Seoul Searching

With my recent purchase of the GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition it’s safe to say my videos are going to look 10x more sexy while Seoul searching and adventuring around.

Not only is the image quality stepped up massively from my old Sony Handycam but the shooting options are amazing on this thing. Of course the best thing is you can stick it on your forehead and go do stupid S&#*!.

I shot this footage about half an hour after unwrapping the thing in a coffee shop with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas day.

What I talk about, other than the GoPro, is just how big the city of Seoul is. It’s a beautiful monstrosity. Thirty minutes of walking and I’d barely covered any ground.

But enough talk – check out the video, and make sure to change the resolution to HD!

[youtube 5p9E5ByZKrs 640 360]

How great is that quality??

Seoul Searching

I shot the video walking from Yongsan, not far from Itaewon, to Seoul station. That’s not a big sample of the city but it still took me a fair amount of time to walk the distance. I was great to get a sense of the sprawling layout of the city.

As you saw in the video I talked to a few strangers. Koreans are not that used to this sort of thing. It’s pretty common to have them freeze up and then make a break for it at the first opportunity. If you’re friendly and barrel through this you can get into some very interesting conversations.

At the very least, you can rely on “Korean kindness” from the people. Korean, even if they’re strangers, will go far out of their way to help you out. If you get lost you can just ask a passer by and there’s a good chance you’ll have a personal tour guide for the next few minutes.

As for exploring the city, well, I haven’t even scratched the tip of the iceburg when it comes to experiencing all the amazing things in Seoul. There are a million cool things to do in this massive city. If you come here as a teacher you’re making some good money too, which makes it easy to actually get out there and do them.

So much more Seoul searching to do πŸ˜‰

Any thoughts or comments? Leave them in the comments section below!

Life in Korea

9 thoughts on “Seoul Searching

  1. alex on

    Awesome vid bro!!

    Great quality – thought it was on the other cam at first – really dope!

    lol @ those girls in the beginning haha!

    was thinking it would be really cool to know seoul better and the people better if you spoke to some of them. like around 1:24 there’s a guy spinning on his bike… would be so cool if you see him and just run up and say “hooohhh that’s so cool!! i’m filming my life in seoul and showing the world how amazing it is here – do you wanna say hello world and maybe tell us how you got so good at bmx etc…”

    Like with that girl on the street haha so awesome! πŸ™‚

    or say maybe you do a little segment on a new restaurant each video and you interview the waitress or something πŸ™‚

    would also be really cool to contextualise if you did a map graphic (can do cool zooms even like what if you did google maps then streetview zoom into the exact location you’re standing and then transition from google streetview into your actual gopro feed :P) like when you say “seoul is so big”, you could cut to map with a marker for where you’re standing at that moment or something.

    another cool vid i’d love to watch would be like speed up time lapse walk down streets and can pause on areas and speak to someone then speed it up again – can even do map with marker that moves as you do through the city GTA style haha

    great vid bro -looks like your’e having such a great time!

    Excited to visit – working on it πŸ™‚

    1. Alex Stevenson on

      Totally feel ya on all those points.

      My main vision right now is to meet, talk to, and capture those moments with real people. There are enough lame sight-seeing videos out there. I want to really get in there and capture what it’s like to be on the ground, actually meeting people and doing cool stuff.

      Vice documentary style πŸ™‚

  2. Clayton on

    Hey what settings do you shoot on your goPro?

    I always shoot in 720p just to keep the file size down and so it lines up with my DSLR footage which is also 720p.

    But I’ve never gone higher than that….

    Do a timelapse of the city too!

    1. Alex Stevenson on

      I had literally just got it so it was basically – “turn on, point and shoot!” for this one.

      But I’m thinking 1080p at 30fps is a sweet option. The Hero 3+ Black Edition goes up to 4k but then it’s only 12fps. I’ve heard the 2.7k at 24fps is awesome for super hi res.

      Next vid is coming up is going to be of cherry blossoms at day/night, actually.

  3. The Travel Liz on

    Hallo Alex!

    I agree with you that the best way to explore a new place/city is by walking… and talking to strangers – even though I’m good with getting lost when I get distracted by awesome coffee shops & weird conversations. Oops.

    I like the quality of the video and I look forward to stalking your next videos ( ;

    Happy travels & blogging!

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