Yesterday This Was Animation

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Cross dissolve to the character now walking to the Orlando Bus Station. This re-used the animation form the first shot but the animation had to be repositioning. I was hoping I could move the animation as a whole in Callipeg but that solution evaded me. Instead I re positioned each drawing one at a time making sure the foot positions lined up on the pavement.

Today was a good day of production, I got a bunch of boards done and several of those seem animated since I used the Procreate video playback feature to recreate the process. I get my best ideas as I am waking up in the morning lying in bed and this morning I came up with the idea of having negatives playback when the character reflects on our countries history of racism. I had one of these Ah-Ha moments each day when I was doing my COVID-19 series of illustrations. It was hard to stop the COVID-19 series since the ideas keep coming, But now that I am animating again, I am loving the process and getting lost in the work all day and into the night.

At first the project seemed impossible on the tight deadline, but I keep chipping away and things keep falling into place. There is a definite sense of serendipity that comes with making a film. Working from the oral history makes boarding a breeze since the length of each shot is determined by the narration.

Again all this work is being done of the exhibition titled, Yesterday this Was Hone: The Ocoeee Massacre of 1920. The Exhibition is on display from October 3, 2020 to February 14, 2021 at the Orange County Regional History Center. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history. This exhibit is sadly still relevant today with the election coming up in November,  since America has never been able to fully address racism.

The Pantheon

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For much of our time in Paris, we stayed at the Hotel Pantheon which aptly is right across the street from the Pantheon. Most every hotel in Paris was booked up so, later in the week we had to change hotels. We must have been spoiled by our spacious room at Hotel Pantheon. The second hotel we stayed at was modern but small. The bathroom was so small that I needed to open the door in order to lean over and brush my teeth using the dentist size sink.

Being near the Pantheon meant it was a little easier to navigate our way back in the evening. The dome was illuminated and could be seen from many blocks away. One evening as we stood in Place du Pantheon, we looked west and could see the Eiffel Tower illuminated far off in the distance. It began to sparkle with thousands of lights flashing. Terry struggled to find her camera and just as she was ready to shoot, the sparkling stopped. Apparently this light show only happens for a few minutes every hour.

 The Pantheon (from Greek Pantheon, meaning “Every god”) was originally built as a church
dedicated to St. Genevieve, but after many changes now functions as a
secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French
citizens. It is an early example of neoclassicism, with a facade modeled
on the Pantheon in Rome.

The neighborhood around the Pantheon is bustling with young college students going and coming from classed. I saw a sign that pointed towards an animation academy, so we might have been near Gobelins which is probably the best animation school in the world.  The Paris government helps subsidize Gobelins which guarantees the city’s prominence in producing talented animators.

Carl Knickerbocker Film Screenings

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Urban ReThink hosted a screening of two Carl Knickerbocker animated puppet short films as well as “The Painting Lesson”, a live action film that is loosely based on Carl’s art and life. I really liked “The Painting Lesson.” In this film an artist who really looks like Carl was painting in a night club to make ends meet when he meets an alpha business woman who asks him for a painting lesson. One thing leads to another and they end up sleeping together. She has a dream about Carl’s blue and green dogs. The animated dogs circle each other sniffing butts. She is rude to him from that point on. They fight. He paints her pooch green and in the end she creates a huge angry mural on the street in front of his home. He realized this is the best painting she had ever done. She didn’t need lessons from him anymore. The media embraced her. I absolutely love this film. It is a shame it was never distributed.

“A Dog Goes from Here to There” was a short animated piece that Carl wrote and directed. His vibrant Urban Primitive paintings are bought to life to illustrate a whimsical poem written for children. Carl’s most recent film, “SP #2” is surreal and non-linear. He just recently finished the production and is now sending it out to film festivals.

The Secret of Nimh

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On the last day of the 2D Animation class at Full Sail each month, Kathy Blackmore lets the students vote on an animated movie to watch. Before they voted, students asked the instructors about their experiences in the animation business. One student asked, “What was a highlight or defining moment in your career?” I described the day when I found out I was accepted into the Disney internship. “This might be way before your time, but it was a Mary Tyler Moore moment. I danced in the streets of NYC and threw my cap in the air!” Kathy described the pride she took in one particular Stitch scene where she did every drawing herself. Alex Kupersmidt the lead animator paused for the longest time when he looked at it. Such a pause usually meant he was contemplating a change or fix to the animation. He said, “It’s perfect.” He then turned and walked away. Such praise from an animation legend isn’t often offered.

The class had a split vote between Secret of Nimh and Lilo and Stitch. Dan Reibold really wanted to see the Secret of Nimh since he hadn’t seen it in a long time. Kathy’s heart warming stories about working on Stitch might just throw the voting in favor of the Disney film. Dan decided to pick up the Nimh DVD case and he made up a story about how this movie was the reason he wanted to become an animator. The students didn’t buy his story, they laughed. Kathy decided to show the movie to keep Dan from crying. Some students continued to work on their animation flip books as the movie played. This has to be the best animated feature Don Bluth produced. It is a classic.

Animated Shorts

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Each year, I have to see the animated shorts at the Florida Film Festival. This year Bill Plimpton had a display of artwork from around the world used in his Global Jam. He invited artists to each tackle a scene in their own style from his Academy Award winning film Guard Dog. The invitation went out via the Internet. Bill waited an hour, no response. He waited another hour with no response. He went home depressed. The next day he was told that too many artists responded causing the server to go down. The resulting film was hilarious being even quirkier with all the different looks. Bill said the film cost him $20 to produce with animators around the world volunteering their time.

Anyway, the Animated Shorts screening was sold out. The line stretched back as far as I could see. There was a chance I might not get in, but house manager, Brian Feldman, stepped in and made sure I got a ticket. I found a seat in the very first row. Brian joked and said I should sit on the stage and sketch the audience. I was tempted but really wanted to see some animation. I leaned back and let the screen filled up every inch of my glasses. Tales of Mere Existence by Lev Yilmaz is always in the lineup and is always funny. This year he talked aimlessly about how he had imagined relationships with women in the Ukraine via Facebook. There were a few artsy shorts with no apparent story. I always get annoyed at these aimless films.

My favorite film of the night was “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore“. Though it could use a shorter title, the film is magical. It basically stresses how books offer refuge bringing color and life into people’s lives. The main character was modeled after Buster Keaton. One of the co-directors daughter died, and his wife became paralyzed during production of the film. Moonbot the new studio that made the film is located in Louisiana, so when Hurricane Katrina hit, it ended up becoming a major part of the story. There is something very sad about seeing peoples books in among the rubble of destruction. Several of the story and visual development artists were originally from Orlando but unfortunately I didn’t know them. They asked if anyone in the audience worked at Disney Feature Animation. I started to raise my hand but stopped halfway up thinking “well, not anymore.” Seeing no hands he said, “Damn Michael Eisner.”