COVID Dystopia: I saw the children screaming

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This scene is an example of why this is one of the most hated films in Florida. The public servant in the scene is Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis. Though screened as storyboards in two smaller Florida Festivals, I have had no success in getting the film shown at larger festivals in Florida. It would seem that the message that the Pandemic is far from over is not well received in the sunshine state.

The boy in the chipper is fully animated. It was fun animating his legs flailing. DeathSantis leans forward slightly as he prepares to throw the girl in next. The girl is frozen in terror. I could animate her arms and perhaps have her struggle but the shot is over before the audience would have a chance to notice. All the other children are also held cells. They could shift their weight from foot to foot or struggle to see. A rather fast pan distracts for their stillness. Now I am thinking that their lunch boxes should have images of the virus on them. We will see. If I find time I will make it so.

COVID does cause irreparable harm to children’s brains and vascular systems. The children don’t immediately die their IQ goes down and they can not concentrate as they did before. I suspect an entire generation will be destined to die young. The Baby boomers might be the last generation to live long lives. Since Americans will die young, Social Security will no longer be a benefit that Americans can collect. The government does not want to protect Americans, they want Americans to work until they die, preferably young, while on the job. The growing population being disabled by Long COVID however if foiling their plan. If a dictator is voted into the American presidency, the disabled will be not only be ignored, but sidelined, vilified and disposed of.

COVID Dystopia at the Cleveland International Film Festival

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I am pleased to announce that COVID Dystopia will be screening at the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) on April 12, 2024 at 9:50PM in the Allen Theater which seats an audience of 500. CIFF is the first Academy Award qualifying festival that the film has been accepted into. The festival also has online screenings between April 14 and April 21.

I will be flying out to Cleveland to attend the screening since this will be the first time I get to experience the film in such a large theater with the new surround sound soundtrack. The soundtrack still has some glitches and problems and could use a solid artistic run through for refining the folly but it was finished at breakneck speed to meet the festival deadline. The only way to really judge how the sound is working right now is to hear it in the huge theater.

COVID Dystopia: I saw the children screaming

Posted on by Thor


This shot in COVID Dystopia shows children are fully animated running up Omaha Beach. In the film, at speed it is really impossible to see that the bullets flying across the screen are actually virus’.

The illustrations freeze a moment in time giving the viewer a moment to think and reflect. In the film the shot is over in less than a second giving a panicked feeling that children are in danger.

A recent study has shown that even mild COVID infections are causing permanent scaring to children’s brains and vascular systems. Such permanent damage is internal and therefor easy to ignore for the average American. COVID has been quietly destroying children’s immune response to all viruses.

Measles is making a comeback in Florida. This is another airborne virus which is the most contagious respiratory virus known. It had been eradicated, but the rise of the anti-vax movement means that it is making a comeback. In 2020 about 120 million children did not receive the measles vaccine. Healthcare is stepping back into the dark ages. I am hopeful that some people might take Measles seriously because this virus causes visible scaring on children’s skin. If the damage is visible it might be noticed. Then again most will accept measles scars as the “New Normal.” About 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurological complications.

COVID Dystopia: Times Square Protest

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This shot from COVID Dystopia has the doctor arching his back and looking up at the barrel of the tank cannon. I used the free online depth tool to zoom in slightly into the scene.

Back in the day people respected heath care workers for their tireless work trying to save people from COVID-19. Since then people have learned to hate heath care workers who they feel were responsible for letting them know some of the dangers from repeat COVID infections.

Over the past decades healthcare has made strides to prolong life expectancy. However since the start of the pandemic healthcare has reverted back to the 1800s.

I recently went to a doctors appointment since I needed to get a refill on a prescription. No one in the office was masked except for one secretary who wore his mask as a chin strap. Doctors offices have patients pack into a waiting room and then go into a tiny examination room. I glanced around for any sign of HEPA air filtration but there was non. Doctors seem to want to get repeatedly infected and pass that virus on to their patients.

Much of the American population has been infected. Once infected the virus must alter brain cells because the infected, might have once taken basic precautions, but they then feel the need to pack into crowded restaurants and other venues. Though smart, people can’t accept that they are not immune after suffering an infection. The saying vaxed and relaxed goes for the infected as well. The rush to a “New Normal” is too strong for most to resist. The risk benefit ratio swings in favor of repeated mass infection when a decent indoor restaurant is a consideration.

COVID Dystopia: Mass Infection Party

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This scene had the ripped plague doctor reaching out over the crowd while ghosts fly overhead. This is one of the first scenes in which I experiments with animating flames using After Effects. I would ultimately use this fire effect throughout the film.

Different scenes had different looks to the fire, so each scene required fine tuning to the effect. I abandoned hand animating the flames simply because it took so long and even when well animated, the flames tended to look false once painted. I experimented a lot with how the flames would glow.

Last night I got a request to upload the film for a large mid-west Academy Award qualifying festival. On March 8, 2024 I can officially announce the name of that festival. I have looked up B&Bs in the city and intend to book a flight soon. The film’s success is far outweighed by its rejections, but I can only focus on the success to keep pressing forward. I feel it is my job to wake up the vaxed and relaxed masses who think COVID is over.

My studio is largely boxed up now and I will be moving into a new studio on April 1. I need to be sure the WiFi is set to go when I arrive since I will need to teach virtual art classes almost immediately. I need to fill out a postal change of address form today. The to do list keeps getting longer but I have to layer it in with focused work on a season of theater posters.

COVID Dystopia: CDCDystopia

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This scene in COVID Dystopia simply had the bound man in the hazmat suit slumping forward a bit. It is enough motion for the moment. Several of the previous scenes shared could use some animation but right now I am crunching in a season’s worth of posters for the Orlando Shakes. I suspect the posters will dominate my focus for at least a month. I did a whole series of thumbnails of possible poster images the last two days and shared those. Now I need to get serious and do several large scale poser images for each show to get each poster approved.

I will also be doing sketches of the construction work being done at the Orlando Science Center. They are building a new area called Nature which features three separate environments. From what I heard, construction is close to being complete and animals are being moved in. The plan for now is to do 3 drawings on location and more if requested.

On top of all this I am having to move at the start of April. The house I will be renting has a nice large living room which will become the studio area. My mail and WiFi have to be moved to the new location. My studio is now half boxed up. I need to get maybe 10 more moving boxes to finish for the move. There are going to a lot of balls in the air this month. I just have to keep juggling.

Cabaret in Sanford

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Love or Something was a Cabaret about love… kind of at Theater West End 115 West 1st Street Sanford Florida.  The singers were Laurel Hatfield and Adair Watkins. The pianist was John Olearchick. The show explored a wide range of relationships through the heartwarming duets of Lippa, Jason Robert Brown, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and more.

The dive up to Sanford featured an epic rainfall. I arrived a bit early since I wanted give myself plenty of time driving through the downpour.

The lobby has quaint Victorian couches and ancient steamship trailers. As I sat down I could her the singers rehearsing in the next room.

I was assigned a seat in the back row next to a video camera. I blocked in the theater as the audience was ushered in.  The set was for Steel Magnolias which is now being performed in the theater. Since the singers would face each other as they sang, I was left to wonder if these songs held a special place in their hearts. An on going joke between sings was that they are married, … just not to each other.

One of my favorite songs, Suddenly Seymor, came late in the evening. I identify with the nerdy Seymour who can only find love through horrible and diabolical means. Though both singers are married, they recounted what it was like living through awkward dates and finally finding someone as nerdy as themselves. I am boxing up my studio and plan to possibly move on April 1. Looking around I realized I was the only masked person in the audience.

COVID Dystopia: Bleach It

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The animation in this shot consists of the former president waving his hands. The movement is hardly noticeable. I could go back in and increase the distance the hands move and perhaps wave them back and forth which would increase the speed of the action. Deborah Birx sitting rock still is perfect. She is frozen in disbelief. This is the moment her credibility as a health expert died. The fact that she did not correct the former president showed that she valued her job over the health of the American public.

Yesterday the CDC eliminated the 5 day isolation advice for people who get COVID. Now an infectious patient can return to work the second their fever drops. The problem is that the newest variant does not present fever as a symptom. The other problem is that people are still infectious for up to 10 days. The science has not changed.

People are being gas lit into thinking COVID is only a cold or no worse than the flu. It is however a vascular disease that harms every organ in the body, causes brain damage and harms the immune system. 2000 Americans continue to die from COVID every month and people either ignore the fact or are fine with it. The level of selfish disregard for others is hard to stomach.

Why is the formerly defunct but highly contagious measles making a come back in Florida? It could be that people’s immune systems have been damaged allowing another airborne pathogen to spread freely. We live in Orwellian times.

Florida Film Festival rejects COVID Dystopia

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I was saddened to find out that the Florida Film Festival has rejected COVID Dystopia. I had high hopes that I could screen the film at this high profile festival in my home town.

I have sketched at many Florida Film Festival events over the years and it is the film festival that I have felt most at home with.

I have a hard time imagining why the festival might not want to screen my film, but then I thought, well maybe they do not approve of my COVID pandemic depictions of the policies of our home state governor, Ron DeathSantis. Most festival judges in other states or other countries do not know who this fella is but locally his deadly policies are well known.

I also submitted the film to the Orlando Film Festival in Downtown Orlando but I suspect the result will be the same.It is best to ignore a film that contradicts the rush to a “New Normal” while 2000 Americans continue to die every week.

Find Me at Fringe Art Space

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Find Me written by Amanda Scheirer has three more performances at Fringe Art Space. The rock musical spoke to me on so many levels. It opens with Ally, performed by Laura Swindoll waking up and straightening up her apartment in anticipation for the arrival of a guest. Autumn performed by Cat Cuteness arrives and she silently runs through the room looking at herself in the 8 different mirrors scattered throughout. In the talk back, Laura explained that Ally was constantly examining herself in the mirrors. She is someone who is always giving everything away to please others to the point where there is little left for herself, and she is deeply unhappy, distracting herself with activity.

Autumn who has autism on the other hand is a bright light who is unafraid to be herself. She never says a word through the entire play but her joy and sorrow are brilliant. She becomes frustrated when Ally can’t let go. The whole play is about these two very different woman finding a middle ground to become closer. When Autumn zones out and stares into space, Ally tries to get her attention through dance and humor. Only sitting and patiently waiting brought Autumn back.

Ally is incredibly organized, to the point of obsession. She organizes games, books and other items by a system where items that involve the eyes, like books are on a top shelf, things that involve the hands like games are on a middle shelf and things that involve feet, like a yoga mat are on a bottom shelf. Autumn prefers the joy of chaos.

Part of the reason I love this play so much is that I teach virtual drawing classes to children on the autism scale. The biggest challenge is always to find a way to engage the child and accept where they are on their artistic journey. At times I have had students who might start to rock and humm to themselves. I just keep sketching and talking to engage them until they are ready to try for themselves. I love that painting is one way Ally wants to engage with Autumn. The first attempt is an utter failure since Autumn just places the bottles of paint in a row. Ally wants to squeeze some color out but Autumn just pulls the bottles away and lines them in a row. I am thinking she was mocking Ally’s hyper organized self. Ally gets frustrated and puts all the paint away, angry at Autumn for not participating the way she wanted her to.

Much later in the play Autumn signs that she wants to paint. This time, the two women are gentle with each other and find joy in smearing paint on the tall canvas. Bright vibrant paintings start appearing over every mirror so that by the end of the play the otherwise dull neutral apartment is now filled with color. The stage manager, Lita LaRoux, did all the paintings that appear over all the mirrors. She explained that she listened to the music for the show the entire time she painted.

The play features music written by Dan Drnach. Party Farm is a jingle for a party store and Autumn plays it on TV relentlessly. She loves to dance to the jingle. I wanted to dance as well but held back. If there was a plant in the audience I bet the audience would rise and dance along.

I applaud Amanda Schreirer for this joyous and subtle show. I fell in love with these characters as they struggled to find each other. You never know the battles others are fighting.

I highly advise that you see this show. You will leave the theater deeply moved and reflecting on how delicate relationships can be.