The Spider Queen

Posted on by Thor

Pam and I went to see The Spider Queen at the new Fringe Art Space near Church Street Station in Downtown Orlando. This is now known as the Ophelia theater. We had picked up some post cards that promote my COVID film in Winter Park and we decided we would have enough time to try out a small Polish restaurant on Aloma. There were several tables outside so that is where we sat.

Unfortunately after a business call in the parking lot and very slow service we had to get pack the food in take out boxes and eat on the way to the theater. Pam drove to the theater like we were in a Mission Impossible chase scene. My car battery had to be jumped earlier in the day, because it has sat idle for so long while I was animating on the film. I tried to get the car clock set since we were racing the clock to get to the theater. There were hours and minuted which I set correctly but then there was a third button with tow zeros. I needed to change AM to PM and hoped that button would do the job. No, that button reset the clock which undid the settings. I abandoned the clock.

Pam stopped in front of the theater and let me out to run inside. My job was to find out if she could get into the theater after she parked the car, which would involve her walking an extra 10 minutes. At the Fringe International Theater Festival it is impossible to get into a show after it has started. Thankfully those rules are relaxed in the Fringe Art Space.

The fellow at the front desk was more than helpful. He went out of his way to be sure Pam got in and could find where I was seated. The volunteer scanned Pam’s ticket and then noted where I sat which was in the back row house right. I didn’t want my iPad screen glow to be noticed by anyone else in the audience. Pam did arrive about 10 minutes after the show started. When she entered she almost bumped into an actor who was in front of the stage. The volunteer pointed out my spot and I turned my ipPad screen towards Pam so she could clearly see me in the dark.

The show was about the Spiderman Musical that was an epic failure on Broadway. The Spider Queen opened with Glen Berger, an apologetic, shy writer who worked with director Julie Taymor, of Lion King fame. The overpriced musical they collaborated on faced an endless string of setbacks. The producer died of a stroke. The show then faced financing setbacks and a series of technical glitches and ultimately horrific injuries on set. A 29 year old Spiderman stuntman fell 30 feet. The tether holding the stunt double broke and he fell more than 30 feet to the pit below. The stunt double sued for 6 million dollars and the show on a whole cost over 75 million dollars to produce.

That same month, an  actress suffered a concussion, while two other actors were injured during a flying sequence, one breaking his wrist. A stagehand fell went into cardiac arrest. He was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital where he later died. The show was plagued. In The Spider Queen the horrific accident was shown using plush Spiderman dolls swung around with fishing poles and string. The low tech puppetry missed the mark.

COVID Film: More New Titles

Posted on by Thor

I spent much of the weekend redesigning the poster with a new title. I redesigned everything with COVID Conscious as the title. Conscious to me meant aware, so it made sense. In the designs I made the word Conscious partially transparent as if it were fading away. I planned to literally have Conscious fade away in the trailer.

As I was doing those designs I then considered Conscience, which is more about a moral awareness. I also thought Con-Science could have the meaning of science denial. I was at an inroads and tossed between the two options. I asked Pam her opinion and she offered other options like COVID Collateral, as in Collateral Damage. I thought collateral could however also be interpreted from a financial standpoint.

Since it is October we spent the evening flipping through horror movies on our streaming service. As Pam scrolled. I considered each horror title with COVID inserted. It was a fun game to rename every horror film with COVID themed titles.

As I went to bed, I was still blurting our COVID titles and with each absurd option Pam would simply say NOPE. As I woke up the next morning it hit me. The end credits of the film end with a definition of Apocalypse which is based on an early Greek meaning of the word. The definition is… “A revelation, a disclosure of truth in an age of falsehood and misconception.”  Of course!

When working at Disney Feature Animation I remember there was a time when they considered renaming the film Brother Bear.It turned out there was a TV show that also had the title Brother Bear. The Disney lawyers managed to the the rights to the title despite the fact that the TV Show had been around for years.

If I do an online search of COVID there are thousands of new articles that pop up from the past 4 years. But in the future if I search COVID Apocalypse, I will find my film and articles related to it. Thankfully I will not get tied in with the COVID feature film that is being released in December 2023. I beat them to the punch with the title but I’m not hiring lawyers to defend the film title of COVID.  Such a title will be lost in a sea of information and misinformation.

If folks search for COVID Film they might get information about my film and the feature film. If the feature film is a success, then it might not hurt my film’s exposure.

COVID Film: New Title?

Posted on by Thor

I got advice that the title of my film should be easily searchable in the Google search engine. If I search COVID I find thousands of articles about the virus but nothing about my short film. Doing the Google search I was also horrified to discover that a feature film with the title COVID is coming out in December of 2023. WTF.

Classified as a thriller, the film synopsis on IMDB stated… “A scientist and his clairvoyant wife are quarantined in a French mansion feverishly working on a cure to save humanity, when supernatural forces begin to interfere with their plans.” Clearly I don’t want my short film lumped in with this feature film starting in December.

A feverish search began last night for a new title.

COVID Pandemicide seemed to long, and pandemicide is a made up word created by a science journalist in 2020 to describe the former president’s pandemic policies.

MASS Infection is hard hitting but too vague.

COVID Amnesia is good to describe how everyone has pushed COVID to the dark place to get back to normal. But my film offers the opposite of amnesia or denial.

This morning I woke up to COVID Conscious. There are very few who remain conscious and aware of the ongoing pandemic. I do think that is the underlying message of the film. I may still change my mind. The title is incredibly important for marketing the film. Conscious is tricky to spell, so that might be a drawback. I may still change my mind.

 

COVID Film: No Exit Animation

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I decided to animate the No Exit scene in Callipeg. In my illustration the woman is looking out the airplane window but I decided she needed to look back over her shoulder. In the illustration she is wearing a shirt with an insane line pattern. I probably will abandon that pattern since it would be a nightmare to animate without the lines vibrating.

I finished the animation this morning and hope to have her painted before I start virtual classes this afternoon. One of the lessons I always teach in my animation courses is how to turn a head and this is a straightforward example of that lesson in practice.

COVID Film: Re-animating Tentacles

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The animation for this tentacle has always bothered me. It flickered because I drew the suckers with haste. Looking back now I also realize the resolution wasn’t as good as it could be, so I an digging in for a second time in Callipeg and doing the animation at double the resolution. With more pixels the lines are more crisp and accurate. I am not changing the animation but rather cleaning it up. My hope is that I might be able to use the painted cells with minor adjustments.

I isolated the head on this pass at the animation because I plan to ass a subtle squash and stretch to the head when the octopus blinks. I will also animate that second oxygen canister a tiny bit in After Effects. Photoshop has crashed twice this morning. I really want to get away from these faulty digital nightmarish programs.

Yesterday I also did quite a bit of work on the promotional postcards and I am ready to sent those off to the printer. I will order the postcards today online and pick them up in person. The button proof came back and that looks fine so those are in the works. I am searching for Chicago media contacts and have found site that sell a list but I don’t want to go that route. There has to be a comprehensive site to research this.

COVID Film: New Poster

Posted on by Thor

Since I took a day off from animating due to Adobe After Effects glitchy render engine, I spent the day instead working in Photoshop on a new poster for the movie. It turns our the new 2024 Adobe Photoshop also has problems because it crashed at least 5 times. One of those crashes resulted in the loss of quite a bit of work which I had to repeat.

Rather than print 18 by 24 inch posters for the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival I am printing 5.5 by 8.5 inch flyers. This is the front of the flyers and on the back will be the lyrics to Andy Matchett‘s song Just Can’t Wait along with social media handles. I am still making adjustments to the back.

Actually looking at this image I realize that it is missing some spatters that I added. Those must have dropped out when Photoshop crashed the last time. I will have to go back and add then again. Working with Adobe products means always having to double guess yourself.

I also got an approval sheet for the COVID buttons. It turns out they are being manufactured in Houston, where presidents go to be assassinated.

COVID Film: PPE Waste

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I felt I needed to replace a shot titled Beauty, in which a beautiful Victorian woman is trying on masks while a horrifically ugly doctor and nurse scoff at her. The animation consisted of her arm relaxing with a mask. It was a direct homage to a Twilight Zone episode called Eye of the Beholder. I was thinking of animating the pig faced medical staff, but then decided this mask shot was more mysterious and graceful.

In this shot the turtle is fully animated as he swims towards a mask. All the masks move slowly in the water. The turtle opens it’s mouth at the last moment implying that it plans to eat the PPE. I didn’t animate the people since I wanted the focus on the masks and turtle. I might eventually animate the people but they would need to walk very slowly.

With the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival coming up at the end of November, I am turning some of my attention to marketing. Yesterday I designed 1.5 inch COVID pins which I think filmmakers might like to wear. I ordered 50 pins since there are 50 films being shown at the festival. I don’t think

COVID Film: Rats

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This is the final composite of the rats scene in Premiere Pro. I decided to replace several squirrels with rats for this scene in the film. The one drawback is that the tail isn’t as fluffy and therefor harder to notice immediately. The shot before this one is of a Neanderthal in extreme close up. I am thinking that it might help to swap the Neanderthal with a more distant shot like this.

I animated the rat on the carpet pulling back, but decided it drew attention from the rat hitting the skull with her tail. I toned down the animation to a subtle head tilt and subtle tail movement.  This balancing of motions it the biggest challenge with each shot.

COVID Film: Nursing Home Animation

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Looking at this image, I realize that I am not quite done with this nursing home animation. The back bar of the walker needs to be erased on each frame so it disappears behind the woman’s dress. The animation I did was too fast for a slow moving woman, so I had to cur about four frames.

I am not sure yet if the green screen will work properly. There is a slight green glow on the woman from a large virus. The problem with having green on the animation is that it might become transparent when I key out the green screen. I couldn’t use a blue screen since she is wearing a blue dress.

Hopefully it will all come together today when I composite the scene together.

COVID Film: Flaming Baby Reworked

Posted on by Thor

I always felt uncomfortable when a smiling baby appeared in the midst of the COVID film. It was what I had painted at the time but it didn’t fit with the overall flow of the film. I decided to change the baby using the previous shot as reference. The depth map worked out really well turning the baby’s head as he cried.

Looking at this Volumax depth map now, I realize I could probably paint some better depth for the open mouth and ear canal. The painting is extremely blown up so the line work is thicker than any other shot in the film. I think I will go back and redraw the baby to help it tie in to the resolution of the shots on either side of it.

I could animate the mouth a bit but I am not sure that is needed. Since things happen so fast, I face this challenge often, wondering if animation will help or over complicate a shot. I keep adding animation since I am entering the film in the animation category in film festivals. Yet this film is something different. It defies being easily categorized.

I also know that I am presenting something that no one wants to see. The nation has embraced a new normal in which COVID isn’t ever discussed. There is a strange collective amnesia in the rush to pretend that all is as it was in 2019. This film defies that wishful thinking.