Harnessing the Power of Video to Inspire Travelers to Antigua
Summary
A three-minute travel film highlighting our adventure in Antigua. This is among my most successful films—garnering more than 80,000 views and 1,000 shares across platorms. Footage from this video was even featured prominantly in Lonely Planet's "Best in Travel 2021" awards campaign.
Background
With several short travel films under my belt, I had definitely learned a lot over the years with regards to filming, editing, and storytelling. The story for this one? Antigua is a supremely enchanting island, beckoning to be explored. With hundreds of beaches, endless recreational opportunities, a lively and diverse food scene, and even a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Antigua was the perfect fit for our active and adventurous family. We had just seven days to pack it all in.
Project Goal
To inspire visitors and residents alike, the film needed to be upbeat, creative, and fun. I wanted to capture the beauty, excitement, and energy of the island, as well as honor the history, culture, and people that make this island special.
This video has been very successful over the last few years. Part of the success I can attribute to the energy and style of the film, but part of it must be attributed to our approach for this vacation. This trip wasn't just about enjoying beaches and activities, it was about developing relationships with the people, as well. Throughout our time on the island, we struck up conversations with everyone we met — residents, business owners, chefs, workers... It was interesting to learn about their backgrounds, their hopes and dreams, and their lives on the islands. It went both ways — they were interested to learn about where we came from, our lives in the U.S., and my reasons for lugging around so much camera gear. They were truly excited when I explained what I was hoping to accomplish with my film, and they all looked forwared to seeing the finished product.
Happiness and Enthusiasm. The people we had met and spent time with had transformed into passionate advocates for my work. Residents shared the video, proudly showing their friends the beauty of their island. Business owners jumped at the chance to showcase not only their establishments, but the many other exciting esperiences to be found on the island. Travel agents and tourism professionals appreciated the authentic flavor of the video, and the national tourism board even kicked off their weekly social media campaign with my video.
While the engagement numbers for Facebook have tapered off, the numbers on Youtube have been steadily rising over the last few years, making it one of the more popular independent videos featuring Antigua. The video recently caught the attention of a producer for Lonely Planet, who was looking to produce a short film highlighting the sustainability efforts of Antigua and Barbuda. She was looking for footage that highlighted the beauty of the island, and she felt that footage from my video would be a perfect fit.
"Best in Travel 2021"
View the video on
The producer left out one key detail, though... The film she was producing would serve as the showcase piece representing Antigua and Barbuda and their selection as Lonely Planet's "Best in Travel 2021" award winner for "Sustainability, Emerging Destination!" Not only that, the film served as the thumbnail for the entire "Best in Travel 2021" awards campaign, receiving prominent placement just below the hero on the homepage. One of my iconic shots of Cocos Hotel and Jolly Beach even served as the thumbnail for the video. In case my excitement and enthusiasm seems muted, let it be known: this is a dream come true! This is LONELY PLANET!!
During our seven days on Antigua, we covered most of the western 2/3 of the island. There were many sights we wished we could have visited, but we would have simply been to rushed and wouldn't have had time to enjoy ourselves. I've highlighted many of the destinations that were featured in the video.