Filmmaker Kathy Kolla president of Cola Kat Productions of Beverly Hills California recently shot a short-form documentary about the great Los Angeles River clean up also known as “La Gran Limpieza.” The Los Angeles River Project (working title) will be shown on the festival circuit especially at many of the environmentally themed film festivals that are gaining in popularity and impact in the U.S. and internationally. The documentary was independently produced by Cola Kat to raise awareness about trash in the river and how much of it eventually winds up in ocean waters. Running over 50 miles long the Los Angeles River flows through 14 cities and countless neighborhoods from the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley to the ocean in Long Beach. She shot it with a Panasonic HPX170. Director/screenwriter/environmental advocate Kolla has previous experience with Panasonic HD cameras having shot her award-winning comic short Another Day Another Dime (Best First Film the International Film Festival South Africa; Audience Choice Award Flint Film Festival) with the Panasonic VariCam HD cinema camera. She owns the HPX170 P2 HD handheld which is her main camera for field production. “The HPX170 and P2 format in general played an integral role in the Los Angeles River project ” says Kolla. “Utilizing the solid state camera and 64GB P2 cards allowed for continuous shooting while in the river which has steep concrete banks and can be quite treacherous. The camcorder’s light weight helped in that regard as well.” The one-camera shoot including interviews with Friends of the Los Angeles River staff and location work across Los Angeles took place throughout May with the May 8th annual clean-up event as the centerpiece. “We shot primarily 720/24pN ” Kolla says “though we did some under-cranked time-lapse footage of freeway traffic at sunset at 12-fps. The HPX170’s choice of up to 20 different frame rates is invaluable.” The documentary is currently being edited in Final Cut Pro 7. Cola Kat Productions www.colakat.com
