COVID Dystopia: Animating the Monkey Scrum

Posted on by Thor


I animated four monkeys in the monkey scrum yesterday. There will be three more monkeys in front of this grouping and one monkey further down the aisle. All the animation I did yesterday was quite contained so that the leaping monkey is the action that should catch an audience’s eye.

The animation that remains is more complex since the monkeys will be walking or shifting their weight forward. There are so many layers now that the Callipeg program is struggling to play them all back. I might have to merge layers as I add more animation to keep the scene from freezing up. I should copy the scene today and work on the copy just in case the program does indeed fail.

Last night Pam helped in making plans for the trip to Berlin. We also wrote the festival organizer to see if he has advice about the best places to stay. With a six hour time difference I think I will be teaching virtual art classes until 2AM from Germany. I have to double check the schedule against the flight times and screening times of the festival. COVID Dystopia screens in the 6PM time slot on Sunday February 11, 2024 at the Babylon Theater. On the day before, screenings start at 6PM through about 10PM. Then there is a mixer for directors and producers at the Griffin, an “American Style” bar.

Pam and I watched a Rick Steves youTube video about Berlin to get a feel for what else to see in the historic city. My father fought in Germany at the end of WWII. He would have wanted to push into the city but he was tasked with cleaning out the resistance in the industrial Ruhr Pocked West of the city. I know which cities he fought in and would like to follow that route someday, but that will have to be another trip. Pam and I will be flying about 24 yours to be in Berlin for about 48 hours. It is quite a whirl wind but it is a once in a lifeline opportunity.

The Germans seem to appreciate COVID Dystopia‘s macabre outlook on the worlds failed response to a virulent virus.

COVID Dystopia: Animating the Monkey Scrum

Posted on by Thor

Most of my effort went into animating the monkey who leaps, reaches but falls short of the prize.The arm reaching was the challenge. I wanted the reach to happen quickly and then slow down as the monkey dropped back to the floor.  The lower half of the monkeys is hidden by the mass of monkeys all around him, so that mace the job much easier.

With that finished, I added a simply movement to one of the monkeys in the scrum. There is another group of four monkeys in front of this mass, so part of this animation sill be hidden. All together I have nine more monkeys to animate. The movements for each should be much more subtle than the leap I just finished animating.

Animation for all the monkey tails is already done, but I will import that at the end. I am hoping that today will be another two monkey day.

COVID Dystopia: Official Selection at the Berlin Short Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia is an official selection at the Berlin Short Film Festival. Pam and I ordered new passports and they came back surprisingly fast. My film will screen on February 11, 2024 at the 6PM screening slot. The Babylon Theater is located at Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30, Berlin, Germany. Today we will make plans for plane flights and an air B&B inn Berlin. I found a nice place within walking distance of the theater but we aren’t sure of flight times yet. These international festivals don’t give much time for making plans.

I am of course curious about the films in my screening block. I found a couple on youTube. One was an interview in German about stereotypes associated with Germans. The other, also in German I gave up on. I will not watch any others, I would rather see them on the big screen.

There is one social event where film makers can mix and mingle. It is being held at an “American Style” bar. The place is a hole in the wall dive with graffiti on the facade. It is quite a walk from the theater. There is quite a bit of large graffiti in the neighborhood reminiscent of the days of the Berlin Wall.

This screening should be quite an adventure. I know a minimal amount of German after studying it in high school. I really never got past counting to ten however and all that conjugation stuff threw me for a loop.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 8 Baby Monkey Animated

Posted on by Thor

I finished animating the baby monkey yesterday in Callipeg. The toilet paper animation could be imported from the previous version of the scene. That strand of toilet paper used to wave in place, so I had to animate it moving as the hand rises. I also had to rotate a bit so it has some weight and drops with gravity.

I have about a dozen more monkeys to animate since they are fighting in a scrum below the baby monkey. I am teaching virtual art classes for eight hours today, so I likely will not finish any animation. My hope is to just get the key poses done on one of the monkeys.

The two foreground monkeys are just a held cell. However I animated the gun being raised. The two foreground monkeys disappear out of the shot rather fast since the camera pushes in towards the baby monkey.

I am animating on a flat version of the background but the final plan is to add depth to the store aisle. Rather than exporting all the monkeys on a single layer I will export then on separate layers so they can be stacked back in space in After Effects. I already have the camera move in place so the new animation will just have to replace the still layers I already have done.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 8 Start Animation

Posted on by Thor

Today I am starting animation on the monkeys fighting over toilet paper. Animation of the toilet paper waving in the breeze and tails is already done. I imported the tail animation from the previous version of the scene and now realize it is blurry. I will need to redraw the tails to sharpen up the lines.

I will start the animation with the baby monkey holding the toilet paper. The hands, feet and head will be held cells but I will go in and fully animate the arms and body. The plan is to have the monkey leaning forward and then rear back when another monkey leaps for the toilet paper. This is a very short scene at just over one second and it has the camera zooming in. I might calm down the zoom if the animation turns out well.

There is a lot of scribbling and cross hatching in the monkey’s fur. I am debating if I will replicate this texture throughout the animation or simplify it. Since there are about a dozen monkeys I will be working on this scene for days.

COVID Dystopia Shot 8

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With Shot 6, The Screaming Monkey, I did go in and add animation of the mouth opening as it screams. The added animation did help the scene.

In this shot the tails are animated along with the strand of toilet paper and the hand of the reaching monkey bends at the wrist. I think I am going to go in  and fully animate the crowd of monkeys scrabbling for the TP. I suspect that adding ZOE Depth to the background could also help the scene.

Fully animating this scene will be a real challenge so it will be sharing the animation as it is done.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 7

Posted on by Thor

This shot syncs with a scream in the song, Just Can’t Wait for the Game to End by Andy Matchett. The screaming monkey was separated from the background and a depth map was added. That was exported as a green screen and the camera rotates around the head. The effect is subtle but you can feel the dimension in the open mouth. Another option would be to animate the mouth opening but I feel that isn’t needed for such a short shot.

Actually animating the moth opening and the eyebrows raising might be rather easy. I will play with this scene today and see if adding that subtle animation adds anything. If the shot can be made better, I need to put in the effort. I can watch the whole film now and feel it is good enough, but is it great?

Ron DeathSantis ended his presidential race yesterday. Several shot in the film mock the man and the lyrics for this shots are about watching him burn. The news makes those shot even more relevant today. He will leave the national stage disgraced and return to Florida to continue to ruin the state.

80th Birthday Celebration

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The trailer I rented in Goose Creek, South Carolina was just 10 minutes from my sister’s daughter’s home. This 80th Birthday Celebration was planned months ago. All the Thorspecken siblings arrived at the same time. I immediately sat on the living room couch and started sketching. I didn’t know how long I might have before my sister arrived. My hope was to block in the composition and then add people as they sat down.

A scout was sent upstairs to look out a window down the street to watch for my sister’s car so everyone could hide before she walked in. My sister was fashionably late which meant I was finished blocking in the room before she arrived. I decided to stop sketching and join everyone in the kitchen. My sketch and art bag were hidden with a fluffy couch pillow.

I had decided to draw the center table set up in the living room. It turns out no one ever sat at that table. In my sketch, my sister is visible straight ahead of me. You can identify her with the pony tail. All the Thorspeckens were seated in the dining room.

When the food arrived, I sat outside and almost choked to death on a hunk of sausage, but I survived. After I recovered and finished the pasta on my plate I went back inside. The sausage I left alone. I got to sit in on a good hour of family conversation before the football game was turned on in the living room.

In the living room I got to site with my sister for a while and we talked about family history. She had a good lead on a Thorspecken who had an import export business in NYC back in the 1840 or so. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery and I want to look him up. I might be going up to New York City in a week or so with Pam and I could gather research sites I should visit. One problem I want to pursue in person is to visit all the Catholic Churches near where my Irish relatives lived in NYC about 1870. My hope is to find a baptism for my great great grandfather. My hope is to fin the records if I pay for the time spent researching.

 

Goose Creek South Carolina

Posted on by Thor

I took a road trip to Goose Creek, South Carolina for my sister Shirley’s 80th birthday celebration. I drove on a day when I did not have an online class. I did the drive straight through in about 7 hours. I probably could have done the drive in 6 hours, but Google maps changed the route and sent me up I-95 for one more exit. I believe several roads were washed out so that might have been the reason. I may never know. After diving north for an extra 30 miles, I was directed to a side road and took that all the way back. That road did have some issue since it narrowed down to one lane and I had to wait for 15 minutes or so for the traffic to drive by before I could proceed.

I am staying in a Coleman Camper. It is pretty cozy. I found it via AirB&B. It is set up to accommodate two adults and two kids, but I am using it on my own. It is set up with WiFi but in opening this post to write, I noticed the internet is super slow. I need to teach a virtual course this afternoon via Zoom and I am hoping the connection speed does not put a kink in that plan.

My brother Don and his wife are going to stop by before class. He wants to drive south to Charleston for sight seeing. I am not sure if I have time for that before class. We will see.

 

COVID Dystopia: Shot 6

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Shot 6 of COVID Dystopia is of a surreal view of a sports bar. I went to South Carolina to help my sister celebrate her 80th birthday. My other brothers and sister wanted to meet a t a sports bar before we went to the celebration. The sports bear we were supposed to meet at was super crowded, although I noticed there was plenty of outdoor seating which would have been my preference. We met instead at a small restaurant across the parking lot of the strip mall.

My brother claimed I looked like Darth Vader as I approached the entry in my long winter trench coat and N-95 mask. If I could find an n-95 mask that looked like Darth Vader’s mask I would wear it. Family seem to think I am crazy for taking precautions while I think everyone else is crazy for pretending that the pandemic has ended. This second indoor dining spot was empty except my family crowed around one table. The space had no HEPA filtration system to keep costumers safe. I ordered a coke and took a few sips by slipping up my mask. I know this wasn’t ideal but the risk benefit had to be measured. Most people have abandoned all COVID precautions and I am just learning what layered risks I am willing to take.

The previous day I taught a virtual art class from a Starbucks because the trailer I was staying in had horrible WiFi. Over two hours I sipped an iced coffee while teaching the class. Starbucks was crowded when the class started but emptied out by the time the class ended. I was seated near the entry door which kept blowing open which I liked. I was a cold breeze but at least fresh air was circulating.

Seeing this shot as a still, I am noticing that some of the breath and spatter seems out of place. I will check the scene again and check the breath layer of placement and scale. I might separate each breath into its own layer so each can be scaled from a center which would be at the person’s mouth.