COVID Clap

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This animation is for the Rhinos in the Audience shot. The one person wearing a mask is clapping so I decided that should be the first animation I did. For reference I looked at Citizen Kane. There is one scene where Orson Wells claps after the opera and He is essentially the only person to do so. I figured out that he clapped four times in the 1 second and 25 frame shot.

I then figured out where each clap hit on the timeline. For instance above you can see a clap falls on frame 29 and on frame 37. Then I dug in and started figuring out the timing and mechanics of an individual clap. The hand moves quickly to clap but slower when it is pulled back for the next clap. This section of animation shows the pull back as it slows into the pulled back position.

The elbow should lead the motion, followed by the wrist and then the hand. However I wanted to get away with only animating the hands and arms if I could, while leaving the head and body a held cell. I animated subtle elbow movement but it drew attention to itself. Animating just the arms felt unnatural so I added a head turn to distract from the elbows.

After painting the hands I felt the thumb was distracting on the character’s left hand so I ended up erasing it. Since I animated the head I then added a subtle animation around the collar. I repainted the whole body as a held cell since the original painted hands would have to be painted over anyway.

A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screeplay about the Death of Walt Disney.

Posted on by Thor

 I went to a rehearsal for A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney written by Lucas Hnath who once lived in Orlando. John DiDonna plays the part of Walt Disney and the rehearsal was in the living room of his South Sanford home.

Cut to. . . A dark Prius arriving on a suburban street at night. The headlights cut off.

Cut to… An artist searching for house numbers illuminating mailboxes with an iPhone.

Cut to… An artist noticing a white car that is empty but has the interior light on. “This must be an actors car.” he thinks.  

Cut To… A house with four or five cars parked in the driveway.

The camera dollies into the scene following the artist who enters the front door without knocking.

I’m late. John DiDonna is well into the script  that he
as Walt wrote. It’s about his last days on earth. It’s about a city he’s going
to build that’s going to change the world. And it’s about his brother.
It’s about everyone who loves him so much, and it’s about how sad
they’re going to be when he’s gone. Right? I mean, how can they live
without him? 

The play reminded me often of the Film “Citizen Kane“. It is about a giant public figure the demands the love of the public, but can not find true love in his own family.   Walt doesn’t even refer to his wife or daughter, played by Jenny Ornstein, by name. He is however very sure everyone should know his name.


Ron Miller, Adam Del
Medico, Disney’s brother in law is a bit of a  sycophant who adores
Walt. He is the only member of the family who feels that way.  But Ron is a jock and represents everything that Walt despises. 

Cut to… A meeting between Walt and Roy, Tommy Keesling, about the city of the future that Walt wants to build in Orlando. Roy explains that if the project is considered a township, then they have free reign to build what they want. Finally Walt will have a fiefdom that he is the supreme dictator of. He just has to live long enough to see it become a reality. Roy and the Disney board however see this project as just another theme park. 

Walt’s fast fading health is covered in a quick series of snippets of conversation with his daughter. It becomes clear that his vision will never become a reality. His strength and domineering will can’t put off the inevitable. Dreams of returning from a frozen stasis trigger rumors that exist to this day that Walt’s brain is preserved in Cinderella’s Castle running the huge theme part complex. This is an incredibly insightful and irreverent look at Walt’s final days. The humor and humanity creep up on you and take you by surprise. The show flows at a breakneck pace and the audience has to keep up with Walt’s furious pace.

When: Four Performances Only. November 20 – 23, 2015. Friday, Saturday and Monday 8:00 pm Sun 3:00 pm. Join cast members for a chat back immediately following the Sunday matinee. 

Where: Lowndes Shakespeare Center Dr. Phillips Patron’s Room 812 E. Rollins St., Orlando, FL,

Tickets: $10 advance (Paypal) $15 day of the show.  For tickets and information, email deathofdisney@gmail.com

The Barber of Seville: Press, Blogger, Tweet Night

Posted on by Thor

On October 23rd there was The Barber of Seville: Press, Blogger, Tweet Night, at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre (401 W Livingston St, Orlando, FL), which was the final dress rehearsal before the show opened. An usher informed me that there was no photography allowed, but I was ready with my sketchbook. I had to use the book light to see, but thankfully there was no one seated near me. The Orlando Philharmonic’s semi staged operas usually have the orchestra on stage but for this production they have been moved to the music pit. Emily Lindahl, the Philharmonic)s PR person, said that the musicians are much happier down there. For her there is magic in seeing the musicians lit from below like a Degas painting. It feels more like an age old opera. Projections kept the simple set lively.

The Barber of Seville  by Rossini opened October 25. The 3-hour production left me plenty of time to sketch in the first act. Since I was busy sketching, I didn’t have time to read the subtitles. In general the Opera seems to be about a lecherous barber Wooing a married woman. She instantly fell in love when he sang to her as she stood on her balcony. There were several funny scenes where her husband wandered outside and the barber hid by lying on his back like a rug, or pretending to be a bush. The old man must have pretty bad eye sight. No wonder his wife’s attention wandered.

I only know the music because Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd performed in dueling barber chairs. One scene reminded me of the one aria sung by Citizen Kane‘s mousy girlfriend. The opera was actually based on the novel Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert, which was a much more straightforward sword-and-sandals story of a princess, barbarians and that sort of thing. Susan Alexander Kane just didn’t have the chops for the job. In the Orlando Philharmonic Barber of Seville production however the music was sublime. My mind just always wanders as I sketch.

Mark your Calendar! You only hare one more chance to see the Barber of Seville!  

The next performance is October 27, 2 p.m.

Venue: Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre

Address: 401 W. Livingston St.

Phone: (407) 770-0071

Web Site: http://www.orlandophil.org

Price: $20-$82