First video: Tried to cut it shorter

[JooB]

Hi all, after I had finished my first video I noticed it was too long, even though I had tried to keep it as short as possible . 4:14 to give some impressions of our holiday location isn't short enough for most of you, but nevertheless I put it in the showcase section.

Then I started the dirty job: Cutting it shorter and shorter, which was difficult because I didn't wanted to destroy the story.
Here you can watch the result, 2:57 long. Compare it with the longer Showcase if you want.

I dropped some scenes, cut others shorter, speeded up some a bit, added some transitions.
What I didn't managed was making the first scene shorter, which is the longest. Speeding it up cut only some seconds or let it look funny. For me it's the most important scene because it shows all highlights of the area.

Any ideas or opinions?
Is it already short enough for you?
Of cause general critiques are welcome too.
And yes, next time I will clean the car's windshield before filming! ?

 

[Photo Beaty]

I did not have any problems with the length. I know there is pressure by some to keep videos under 2 minutes, however, for me it depends on the type of scenes, how fast the drone appears to be moving and how much I enjoy the music.

 

[DaveS]

The length is fine. The opening shot is good, nice slow pan and not too long. Also, folowing the couple walking on the beach was very nice. The many shots of housing did nothing for me. I wanted to see a nice circling of the lighthouse. Also, skip the night shot at the end, it's too dark and it's hard to tell the white dot is the moon(?). Instead, do an aerial of the sunset over the water, that would be better. Just one piece of music would be good too. I liked the 2nd cut form the end best. Good job flying though.

 

[JooB]

Thanks for your comments so far. DaveS, yes, circling the lighthouse was my idea too, but some seconds after the scene in the video ends I first lost the video connection and a second later everything else. Looking at the still running recording afterwards the drone hovered for about 20 seconds, then started a return to home, stopped near the lighthouse, readjusted the course and came back to me with a proper landing. It was my first forced RTH.

I suppose there was some radio interference with the still operating lighthouse antennas so I didn't try to get too close to it again. Perhaps next year I will be more courageous... And yes, it's the moon.