New York City DVXUSER Crew Presents: Katrina

I just sat down to burn Katrina_HD to disc and just realized Nero doesn't handle
qt files. I tired changing the extension to mov but it didn't read. I thought of putting it in vegas and rendering an
uncompressed avi but I don't get an audio track. Any plans in the future to put up an avi?
Or is there a way to do it? Just wanted to watch it on the TV.
Thanks ahead of time.
 
Output the Audio from QT as a WAVE file. then drop that under the origional H264 in Vegas. you get perfect results.
 
Mark, Timur, Aram and the rest of the Katrina folks--that was some slick stuff! I am impressed on many different levels. And btw, thanks for posting an HD version of it. Very nice--you guys nailed the film look and it's nice that even using a 35 adapter held up well in an HD frame. It was quite beautiful, and just for kicks I watched it in black and white, which seemed to sell the noir feel a little better. (I know it's a cliche', but still)

Excellent work. :)
 
thanks for coming to check us out, Elton.

I am finally going to get to see the 720 on a big 60" HD TV later on tonight. Timur's dad bought one. Can't wait.
 
Mark Harris said:
I am finally going to get to see the 720 on a big 60" HD TV later on tonight. Timur's dad bought one. Can't wait.
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Nice. I'm gonna plug it into my 720p projector tonight and watch it at 144". :)
 
duuuuuude, you GOTTA give us a report on how it looks. We screen it in a movie theater on Mar 13th, but I would love to hear how it handles the blow-up for you.

M
 
The proper viewing distance is about 18 feet back, which is where the couch in my HT room is positioned. It's really big, but not too close.

I'm sure it'll look great because the encoding is pretty decent. I'm surprised by that actually because I checked the bit rate in QT player and it said 2108 Kbs, which is extremely low for a 720p clip...but it looks pretty good on my LCD monitor.

I'll give you a report tonight some time. :)
 
hey mark. my flight lands at 1030 in laguardia. i should be home 1130 ish??? i will call you when i land. bring your laptop. mine isnt fast enought to play the 1.3 gig version. i will call you when im almost home.
 
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KATRINA - REVIEWED

G'day gang. So I FINALLY got to check out Katrina, twice in a rizzow, and I'm pretty impressed at the solidity of your production. If this was competing, I know exactly who the winner would be. Regardless, I think you've won yourself more than what the DVXfest prize could give: A great team and a great product to show.

Gotta start off by saying that I, personally, enjoyed the dialogue. At some points, it seemed as though longer sentences wanted to fit into smaller time frames, but were delivered well-enough to keep everything moving forward. Dialogues a tough deal for writers, man! Good job, Mark Harris. Keeping on the idea o'writing here, I'd like to know if what you invisioned translated to screen (of course given the budget restraints). At times, during the second watch, it felt like there were parts where we lingered a bit long.

For example: The hotel scene where Katrina and Eric/Jack are getting into it felt like it played on a bit long. I really got the tension between the two, and the backstory came out through the alleway interaction and the very beginning of the hotel room scene. I mean, I got to see them hate each other, flirt with each other, and then they lock lips. I got it, but I'm just wondering if it lingered on that long in the script. My second example was the final shot, where Katrina takes her seat next to Eric/Jack. I was expecting something to happen, but she just kept smiling. That's probably all an editing thing, though, now that I think about it.

Boy, did it look GREAT though. I liked your hotel room scene, and the night exterior, but the image really shined in the bar. There's probably plenty of good reason for that, or that might just be my opinion. Overall, I think the team pulled off some really fantastic looking HVX+Adapter footage. Very creative lighting, well framed shots. I think my favorites were always Eric/Jack and the "Debt Collector". They just looked awesome, to me.

I do have a quesiton about the hotel scene. I noticed that there's a healthy amount of yellow or "warm" tone. First, I thought that this might just be the aesthetic chosen. What threw me off is, during the kissing scene, the tones are even and a bit more pleasant. Well, less taxing on the eyes than the warm. I think if it had been consistant, I would've gotten beyond it with the thought that this was an aesthetic choice. The switch between threw me. Was that intentional?

Woooo sound quality was good, you guys! On a second watch, just for critiques, I wasn't exaclty feeling the score. I noticed it more the second go around because I opened my eyes to the production. But, aside from that, foley, etc... sweet.

And your actors, as always it seems, are pretty damned decent. Lucky to have them working for ya, man. I can't say that I have too many qualms about the acting, if any at all. Then again, I'm only called to attention in this aspect when something just doesn't "feel" right. By the way, Harris, good job!

I'd just like to know: Do you feel this could be a good two minutes shorter? Anything that you could slice out to make a extremely tight ten or eleven minute? I can't put my finger on it, but sometimes it feels like it drags a bit.

Do you think the black-space intro is necessary? I'm not saying that it isn't or that it is, I just want to know if you (Mark Harris) feels that it's totally necessary to get the point across?

All around an awesome short. You guys made me even happier to be an HVX owner... cause you know I'm always harping about a noisey-ass picture. (I've since learned that I should probably try using the settings. =P) I also can't wait to purchase me own SGproRev2. This is a great advertisement for Wayne Kinney!

Sorry for getting to this one so late! I still have to have a watch on my TV!
 
Hey Kholi, thanks as always for the review. I will get on it in the morning and answer some of the stuff - you know, tell you what an ignorant buffoon, you are.

j/k - one thing this fest was sorely lacking in was more massive Kholi reviews...
 
Mark Harris said:
Hey Kholi, thanks as always for the review. I will get on it in the morning and answer some of the stuff - you know, tell you what an ignorant buffoon, you are.

j/k - one thing this fest was sorely lacking in was more massive Kholi reviews...
Click to expand...

I so couldn't do it this time. I feel totally bad. I'm still pretty sick as it is, and while that's no excuse, just couldn't do it!!!

But I REALLY liked Katrina. Pretty much tells me that whatever I do, I have a seriously high bar to reach for.
 
I think of anyone's reviews I may look forward to the most, it's Kholi's. He just pours himself into them, and it's much appreciated.

He's right though, you guys are a ROCKIN' advertisement for Kinney's SGPro. I remember doing a test/shoot out with it a year ago, and it looks like he's made TONS of improvements, and you guys have maximized it big time. VERY little light loss, I'm assuming?

All I can say is THANKYOU for going over 6 minutes ... Or our film would have been 3rd, at best.
 
the old Sg35 was kinda sucky cause it had a bad Acromat. The new parts are custom made, and are SICK.

the light loss was about a stop.

Its an amazing Adapter.
 
Do what you gotta do mang.

but we were also stopped down three stops to keep the lenses Sharp. and look how good it payed off...... :)
 
Katrina Crew,

I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the photography in your short. Top notch stuff. I was unaware that the film ran long - I guess I'll have to go back and watch it again to see how far it ran over.

It is too long. Now, this is coming from a shooter who has never been able to edit, so take that for what it's worth. Anyway, you could have lost 95% of the black introductory sequence and much of the fat. Certain scenes, like the one at the top with the collection agent and Erik were perfect. Again, great coverage and choice of shots all the way through that scene.

The bedroom stuff was agonizingly long. The standoff could have been a third shorter.

I think my reaction to the length is attributable to the fact that your film and Heritage were my two favorites across the board. I think that if you'd made some difficult (and not really difficult) edit decisions, a shorter version likely would have taken the contest based on your lead's performance and the aforementioned stellar tech. Music reminded me of Taxi Driver - loved it.

Anyway, congrats on a great short. I hope it continues to open some doors for your team moving forward.

e
 
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