New movie -- ‘Seychelles From the Air’ -- now screening, to be online soon

Tourism |Author: Patsy Athanase and Betymie Bonnelame | July 22, 2016, Friday @ 09:36| 6830 views

Some 97 percent of the images have been shot with a camera drone, and others were filmed from the ground and even underwater. (Werner Schulz)

(Seychelles News Agency) - A new film titled ‘Seychelles From the Air’ created by a German-born naturalised Seychellois couple is now being screened in Seychelles and will soon be available online.

The 50-minute production, which captures Seychelles' natural beauty, was done by a local-based company, Greenhut Studio.

‘Seychelles From the Air’ is the brainchild of a German-born couple, Werner Schulz and his wife, Doris.

Described as a first for Seychelles, Werner, who settled with his family in the 115-island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean 42 years ago, said the production would appeal to both Seychellois and foreigners.

The film shows an aerial view of landscapes, beaches, villages and towns of the country’s three most populated islands -- Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. Schulz says the views have remained unseen up to now, except for helicopter pilots.

The couple said they wanted “to depict not only the beauty of Seychelles but also areas which are not within reach of the ordinary person as well as people’s activities and the culture.”

Using images, original sound tracks and ambient sound, the film uses small captions to tell the viewers what they are watching.

Werner, who has done several films about Seychelles before, said he found that the attention span of people dropped considerably when long commentary is used, so he has omitted it to appeal to a wider audience.

“A spoken commentary is not being also used to make the film internationally viewable – no language barriers,” Werner told SNA.

The commentary is only at the beginning of the film, where a 7-year-old boy has composed in his own imagined language, which he calls Company, a short introduction about the freedom of flying.

“We use this fact as a means to combine all people on earth, because it makes us all the same – as no one understands the meaning of these words,” explains Werner.

The film depicts not only the beauty of Seychelles but also areas which are not within reach of the ordinary person as well as people’s activities and the culture. (Werner Schulz) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

Some 97 percent of the images have been shot with a camera drone, and others were filmed from the ground and even underwater when there was the need arose.

The project took around two years as the couple had to wait for the perfect weather conditions to fly and film the locations.

Greenhut Studio is presently developing a website exclusively for the film and people can purchase their copy online.

The web address will be www.seychellesfromtheair.com. The film can be downloaded from there for $9.99. It can also be purchased as a standard DVD at a cost ranging from $15 to $22, and as a full HD on a USB pen drive for $19 to $26.

The Greenhut Studio has done other productions including Seychelles first and only international award-winning tourism film entitled, ‘Seychelles – Another World’ in 2008.

Two of its environmental documentaries are being screened on board Air Seychelles’ inflight entertainment system.