Award-winning aerial filmmaker and photographer Vadim Sherbakov shows us the vast beauty of West Siberia with his latest short film 'Spirit of Altai.' It was shot entirely on a DJI Air 2S drone. The Air 2S also happens to be our staff's top pick for most drone users. The film, which clocks in a little over two-and-a-half minutes, takes the viewer on a tour of an arctic region with snow-covered mountains and a winding river.
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'Spirit of Altai is a short drone film that immerses you into (the) beauty of that region, showcasing spectacular nature that seems almost prehistoric and untouched. From opening landscape of full bloomed autumn to first snow, from emerald green rivers to views above clouds, - this two minutes film takes you on an atmospheric journey across gorgeous nature of Altai,' Sherbakov tells DPReview.
Vadim also reveals that he used a variety of PolarPro ND (neutral density) filters. He is an ambassador for the brand. When a user on YouTube asked how to achieve this type of cinematic effect with footage shot on a consumer-grade drone, he says that he typically underexposes the footage while recording, shoots in D-Log, and post-processes with DaVince Resolve 17 software. Adobe After Effects was also used for the title. Stills from the project can be found on Behance.
Very impressive drone footage, though a drier looking, less forested landscape than I was expecting. The photos I've seen before of this region are rather like one from Altaysky District in the Altai Krai, more verdant. The comment feature doesn't seem to allow embedding as in the regular forums, so if you pull up the shot of Devil Mountain in the Altaysky District, Altai Krai article on wikipedia you'll find what I was expecting!
On another note, the more mountainous far eastern part of this region -- Siberia's highest mountain range, on the border between the Altai Republic and Khakassia -- is where the Lykov family of Orthodox Old Believers (a sect of Orthodox Christianity that keeps to pre-17th century liturgy) fled in the 1930s to avoid detection and were undiscovered until Soviet geologists prospecting for minerals found them in the late 1970s. It's an extraordinary story, of sadness and resilience.
I would suspect in that part of the world the lower the mountains the drier the climate. Barnaul, the principal city of the region, has a bit over 17 inches of rainfall a year on average -- 443mm. Elevation is about 600 feet above sea level, quite low for being thousands of miles inland. Think Edmonton, Alberta but with hotter summers and colder winters.
When drones first came on the scene I was wowed by the new perspective they offered. Now, with videos made entirely of drone shots it is rapidly becoming ho-hum and tedious. The problem is, if we look at the medium of cinema--video is the cousin version--the drone simply provides the establishing shot. From there we are supposed to go to the more standard local/detailed shot where we see things from the human perspective. This never happens in these drove vids and so we are left unsatisfied and feeling we just watched a novelty video--and the lovely is rapidly wearing off.
Mostly right, but you missing the point of that region entirely. This Altai republic more about the vast space not individual trees or rock. As far as I understand this author (based on his portfolio videos) not shooting humans or traditional travel blogs that YT are full of. Establishing shots only, b-roll is very stereotypical thoughts on a drone footages, and this video prove the opposite that even with “drone-only” shots you can create a beautiful and atmospheric pieces. Btw he has other film (forget the name) about big ice lake also in Sebiria with plenty of texture and close ups, so i guess this was done deliberately not to include those here.
Simple fact is, in addition to my original comment, there is no story so it gets dull very quick. As for the tiktok comment, learn to be polite or please remain silent.
First tiktok was a sarcastic comment (btw not directed to you, read it) as it is as opposite of this video as it could be and meant that if slow pace, cinematic and cool videos evoke only “boring” response a dancing clowns is a better alternative :) (sarcasm again). As for “no story” comment. You try to push you point to the point when its gets really thin. Drone only videos is rarely has story for the simple fact of its speciality (i speak from experience of creating a few). If creator personally choose not to shoot people, acting, animals or documentaries and proceed to specialize in utilizing drone only its a bit strange to comment the obvious and make it a bad thing. No story yes, but its never intended to be an obvious one i guess The story here is a landscape itself. Its like say hey there is no jokes in documentary so it’s boring.
So however you comment that there is no story is fundamentally right but also technically wrong to apply it to this video as its not intent to have one. If he would stated that its a feature film or documentary or any other genre that must included storytelling then you be absolutely right. Don’t get me wrong I do agree that drone only videos are not novelty any more and usually are pretty bad and boring (about 99% of them) due to the fact that drones are getting more accessible and more people without experiences flooded the internet with bad vids. But to “put down” this cool one based on a fact that you saw a thousand bad ones and you are bored because of them is a bit strange.
P.S. I didn’t see you ask to be silent or be polite to the “its propaganda” nonsense comments :)
Oh my God. What happened to humanity. A wonderfully filmed beautifully filmed landscape shared on a photography website bringing together enthusiasts from around the world, is propaganda now..
Dictator regimes should not be glorified and supported. Imagine how many people were tortured and killed in Siberia in GULAGs or concentration camps. There were hundreds of those concentration camps out there
StoneJack, you're absolutely unrelevant here. I'm from the place, there wasn't the camps in Altai Mountains. It's just a very beautiful place on Earth, almost undiscovered and rarely seen. The only propaganda here is your words.
Following Stonejack's logic the Bible Belt states should all be leveled because the guys back then were into slavery... Hint, the rivers and stones can't be blamed for what humans did. Now go take your pills.
No, Putin and Xi propaganda would be about regular people living happy lives with rich wage, perfect services, affordable products and so on. The average Russian or Chinese doesn't care what nature looks like in some remote corners of their vast lands, they don't have money or time to go to expendition to explore it.
So this raw nature exists despite the despots ruling their land. It does so because their countries are so huge there are large portions where hardly anyone sets foot.
Fantastic video, beautiful region. Especially in Winter and the shoulder seasons. Reach via mid 60's Tupolev 154 with Thunderbirds-inspired, nicotine-stained fit out. Great aircraft, fabulous country.
There is "Altai mountains" that spreads over the area as you say, but then "Altai republic" and "Altai krai" are only limited to Russia. Saying just "Altai" and can be very confusing.
Great cinematography. Beautiful landscape, marred by vehicle tracks everywhere. I'm not going to lecture the Siberians, but ask my fellow Americans to protect our wild lands.
If anything, precisely, this shows how ridicule we are when we measure ourselves and our self-attributed importance against the greatness and sheer majestic proportions of this blue orb of ours.
As an humbling exercise just think: If this or any other pandemic wiped us off the planet in the next 10 years, in 100 more the tracks would be the only thing that would have disappeared from those locations.
Everything else would, most probably, be exactly the same.
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