COVID Dystopia: Shot 7

Posted on by Thor

This shot syncs with a scream in the song, Just Can’t Wait for the Game to End by Andy Matchett. The screaming monkey was separated from the background and a depth map was added. That was exported as a green screen and the camera rotates around the head. The effect is subtle but you can feel the dimension in the open mouth. Another option would be to animate the mouth opening but I feel that isn’t needed for such a short shot.

Actually animating the moth opening and the eyebrows raising might be rather easy. I will play with this scene today and see if adding that subtle animation adds anything. If the shot can be made better, I need to put in the effort. I can watch the whole film now and feel it is good enough, but is it great?

Ron DeathSantis ended his presidential race yesterday. Several shot in the film mock the man and the lyrics for this shots are about watching him burn. The news makes those shot even more relevant today. He will leave the national stage disgraced and return to Florida to continue to ruin the state.

80th Birthday Celebration

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The trailer I rented in Goose Creek, South Carolina was just 10 minutes from my sister’s daughter’s home. This 80th Birthday Celebration was planned months ago. All the Thorspecken siblings arrived at the same time. I immediately sat on the living room couch and started sketching. I didn’t know how long I might have before my sister arrived. My hope was to block in the composition and then add people as they sat down.

A scout was sent upstairs to look out a window down the street to watch for my sister’s car so everyone could hide before she walked in. My sister was fashionably late which meant I was finished blocking in the room before she arrived. I decided to stop sketching and join everyone in the kitchen. My sketch and art bag were hidden with a fluffy couch pillow.

I had decided to draw the center table set up in the living room. It turns out no one ever sat at that table. In my sketch, my sister is visible straight ahead of me. You can identify her with the pony tail. All the Thorspeckens were seated in the dining room.

When the food arrived, I sat outside and almost choked to death on a hunk of sausage, but I survived. After I recovered and finished the pasta on my plate I went back inside. The sausage I left alone. I got to sit in on a good hour of family conversation before the football game was turned on in the living room.

In the living room I got to site with my sister for a while and we talked about family history. She had a good lead on a Thorspecken who had an import export business in NYC back in the 1840 or so. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery and I want to look him up. I might be going up to New York City in a week or so with Pam and I could gather research sites I should visit. One problem I want to pursue in person is to visit all the Catholic Churches near where my Irish relatives lived in NYC about 1870. My hope is to find a baptism for my great great grandfather. My hope is to fin the records if I pay for the time spent researching.

 

Goose Creek South Carolina

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I took a road trip to Goose Creek, South Carolina for my sister Shirley’s 80th birthday celebration. I drove on a day when I did not have an online class. I did the drive straight through in about 7 hours. I probably could have done the drive in 6 hours, but Google maps changed the route and sent me up I-95 for one more exit. I believe several roads were washed out so that might have been the reason. I may never know. After diving north for an extra 30 miles, I was directed to a side road and took that all the way back. That road did have some issue since it narrowed down to one lane and I had to wait for 15 minutes or so for the traffic to drive by before I could proceed.

I am staying in a Coleman Camper. It is pretty cozy. I found it via AirB&B. It is set up to accommodate two adults and two kids, but I am using it on my own. It is set up with WiFi but in opening this post to write, I noticed the internet is super slow. I need to teach a virtual course this afternoon via Zoom and I am hoping the connection speed does not put a kink in that plan.

My brother Don and his wife are going to stop by before class. He wants to drive south to Charleston for sight seeing. I am not sure if I have time for that before class. We will see.

 

COVID Dystopia: Shot 6

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Shot 6 of COVID Dystopia is of a surreal view of a sports bar. I went to South Carolina to help my sister celebrate her 80th birthday. My other brothers and sister wanted to meet a t a sports bar before we went to the celebration. The sports bear we were supposed to meet at was super crowded, although I noticed there was plenty of outdoor seating which would have been my preference. We met instead at a small restaurant across the parking lot of the strip mall.

My brother claimed I looked like Darth Vader as I approached the entry in my long winter trench coat and N-95 mask. If I could find an n-95 mask that looked like Darth Vader’s mask I would wear it. Family seem to think I am crazy for taking precautions while I think everyone else is crazy for pretending that the pandemic has ended. This second indoor dining spot was empty except my family crowed around one table. The space had no HEPA filtration system to keep costumers safe. I ordered a coke and took a few sips by slipping up my mask. I know this wasn’t ideal but the risk benefit had to be measured. Most people have abandoned all COVID precautions and I am just learning what layered risks I am willing to take.

The previous day I taught a virtual art class from a Starbucks because the trailer I was staying in had horrible WiFi. Over two hours I sipped an iced coffee while teaching the class. Starbucks was crowded when the class started but emptied out by the time the class ended. I was seated near the entry door which kept blowing open which I liked. I was a cold breeze but at least fresh air was circulating.

Seeing this shot as a still, I am noticing that some of the breath and spatter seems out of place. I will check the scene again and check the breath layer of placement and scale. I might separate each breath into its own layer so each can be scaled from a center which would be at the person’s mouth.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 5

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This shot was distracting since the paint crawled too much in the shirt of the guy who turns toward the camera. I calmed down the shirt by distorting a held cell for the shirt so the paint remained completely solid.This shot feels complete as it is. I could animate the laughing girls and the guys girlfriend but all that extra motion might distract from focusing on the guy.

I think I should leave this whole first sequence of shots as is. I like that only an individual moves in each and the rest of the horror is frozen in time. I like that one guy is picking his nose and a girl is cupping her hand over her mouth like a mask. People will not have time to see theses subtleties but at least I know they are there.

These opening shots in COVID Dystopia will stay as they are.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 1

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In this shot the title zooms large quickly with a loud metallic sound effect while an ambulance flashes its way forward. Since the title is a bit off center it now makes me uncomfortable. I might center it exactly and see if that can work. The title could probably be bigger if I am not trying to avoid it overlapping the foreground building. When the title fades out the camera pans to the left following the movement of the ambulance.

This shot used to be a warning that you are about to see something that is horrific and you should probably run from the theater. That warning was needed to screen the film at Visual Fringe back in May of 2023. It took me a long time to decided to take the warning back out and replace it with this New York City street scene. Since the shot was intended originally to give people time to read the paragraph, it is the longest shot in the film.

I tried adding depth to the scene but it isn’t really needed since the buildings are all so far away and the camera doesn’t move. The shot lingers by just following the movement of the tiny ambulance. The only hint of the fast pace to come is the quick introduction of the title.

Every shot is like this in COVID Dystopia. I live with it for a long time and then decided it could be better. It would be great if everything was perfect on the first try but that is seldom the case.

COVID Dystopia: Berlin Premiere

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COVID Dystopia is an official selection of the Berlin Short Film Festival. We are busy getting passports and making travel plans. Though we are fast tracking the passports, there is no guarantee that the US Government will get them ready in time. Though I am super excited to screen the film for the first time in Europe, this isn’t the 74 year old Berlin Festival which will be happening several weeks later. I thought this might be an Academy Award Qualifying festival, but I didn’t do my research well enough.

I have been researching my father’s WWII military unit history and I know which towns he was engaged in as his unit moved towards Berlin. His unit crosses the Rhine Rover at Duisberg the day after Churchill crosses the river a bit further north. I also know he was at the liberation of a forced labor, or concentration camp in the Ruhr. I hope to figure out exactly what camp that was someday. There will not be enough time on this trip to explore those cities in the Ruhr section of Germany.

COVID Dystopia will be screening at 6pm on February 11, 2023 in the Babylon Cinema, Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30, Mitte Berlin.

COVID Dystopia: Wacky Wavy Final Animation

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Last night I composited the animation with the background and confetti in After Effects. The depth map is shown on top. With the depth the camera move feels like a drone or crane is lowering the camera as the mob of wacky wavy Uncle Sams gesture.

As I was working on this composite, I got some great news in that COVID Dystopia is an official selection at the Berlin Short Film Festival in Germany. I am scrambling to update my passport and making plans to be at the screening. It seems the submission process is picking up steam. I honestly thought no one would ever screen this nightmarish short.

Now that the film has won a Best Animated Film Award in the Chicago International Reel Film Festival, I realize all the time invested might have been worth it. This wacky wavy scene might be that last scene that needs animation. I am going to render the whole film again so that the Berlin Film Festival can upload the most recent version of the film.

My mission to make people aware that the pandemic is far from over continues.

COVID Dystopia: Wacky Wavy 7

Posted on by Thor

After 8 hours of teaching online students, I only had the energy to add several arms to one of the wacky wavy characters. I actually am starting to enjoy doing the overlapping action on the arms. I am starting to better understand how they blow in the breeze. Adding the fabric fringe fingers is my favorite part since they bend with the action.

I want to add several more to this front row to fill in the negative shapes between characters. In the original illustration I added partial bodies and legs in those spots just as filler. There are bodies without heads just to fill in the space. I can’t get away with that in the animation so I need a better solution. One arm is sort of dangling all alone so I will need to link that to a moving character.

The end is in sight but I will not finish today. There are a whole lot more characters that I want to animate in the distance. I will simplify that animation a bit playing down the waving motion, but it will still be lots of work. Today I will find out if the Berlin Film Festival wants to screen this film. Fingers are crossed.

COVID Dystopia: Wacky Wavy 6

Posted on by Thor

I finished up two more wacky wavy animations yesterday.I was really pleased with one where the arm waved in front of the character’s face but the move is largely hidden since the other characters are in front. Anyway I plan to do two more mid distance wacky wavy animations and then I hope to do the distant arms on a single animated layer.

The end is in sight, but I will not finish today because I will be teaching 8 hours on online virtual classes for Elite Animation. Today I am teaching character design and animation. I might animate along with the student in the animation class but I will need to also demonstrate how to animate a bouncing ball.

Yesterday COVID Dystopia was rejected by the Sacramento Film Festival. I don’t get as upset by the rejection zs much these days, since I know this is an award winning film. I also know it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. A festival director has to have some pretty big balls to screen the film while promoting in person festival screenings. The message that the pandemic is not over doesn’t resonate when you want to crowd as many people as  possible into a theater with no thought of air filtration or masking.

Again we are at the height of the second largest wave of the pandemic right now, making 2020 and 2021 look like cake walks. People however have been sold a bill of goods that the pandemic is over and everyone should go back to how things were in 1919. Mass infection is the goal, but immunity isn’t being build it is being demolished.