so ive been flying for about eight months now and honestly my raw footage looks fine but whenever i sit down to edit something together it just feels flat and boring. like the clips are technically okay but they dont have that flow that you see in the travel videos and stuff on youtube.

i shoot mostly landscape stuff, some coastline, a bit of countryside. im using a mini 3 pro if that matters. i know the basics like reveal shots and the orbit but im wondering if there are specific shot types or transitions that people actually use when theyre putting together a proper short film or travel reel. not looking for a full tutorial just curious what others actually find themselves reaching for when theyre in the edit and what they wish they had shot more of on the day

honestly the thing that changed everything for me was forcing myself to shoot more ground level stuff to cut between the aerial. like having a clip of waves crashing on rocks from eye level, then cutting to the drone pulling back to reveal the whole coastline ? that contrast is what gives it the cinematic feel. pure drone edits with no ground footage tend to feel monotonous no matter how good the shots are individually.

also really underrated thing ? slow your footage down in the edit even if you didnt shoot in slow mo. even a tiny bit of speed reduction on a reveal or a push forward can make it feel way more intentional. and shoot into the sun more, the lens flare and the light bleed on water is basically free production value if your horizon is clean

the orbit shot is one i kinda ignored for ages thinking it was too basic but when you do it slow and low with something interesting in the foreground it actually cuts really well. also the top down straight down spin is super overused in short reels but if you only use it once in a longer piece it works great as a kind of punctuation moment if that makes sense