COVID Film: Pixelation Problem

Posted on by Thor

I came close to completing this shot yesterday. However when I imported the Callipeg animation into the final Premiere Pro edit, The hands seemed glaringly pixelated. The painting this scene is built around is vertical but the film is horizontal 1920 by 1080 pixels. In After Effects I had placed the vertical image into the 1920 by 1080 frames which meant the image was reduced by about 50%. That 50% reduction insize is enough to make pixelation an issue.

With that slightly pixelated image imported in Callipeg, I started copying and pasting the hands to move them around. Moving those copies around resulted in further pixelation. In Callipeg the ram image only took up maybe 1/8th of the screen real estate. To try an overcome the pizelization i decided to redraw each of the hands. The end result is what you see above with full animation but still blurry hands.

My next choice was to scale up the image in Callipeg and redraw the arms again. I saw a video that showed an ability to scale multiple layers all at once, so I did that to get the job done fast. Unfortunately Callipeg could not scale the layers all at once. Some were scaled and others reverted back to the small size. On top of that some frames were shuffled to other layers. The result was that all the drawings were scrambled and impossible to reassemble into the smooth animation I had worked so hard on.

Today I will likely re animate the scene but at a much higher resolution. The Procreate files are at a high enough resolution. I think the problem began when I scaled the image down in After Effects. I will have to double the image size in After Effects to maintain the initial resolution. then in Callipeg I will fill the screen with the ram character rather than the entire painting. I will have to redraw every hand to keep the crisp line work.

The final After Effects composition will also have to be reworked. Having the depth map a bit blurry is fine but the image will have to be at double the resolution. I just hope my laptop can handle a scene so large. I made the mistake of creating a 4K scene earlier and it caused my computer to crash.

COVID Film: The Peak

Posted on by Thor

This shot seen in After Effects, was added to the film to replace a shot of a plague doctor deer in a flaming church. The plague doctor animation just wasn’t cutting it. The shot was placed in the film simply because it was the end of a long series of shots that featured skulls. I decided to relax that skull initiative and use shots that result in better animation options.

In The Peak, the hospital bed slips from its perch and starts to roll downhill. The camera cuts on the action so the viewer is left uncomfortable but uncertain if the patient will indeed crash down the mountainside. The depth map makes it feel like a helicopter is flying by the peak shooting the scene and I am pleased that the clouds also move in the breeze. It fells s bit like the shot of Julie Andrews singing in the Swiss Alps in Sound of Music but with a tragic undertone.

I am now going through the entire film looking for the best animation options. Movement trumps the theme of the shots.

Typing up these notes each morning helps me double check work that has been done. In the shot of the Santas, I discovered that eh body bag wasn’t fully painted and I went back to repair the oversight. This morning I just realized that one Facebook logo slipped by my alterations, so I need to make that repair this morning.  Another FB logo needs to replaced in the Freedom of Speech shot. Juggling over 200 shots means dropping a ball every so often.

COVID Film: COVID Replaced Facebook

Posted on by Thor

 

The compositing of the whole Santas scene was also simple and straightforward. I am so used to things going horribly wrong after a week of animating that I was expecting some hangup but the scene fell into place with ease.

I decided to replace Facebook with COVID for this shot in the film. I also dropped a mask on Mark Zuckerberg so he is less easy to identify. My thought is that having a corporate logo in the film could keep it from being screened.

I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the change was to create. After replacing each Facebook logo with COVID or C, I then exported the images into After Effects. The animation of the flag was going to be a challenge I thought. However when I replaced the Facebook flag with the new Covid flag, the scene was automatically updated and I didn’t need to dig into the animation again.

I think the next scene I will tackle is animating some smoke in the Pearl Harbor scene.

COVID Film: Animating Santas 6

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I finished animating the Santas on day 6. I will add one more waving hand into the scene since the hand jumps in rather fast on screen left. Then I need to add shadows and a group of workers in hazmat suits. So I am hoping to animate three figures today but as a group.

I am starting to think I have to find replacement shot for several scenes with corporate logos. I have one scene of the insurrection where I replaced all the flags with Facebook themed flags. That single shot may keep Film Festivals from considering the film for selection.

In most movies things like soda cans are replaced with fictional branding. You never see a Coca Cola or Mountain Dew. I may have to do the same for my film. Facebook might become Factbook or Fictbook. I might also just pick another insurrection scene, since I have many.

COVID Film: Animating Santas 5

Posted on by Thor

Another 2 Santa day of animation.The second Santa still needs his arm ringing a bell and I will get that done first thing this morning. Today I have the last two Santas to animate. Since they walk in from off screen, I suspect they will involve half the work. I also have three men in hazmat suits carrying a body bag and I might be able to get the keys for them finished as well. Since this scene has just had Santas in it. I have been able to share it with students as it progresses.

A past post on Instagram seemed to trigger a conspiracy theorist, anti vaxer. I am proud that my work triggers such people. It proves that my imagery resonates even with the least empathetic and close minded of people.  I am fascinated by their lies but really don’t have the time to show then all the research that they should be paying attention to. I can’t pay attention to every anti science rant.

My film will trigger just as much in those who deny the reality of the ongoing pandemic. The film therefor is rather controversial and not many will be willing to show it on the big screen.

COVID Film: Animating Santas 4

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Yesterday was another two Santa day. I finished animating the legs of my second Santa just before a 4PM virtual class started. After class. I painted the legs. The second Santa was mostly hidden by a foreground Santa so I didn’t need to animate an arm once again.

I spent part of the day watching a video on how to animate fire and I suspect I will try animating fire for the demon in the night club scene. That scene has a large patch of fire right in front of the demon which could use motion. The process of animating fire involves following masses as they move upward and break apart. It looks like a fun abstract process.

COVID Film: Animating Santa’s 3

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Yesterday was another 2 Santa day. There is one Santa who is further back in space and largely blocked by a foreground Santa. Since he is blocked I didn’t have to animate his arm. I discovered that he seemed to jitter a bit in relation to the Santa in front of him. He was partly on ones while the foreground Santa was on twos. I had put him on ones to add more weight to his steps. Since he is blocked that weight isn’t as important so I decided to match his animation lockstep with the Santa that was blocking him. This resulted in much smoother motion between them.

The second Santa was animated as a demo as one of my virtual students worked on inbetweens for her scene. She is doing amazing work and next week we animate a walk, step by step,  together. Pun intended.

Well this scene has just passed the halfway point so I better get busy and animate a couple of more Santas.

I have been watching effects animation tutorials, so I suspect I will be animating fire soon. There are lots of fires in the film, so I might be opening Pandora’s box.

COVID Film: Animating Santa’s

Posted on by Thor

Sunday I started animating Santa’s. I almost finished animating 2 Santa’s but still have to finish a waving arm. So my goal is to animate 2 Santa’s each day. I am working right to left. The first animation seemed slow so I had to put some drawings on ones to add some weight.

The second animation has the same number of keys but the spacing was slightly different so there is more weight to the animation and I could keep everything on twos. The slightest changes make a big difference in the weight of an animation. I like that they are walking differently, so no changes will be made.

COVID Film: Reworking the Asteroid

Posted on by Thor

After eight hours of virtual teaching I felt like relaxing, but instead I reworked this scene.I repainted the crowd and added the subtle warm glow in the center. I did this to get the colors to tie in better with the shots of Earth that surround the shot.

Since I was working on the shot anyway I also added a waving motion to the flames coming off the end of the virus. That added the extra spark of life to the scene that was needed.

When adding the shot back into the final edit, I made sure the asteroid lined up with the virus hitting the flat Earth in the next shot. I wouldn’t have considered these edits if I hadn’t just started rethinking every aspect of this one moment.

After this was cut into the film I did zone out on the couch and watch a remake of Stephen King‘s, The Stand. This is the one film I have seen recently that seemed to portray the COVID pandemic. The virus in the film however was 99% deadly so it was harder for society to ignore and minimize.

It is surprising that all the film productions though taking COVID precautions on set, portray the world as if COVID does not exist. This enforces the gaslighting from the white house and media that the pandemic is over. Everyone is returning to life as normal as cases spike once again.

COVID Film: Animating Santas 1

Posted on by Thor

I am planning to replace the beauty shot which is the third from the last shot in the film. My concern is that it features the pig faced doctors from a Twilight Zone episode. Although the reference was done on purpose, it is probably not a great idea to include in the film.

The Santas scene also offers much more opportunity to add motion at the end of the film. The beauty shot only had a beautiful woman move her arm while holding a mask. This will be the only shot I have removed that has also been animated.

The film was rejected by the New York No Limits Film Series yesterday. That is the third New York Film Festival to reject the film. Either New Yorker’s do not want to be reminded of the pandemic, or the film needs some improvements.

I am considering applying to some horror film festivals in the hope that I might find an audience there. I can not release the film on youTube since some of the big festivals want a premiere status to the films they show. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place unable to share the film at a time when it really needs to be shown as a reminder and a warning.

COVID can be viewed on filmFreeway.