MAKING A FILM about your own adventure has never been so easy. With the size of cameras shrinking daily, editing software so simple your granny could use it, and an ever-multiplying array of video content outlets, the climate is ripe for even the most technophobic adventurer to create their own film.

To avoid your Emmy-winning hopes ending up unwatched and unloved somewhere in the dark recesses of YouTube, have a gander at these 10 simple tips to self-filming.

1. Get the right kit for your environment and familiarize yourself with it before you go. Something small, robust, easily rechargeable, and able to withstand extremes of temperature is ideal.

2. Adventures often take place in remote locations devoid of power sources, so you need to consider how you’re going to charge your kit. In-car power inverters (for vehicle based adventures such as the Mongol Rally) and solar chargers are two options.

3. Don’t shoot hours and hours of footage. Sixteen hours of fast-moving tarmac isn’t interesting for anyone and when you get home you won’t want to trawl through this to find the only three decent shots.

4. Create a story. A 10-minute film, cut to music, with no dialogue and no engagement with characters, is boring. Create a beginning, a middle and an end and as much as possible use piece to camera dialogue and voice over.

5. Film the bad bits. Jeopardy and adversity are what makes a good story. Film yourself being sick, crying, arguing with your companions…anything with a bit of drama.

6. When doing an interview or shooting something static like a view or a sunrise always use a tripod. If weight is an issue then try the Gorillapod. As well as making a sunrise look fabulous it can also be wrapped round handlebars or strapped to backpacks.

7. Keep it simple — get your subject in the frame, hold shots still, and avoid crash zooming, panning, and tilting. Unless you’re a professional or have a dolly track, anything but a still shot will generally look awful.

8. General views are always useful for editing. Get shots of scenery, clouds, sunsets, people, villages — anything that illustrates your experience and the place you are traveling through.

9. Don’t forget the sound. This is a classic amateur film-makers faux pax and can render even the most beautifully shot film useless. How are you going to record sound? Can you use a radio microphone? How good is your camera’s inbuilt mike? If you’re using something simple like a Flip, with an inbuilt mike make sure you’re out of the wind, in as quiet a location as possible and as close to your subject as possible. If you want broadcast quality sound, be prepared to invest a bit of money in it.

10. Shoot from lots of interesting angles; shoot wide, medium and tight. Get high shots, low shots and panoramic views. This will make for a much more dynamic, visually interesting film once you cut it all together. Whatever angle you are shooting from, though, make sure the camera is as still as possible.

Once you’ve filmed and edited your adventure the next step is finding an outlet for it. Getting broadcast commissions may be harder than crossing the Darien Gap, but there are a growing number of excellent adventure film festivals out there clamoring for quality content.

You never know, you may even win a prize.

A version of this article originally appeared in Adventure Journal