Congratulations to AirVuz 2022 Drone Video of the Year Nominees!

AirVuz loves to celebrate our community's talent through our Drone Video Contests, with the ultimate honor going to our Drone Video of the Year winner! Wondering how videos get nominated? Each week, we review all uploads to pick the Top 5 videos and our Drone Video of the Week (DVOW) winner. The DVOW winners are then contenders for Drone Video of the Month (DVOM), and the DVOM Winners are automatically nominated for Drone Video of the Year! 8 wildcard nominees were also added to the mix, but we landed with just 1 winner! Congrats!   

Top contributor Drone My Life won the 2022 AirVuz Drone Video of the Year award for this fantastic video from the Faroe Islands, a Danish chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean.  Beautifully edited, the video combines footage from a DJI Mavic 3 Cine drone as well as first person view (FPV) drone footage.  Some of the featured locations include the úlafossur waterfall, which drops straight into the sea; and the needle-like Trøllkonufingur rock pillar.  Around the 1:24 mark, you'll fly (via FPV) through an impossibly-narrow canyon.

Multiple Drone Video of the Week/Month Winner denisbarbas brings us this magnificent drone video from the Dolomite Mountains, which span across the Trentin-Alto-Adigion and Veneto Regions in northeastern Italy.  In the highly inspiring piece, you'll follow this talented content creator on a spiritual journey through some of the world's most stunning alpine scenery, with views ranging from the iconic Lake Lake Braies (Pragser Wildsee) in the province of South Tyol to the famed three-peaked Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen).  

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Winner Muhamad AbuShakra brings us this magnificent drone video from the Alps Mountains in the heart of Europe.  Starting at the :10 mark, there's a great "reveal" shot from atop the three-peaked Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen) in the Dolomite subchain in northeastern Italy.  Numerous other shots feature the pilot and his companions standing atop impossibly steep-looking mountain ridges.  There are also some magnificent views of some of the region's valleys, lakes, and waterfalls.    

Prepare to be astounded by this magnificent first person view (FPV) drone video from Indonesia by award-winning contributor Timelab.pro.   The video opens with some jaw-dropping shots of the Mt. Bromo volcano complex in the province of East Java.  Starting at about the 1:00 mark, you'll soar over the famous Sekumpul Waterfall in the interior of the island of Bali.  Other highlights include a skimming run along the Bali coastline (2:08), a flyover of Bali's satellite island of Nusa Penida (3:30), and more.  

Prepare to be blown away by this stunning drone video from Mongolia by multiple Drone Video of the Week/Month Winner BashirAbuShakra.  This talented content creator spent 18 days traveling through some of the most remote areas of this giant Northeast Asian country.  At the :23 mark, there's a magnificent shot of a long-shadowed caravan making its way through the desert, followed by a great view of some fabled Mongolian wild horses.   The video includes some magnificent shots of the country's highly distinctive-looking rock formations.  

Prepare to be amazed by this stunning drone video from Namibia, compliments of contributor davetke2002.  Starting at the :16 mark, you'll see the Sossusvlei, a giant salt pan at the southern end of the Namib Desert.  At the 1:00 mark, you'll see the nearby Sossusvlei, a white clay pan which is home to some of the world's highest sand dunes.  At 1:45, you'll fly past the Spitzkoppe, a mountain which is sometimes called the Matterhorn of Namibia, and at 2:40 you'll see Walvis Bay.  Interspersed are some magnificent safari animal shots.   

Take in these stunning aerial views of Istanbul, Turkey, compliments of brand-new contributor Lokmansln.  The video opens with a shot looking through the Bosphorus Bridge (aka the First Bridge) towards the Çamlıca Tower on the city's eastern side.   At the :12 mark, you'll fly over the nearby Çamlıca Mosque (Turkey's largest), followed by a flyby of the Galata Tower.  At the :33 mark, there's a great shot of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the newest Bosphorus span.  Other locations include Maidens Tower, Rumeli Fortress, and more.  

Multiple DVOW Winner KASH brings us this stunning drone video from Hong Kong on the eve of the territory's implementation of much stricter regulations regarding drone flights.  Starting at aound the :10 mark, there's a nice shot looking toward some of the tallest skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island, and at the :16 mark you'll fly over the IFC's Tower 2, the island's tallest skyscraper.  Other highlights include some of the city's port faciities starting at 1:08, the skyscapers of West Kowloon (2:19), and more.  

Check out this fantastic professional drone reel from Kazakhstan by multiple Drone Video of the Week Winner baikensky.  The video features an impressive mix of landscape, cityscape, action, and "people" shots from across this vast Central Asian land which covers over a million square miles of territory (2.7k square km).  HIghlights include a spectacular shot of a giant rock formation at the :31 mark followed by a top-down view of a fighter plane, a series of movie-quality shots from the country's vast deserts, and much more.  

Basketball games at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina are something of a cultural phenomenon.  With five NCAA Men's Basketball Championship wins and 16 Final Four appearances through the 2020-21 season, the Blue Devils are one of the most storied names in college sports.  Top AirVuz contributor Jay Christensen was able to use a first person view "Cinewhoop" style drone to capture the action with this amazing fly-through of the Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the Blue Devils since it opened in 1940.   

Prepare to be blown away by this fantastic international travel drone reel by top  contributor Sandrine Hecq.  The video opens with a spectacular shot of the mountains around Cape Town, South Africa.  At the :28 mark, you'll see the massive Victoria Falls, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  From there, you'll head to a volcano in Indonesia, then head back to Africa for some stunning safari animal fly-overs.   Other highlights include France's Mont Saint-Michel monastery-fortress and the famed Cliffs of Étretat.   

Top AirVuz contributor ucarakkesfet shows off the power of the new DJI Mini 3 Pro with this fantastic drone video from Istanbul, Turkey.  The video opens with a shot of the Hagia Sophia, which began its life as a church before becoming a mosque and now a museum; it was the largest building in the world for centuries.  Then it's on to Galata Tower, one of the city's most well-known architectural landmarks.  Othe highlights include the Rumeli Fortress, Süleymaniye Mosque, the bridges of the Golden Horn, and more.    

Award-winning panvelvet brings us this fantastic drone video from the top of one of the world's highest skyscrapers.  Located in the city of Shenzen in the southern state of Guangdong, 115 story Ping An Center stands 555 meters at the roof (just over 1.8k ft.).  At the time of its completion in 2017, it was China's second-tallest building and the fourth-tallest in the world.  The video features jaw-dropping shots of some very brave individuals standing at the tower's apex.  Shenzen is China's fourth-largest city as of 2022.  

Legendary first person view (FPV) drone pilot ShaggyFPV takes us on the ride of a lifetime in this amazing bike-chasing video from Chile.  The video was filmed at the Red Bull Valparaíso Cerro Abajo event in Valparaíso, Chile's second-largest city.  In the video, he follows (with a single shot) Czech biker Tomáš Slavík (4x winner of the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships) as he rides down the city's narrow streets towards the sea.  This video was picked for the FPV Pilots to Watch list in December of 2022.  

Top contributor Julien Hulin has secured multiple Drone Video of the Week Finalist spots for his drone videos from the Brittany region of northwestern France.  In this amazing piece, he heads southeast to make a video showing the incredible natural beauty of the French Alps region.  The outstanding piece captures some of the spectacular alpine scenery of the area, including massive glaciers and razor-like rock ridges.  At about the 1:43 mark, there's a nice shot of the Pont du Châtelet bridge in the municipality of Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye.  

Check out this magnificent drone video of the city of Lviv, Ukraine by AirVuz contributor Tymoshenko Pavel.  The video opens with a shot of the Lviv Town Hall, one of the most recognizable landmarks in the western Ukraine's largest city.  Next stop is the Dominican Church, also located in the city's Old Town.  Starting at about the 1:11 mark, you'll see the Potocki Palace, which was built in the 1880's.  Other featured locations include the 18th century St. George's Cathedral (1:45), the Bernardine Church and Monastery (2:20), and more.  

AirVuz contributor Tiborianer used a DJI Mavic Pro 3 drone to create this magnificent aerial tour of the city of Hong Kong.  The video opens with a magnificent shot from over the Central Business District on Hong Kong Island towards the Kowloon Peninsula, on the mainland.  At the :10 mark, there's a nice view of the Central Plaza, the tallest skyscraper in Asia when it was completed in 1992.  Other highlights include International Finance Centre at the :30 mark, a container port faciity (:48), the Bank of China building (1:11), and more.  

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Winner smakozawr brings us this fantastic drone video from Ukraine as the country struggled to defend itself against a Russian invasion in the winter of 2022.  The video features spectacular footage from across this dynamic Eastern European country.  Some of the many highlights include the capital city of Kiev, including its Dneiper River bridges, monuments, and churches; the Carpathian Mountains in the southwestern part of the country; some of the vast Ukrainian grain fields; and much more.  

Top contributor KASH won his second DVOW contest with this amazing piece from Hong Kong.  The video was shot with a Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT camera mounted to a DJI Inspire 2 drone.  At the :24 mark, there's a great shot looking north towards the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Center, with the gleaming Central Plaza skyscraper in the background.  At around :37, there's a nice nighttime shot of Victoria Harbor looking towards Kowloon.  Other featured locations include the Bank of China Tower (:56), Two IFC Center (1:00), and more.  

Legendary first person view (FPV) pilot JohnnyFPV has probably done more than anyone on the planet to introduce highly cinematic FPV footage into the main stream.  Whether it's filming commercials for Porsche or shooting FPV footage for the big-budget feature film Red Notice, he is at the forefront of this emerging art form.  No surprise then that he was tapped by the National Football League to help create promotional footage for the 2022 Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, some of which you'll see in this epic video.