Control of the Dirt

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Control of the Dirt by Louise Schwarz will run from March 29 – April 7 2024 at The Marchall Ellis Performing Arts Center (1300 LaQuinta Drive Orlando Fl.) It is presented by Playwrights Round Table.

I went to sketch a dress rehearsal of the show. As I walked to the theater entrance, Jac LeDoux, the director, was laughing and delighted. They had found a living room lounge chair on the drive to the theater. That chair was now part of the set. It didn’t smell. I had passed a chair on the drive to the theater as well but had decided to let it sit. I would be moving in a couple of days and didn’t need another item to haul.

The set was simple with three flats which could be rotated if needed. There were quite a few set changes as scenes jumped form one setting to another. The stage would go dark with faint blue light as stage hands moved furniture into place.

The first few moments of the show had me laughing out loud as Susan Woodbury  as Selina, performed an awkward and hilarious interpretive dance for her iPhone. She was a social media influencer in theory. he claimed to have many hot pokers in fires but they seemed to be false leads. She was staying with her sister in law but had overstayed her welcome.

In another story line a very intelligent high school student played by Hafsa Zuberi shared her concerns about her father with her counselor Vanessa, played by Taylor Byerly. It turns out her middle aged father had fallen for the Selina. The father performed by Tom Leahy, was much older than the Selina but she needed a place to land since she was being evicted. The concern was that she only was interested in him for his money. Selina had a tendency to exaggerate truth to make herself look good. Though her confident airs were fun to watch it became clear she manipulates people and she lies.

The characters must live in a small town, because all of the separate story lines suddenly converge towards the end of the play. Tensions flared. At one point there was an argument about funeral ashes possibly being laundry detergent. The ashes were thrown and the fine dust lingered in the air for a good 10 or 15 minutes drifting through the theater space. It wasn’t clear if it was detergent or ashes. It would be in character for Selina to get confused. The lingering dust in the air was a fine visual demonstration of aerosolized spread and I was glad I had my N95 on. I didn’t notice any HEPA air filters in the theater.

This dark comedy is a world premiere about grief, empathy, breaking points, and suspended libidos. I love dark comedies and I enjoyed this show. Tickets are $20.

 

COVID Dystopia: From the Observation Dome

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This scene from COVID Dystopia has a waves crashing against a lighthouse. The movement was created using animation pins in After Effects. I think the shot works as it is.

I made a drastic change to she whole film yesterday. I got feedback from a viewer from South Africa that he felt the film moves too fast. His wife kept asking him to pause each scene so she could take in the details. He wanted me to do an entirely different version of the film that runs half as fast.

I am not going to go back into each shot and add twice as many drawings to extend the animation. I did however decided that all the snap zooms that transition between each shot might not be needed. Each snap zoom happens over 3 frames, so each shot loosed 6 frames to the quick transitions. Most of the transitions were on a separate layer in the timeline, so I simply turned off the visibility of that layer and watched the film again.

Nothing was lost when the snap zooms were dropped. As a matter of fact the animation became the focus since it is no longer competing against the fast transition effects. I still need to do quite a bit more tweaking since the timing of each shot has to be adjusted, but the next cut of the film will be much cleaner and focused.

I discovered that an out of focus scene needs to be re-animated to make it 4K high resolution. I thought I had revised the scene already but apparently the work was never done. I have to move my studio in a couple of days so that scene might start after my Disney Animation Desk is set up in the new studio space.

COVID Dystopia: As the Scientists Stared in Horror

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This NYC tsunami scene is based on 9/11. The black steeple is Saint Paul’s Chapel downtown which was just a few blocks from the collapsing towers but miraculously was unscathed.

In the early height of the pandemic NYC was ground zero for the unchecked spread of the virus in America. The Republican president at the time offered little help since NYC is known to be a Democratic stronghold. The thought was to let the Democrats die. The policy of denial and minimization however backfired since Republicans began taking no precautions and died like flies. We have surpassed 1.5 million deaths from COVID in America and that number continues to rise. America leads the world in weekly confirmed COVID deaths. According to Our World in Data 890 Americans are dying every week from COVID as of the start of March. On average airlines carry 300 passengers per flight. In terms of the number of deaths,  COVID is still resulting in about 3 airline crashes a week. Yet this is no longer news worthy as the economy is the priority. With an election coming up it is better to ignore the virus, claiming victory than to clean the air in schools and public buildings.

This scene was reanimated to be sure the resolution was high enough for a large movie screen. When I started animating I thought 1920 by 1080 would be a high enough resolution for each scene but I was wrong. Many scenes needed reworking so they are double that resolution.

COVID Balast

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America has surpasses 1.5 Million dead due to COVID. That number is likely much higher since COVID causes brain, heart and other vascular issues that result in death long after the initial infection. Those deaths are not attributed to COVID.

Politicians are satisfied with the number of deaths. These people will not need social security. Politicians are promoting mass infection in the hope that herd immunity will set in and eventually stop the cull. Politicians are presenting the vulnerable at less than the average American. The problem is that every American becomes vulnerable after repeat infections with COVID. The number of disabled Americans due to COVID continues to grow. On Long COVID awareness day the media promoted the idea that we should no longer use the term Long COVID. The first social group the Nazis murdered on mass during WWII were the disabled. Care wards were emptied and the Nazis experimented on killing the disabled using carbon monoxide from auto exhaust. This next election cycle we have a former president who fancies himself becoming a dictator.

For minimizers Long COVID is not a problem until is has seized a member of their own family. For them COVID is not a problem unless they see bodies piling up in the streets. America is however very efficient at disposing of bodies. The government has done an excellent job of convincing people that they should not care about the vulnerable. The vulnerable are to be discarded so the nation can “return to Normal”.

 

Vida at Fringe Art Space

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Vida at Fringe Art Space is an original Production by Open Scene. The choreographer is Ana Cuellar whose work I have admired for years. The show features cellist Jamie Clark. The cellos somber tones resonated throughout. A rear projection screen offered quick changes of scenery. The program noted that the show is a mesmerizing musical journey with a tag line of Embrace your Emotions.

Theresa Bejarano and Marie Saad built the show around the advice of a mental health counselor Victoria Henry. I liked the beginning moments of the show, where a voice over stated most stories begin in darkness. The Birth scrolled across the screen in elegant Victorian handwriting. A female dance curled up on stage in the fetal position. I felt there might be enough time to sketch her so I jumped right in.

What followed were flashes of childhood joy. Learning to walk and then learning to tumble then learning to love. When the backlight projector was too bright in my eyes, I used my baseball cap to block the light so I could focus on sketching members of the audience. I noticed Fringe Marketing Director Desiree Montes bobbing her head to the beat of the music. This is something I invariably do while I am sketching. It is part of the reason I sit rather far back in an audience because I don’t want to distract with my involuntary movement as I sketch. It makes any drawing flow out of my hand much faster.

This was a very bilingual production which I liked. I studied Spanish using Duolingo after the Pulse Nightclub tragedy but I didn’t keep up my studies after oral histories became rare. There were about six or seven video testimonials that were projected after the initial dance performance. Since I was sketching I didn’t try and read the captions in English. On occasion I would recognize a word but never enough to get full context of what was being said. My primary objective through that section of the show was to get the audience that I had sketched to fall back into darkness.

First love had a danger illuminated in red with a long bolt of fabric. When the stage was illuminated red I burst into action. Up until them the show had been very dark with greys and blues. There were two redheads in the front row so I let the reds seep into the audience. Illustrations form Lisa Aisato were projected to help forward the emotions of the moment. The show didn’t have a linear story line but it certainly featured life moments from birth through love through the last scene which had the dancer curled up again this time holding a solitary candle.

At the end I felt like I wanted more. I checked my program thinking there might be an intermission. I was the last to leave, still hoping there might be more. Having missed the video testimonials I must have missed some of the heart of the show. I liked the interdisciplinary aspect of the show. I love that the visual arts got to play a part in the grand experiment.

COVID Dystopia: Scientists Stared in Horror

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This scene from COVID Dystopia has wave animation and depth added. I am just noticing that the wall of China rises up above the grey land mass. This will have to be adjusted. I need to slip the wall downward of raise up the grey land mass. It will probably be easier to raise up the gray mass. Though the scene is fast, someone might notice that the wall is floating up in the sky.

This isn’t adding new animation but is a blunt compositing mistake that needs fixing. I will actually make these adjustments today. Film adjustments have been on hold since I am painting Shakespeare Theater posters but I am in a holding pattern waiting for an approval session. This fix will be done as I wait.

I could add some fractal noise to the wave to add more random movement but that will have to wait.

Just one more week before I have to move my studio. Then all will be on hold. I will have to get my Disney Desk set up first so that I can immediately start painting on poster revisions. I had hoped that I might be done with the posters before the move, but I don’t think that will happen.

COVID Dystopia: Ocean into Foam

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This shot in COVID Dystopia pans up to show just how tall the wave is and then there is a fast snap zoom into the foam. I could animate the woman shifting her weight a bit but there really isn’t time to notice such a subtle movement.

The iron beach barricades are from scenes in Ukraine. During the pandemic Russia decided it was time to invade the small neighboring country. War it an amazingly effective vehicle for spreading disease during a pandemic.

America has shown its weakness for allowing this invasion to continue. Of course there is the fear of complete nuclear annihilation since Russia and Americas could end all life on earth ten times over. The virus is ending life in a much slower and more indigenous way that can be ignored until it affects you or your loved ones.

My vote on this scene is, no change,

COVID Dystopia: Churn the Ocean into Foam

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In this scene from COVID Dystopia, the carrier rolls downward from the force of the wave. I used the pin tool in After Effects to add some rolling action to the wave. Some distortion was added to the foreground to get those waves moving.

There is a distant wave that could be hand animated to add motion but I honestly doubt that is needed. The shot is over before the audience can register that they are looking at a sinking carrier. The subtle hint of a skull in the foam is probably lost on most.

I entered the film into the Austin Film Festival yesterday. I visited Austin once and liked its “Weird” vibe. My film is certainly weird so I hope it is a good fit. You never can tell. I am getting better at picking out quality festivals from bait and switch operations who are only in the business of collecting entry fees.

I was looking on FilmFreeway yesterday and was surprised to find one of my location sketches as the header of a film festival. I contacted the organizer to be sure my signature is added. The need to educate even film festival promoters that an artist should get credit for their work is exhausting. COVID Dystopia would never be accepted to this festival since the Film Festival only shows 1 minute films and my film is 4 minutes. Also the festival wants films that promote sunshine and butterflies and my film it the polar opposite. COVID Dystopia shouts bloody murder into the void.

COVID Dystopia: I Saw a Megapod

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In this shot from COVID Dystopia, the life boat surfs down the wave. The implication is that the wave will crash down and capsize the boat. Does all that action need to be animated? I don’t think so. I could animate the wake spray at the bow of the lifeboat and there is one rope hanging from the mast which is hanging awkwardly forward. I should probably just erase the rope.

To add more motion to the crashing wave I rotated the camera as it zooms in. I could also add some fish eye distortion to the ocean which would further curve the wave. Would I, should I, could I? At what point should the short be considered done. Animation has so many variables that any should could always be improved. I am going to compile a list of what I have noted here as possible changes on a spreadsheet. Right now I am swamped with doing theater posters, but when settled into the new studio, I could start going back and making improvements.

I signed up for passes to the Cleveland Film Festival. As a filmmaker, I also get 10 comp tickets to the screening, so if you happen to be in Cleveland on April 12, look me up.

COVID Dystopia: I Saw a Megapod

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This scene from COVID Dystopia simply shows the submarine captain looking through the periscope. No animation was required but depth was added as the camera tracked from left to right.

This was a late replacement scene. Originally the scene showed a 911 operator encased in a glass dome as he looked at computer screens that had large COVID virus images on them.  In that scene I could have animated the fingers typing on a keyboard but such small actions go largely unnoticed in this fast moving film.

The plane tickets I ordered from a company called EDreams were canceled. I called my bank to find out if the funds had been taken out of the bank and I was told they were. I preemptively warned the bank of possible fraud. I had to have my credit card canceled and I will get a new one in 5 business days.

Pam helped me order new tickets direct from the airline and they were about $40 cheaper. Hopefully this is a lesson learned. Do research on sites like Kayak, but order the actual tickets from the airline website.

I have to get up at 5am to get to the airport and I will spend much of the day exploring the Cleveland International Film Festival with luggage. At 9:50pm that night COVID Dystopia will screen in the historic Allen Theater which can seat 500 people. Naturally I hope for a full house. I am excited to hear the soundtrack which in now in surround sound. I am now sending out press released to Cleveland media in the hope of generating some interest in the film. Sitting on an airplane being the only passenger masked, and sitting in a 500 seat theater will be the largest risks I take this month in my effort to convince just a few that COVID is far from over.

I found out that three virtual classes were scheduled during the Cleveland International Film Festival. I have to decide if I will teach from the air B&B or if I should be at the awards ceremonies. The festival is an Academy Award qualifying festival so my hope are high but I also know that most minimizers are insulted by the message of COVID Dystopia. Clean the indoor air with HEPA filters, wear masks and isolate when infected. These are pretty simple steps but Americans can not be bothered.