COVID Film: New Poster

Posted on by Thor

Since I took a day off from animating due to Adobe After Effects glitchy render engine, I spent the day instead working in Photoshop on a new poster for the movie. It turns our the new 2024 Adobe Photoshop also has problems because it crashed at least 5 times. One of those crashes resulted in the loss of quite a bit of work which I had to repeat.

Rather than print 18 by 24 inch posters for the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival I am printing 5.5 by 8.5 inch flyers. This is the front of the flyers and on the back will be the lyrics to Andy Matchett‘s song Just Can’t Wait along with social media handles. I am still making adjustments to the back.

Actually looking at this image I realize that it is missing some spatters that I added. Those must have dropped out when Photoshop crashed the last time. I will have to go back and add then again. Working with Adobe products means always having to double guess yourself.

I also got an approval sheet for the COVID buttons. It turns out they are being manufactured in Houston, where presidents go to be assassinated.

COVID Film: Adobe Glitch Nightmares

Posted on by Thor

Overnight, Adobe seemed to have updates its software without consulting me.Imagine working on a film for months and then wanting to render the final product but finding that dozens of shots are not longer able to render. What I see instead are color bars. I had to go through the entire film and re-render shots in Adobe After Effects.

Besides the color bars a program called the Media Encoder was thrown out with the upgrade. I re-downloaded the Media Encoder but the program didn’t recognize it. I wasted over half a day trying to find a work around to get the scenes to render. I found a youTube video by an Indian artist describing a work around. I had trouble understanding what was being said but I could follow the movement of the cursor. I had to copy source code and navigate multiple menus to finally manage to get some renders to work.

This final shot in the end credits is a stubborn hold out. It refuses to render. The clip works in After Effects but any time I try and render it I get color bars. I will be spending hours again today searching online forums to see if other are experiencing the same nightmares.

For now however I plan to step away from the problem for a bit. Attacking the problem in frustration could do more harm than good. The programs may need to be thrown out and then re-downloaded and I am not up to that level of destruction and reconstruction.

Instead I plan to focus on marketing. I need to create 50 five by seven inch cards that can be used as marketing swag at the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival. I also created buttons that I think filmmakers might want to wear with the film title and laurels. The buttons were ordered online, and now I need to find a printer for the cards. Pam had a great idea of printing the lyrics to Andy Matchett‘s song Just Can’t Wait on the back. I also will offer web links should people want to order the music. All my web links will also be on the back.

COVID Film: PPE Waste

Posted on by Thor

I felt I needed to replace a shot titled Beauty, in which a beautiful Victorian woman is trying on masks while a horrifically ugly doctor and nurse scoff at her. The animation consisted of her arm relaxing with a mask. It was a direct homage to a Twilight Zone episode called Eye of the Beholder. I was thinking of animating the pig faced medical staff, but then decided this mask shot was more mysterious and graceful.

In this shot the turtle is fully animated as he swims towards a mask. All the masks move slowly in the water. The turtle opens it’s mouth at the last moment implying that it plans to eat the PPE. I didn’t animate the people since I wanted the focus on the masks and turtle. I might eventually animate the people but they would need to walk very slowly.

With the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival coming up at the end of November, I am turning some of my attention to marketing. Yesterday I designed 1.5 inch COVID pins which I think filmmakers might like to wear. I ordered 50 pins since there are 50 films being shown at the festival. I don’t think

COVID Film: Rats

Posted on by Thor

This is the final composite of the rats scene in Premiere Pro. I decided to replace several squirrels with rats for this scene in the film. The one drawback is that the tail isn’t as fluffy and therefor harder to notice immediately. The shot before this one is of a Neanderthal in extreme close up. I am thinking that it might help to swap the Neanderthal with a more distant shot like this.

I animated the rat on the carpet pulling back, but decided it drew attention from the rat hitting the skull with her tail. I toned down the animation to a subtle head tilt and subtle tail movement.  This balancing of motions it the biggest challenge with each shot.

COVID Film Official Selection

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COVID is an official selection at the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival being held November 10-11, 2023. COVID will be be shown at the 4 pm screening on Saturday November 11. This is the 20th annual CIRSF Film Festival.

The screening will be in the Chicago Filmmakers Theater, 1326 W. Hollywood Ave., Chicago, IL 60660.  This Venue is the NEW Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Location, located in the Andersonville neighborhood. I am quite excited since this is the first time COVID is being screened outside of Orlando. Tickets to the screening at $15 should you be in Chicago. If anyone knows of a nice place to stay in North Chicago, let me know.

Chicago Filmmakers is a not-for-profit media arts organization that fosters the creation, appreciation, and understanding of film and video as media for artistic and personal expression, as well as media of important social and community impact. Chicago Filmmakers’ twofold mission is to serve independent film and digital video artists by supporting the creation and dissemination of new media arts works and to serve Chicago audiences by screening artistically innovative, socially relevant, and diverse films and videos.

I will be attending the festival and now I am arranging to print 5 by 7 cards, posters and buttons as swag. Should you be ins Chicago, stop by and say hi. Look for the guy in the N95 mask and goggles.

 

COVID Film: Nursing Home Animation

Posted on by Thor

Looking at this image, I realize that I am not quite done with this nursing home animation. The back bar of the walker needs to be erased on each frame so it disappears behind the woman’s dress. The animation I did was too fast for a slow moving woman, so I had to cur about four frames.

I am not sure yet if the green screen will work properly. There is a slight green glow on the woman from a large virus. The problem with having green on the animation is that it might become transparent when I key out the green screen. I couldn’t use a blue screen since she is wearing a blue dress.

Hopefully it will all come together today when I composite the scene together.

COVID Film: Flaming Baby Reworked

Posted on by Thor

I always felt uncomfortable when a smiling baby appeared in the midst of the COVID film. It was what I had painted at the time but it didn’t fit with the overall flow of the film. I decided to change the baby using the previous shot as reference. The depth map worked out really well turning the baby’s head as he cried.

Looking at this Volumax depth map now, I realize I could probably paint some better depth for the open mouth and ear canal. The painting is extremely blown up so the line work is thicker than any other shot in the film. I think I will go back and redraw the baby to help it tie in to the resolution of the shots on either side of it.

I could animate the mouth a bit but I am not sure that is needed. Since things happen so fast, I face this challenge often, wondering if animation will help or over complicate a shot. I keep adding animation since I am entering the film in the animation category in film festivals. Yet this film is something different. It defies being easily categorized.

I also know that I am presenting something that no one wants to see. The nation has embraced a new normal in which COVID isn’t ever discussed. There is a strange collective amnesia in the rush to pretend that all is as it was in 2019. This film defies that wishful thinking.

Comedy of Errors: Poster Evolution 3

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The final version of the Comedy of Errors Poster involved removing the winged lady or just clipping her wings, and adding more parade revelers. One of the twins was removed, and the whole focus became the parade. I added sparks falling from the sky as if from fireworks.

The third pass at the title treatment worked best. It was hand drawn for added control over the letters. Copying some letters saved time. Thank goodness there were so many Es and Rs.

I learned quite a bit about using elements from one poster and adding new elements as the poster evolved. Each character was kept on their own layer in case they b=needed to be moved. People were indeed moved multiple times to fill out the scene.

This might not be the final pass a the poster but it was the one I could locate on my hard drive. I just noticed I had already signed the original poster. I threw another signature on this post since it is kind of a habit.

Comedy of Errors: Poster Evolution 2

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The second pass at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster focused on a Mardi Gras parade. Two of the characters were identical but since they looked alike it felt like a mistake. I set up a woman with shimmering wings as the focal point but she didn’t really relate to the play directly.

Everyone liked the street scene I had set up and the musicians. The title didn’t have enough of a Mardi Gras feel so it would need to be reworked. The glowing lights of a nocturnal parade felt right. The large mask as a decorative element really wasn’t needed so it would fall to the wayside.

Though there were plenty of changes still needed it felt like I was on the right track.

Comedy of Errors: Poster Evolution 1

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With the first pass at A Comedy of Errors poster for the Shakes, I played with twins imagery. The show is set in New Orleans during Mardi Grass so masks and vibrant colors were incorporated. I used an abstract peacock imagery as a backdrop which was also symmetrical.

It was decided that the twins imagery wasn’t needed. What did stand out was the hint of a Mardi Gras parade in the background. The parade was to be the focus.

Comedy of Errors was performed at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater from September 6 to October 1, 2023. Since I have been so focused on my film, I didn’t get to the theater to sketch. Photos I saw on Facebook clued me in to the fact that I was missing a fun time.