New York City DVXUSER Crew Presents: Katrina

TimurCivan

TimurCivan

Director of Photography
Staff member
In additon to the mirrors, we are also offering a couple of different 720 versions of KATRINA:

Each of these 3 is about 200 megs, has some artifacting from compression, but is a decent compromise between quality and size.
http://www.eefilm.com/katrina/katrina_h264_HD.mov
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/katrina/katrina_h264_HD.mov
http://www.timur civan.com/katrina/katrina_h264_HD.mov ( I am Fresh out of bandwidth)

This one is a SUPER high quality 720, that looks pristine and is about 1.12 gigs.
http://www.eefilm.com/katrina/katrina_h264_HD_best.mov

Thanks to Norm for helping us host these larger versions!
​

1165099482.jpg


The New York City DVXuser Crew as a whole is a nearly perfect production team. Its members include Myslelf, Mark Harris, Steve Boling, Aram Bauman, Leslie Goff, Alex DePew and last but not least Alexander Lewis. We have all become friends, and without the help of these friends, and their unwavering dedication to our "Katrina" project, Mark and I have descided to make Katrina a group entry into the DVXuser.com DramaFest, to reflect everyones hard work. Hence forth in this contest, the film will cease to be a Mark Harris / Timur Civan Film, but instead a NYC DVXUSER Group Film. Team work is whats its all about.



CAST:
Godfrey L. Simmons Jr.
Lindsey Liberatore
Brandon Ladd
Mark Harris


Written, Directed, Produced, & Edited
by
Mark Harris

Director of Photography
Timur Civan

Gaffer
Aram Bauman

Assistant Director
Leslie Jaye Goff

Assistant Camera
Alex Lewis

Grip
Alex Depew

Grip
Gary Waldinger

Production and Set Design
Steven Boling

Costume Deisgn
Martina Melendez

On-Set Costumer
Jill D'Oronzo

Music Composed & Performed
by
Herman Witkam

Sound Design, Foley, & Sound Mix
Joe Johnson

Titles & Animation
Peter Gagnon

Production Services
Black Watch Productions

Casting, Props, Locations
Mark Harris

Shot on location in Brooklyn, USA
​




Some Grabs!

1169124600.jpg

1169124619.jpg

1169124636.jpg

1169124962.jpg

1169125313.jpg



BTS:
DSC00361.JPG

(JimTheJib)

DSC00338.JPG

(Steve2bees)

DSC00328.JPG

Alex Depew, Godfrey Simmons, Brandon, MsMAnhattan, MArk harris, and me hiding behind the china ball.
 
Last edited:
More Grabs!
1169143436.jpg

1169143472.jpg

1169359059.jpg

1169362089.jpg

1169360181.jpg

1169473798.jpg

1169473823.jpg


WORKFLOW:

Here is some information on the workflow we are using to shoot Katrina. First off we are using the HVX / SGproREV2/ Serious magic HD rack software combination. we are shooting 720/24P over 60P with a 2:3 pull down. The reason for this is that the HDrack software cannot capture 24pN.

Footage logging: While theoretically we can shoot without Cards, i opted to keep the camera with a P2 card inside. the reasoning is this. If the Fire wire cable should be disconnected for any reason, and the HD rack capture be interrupted, the P2 card will be capturing the shot and the take is not wasted. since its flash, who cares if it gets full. When it fills, i reformat after the end of the take, and continue recording. HD rack is a GREAt piece of software, and its full res 720P Monitor while sharp, has a 1/2 second lag, and doesnt display the full framerate, leading to the image being jerky. This was a major problem for me while operating the camera as i couldnt frame up while the actors moved, because of the lag. However, i had a lowresolution, 16:9 DVD player with me for framing purposes, and this quickly solved the problem. The HD rack monitor is SUPERB for Focusing however, its Razor sharp.

Camera/SGpro: The HVX is truly an EXCELLENT camera. we utilized The Variable framerates, the natural, rich lush look it provides and in combination with its high dynamic range, and great highlight handling it provided a very film like latitude with great definiton. Aram, Alex Depew, Steve Bowling and I lit the set very carefully. I made a plan to light the set until we could reach a proper exposure at F2.8 on my 35mm Canon FD lenses. The reason i settled on F2.8 is this. i have 5 primes. the slowest of the bunch are two lenses, both F2.8, probably closer to T3.0 - T3.5. My theory is as follows, if you can light until your darkest (slowest) lens gets proper exposure to the camera, then you can interchange freely among the different lenses, without a disparity of wide ranging exposures in the footage. On Bloody Mary, some of the footage was VERY dark in comparison to the different setups in the same scene, because i used a slower F4 Wideangle lens as a wide shot to closeups shot with a 55mm F1.2. the CU's were about 3 stops brighter, and matching up the footage in post was difficult. ( thank you Zoe White (future ASC member for sure) for helping me realise this) Now if we had lit the scene to a point where the F4 lens had proper exposure, we could always close down the F1.2 lens, to compensate for added brightness ( or stop down the dvx iris to maintins the F1.2 super SHDOF instead). Also the added benefit is that the lenses get alot sharper when you stop down a bit, this is espacially evident in HD.

The SGpro Rev2 adapter is a hidden secret among 35 adapters. ITs the best 35 adapter that noone knows about. WAyne kinney, whom i have had an ongoing email conversation with for over a year, has kept me updated to all the advancements, and refinements hes been making in his design. Esssentially it breaks down like this. its a Spinning GG adapter, like the M2. Unlike the M2, it exhibits almost no vingetting, and because of a professionally designed, custom Achromatic Diopeter, it exhibits ZERO chroma Aberation, and No resolution loss on the edges of the frame. Also Waynes Secret weapon, the "magic GG" as he calls it. he wont tell me what he does to it. And quite frankly i dont care so long as it keeps putting out the image quality that it does. Pay attention to the quality of the Bokeh. it most closely resemebles 35mm Film, out of all the 35 adapters, including the Mini35. Its rich and solid, and doesnt allow the residual image to Ghost though creating a low quality look. This great piece of equiptment in combination with Great Canon FD lenses, provided us with a superb and fully controlabe camera setup. Because all my lenses are FD SSC lenses, and are spherical in build, they exhibit that distict charachteristic, found in most cinema lenses, the round disc of out of focus light. The fact that we matched the lenses in apeture helped meld the different charachteristics of the lenses together, and created in essence a "matched" set of Primes.

I am using:
Zesnar 16mm F2.8 Semi Fisheye
Canon FD 24mm F2.8
CAnon FD 35mm F2.0 SSC
Canon FD 50mm F1.4 SSC
Canon FD 55mm F1.2 SSC
Canon FD 125mm F2.5 SSC
Zesnar 200mm F 3.5 (su

Now you may be askin why do i have a 50mm and a 55mm??? The reason is the two lenses have different looks, the 55mm has a bit of barrel distortion at full wide when focusd up close, this creates a very unique effect that i put to good use. also, since closing down to F1.4 is a possibility, the lens instantly gets much sharper, and still retains almost no light loss. Also, the Zesnar lenses are Russian made lenses, based on german designs. They are relativly inexpensive, but perform very well.


AS far as the look goes, i was interested in crating a Dark smoky look. Incase you hadn't notices based on the poster. :D.

I conferred with aram, that i wanted mostly hard back lighting, with Semi Hard Keylights, and Soft fills. I was influenced by the looks of films like "Cape Fear" "Out Of Sight" "The Underneath" and "The Black Dalia". My art references were, Edward hoppers drab, lonely worlds, Cindy Sherman's nostalgic sarcasm, and some of my own tricks ;) . While i didnt exactly copy any of these looks, i was very interested in incorporating my own art photographs into this. The hard, bright lights, and gels, to reference a kind of superreal that only works in Photgraphs, Theatre and Film. Its increadible how much disparity from reality the eye will tolerate so long as its beautiful. I hope the photographs i have taken you will all find beautiful. But you have to look fast, cause they flash by 24 times a second.......


BTS Update:

http://www.chocolatemilkfilms.com/Katrina_Pics/Katrina_Pics.html

LAst day of principal photography. On location with Godfrey and MArk.
1169450937.jpg
 
Last edited:
Wait till you see my comedy stand up about DVXusers for my 2000 post video. Brandon is one of the people I bust on about this. Hope you have a thick skin.
 
Its still in production. The thing about stand up comedy is that the audience reaction makes it a lot better as a viewer. Watching someone do stand up with no laughter is kind of weird.
 
When I read the title I first thought it was going to be about the hurricane that shared the same name. I was pleasantly surprised when seeing the poster and how cool it looks. Good job with the poster. I'm interested to see what the story is
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top