https://vimeo.com/437558430

Filmed and Edited by: Martien Janssen

SHADOW OF A DYNAST is the first and main movie of my Bagan timelapse pentalogy, using (motion controlled) timelapse, hyperlapse and dronelapse. The movie shows you one of worlds’ most incredible man-built locations as it still remains after a thousand years. It aims to capture that element of time that this location has withstood, while capturing the temples as they have survived until today, on this planet, in this galaxy. At the height of the Pagan Dynasty, this city was the centre of the universe with well over two million people trading between the ten thousand temples, by har the largest city on earth. Now all that remains is the ‘Shadow of a Dynasty’.

Capturing the footage for this movie turned out to become the craziest thing I’ve ever done. Apparently no one is allowed at the temples at night. One of the reasons are snakes. Myanmar turns out to be the deadliest country in the world for it. Long story short: I got way too close for comfort and the whole experience was more uncomfortable/dangerous than any other project ever before. I risked a lot for this project and spent a lot. It took me over 20 months, 3 visits of 11 weeks in total to get all the shots for this big project of 5 timelapse movies (a pentalogy) and a stunning drone movie. That lightning footage at the end was the ‘cherry on the icing of the cake’, you will never anything like it ever again, except in my Rogue Storm movie which is about that special night it occurred.

Music: ‘Legend’ by Ryan Taubert

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Bagan is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar.