Catman post, Catman do

I had a bit too much to drink tonight at Devil's Canyon, and wouldn't you know it but here I am updating the Catman do Blog. I am glad that I have finally made time (as always, with Nate's nagging assistance) to restore this little corner of the web back to operation, more or less how it was 13 years ago. Most of our catalogue is finally on our YouTube channel, including the first wide release of Liquid Strike 3, ten years in the making. Plus a never-before-seen LS3 "highlight reel" from Robert. I've also restored the Catman do Homepage to a new URL and updated it to reflect our current reality.

Here's to 13 years of goofing off and staying up late when we should have been doing our homework. I hope you enjoy these artifacts of our past.

Eliot

Success! I was miraculously able to open the ancient Gamma Squad Final Cut 2 project file from Mac OS 9 with Final Cut 5 and link it up with the raw footage I pulled from my backup drive over spring break, allowing me to access the most recent cut of Expendable in full quality! I am grateful to be spared the tedium of reconstructing the latest cut from EDL files or, worse, re-editing it based on a quicktime.

This is a huge leap forward on the Expendable restoration project. I think I will try to do a little more sound design and then the film should be ready to print.

Now I finally have a high quality teaser trailer. I cleaned up the audio a bit and posted it to YouTube (check it out in high quality if you have the bandwidth):



I also now have access to the materials I need to start working on the DVD extras... although I think Nate would appreciate it if I channeled my efforts into the LS3 fine cut instead.

Labels: expendable, trailer, video

From the Catman do vault comes the short that started it all:

Liquid Strike: Action Redux Edition



Note: B is the canonical ending, though C is our favorite.

As for Liquid Strike III... I have no idea where the past two years went. I am still waiting for Nate to pick music he likes for the briefing scene. I have also not worked on the fine cut or sound design for a long time. On the plus side, I now have access to Soundtrack Pro, Protools, and a large professional SFX library thanks to Chapman. The only thing I lack is enough free time. I will try to make time to work on it, and hopefully we can have a premiere by the end of this summer.

I am currently restoring Expendable. I have a fine cut printed but scene 2 is out of date, and it is taken from an intermediary copy which may have slightly degraded the video quality. I just pulled the raw footage off my backup drive up north so I can work on it at school down south, allowing me to incorporate the final cut of scene 2. While I'm at it I may also go back to the source footage for scene 1 where possible to ensure the highest video quality.
Once I'm done I may sweeten the soundtrack a bit, and I can put it up on YouTube. I'd like to spend some more time on the DVD- commentary, featurettes, easter eggs, etc. so don't hold your breath on that.

Labels: expendable, full, liquid strike, video

Here is a short film we made over winter break to demonstrate our blood effects rig.

Labels: full, video

Here at Catman do, we're gearing up for the release of Liquid Strike III. It's coming soon- hopefully we'll premiere it in a few weeks. I cut this theatrical-length trailer to give you a taste of what we have in store. (Also to stop Nate from showing the crappy months-old quicktime of my unfinished assembly cut.) Enjoy!

Labels: liquid strike, trailer, video

I'm pleased to announce the release of the first teaser trailer for Liquid Strike III via YouTube. If you want the high-quality version, send me an email.

Labels: liquid strike, trailer, video

In film news:
We have nearly finished shooting Liquid Strike III: Blood Legionnaires. All that's left to do is to shoot pick-ups and edit. I'd say that I'm about 1/4th done with the rough cut, optimistically.

We also decided to start our own YouTube channel for showing our films. A lot of the videos that used to be hosted on my website but were taken down due to bandwidth concerns can now be re-posted on YouTube.
You can access the Catman do Films channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/catmandofilms

We will be adding videos in the coming weeks. Maybe you'll even get a teaser for Liquid Strike III!

A few updates for the record:

1. I have finally finished the Wedding Video and burned it off to DVD.


2. Production has resumed on Liquid Strike III. We are about halfway done with shooting.

That is all.

In film news:
I will be resuming work on the wedding video. Also, we have made a new film for Nate's German class called Deutsches Kino Heute (German Cinema Now). And yes, it is all in German.

Also, an article about Nate and our films is soon to be published in the school newspaper. Hopefully it will attract new members to film club.

Technical note:
BlogBack, our previous comment service, has closed. I've fixed this blog to use blogger's internal comment system, but all comments made under the old system are currently unavailable.

Robert and I have made new Special Effects Lab page on the Catman do Films website. Enjoy!