Few journeys are more coveted than the Trans-Siberian railway from Beijing to Moscow. This video covering the 7,923 kilometers ride gives your the crispest and most beautiful insights in to every step along the way.
Those of you who follow me, might notice I feature certain photographers and videographers when they share new work. I know none of these artists in real life, nor do I owe them any debt of gratitude I am trying to pay off. My only motivation is a deep respect for the caliber of their work and my notion that high quality results achieved through hard work ought to receive the attention and notoriety it deserves.
I first shared filmmaker Dennis Schmelz's work back in April 2016 when he visited one of the places highest upon my "must visit" list: Lofoten, Norway. Then, in November 2017 he visited Greenland and I shared his work again. If you haven't seen these, you're in for a treat. Schmelz's videography could give a hermit crab wanderlust.
This time, we're taken along the famous trans-Siberian railway in a breathtaking tour of the way-points along its revered path. I always remark on the image quality, use of light, and color in Schmelz's videos and this new creation is no different on those fronts. However, for the first time I really paid attention to the sound effects being piped in to my ears. I didn't make a conscious choice to do so, and I can only guess that the wide and varied locations offered scope to get creative with the ambient sounds. Every chime and shuffle added to the sense that you are there, which is no small task for any filmmaker.
So sit back, open this video full-screen and in maximum quality, plug your headphones in, and put your wallets and purses far out of reach.
Oh, pul-eeze. 😜
Usually I get tired of these transitions quickly, as I feel they are extremely overused. But here, lots of them are pretty well placed, and the sound desing is incredibly good!
I think in this one it is way overused to the point that it is nauseating literally and figuratively. I had to stop watching it because it was creating motion sickness. Too bad because the footage and subject matter looked very interesting but it was killed in the editing process.
oh wow. I could not watch this video. The scene transitions were ridiculous. And I thought it was just me, but I see that others felt the same way. I also did not like the narration or music, this was just over the top. If this footage was reprocessed in the editing room - this could be a great video. As it is, I can't watch but small short segments without feeling dizzy. Each scene shot should be lengthened, write a new narration and be careful with transitions.
I watched the Schmelz's Greenland video too and still feel the same "too much" feeling and issues with transitions from scene to scene. Editing was done to ensure that the transitions were perfectly timed to the music emphasis and it got to be way too much - you expected a scene change on every music note emphasis. There was also a lot of short snaps from scene to scene. Yech!
You've left 3 comments here on Fstoppers, every one of them has been on one of Dennis Schmelz's videos and always putting the video down. I'm all for constructive criticism, but it seems you only log in to heavily criticise his work and do so while under complete anonymity. If you believe in what you're saying, put your name to it.
You will be ignored from here on out. Names do not devalue comments, or provide any verification, or demonstrate expertise (or not), or in the online world, mean anything at all. You are interjecting a straw argument in other words, and the ad hominen type of attack (attack the messenger because you do not like the message), which means your argument(s) are baseless, meaningless and without merit.
You did not even bother to try an address my actual points that were raised, which is yet another tactic used to "attack the messenger". Schmelze's videos DO suffer from the editing process (rather badly in my opinion, which as everyone is, I am entitled to and allowed to post). I went to the trouble of watching Schmelze's OTHER video to "see" if he still has the same issues - and indeed he does, and yet you try to change the argument to an ad hominen attack. You're utterly clueless.
Your attempts to "make this about me" versus the actual points raised in my comments reveals a lot about YOU. Either you lack the skill to make a valid rebuttal to the points raised or you engage in personal attacks all too often. Either way, you will be ignored from here on out.
Blimey, sensitive aren't you? I'm well versed on logic, thank you though. At no point did I suggest what you said was in some way invalid because you opt for anonymity, so ironically, you might want to refresh your memory on straw man. I even refer to your comments as constructive criticism. What I like to avoid, is people with a score to settle and as you'd only left 3 comments and all of them negativity about Schmelz's work, I wanted to make sure that wasn't the case. I'm pleased to hear it isn't.
I think this video is awesome, I couldn´t care more about the edit because the great achievement here is the journey, and it definitely it transported me.