Quiet videos of other places?
September 4, 2020 2:22 PM Subscribe
Can anyone recommend longer videos that show off a place with a minimum of jump-cuts, voice-overs, and motion? I want to explore a place with my eyes, not my ears.
Helicopter/drone tours, walking tours, mellow views of the pretty things in a given destination.
I liked the series "Aerial America," but I wish they had left the U.S.A. And the AppleTV screensaver videos are a great example.
I have watched a bunch of Rick Steves videos, and they are nice, but he talks a lot. I really like the unnarrated YouTube videos by the Londoner called "Watched Walker," but he's earthbound.
I guess I'm looking for a combination of tourism and Slow TV: I want to see new places in this time when I can't go anywhere, you know? I just kind of want to swoop around cities and mountains and stuff.
Thanks in advance!
I liked the series "Aerial America," but I wish they had left the U.S.A. And the AppleTV screensaver videos are a great example.
I have watched a bunch of Rick Steves videos, and they are nice, but he talks a lot. I really like the unnarrated YouTube videos by the Londoner called "Watched Walker," but he's earthbound.
I guess I'm looking for a combination of tourism and Slow TV: I want to see new places in this time when I can't go anywhere, you know? I just kind of want to swoop around cities and mountains and stuff.
Thanks in advance!
One of the narrowboat channels I watch has uncut unnarrated realtime cruising videos (with audio, if you like - lots of birds).
Another channel has started a secondary channel with time lapses of their cruises, which might be too zippy for you. But narrowboats only travel around 2-3mph so speeded up is still about as fast as a bicycle.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:35 PM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
Another channel has started a secondary channel with time lapses of their cruises, which might be too zippy for you. But narrowboats only travel around 2-3mph so speeded up is still about as fast as a bicycle.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:35 PM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
Norwegian TV did a show a few years ago that was just a train ride from Bergen (?) to Oslo. They strapped a camera to the front of the train and then broadcast for 7+ hours. No commentary, just diagetic train noises.
posted by kevinbelt at 2:45 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by kevinbelt at 2:45 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
I am obsessed with the entire internet genre of relaxing, high definition cab view train rides, thanks to this MeFi post.
I mostly love Switzerland videos because I love Switzerland. There's a lot of creators out there, but the user lorirocks777 is my favorite. This a good introduction to see if this is what your looking for.
posted by lazaruslong at 2:57 PM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
I mostly love Switzerland videos because I love Switzerland. There's a lot of creators out there, but the user lorirocks777 is my favorite. This a good introduction to see if this is what your looking for.
posted by lazaruslong at 2:57 PM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
Kraig Adams youtube channel has a bunch of hiking videos with no talking (sometimes the last half or quarter of the video is him talking about what you just saw, but you can skip that part if you don't like it, and the main part of the video has no or very very little talking.)
posted by smcameron at 3:01 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by smcameron at 3:01 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Every so often I watch this video, shot from the front window of a suspended monorail in Japan. I find it very soothing.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:11 PM on September 4, 2020
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:11 PM on September 4, 2020
There’s this series of video walks and drone flights around Japan. It has a good mix of locations, times of day, weather, and seasons.
posted by chrisulonic at 3:24 PM on September 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by chrisulonic at 3:24 PM on September 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
WindowSwap
Settle into (ten minute) stationary videos of views from peoples' windows all over the world. I just popped into Ana's flat in Bergen while the sun was setting beneath some rain clouds, looking down a steep slope to the urban center of the city. Before that it was Adam's view in Bed-Stuy (and a dog sleeping calmly on the windowsill). Honestly sometimes I just have this up on my second monitor while I'm working for ambient noise and visual relaxation between tasks.
(Plus you can submit your own window view.)
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 3:37 PM on September 4, 2020
Settle into (ten minute) stationary videos of views from peoples' windows all over the world. I just popped into Ana's flat in Bergen while the sun was setting beneath some rain clouds, looking down a steep slope to the urban center of the city. Before that it was Adam's view in Bed-Stuy (and a dog sleeping calmly on the windowsill). Honestly sometimes I just have this up on my second monitor while I'm working for ambient noise and visual relaxation between tasks.
(Plus you can submit your own window view.)
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 3:37 PM on September 4, 2020
The Ghan is a 17hour documentary of the train that runs from Adelaide to Darwin. (DVD link)
posted by freethefeet at 4:34 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by freethefeet at 4:34 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Look on Youtube (or similar) for walking, walk city, virtual walk, walking tour, virtual treadmill videos. There are many for different cities (or non-city locations) of up to an hour, single shot, no cuts, no commentary (or just a brief intro).
So many, but for example:
Here's an hour of walking in the rain through Manhattan.
40 minutes of walking through a misty Scottish forest.
An hour wandering Helsinki (only a very brief spoken intro before it is just walking)
posted by AnnaRat at 4:50 PM on September 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
So many, but for example:
Here's an hour of walking in the rain through Manhattan.
40 minutes of walking through a misty Scottish forest.
An hour wandering Helsinki (only a very brief spoken intro before it is just walking)
posted by AnnaRat at 4:50 PM on September 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Stuart Murdoch, @nee_massey, Of Belle and Sebastian has been doing some lovely walks around Glasgow on twitter.
posted by sjswitzer at 5:35 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by sjswitzer at 5:35 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Oh and I had previously posted on this series "Walking in..." which is good for non-US/European locations (although it has some of those too) - long shot walks in Nepal, Vietnam, China, Palestine, Japan...
posted by AnnaRat at 5:38 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by AnnaRat at 5:38 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's a gent in Japan that does walking tours of all kinds of places (urban, surburban, some parks, etc.) -- with no intrusive voices or narration. There's a huge selection of them and they can range from 30 minutes to about 90 minutes, depending on the location and the weather that day. I find them very soothing for the most part, of course the ones around Tokyo can be a bit noisier, but sometimes I'll just mute them and put my own music on instead.
Rambalac Walking Tours of Japan
posted by Jade Dragon at 6:57 PM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Jade Dragon at 6:57 PM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
You already mentioned it, but I'll link to it here for others:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_television
Norwegian TV did a show a few years ago that was just a train ride from Bergen (?) to Oslo. They strapped a camera to the front of the train and then broadcast for 7+ hours. No commentary, just diagetic train noises.
In that WP article I linked to above, there's a whole section of that article describing the dozen-plus (!) videos that the Norway train system has published. "Starting in 2009 NRK, Norway's public service broadcaster, has produced several slow television programs that have gained high ratings. Sakte-tv (Norwegian for 'Slow-TV') was named Word of the Year in Norway in 2013."
posted by intermod at 7:01 PM on September 4, 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_television
Norwegian TV did a show a few years ago that was just a train ride from Bergen (?) to Oslo. They strapped a camera to the front of the train and then broadcast for 7+ hours. No commentary, just diagetic train noises.
In that WP article I linked to above, there's a whole section of that article describing the dozen-plus (!) videos that the Norway train system has published. "Starting in 2009 NRK, Norway's public service broadcaster, has produced several slow television programs that have gained high ratings. Sakte-tv (Norwegian for 'Slow-TV') was named Word of the Year in Norway in 2013."
posted by intermod at 7:01 PM on September 4, 2020
Thanks so much for all of these, please keep 'em coming!
posted by Rash at 7:19 PM on September 4, 2020
posted by Rash at 7:19 PM on September 4, 2020
Response by poster: Norway also did a real-time ferry trip that's something absurd like 28 hours long. That's more dedication than I have...I like a good thirty to sixty minutes, tops.
But these are awesome -- thanks, everyone! And keep them coming!
posted by wenestvedt at 7:55 PM on September 4, 2020
But these are awesome -- thanks, everyone! And keep them coming!
posted by wenestvedt at 7:55 PM on September 4, 2020
Best answer: There’s a PBS show called “Visions,” e.g. “Visions of France: Provence” that used to be available streaming on the PBS app but is now sometimes available on sketchier sites like DailyMotion. Might be available from other PBS sites and probably at the library on DVD if you’re that dedicated.
It’s just an hour of helicopter footage - I think there’s a bit of silly, mostly-ignorable voiceover.
posted by mskyle at 5:15 AM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
It’s just an hour of helicopter footage - I think there’s a bit of silly, mostly-ignorable voiceover.
posted by mskyle at 5:15 AM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Are you willing to pay a little? If so, check out Cooee. You can choose a place and a guide to walk you around that area one-on-one. I've done real life travel with two of the Nepal guides and they were both fantastic. There are lots of choices of places to explore.
posted by Cuke at 9:30 AM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Cuke at 9:30 AM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Ghan is exactly what you want! Footage from a train journey through the Australian outback.
posted by emd3737 at 9:01 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by emd3737 at 9:01 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's a new Hulu series called Vacation in Place that seems to offer just what you're looking for: 30 minutes of walking around in a natural place, with mostly sounds of nature and no talking.
posted by carrienation at 8:42 PM on September 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by carrienation at 8:42 PM on September 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: That "Vacation in Place" series would be great if they went to, say, a city, and not just California National Parks -- but those look good, so thank you!
posted by wenestvedt at 9:37 AM on September 10, 2020
posted by wenestvedt at 9:37 AM on September 10, 2020
Response by poster: I just found a YT channel called Living Walks that seems awesome: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3iId8RgPvwX7niHr37YjKg
It has walks in Britain, Spain, the Canary Islands, and other places.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:31 PM on September 10, 2020
It has walks in Britain, Spain, the Canary Islands, and other places.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:31 PM on September 10, 2020
Response by poster: My prayers have been answered, a hundred days later: https://escapista.app
posted by wenestvedt at 8:00 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 8:00 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
I saw the movie on Prime.
posted by Constance Mirabella at 2:33 PM on September 4, 2020