Disney Feature Animation Internship: Final Thumbnails

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This was one set of thumbnails I did to plan out the final project animation for the internship. The assignment was to have Baloo from The Jungle Book pull something.

I had him scratch his back against a tree so  much that he caused a fire. He then ran, and pulled an elephant into the scene by the trunk to put the fire out.

This was an insanely over ambitious project involving animating two characters along with the effects animation of fire and water. I attempted it simply because I didn’t know any better. I still have the animation on a huge VHS tape that I haven’t looked at for over 30 years. I tried to convert the tape to digital a while back and they didn’t have any way to play the tape in order to convert it. The scene was pretty much a train wreck of mistakes and yet surprisingly Disney still hired me to work on animated films for the next 10 years.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Epcot Center

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Roy Disney was visiting the Florida Feature Animation Studio. I spotted him near the animation camera.

I was feeling a bit like the walking dead since I had just spent a day reworking my final project animation idea. I had Baloo scratching his back against a tree and he spontaneously burst into flames. He was extinguished by an elephant squirting water on him. After all that work however I realized I had overlooked the basic premise of the scene which was to have Baloo pull on something. I had to go back to the drawing board and start over.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Halloween Party

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This sketch was done from the wooden porch in front of the Animation parking lot trailer. There was a Halloween parade by Animation staff. I didn’t position myself very well to sketch the parade itself, instead I caught the interns crowded on the porch to watch.

Following the parade and costume judging, there were games. One game was an egg toss. Folks had to line up facing one another and toss an egg back and forth. The trick was to catch the egg on your head in a cushioned basket. Things got messy as people had to back up after each toss. Few of the interns had costumes since we were in the thick of animating our final projects.

Work on the Lion King was in it’s final stages and the artists were thinking ahead to their next film, Pocahontas. One artist is wearing an early Pocahontas Tee shirt and clearly someone dresses as Pocahontas herself.

The feature animation tourist attraction is in the background of the sketch. There tourists could watch Disney Animation Artists at work from behind a sound proof glass wall. I would end up working in that building against the glass wall when I first started working on Pocahontas. I helped with the unit that worked on Powhatan, Pocahontas’s father. My supervisor was James Parris who approved my drawings and gave me endless tips. He went on to work not only in traditional animation but also CGI effects animation for Marvel movies and story boarding. He also went on to produce and direct his own shorts. He inspired me to pursue that route for myself.

Working with this Disney Animation family left me putting down roots in Orlando. Now those roots have been unearthed. I am searching for where I should set up my next studio.

 

COVID Dystopia heading to Reno

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COVID Dystopia is an official selection at the Cordillera International Film Festival, taking place in beautiful Reno-Tahoe, Nevada from Thursday, September 26 to Monday, September 30, 2024. COVID Dystopia will be screening in Short Films Program #6 – Music Video Party on Friday, September 27th after 5pm (Specific Time TBD) at the Aces Ballpark. The ball park has a seating capacity of 6,980. That is far more seats than in any movie theater. Since it is a Music video party I am hoping they make it a dance party and let people dance on the field. This will be my first time seeing the film on a jumbo-tron. I also like that the audience will be outside rather than in an enclosed space.

I have run into a film festival scheduling problem for the first time. The Charlotte Film Festival is running the same week. I don’t know exactly what day and time my film is scheduled to be shown in Charlotte so I am not sure if I can get there from Reno in time. If the film is screened on the exact same day I could not go.

The Cordillera Film Festival features state of the art venues, cash and in-kind production prizes, a popular PitchFest! competition, lodging for all Official Selections, a Filmmakers Lounge which serves 3 complimentary buffet-style meals daily, snacks and an open wine & beer bar, an iconic Grand Jury, industry networking events, red carpet premieres, awards ceremony, celebrity panels and parties every night. To say all that sounds exciting is an understatement.

Since I know my films Cordillera screening time slot I will probably book a flight today allowing for a day to settle in, the screening day, and then a day to fly out. The after parties in Reno looked amazing. I am already impressed with how organized this festival is.

The Charlotte Film Festival will possibly be screening the film with surround sound. My sound technician is in Georgia, so I will see if he is interested in going to represent the film. He hasn’t seen the film with the surround sound in a theater yet. He is considering a redesign of the whole soundtrack so this might inspire him.

COVID Dystopia is an Official Selection at the Charlotte Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia is an official selection of the Charlotte Film Festival. The festival which runs September 24th to September 29, 2024.

I will likely drive up to the festival and spend some time exploring Charlotte, North Carolina with my sketchbook.

I am discovering that once I resign myself to repeat rejections, that is when I am surprised by an acceptance. Since my expectations are low, I can be infinitely delighted when the film finds an audience. I assume that few will accept a film that disrupts the new normal. The message that, “we might be done with COVID but COVID is not done with us”, is one that few want to hear. Yet there are some realizing that the pandemic is indeed far from over. I keep throwing it out there, in the hope that a few will pull their heads out of the sand.

The COVID Dystopia book is now 2/3 complete but it will not be done before the Charlotte Film Festival. September is going to be a crazy month of Film Festival hopping.

COVID Dystopia: Screening at the Iowa Independent Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia will be screening at the Iowa Independent film Festival in Clear Lake, Iowa on September 6, 2024 from 4pm to 6pm at The Lake Theater. It is right next door to the corner drug store.

In making travel plans I found the tiny puddle jumper airport does not have a car rental, si I am hoping that lyft will be able to get me around.I actually read an article online that said lyft does not exist in Clear, Lake Iowa. I will have to trust that can not be true or a taxi service at least must exist. The walk between the town is 3 and a half hours. I am not doing that but maybe I could find a bike rental. In some ways traveling to the middle of nowhere is terrifying but it is also thrilling.

The other Film Festival theater that is screening films is a 20 minute drive east at Mason City, Iowa. The awards ceremony and several after parties are in Mason City.

I decided I will stay in Clear Lake, Iowa. I found a very affordable hotel that overlooks the lake and is walking distance to the Lake Theater. I might bring my swim trunks although the water might be rather cold in Iowa come September.

My sound tech has offered to do a complete sound redesign for the film. That will not be ready by the time of the Iowa International Film Festival screening, but I am excited to see the film take another creative step forward.

It is exciting traveling to cities around the world to screen the film and spread the message that we might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.

I am deep into designing a 200 page hardcover book that includes 600 of the COVID illustrations along with concise write ups for each day. One question at the Cleveland International Film Festival was, do I plan to make a longer version of the film? The book is that long form project. It allows a reader time to pause and think about the insanity that ensued. The film. COVID Dystopia hits like a slap in the face and is so fast paced that many can not keep up. In a way that is the point. I was the only artist trying to keep up and record what most want to ignore.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Near Dumbo

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It was a hard day’s work in the animation studio. The interns sketched a baby and a doberman pincer in the life drawing class. Both made terrible models since they squirm and move about so much. Sketches were done quickly with non being longer than 5 minutes. Actually we didn’t time anything since they never stayed still. As an animator we needed to understand the motion and we got plenty of that.

I was animating a character walking in a high wind. The character was wearing a rain coat which flapped in the wind. The rain coat was the challenge. Like I said, I never take the easy route when trying something new.

The sketch was from another park day. I tended to look upward so as not to be distracted by the ever flowing mass of humanity.

Disney Internship: Mad Hatters Tea Cups

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With the third animation assignment finished for the Disney Feature Animation Internship, I decided to spend the day at Walt Disney World sketching. This was the third sketch for the day.

Of course the challenge with this sketch is that those tea cups just keep spinning, making it a challenge to sketch any detail.

As I recall that darn door mouse kept popping up and down out of the tea pot as well. Despite that challenges of sketching in a park setting, it felt good to just sketch from life rather than getting Disney characters to move.

COVID Dystopia is Heading to Iowa

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My short film, COVID Dystopia, is an official selection at the Iowa Independent Film Festival in Mason City, Iowa. When looking up the city on Google, the first image I saw was of a grain silo. How cool would it be to project COVID Dystopia on the side of a grain silo? That dream might not happen since Mason City does have a Community Theater. The city even have an airport but I have to figure out if an airline from Orlando flies there.The airport might only be for crop dusters.

The Film Festival ruins from September 5-7, 2024. I have to figure out what day my film is screening. This film festival has been running for 17 years so they must know what they are doing. Now you might be saying to yourself that Mason City in Iowa is in the middle of nowhere. If by nowhere, you mean America then you are absolutely correct. The primary reason I submitted to the Iowa International Film Festival is that Chris P. Chicken is one of their board members. I had a chuckle when I saw his pointy beaked expression and knew I needed to show my film there.

The meandering Winnebago River winds right through Mason City, which is the River City referred to in The Music Man, the hit 1957  by Meredith Wilson.

The Music Man Square is right next door to the Community Theater and has an indoor recreation of the 1912 main street featured in the musical. It has an ice cream parlor and a gift shop. The gift shop even  had a Trouble themed face mask. It is cloth rather than an N-95 so I will pass on picking one up. But clearly the folks of Mason have a sense of humor. I plan to take a sketch selfie at the entrance to the River City High School!  A large Victorian home on the property is the boyhood home of Meredith Wilson who wrote the book, music and lyrics for the Music Man. The home is gorgeous and another great sketch opportunity.

I envision COVID Dystopia sweeping into River City just like Henry Hill and trying to save the quite hamlet from the denial, indifference and gas lighting that has caused them to press the reality of the past 4 years into the back of their minds, about a virus that has caused, and continues to cause, a whole lotta trouble, trouble, trouble. All those innocent boys and girls who got their flutes, trumpets and trombones in 1912 would come to face a whole lot more trouble when WWI rolled around, along with the Spanish Flu epidemic which would kill more Americans than the battle front. There was far more denial in those days about the death toll since a country at war does not want to appear weak. A politicians only way to look strong in the face of a pandemic is to peel off their mask and insist you do the same.

 

Disney Internship: Going to Epcot

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I went with a group of the Disney Feature Animation Interns to Epcot. I explored a bit with the group but eventually branched off to sketch.This is a sketch of the Sensory Fun House with its audio and interactive screens. I sketched this since I knew people would sit still for a moment while they watched the screen or listened.

In the evening, all the Feature Animation Interns got together in my apartment for dinner. I put the pen down for once and relaxed. When we are in the studio all our heads are down focuses on the animation disk. This was a rare moment to get to know everyone. Everyone seemed younger than me and for many this was their first job after college. I thought the Disney animation gig would be short lived, but these people became my family and I ended up staying at Feature Animation for 10 years until the bottom fell out because computer animation had swept its way onto the stage.

Looking back, these were some of the best of times, even if they are only preserved with a few pen scratches on a page.