[[[RELEASE]]] ***Sinking Ships*** -- DVD Quality XviD and High, Medium, Low Qualitys Sorenson3 Pro

Yes, I totally stole JohnMoore's style of "Subject line" for movie releases. I admit it. Get over it.

Anyways, it has indeed escaped! I got ahold of a fast internet connection at my grandma's house, so I uploaded the film. It's been done for about 2 weeks though.

The film is 10:14 long on the DVD and high quality versions and is 8:17 long on the medium and low quality versions.

DVD QUALITY - 848x360 (XviD avi) - 75MB (Right Click - Save As)
NOTE about the DVD Version. This cut uses the XviD codec. It's alot like DivX except it's open-source, 100% free, no junk-ware, and it's actually BETTER compression than DivX. I'd still strongly recommend that you install the XviD codec if you want to watch this cut. While DivX can decode this format, I've seen far to many cases where the audio is out of synch or there's weirdly colored lines of pixels while using DivX to decode the footage. The codec is a pretty small installer anyways.
You can get the XviD codec here: (Windows binary installer) (Mac codec (requires DivX, which sucks - divx.com)) (Source code - Linux)
Sorry for all the trouble. XviD is just a nicer codec. But it's made for geeks and isn't as straightfoward as DivX to get working. The benefits are much better though.

High Quality - 540x230 (Sorenson3 mov) - 35MB (Streaming)
This was encoded using 2-pass Sorenson3 Pro. If you don't have DivX, XviD, or just don't want to install those codecs, go with this version. It'll work on any version of Quicktime 5.x or higher and it's awesome quality, both audiably and visually.

Medium Quality - 424x180 (Sorenson3 mov) - 15MB (Streaming) (w/o credits)
For people on broadband who want the movie RIGHT AWAY and don't want to download a 35MB version or people on dialup who want higher quality than the low quality.

Low Quality - 212x90 (Sorenson3 mov) - 5MB (Streaming) (w/o credits)
For our beloved dial-up brethren.



There's actually HUGE quality differences between the four files, so make sure to get the one you want. If you got XviD, get the DVD cut. It's like AWESOME quality, but the high quality is pretty nice too and downloads in half the time!

You can download and listen to the original motion picture musical score (written by myself) here (mp3 files):
DOWNLOAD THE MUSICAL SCORE

ENJOY!

 

Now, for a few release notes and facts about this movie.


This movie was was in "idea-land" for 1 day, then, it written over the course of just 4 days and filmed over the course of just 2 days. Also, all 7 of those days were BACK TO BACK... 1 week of work from the beginning pre-production to when post production started. And it was 1 straight week. Not like 7 days over the course of a few weeks.

The movie was intended to be "just for fun" kind of thing when we were filmming it, but seemed to turn out slightly better than planned. It still could use ALOT of work though.

This film is indeed being presented in 2.35:1 widescreen!!

The movie features a completely original soundtrack that can be downloaded at this link in a zip file (mp3s): DOWNLOAD THE MUSICAL SCORE

The film had about 3 weeks straight of editing and about 3 weeks (over the course of 2 months) of music composition (on and off). It really should have been released ALOT sooner, but, life happens.

This film was created in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. But I mixed it down to stereo for these cuts. Maybe once mp3s support surround, i re-release it on the net. haha! It's awesome in surround though.

And for anyone who asks what camera i filmed this movie on and what i used to edit the movie, I filmed the movie on my little $200 Digital8 handycam, I converted the footage from 60i to 24p in post (using open source free apps. YES), I edited the film with Sony Vegas 5.0 + DVD, and I usd an Audio Technica AT897 Shotgun mic for the audio. I edited the audio and mixed and wrote the music with adobe audition. It's basically off the shelf cheapo stuff with lots of digital-ness applied (then again, it's all cheapo anyways... maybe i do suck as bad as everyone says i do. I need to save up for an XL2! haha).

One disclaimer. I provided a high quality Quicktime for a reason! lol. Some computers just have trouble playing the XviD version. And the High Quality Quicktime rocks hard too. I would suggest that you install the XviD codec before trying to watch the XviD version. It's really kind of a requirement. It's a VERY SMALL file.

The movie actually has been 100% complete for about 2 weeks, I just havn't been able to get around to uploading it. My appologies.

Now, enjoy! Or... don't. lol.

 

That was actually prety cool.

Oddly enough I started out with my finger on the delete button waiting for the inevitable lightsaber to ignite heheh... Good on ya...

also kudos for the production info. I like seeing the equipment and such that went into a project. And the codex info as well.

 

I'm not sure I totally understand the story but its a well shot film, doesn't feel tacky at all, good work with it, I felt the Dad was a bit harsh with his own son, is there going to be more?

 

Like I said man, awesome show, particularly the music.

He wrote his own score for this film, and performed it himself with mountain dew bottles.

There is truth in that, to some degree.

Hehe.

Anyway, good show!

 

Actually *SPOILER ALERT*

it was his adopted son. You can tell by the lines said by the son "He's not my real father" or "5 years ago we brought you into our family... and loved you like you were one of our own.". It was actually losely based on something that used to go on during WW2. Kids would be adopted by families just to be spies for other countries.

And it's not a star wars fan film in ANY WAY. I personally don't like fan films, I prefer original movies, but I know that I can post my movies on the fan films forum and there are lots of people who share that love of original movies. Also, the title, "Sinking Ships" does not apply to any real "Ships". *Partial Spoiler*

There's a saying in the military, Lose Lips Sink Ships, and that's where i got the title from. It totally applies to the story of the movie.


About the Mountain Dew bottles, it was during the drum beat.... it's the treble portion of the beat that you hear. The bass portion is timpani, the mid portion is pizzacato strings with some layered strings and the treble is good ole plastic Mountain Dew bottles. But aside from that, every other portion of the music was written/recorded from a keyboard (I used line in on my laptop and the headphone jack on my keyboard... no MIDI, but to the same effect in a way).

 

Well, interesting flick. I really like your filming style, shots, transitions, use of music, etc. Seems like you put a lot of heart into this movie. I think the father and son-in-law sort of fight with each other with an intensity which is not justified by the buildup (or should I say, lack thereof). What I mean is that I think there should have been more background. The father and son-in-law sort of go berserk out of the blue.

And yes, will there be another episode? I think this is an interesting story which could go somewhere.

 

Like I said before, this is definitely a good start to what should be muli-episodic.

The quality of the Divx version is excellent.

This is the first time I've been in credits I believe! w00t.

I thought the goatee was getting roto-scoped out?

Looks great ccfilms. Keep up the good work.

 

I wanted to like it...I really did. But sorry to say, I'm not a fan.

The poor acting, semi-cheesy dialogue, extremely unrealistic plot and timing just didn't do justice to what could have been a really good film and what should have been a much longer and better paced film.

The technical aspects of it was great, but yeah, the above things kind of ruined it.

 

Hehe. I actually hardly put any heart into the movie. That's what's kind of hilarious. I said earlier in this post, this film was actually made as a "just for fun over the weekend" kind of thing. That fact alone kinda makes me not care how people like or don't like the movie. It's just kinda funny. hehe.

It was pretty fun to make, but yeah, wasn't supposed to be anything epic. It turned out pretty good though for being a "just for fun" movie. Now, I just need to actually make a movie that I'm actually PASSIONATE about. lol.

And yah, all the feedback about the acting is totally understandable. I never claimed it had good acting. lol. At least it's better than my last movie, "Armed Conflict". That's all I was hoping for out of this one. TO THE FUTURE!!! Woohoo!

Twas a fun learning experiance. It was the first time I actually used artificial lighting to a slight very crappy and badly done degree. haha!

 

i'm downloading it right now

 

Is it wrong that the only character I liked was The traitorous kid?

It probably is, isn't it.

 

Didn't like it, but a good effort and seems like there's much potential for the future. I could nitpick at details of prop/costume but you said it was shot in like 2 days, so whatever.

You did jump the camera angles/break 180 and it was slightly disorienting. And that aspect ratio sucked, I'm sorry you took what could have been good framing and mauled it to get the film look.

In short, more time writing (much much much much much much more) for that film you're passionate about, and the let me edit it No kidding but things like the flashback only suffer the film unless alot more time and shots are put into them.

Bring on the next one.

 

It's cuz I played The traitorous kid and you like me (in a film actor blah blah kind of way).

 

I agree with SoE. Loose lips may sink ships, but bad acting can sink a film.

 

Yah do totally have a point there. Indeed!

 

Well, I gotta say one thing about this film. You look better without goatee than with.

!

Bump.

 

Thanks man. I'm gonna shave it before July 16th. I'm just savoring it for the time. But I wanna shave it before i head off to Utah for the weekend of July 16th to shoot a video!)

 

Not if you brush off all the criticism because it was a "weekend" project.

 

At least it's better than my last movie, "Armed Conflict"

Yeah. Improvement is almost more important than quality.

 

Amen Ephisus!

I look at it this way:

If movie one is bad, but movie two has a 200 percent improvement over movie one, and movie three has a 200 percent improvement over that, then EVERY one of those movies kicks arse.

Next time though, write a script. You spend FAR more time in post production than you do in writing. Your priorities are just a little out of balance.

Anyway, that's just information for your next project.

 

"Jim, dinner's ready!"

it's a delivered pizza!
Good to see cook's hard at work.

 

WOW!!

Indeed it is!! I never caught that!

Good call man! HAHA! It IS a comedy!

 

Max-

Thanks man. I needed that. I do really appreciate it. Honestly.




JohnMoore -

HAHA! Yes! It IS a comedy. lol.

 

I didn't have much time, so I skipped through a lot, but I liked what I did saw.

I think you would have benefitted from some camera stablization in the opening scene, but... maybe you wanted that effect.

And as for the free open source software you used to convert the footage... what software was that? I'm going to guess VirtualDub, but you can't be too sure.