One question we often get is, "How long does it take to create one of your videos?" It's a great question, especially considering that our videos can be quite lengthy, with some stretching over an hour. Our longest video to date—an exploration of Lynnewood Hall—runs an impressive 1 hour and 36 minutes (you can check it out here: Lynnewood Hall Video). But to truly answer this question, we need to start at the beginning and take you through our entire process of exploring and filming these unique locations.
The Planning Phase
Before we even set foot on location, a significant amount of planning goes into each trip. We meticulously research and map out potential filming sites to ensure that every journey is worthwhile. With travel being costly, we can’t afford to be on the road continuously without maximizing our time and resources.
For example, I’m currently planning a three-week trip to France and Italy, with around 30 locations pinpointed on our route. These locations are scattered across the countryside, often requiring long drives to reach them. It's crucial to note that not every location we visit ends up being suitable for filming. Over the years, we’ve developed a more stringent set of criteria to determine whether a site is worth documenting. This process involves evaluating the history, architecture, and preservation state of each location.
On Location: The Filming Process
Once we arrive at a location, several factors come into play before we even consider filming. Firstly, there's always the possibility that the location is closed off or that neighbors notice our presence, preventing us from entering the property. This happens more often than you might think, especially in Italy, where elderly residents often keep a watchful eye on their neighborhoods from their porches. They’re like a 24/7 security team, and it’s a challenge we’ve come to expect.
If we do gain access, our next step is to assess the location's potential. We look for a sufficient number of furnished rooms and dig into the history of the place, both online and through any clues we find on-site. Talking to friendly neighbors in town also helps us piece together the story. This storytelling aspect is integral to our explorations because every house has a story, no matter how long it has been abandoned. What surprises us most is that we often find dozens of photos and documents left behind, helping us easily piece together a narrative about the former residents.
After gathering the story, we take our time to explore all the artifacts in the place, often spending around an hour photographing the most beautiful angles in the house. I remember one time in a castle where I took photos for over four hours—an exception, of course, as this castle had over 50 interesting rooms and was a masterpiece in every way!
Once the photography is done, we move on to capturing video shots of every room, while Danny focuses on detailed shots of the artifacts we plan to highlight. After all of this, we finally begin filming the main tour. Although the final video might be around an hour long, the filming process itself can take 2-3 hours due to retakes and unexpected challenges.
But we’re not done yet! After packing up and safely leaving the location, we still have to capture aerial shots with the drone. Most people don’t mind us flying the drone, but in France, privacy concerns are more common, and it’s not unusual for someone to get upset about it.
Overall, filming one location takes us around 4 to 6 hours on average. However, documenting larger places, like grand castles, can sometimes take 1-2 days. I recall one instance in Virginia where we filmed an abandoned university, which took us over three days to complete!
Crafting the Final Product
All of these steps—from initial research to on-site exploration—contribute to the final video you see. The length of our videos reflects the time and effort invested in each project, ensuring that every frame tells part of the story we've uncovered. So, while the video itself might be an hour or more, the journey to create it spans days, weeks, or even months of careful planning and execution. We also have a substantial backlog of videos because going out on these trips
requires effort, and we can never predict when new locations will become available. On average, we have around six months of footage filmed in advance. That’s why you sometimes see videos from wintertime when it’s clearly summer in Belgium!
We carefully select which video to show each week, trying to create a healthy mix of countries and locations to keep the content fresh and exciting. Recently, Danny has taken on most of the editing, handling everything from the music to the final layout of the video. I contribute by crafting and recording the stories you hear at the beginning of each episode.
Creating these videos is truly a dream job, and every step of the process is enjoyable in its own way. We hope this gives you a better understanding of the work that goes into each of our explorations. Stay tuned for more adventures as we continue to uncover the stories hidden within these remarkable places.
