaps, you
go from one city to the next and the other people on the bus are on the same tour
as you are. They’re going on vacation and are going to the same place as you’re
going to. You can have a tour bus within a city that just gives you information
about the most important places in the city – it takes you to those places. You
could also have a tour bus that goes in between cities that travels around the
country even.

Cesar is worried about missing the tour bus. He says, “We’ll miss it if we don’t
leave right now” – immediately. Matilda, who’s obviously a little slow, says, “I’m
just getting some footage of this area before we leave.” “Footage” (footage) is, in
this case, a video recording. It used to be, of course, that when you recorded
things like a motion picture, you would have some tape – physical tape – that
would go around inside the machine and it would record it on that – that is, the
video would be recorded on this little piece of tape that would go around inside.
And if you took the tape and unwound it, you could actually measure how many
feet the tape was. Probably that’s the origin of the word “footage” but nowadays,
of course, we don’t have actual physical film, at least in most cameras that a
regular consumer or regular person would use. But we still sometimes use this
word “footage” to refer to an amount of video recording. I think it’s becoming less
common nowadays.

Matilda says she’s getting some footage, she’s recording some video of this
area, where they are right now, before they leave. She says, “This is area is
known for its...” – she starts narrating the video, she starts talking into the
camera. Cesar says, “Now, what are you doing?” Matilda says, “I’m doing a
voice-over for this segment.” A “voice-over” is when you have a video and you
hear someone’s voice who’s not actually in the video – at least you can’t see the
person – so a voice over would be any kind of recording that you would hear
while watching a video of something else. Matilda says she’s doing a voice-over
for this segment. A “segment” (segment) is a section or a part of a video, a film, a
television show, a podcast, an audio show – any part or section of that, a smaller
part of it would be called the “segment.” So, Matilda is using all of this vocabulary
that would probably be more likely used by a professional filmmaker. Matilda
says voice-overs are very important in “good travel videos.” “Travel videos” would
be videos that show different popular tourist areas. It is something you would
take when you go on a trip. If you go to Paris or you go to Bangkok or you go to

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

7

Tokyo, you could take videos of those areas and you would show them to your
friends or to other people to show them what you can see there – that’s a travel
video.

Cesar says, “You can add the voice-over when you edit it. Let’s go.” “To edit”
(edit) means to change something, usually an audio, or a video, to make it better,
to get rid of the parts that you don’t want. We also use this verb in talking about
writing – you can edit someone’s writing. You can go through and correct the
grammar, change sentences around, correct the punctuation – all that might be
part of editing. Cesar says, “You can add the voice-over – to the video – when
you edit it. Let’s go.” Matilda says, “Just give me five more minutes. Hmm, this
footage is turning out to be too shaky.” The sound that she makes “hmm” is one
you would make when you are maybe thinking of something, maybe you saw
something you didn’t like, or you were not certain about something – “hmm.”
Usually it’s spelled “hmm”. Matilda says, “Hmm, this footage is turning out to be –
is resulting – in something that is too shaky (shaky).” Something that is “shaky”
has a lot of small movements. So, if you are taking a video with a camera or your
phone and you move it around a lot, when you watch it, it will look like you are
moving the camera around and that would be “shaky” – it’s hard to watch.

Matilda says, “Hold on,” meaning wait, “while I set up the tripod.” A tripod (tripod)
is not related to a podcast. A “tripod” is a device usually made out of metal that
has three legs – that’s where you get the “tri-” (tri) meaning three. The “tripod” is
used to put a camera on so that the camera remains steady – that is to say, it
doesn’t shake. So, you put a camera on a tripod and you can use that for taking
pictures. It could be a video camera. It could be a regular camera that you would
take photographs with – a “still” camera, I guess we could call it. Cesar says, “We
don’t have time for that. Grab your camcorder and let’s go.” A “camcorder”
(camcorder) is a camera that records video. It’s another word for a video camera
– a “camcorder,” coming from the words “camera” and “recorder.”

Matilda says, “Too much motion will ruin any travel video.” Cesar is trying to get
Matilda on the tour bus so that they can leave but Matilda is spending her time
talking about her video. She says, “Too much motion (motion),” meaning too
much movement, “will ruin any travel video.” “To ruin” (ruin) means to make
something worthless, to destroy, to make it so that you can’t use it anymore.
Matilda is saying that if you have too much motion, if you have too much
movement, if it’s too shaky then the travel video will be ruined – you can’t use it,
really. “Motion,’ I should mention, has a couple of other meanings in English.
Take a look at our Learning Guide for those.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

8

Matilda continues, “Wait. I want to get a close-up of that building and a wide-
angle shot of this entire area.” A “close-up” (close-up) is an image of something
where the camera is very close to it. It’s right next to the object. It could be
someone’s face or it could be a thing. Matilda wants a “close-up” of a building
she sees and a “wide-angle (angle) shot” of this entire area. A “wide-angle shot”
is a photograph or a video that’s made with a special lens – a special thing you
put on the front of the camera to show a very wide area so you’re able to see
more than you could with a regular camera lens.

Matilda says, “Hey, where are you going with my gear?” “Gear” (gear) here just
means my equipment. Cesar says, “I and your gear are going to the tour bus.”
So, Cesar is taking her camera and her things and walking toward the tour bus.
He says, “I’m not going to get left behind again.” “To be left behind” means not to
be taken with the rest of the group of people – often because you’re too late or
you’re too slow. If a bus is going to leave at 8 o’clock and you come at 8:15, you
will be “left behind” – you will have to stay where you are because you missed
the bus. And that’s what Cesar is trying to prevent.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Cesar: Hurry up! We’ll miss the tour bus if we don’t leave right now.

Matilda: I’m just getting some footage of this area before we leave. “This area is
known for its...”

Cesar: Now what are you doing?

Matilda: I’m doing a voice-over for this segment. Voice-overs are very important
in good travel videos.

Cesar: You can add the voice-over when you edit it. Let’s go!

Matilda: Just give me five more minutes. Hmm, this footage is turning out to be
too shaky. Hold on while I set up the tripod.

Cesar: We don’t have time for that. Grab your camcorder, and let’s go.

Matilda: Too much motion will ruin any travel video. Wait! I want to get a close-
up of that building and a wide-angle shot of this entire area. Hey, where are you
going with my gear?

English as a Second Language Podcast

www.eslpod.com

ESL Podcast 833 – Shooting Travel Videos

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

9

Cesar: I, and your gear, are going to the tour bus. I’m not going to get left behind
– again!

[end of dialogue]

All of our scripts are written and edited by the wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy
Tse. Thank you, Lucy.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come
back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.

ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational Development in Los
Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005.