COVID Dystopia: Jesus Dropped a Cluster Bomb

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In the weeks leading up to the Orlando Film Festival, I feel I should share shots from COVID Dystopia. I do this leading into each film festival.

This festival feels special since the film was created in Orlando and so many of the shots relate to Florida’s failed COVID response. The film has been rejected multiple times for other Florida Film Festivals and I thought it would never be shown in this state.

The animated film is controversial  and rather hard edged. It is perhaps too controversial to be shown at your average Film Festival. When it is shown, it wins awards. It won the Best Short Animation Film Award at the Chicago International Reels Film Festival. It won as the Best Short Short Film at the Berlin Shorts Film Festival, and it has won an Honorable Mention at the Charlotte Film Festival and it was a Nominee for the Best Animated Short at the Iowa Independent Film Festival.

COVID Dystopia: Wacky Wavy Final Animation

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Last night I composited the animation with the background and confetti in After Effects. The depth map is shown on top. With the depth the camera move feels like a drone or crane is lowering the camera as the mob of wacky wavy Uncle Sams gesture.

As I was working on this composite, I got some great news in that COVID Dystopia is an official selection at the Berlin Short Film Festival in Germany. I am scrambling to update my passport and making plans to be at the screening. It seems the submission process is picking up steam. I honestly thought no one would ever screen this nightmarish short.

Now that the film has won a Best Animated Film Award in the Chicago International Reel Film Festival, I realize all the time invested might have been worth it. This wacky wavy scene might be that last scene that needs animation. I am going to render the whole film again so that the Berlin Film Festival can upload the most recent version of the film.

My mission to make people aware that the pandemic is far from over continues.

COVID Dystopia: Press Kit Page 5

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This is the Bios page of the press kit. Posting it here, I immediately notice a typo, so I should fix that.

Each morning I keep waking up and thinking I am working on the last shot in the film that needs improvement, but during the day I find something else that needs a tweak. I decided the Times Square Hazmat scene was of a high enough quality to keep as is. However I decided the crowd running from an alien crap virus craft needed work.

I got about half the crowd into the high resolution version of the scene and I need to work on the other half today. I changed the timing on an arm swing while I was at it. I suspect all the line work will have to be cleaned up for this scene to sharpen up the image. The scene is just over one second long but it will involve several days work to draw and paint the high resolution version.

The film was rejected by Sundance and Slamdance film festivals to start out the year. I need to get serious in 2004 to find all the early submission dates for film festival submissions. People either love the film or they hate it. There is no middle ground or grey area. I need to find the festivals willing to take a chance on screening this monstrosity.

One question at the Chicago International REEL Film Festival was, what was the cost of the film. For me there was no cost other than the insane amount of time I committed to the project. The laptop I purchased a year earlier but at the time I made sure it had enough ram and memory to handle film editing. The biggest cost it turns out is the admission fees for submitting to film festivals. Part of me wonders if I am making a mistake keeping COVID Dystopia off of Social Media so that it can have a film festival run through 2024.

Chicago Reel Shorts Film Festival

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This Historic Chicago Firehouse is home to the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival. This is where my short film, COVID Dystopia has it’s Midwest Premiere. Our bed and breakfast was just a block away, so getting to the festival each evening was a breeze. When walking to the theater the first night we saw a sweet husky in the firehouse side yard wearing a glowing blue collar. The pup sat as far away from its owner as it could.

The building is also home to Chicago filmmakers, which 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. One of the shorts in the Friday night screening titled 3:00AM by Ricardo Albarran, was filmed entirely inside this building. I recognized some of the locations as I searched for a men’s room between screenings.

I think my favorite film of the festival, other than COVID Dystopia of course, was Get Away, director by Michael Gabriele. This live action horror film features three young women get away to a secluded stone cabin in the desert. With no wifi, they find a single VHS tape and decide to watch it. The movie was filmed in the cabin they are. The action in the VHS tape intertwines in their reality in strange and unexpected ways.

Many of the shorts including Get Away had a 3 day shooting schedule. That makes it sound like a short film is a breeze to produce. Compare that to doing a painting a day for three years and then animating for another seven months and counting.

When I got back to Orlando, my online students started asking how people reacted to my film. Certainly no one laughed at my film and there was a long pause of silent horror followed by applause to break the spell. One of my students told me that both parents are infected with COVID right now. I decided to show her a silent version of the film since the soundtrack has several expletives.  When the silent version was over she was silent and I decided not to press her for feedback. The film is intended to fight the pervasive amnesia and denial that surrounds the COVID mass infections that continue. The message probably bounces off of COVID deniers but lingers with the few who know the long term repercussions of repeat infections. COVID continues to be a train wreck happening in slow motion. However most prefer to go think life has returned to “normal.”

COVID Film: Rudy Meltdown

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Yesterday I animated the candle flame in this shot of Rudy melting down using Callipeg.I animated the flame with an animation student. I found a youTube video that showed a candle flame flickering for an hour for mediation. I let that video play the whole time I animated. My first pass at the animation was a bit to extreme, so it dialed it back with a second pass at the animation.

Two of the lawyers in this scene, Jenna Ellis and Sydney Powell,  recently pleaded guilty in the election subversion case in Georgia. They pleaded guilty to avoid jail time. Amazingly their “boss” is the Republican front runner in the presidential election next year.

I had previously animated the candle flame in After Effects using the pin tool. However by animating the flame by hand I had more control over the flame tip movement and the squash and stretch. The difference is subtle but to me very noticeable.

I kind of like the scene with just the candle flame being animated, but it is too peaceful. Today I will be igniting the constitution as well. My fear is that the new inferno might upstage the candle flame but it is needed. I will likely use the pin tool to animate Rudy’s face melting as well.

I got a thank you e-mail from the Chicago International Reel Shorts Film Festival today. They had a very successful year with largely sold out screenings for each show block. They were helped by Chicago Magazine and The Daily Herald who promoted the festival in their “things to do this weekend in Chicago”. I must say, my screening was packed full.

COVID Film: Title Shuffle

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The working title for my film has always been COVID. I discovered that COVID is the title of a feature film coming out in December of 2023.

I was excited to rename my film COVID APOCALYPSE. Apocalypse tied in with the quote I had placed at the end of the titles. I spent a day redesigning the posters and press material. Then while online that evening I found out a book had the title COVID APOCALYPSE. WT actual F.

Hell, the distressed type on the cover was even similar to my poster design. The book came out 3 months before I started chasing a unique and searchable title for my short film. Unfortunately I had contacted the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival and told them I was renaming the film to COVID APOCALYPSE. As I was scrambling to redesign everything they updated their website.

Yesterday I changed the title to COVID DYSTOPIA. So far I have not found a book or film with that title. But give it a week and I bet one will pop up. Rather than ask the festival to once again change the title, it will screen as COVID APOCALYPSE at that one screening.

A week ago, I  printed 50 post cards with the title of COVID. Those post cards will be real collectors items like the upside down airplane on a postage stamp.

I added COVID DYSTOPIA to the opening scene and the end credits. Lets hope it sticks.

COVID Film: PPE Waste

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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 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.