Iowa Independent Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia screened of the first day of the Iowa Independent Film Festival. That evening there was a party for filmmakers at The Boulevard (1311 Bayou Road Clear Lake Iowa).

After COVID Dystopia screened I was approached by a crew of 5 filmmakers who had a music video in the festival. Their music video Infinite Battleground was about two men struggling to balance work with their passion for music. The production is as dark and sinister as my own film, so we hit it off. Director Kristopher J. Gathercoal is in my sketch holding a beer. He wasn’t actually playing pool but I put him in as the second player to fill out the scene. The drummer hooked me up to the groups Through the Darkness youtube page. One of their music videos featured a sketch of a classroom and he wanted me to check it out.

Most of the filmmakers crowded into a back room consuming flat bread and drinks while chatting. The seating arrangement made it so that you would stay with on click the whole time. Since I had to plan to eat indoors, I decided instead to sketch the music video filmmakers as they played pool. The pool table I drew had a definite slant to is so that the balls always rolled to one corner. After two games at that table they switched to the table to my right. I had to get up a couple of times to allow for clean shots. One played became unbeatable once he had a few drinks. He explained that the buzz made him focus extra hard. It was a fascinating use of beer to promote zen.

The bar owner came up to me while I was sketching to talk. He was also a graphic designer and had designed the blue and gold mural on the wall. He was quite pleased that I was sketching it. He took a few pictures as I sketched.

At the awards ceremony, the filmmakers from Infinite Battleground sat next to me in the back row. Their film was nominated for best music video and my film COVID Dystopia was nominated for best animated film. I had no expectations, but they had been at this festival multiple times before and were looking forward to their first win. I was pleased that a good chunk of the intro to my film was played. That was the most eyeballs to view my film in Iowa. I think there were about 22 people in the theater when the film first screened, but this theater was packed for the awards ceremony, so there were hundreds of eyeballs. I paused my sketching when the winner for best animated film award was about to be announced. My fountain pen snapped in half and a big blob of ink splashed on to the sketch. I got distracted and tried to clean up the mess.

Crealde Urban Sketching Class

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This is a quick sketch done of my students working on the patio behind the Crealde Urban Sketching classroom. This was a demo to show how to do a thumbnail sketch to plan out the composition of a scene.

I do these sketches with no intention of pushing them to a finish to show the early stages of planning a scene. When I work on location on my own, I tent to just jump in and do a sketch that fills the page. The early stages of one of those large sketches would also look a bit like this, with detail pushed aside to block in the big shapes. This sketch really only has one major shape and that is the students on several benches. The general shape is a backwards letter L.

This thumbnail could be pushed further if I went back in and refined shapes using my fountain pen. Instead, I spent my time working with each student to show each how to analyze and sketch their own thumbnails, based on their chosen view.

COVID Dystopia: Semi Finalist at Serbest International Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia was a Semi – Finalist at the Serbest International Film Festival. That means the jury liked the film but would not dare to show it to an audience.

The festival was to be held in Moldova which borders on Ukraine. The festival provides accommodations for film makers who make the trip to the country.

However at the last minute they sent out an e-mail informing everyone that the festival would have to be virtual this year because to the war in Ukraine. They did not want to put filmmakers lives at risk. I was excited for the virtual option since it also reduces the risks of infection in a crowded theater.

I am not adding laurels for runner up festivals. I need to focus on the festivals who will screen the film. Tonight I will be packing up to get ready to go to Iowa where I will be taking a rather insane  six hour road trip to the Iowa Independent Film festival.

Pulse: First Responder

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Yesterday I saw an article in Watermark that Barbara Poma and her husband Rosario were cleared of any wrong doing in relation to the Pulse Nightclub shooting that resulted in 49 deaths.

The shooting happened June 12, 2016 and the wounds are still raw.

This sketch was done in the office of Pam Schwartz, then the director of the Orange County History Museum. She conducted an interview with Mathew Hairs who was a first responder at Pulse after the shooting. I loved that Mathew’s pup was so attentive. Maybe an hour into the oral history the pup curled up on the floor.

Disney Feature Animation Building Demolition

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I got an unexpected shock to her that Disney is planning to demolish the Disney Feature Animation Building on the back lot of Disney;s Hollywood Studios.

I stated work in this building and the trailers in the parking lot with Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch and Brother Bear, to name a few. It was an amazing decade and this studio produced some real gems.

Disney is planning to replace the Feature Animation building with a Monsters Inc ride. Apparently, the folks in the building were told on Friday August 16, 2024 that they will be relocated to new offices. Unfortunately Disney Executive never fully grasped the creativity that went on inside these walls. The  legacy of all the artists will probably be destroyed to make way for a roller coaster. It is kind of ironic that Roller Coaster Rabbit was also created in this building.

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.