Pandemic Studio

Posted on November 27, 2024November 20, 2024 by Thor

I did this sketch of my pandemic studio for one of my online students. Today I find myself doing a similar sketch as I plan for a tight space.

The Disney Feature Animation desk is huge and heavy along with the flat files and a hand made bookcase.

Since I am doing a similar sketch today I will probably do it the same way by adding a bit of depth using one point perspective.

In July of 2020 about 8200 Americans were dying due to COVID-19 each week. Much larger waves of death would follow, and I sat in this studio documenting the vents each day through my surreal paintings. The COVID Dystopia animated short film is doing the rounds at Film Festivals ad the 200 page book with over 600 illustrations is nearing completion. The pandemic is not over and a new virus, H5N1 is spreading in California. That new virus has a mortality rate of 50% while COVID has a mortality rate of an estimated 1.4%. If H5N1 starts spreading from human to human the devastation will make COVID look like a walk in the park.

COVID Dystopia: Canada Truckers Protest

Posted on November 24, 2024November 16, 2024 by Thor

I am pleased with how the plumes of fiery smoke turned out in this shot. I combined key frame animation that warped the painting and also procedural movement in After Effects. I applied this effect throughout the film to give the rising heat shimmer. Most viewers probably do not know the effect is there but they feel it.

I decided the protestor could be perfectly still. If someone wanted to read the protest sign, I wouldn’t want to be waving it about.

I did the fire animation twice. I still think it could use improved. That is the problem with having so many shots and so many effects. I might learn something on another shot and want to apply it to other shots. At some point I just had to let go. No one is going to be as critical of the shape of a flame as I might be.

Since COVID Dystopia is now screening at the Pittsburgh Shorts and Script Competition. I want to be sure to keep posting these in progress shots in case festival goers look up AADW online. I am also thinking I should probably edit together a making of video which could be included along with the film the back or the COVID Dystopia book which is now being edited. That last sentence just created a whole lot of work.

COVID Dystopia is available to be seen at the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival happening now through November 24, 2024. COVID Dystopia can be seen in the Eventive – Chiller Theater Block 2 – Shorts online. It can be seen anywhere in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. After you start watching the films, you have 48 hours to complete watching them. Tickets are $18.

COVID Dystopia: Racoon Dog Theory

Posted on November 22, 2024November 14, 2024 by Thor

Genetic material collected at the Wuhan Chinese Market where the first human cases of COVID-19 were identified, show raccoon dog DNA commingled with COVID-19. Some scientists believe COVID most likely jumped from animals to people, others believe the virus could have been leaked from one of the several Wuhan coronavirus research facilities. The genetic material collected does not prove that a racoon dog stated the pandemic. Human DNA was also found in the sample. A human may have infected the animal, or the animal may have never harbored the virus. People search for blame. The final answer as to how the pandemic began has yet to be definitively proven.

COVID Dystopia: Lions Genetically Entwined

Posted on November 21, 2024November 14, 2024 by Thor

A lion at a Zoo in South Bend, Indiana, tested positive for COVID after it started coughing and became breathless. Zoo workers who had cared for the lion later caught the infection. The lion that was infected with the coronavirus probably passed it on to two zoo employees.

COVID continues to spread not just human to human, but between species.

This scene involved animating the two lions walking around the virus. This was my second time animating lions so the mechanics were fresh in my mind. The lion balancing on the viral ball was subtly animated in After Effects using the puppet tool, and his tail was fully animated. So many of these shots involved keeping very subtle movement so that the painting was the primary focus.

The COVID Dystopia book is nearing completion. Today I just have to catch up on double checking the index and the editing is being done vary carefully 3 spreads a a time.

COVID Dystopia: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion

Posted on November 20, 2024November 14, 2024 by Thor

April was to be the cruelest month. Doctors and nurses hit the brink of exhaustion. All they could do was watch people gasp for breath and die. Ventilators were thought to help but they resulted in even more death.

In this scene I did subtle animation on the lions behind the nurse. I used puppet tools in Adobe After Effects to move a few lion heads. I used the same toll to have the nurse lean forward a bit.

Most of the hand drawn animation in this scene came in moving the lions pacing in a circle. I have not animated many quadrupeds so I looked at reference of peoples African safari videos to study the lion’s walk. It was a challenge but I am pleased with the result.

COVID Dystopia: No One Seemed to Mind

Posted on November 19, 2024November 14, 2024 by Thor

Stockholm Syndrome is a is a psychological response where a victim develops an emotional connection with their abuser or captor.

It seems so many Americans fell in love with the virus, they want to share it with friends and family. Mass infection for them is an act of kindness.

Unfortunately they are doing this with the assumption that repeat infections build immunity. The opposite it true however, COVID is weakening the immune response, not just to COVID but every other pathogen. An entire generation has been encouraged to live lives of constant repeat infections. At first the hope was that vaccines would stop the infections. Vaccines have helped reduce hospitalizations and death, but break though infections are common. Being infected also only offers some immunity for a few months to the variant of the moment. You can be infected by COVID any month of the year, every several months.

A parent who realizes that they have put their children in harms way will resort to the only psychological response that makes sense, which is denial. Denial has been the American marching order since the pandemic began, and the pandemic is not over.

COVID Dystopia is an Official Selection at the Pittsburgh Shorts and Script Competition

Posted on November 14, 2024November 14, 2024 by Thor

COVID Dystopia is an Official Selection at the Pittsburgh Shorts and Script Competition. The festival helps with travel expenses, so I decided to go for one day to attend the Awards Ceremony. This will the the Pennsylvania and West Virginia Premiere for the film.

My film is being screened online as part of the Chiller Theater 2 Virtual Block. I am actually pleased that COVID Dystopia will be screened virtual since it means the screening will not help spread the virus. I also suspect people could watch the film multiple times to catch all the detail. There are 8 films in the block and COVID Dystopia is the only animated film. Honestly the film works best when surrounded by edgy, hard hitting, live action films.

The Pittsburgh Shorts and Script Competition Closing Night Awards Program, is Sunday, November 24th from ⋅7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Harris Theater (809 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA). I have learned that it is worth going to the awards ceremonies, because miracles can happen, and some people are seeing truth in my warped world view.

My plan is to fly into Pittsburgh on the morning of the last day of the festival, Sunday November 24, 2024 to see a few films and attend the Awards Ceremony. I booked a room at the hotel that is hosting the filmmakers and then I fly out late the next day. That will give me a day to just hang out in downtown Pittsburgh and do a few sketches. I do hope it is not too cold. Otherwise I will have to figure out a few indoor venues to sketch.

After the festival, I get a rest since there are no other festivals set up yet. I have 6 festivals who are still judging the film. An I have to search for more festivals that seem like the right fit for COVID Dystopia. The film has an 87% rejection rate but when accepted it tends to garner awards. It is just a hard pill to swallow.

COVID Dystopia is an official Selection of the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival

Posted on November 12, 2024November 5, 2024 by Thor

COVID Dystopia will be screened in the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival between November 14 and November 24, 2024. It will be available to watch in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. It is one of the short films in the 40V – Chiller Theater Block 2 – VIRTUAL -Shorts24. A general admission ticket is $18.

I will be flying into Pittsburgh for the final day of the festival to attend the awards ceremony. You never know. It should be a fun black tie and black N-95 mask affair.

Hopefully I will have time to watch a few films that I haven’t seen at other festivals.

COVID Dystopia: Black Lives Matter

Posted on November 10, 2024November 3, 2024 by Thor

The Black Lives Matter shot is a straight forward pan down the street towards the White House. D.C. Mayor Murial Bowser is screen left. It is a fast pan and I had to pause long enough to give people a chance to start reading Black Lives before the fast camera move. The shot still might be too fast, but that is true of most of the shots in the film. This isn’t a leisurely stroll , but a fast paced fever dream. The shot feels complete.

Yesterday I was editing the 30 second trailer for the film, and the computer crashed while it was open. This morning I opened up the complete edit of the entire film. A window opened asking if I wanted to save the file that was open when the computer crashed. I accepted, of course I want to save every version of the film that I had worked on. I just discovered that the 30 second trailer overwrote the entire long edit of the film. WTF.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhh!!!!!!!!! The shot shown here had to be re-edited to get it to work correctly.

The convoluted way Adobe Premiere Pro force saves files has been a major problem throughout the process. I now have to go over a much older version of the film and start making repairs. Adobe updated the software and many scenes moved partially off screen. The programmers must have decided ti change the way X and y coordinates are calculated. This will waste an entire day to recover and is par for the course for Adobe.

COVID Dystopia: Corpses Clogged Up Every Creek

Posted on November 9, 2024November 2, 2024 by Thor

The animation in this scene from COVID Dystopia simply has the two hazmat suited people hugging. The previous shot has the audience looking at that area of the screen and this motion should catch their eye.

The background is a watercolor sketch I did on location at Harry P. Leu Gardens. There is a blue tarp on the roof because a tree fell on the roof destroying it.

The annual plant sale was going on that is why there was a tend on the path next to the building.

COVID Dystopia will screen at the Orlando Film Festival on November 1 and 7, 2024. The November 1 screening is at 4:15pm and the November 7, 2024 screening is at 2pm, both in theater 9. At 8pm on November 7 is the Awards Ceremony which I will also attend in case I need to pick up another award. The Orlando Film Festival runs from October 31 to November 7 at the CMX PLAZA CINEMA CAFE 155 S. Orange Ave, Downtown, Orlando FL. A one day pass is $20 and you can see a whole lot of films in one day. When I attend a film festival, I treat it like a movie marathon. If you go to a screening of COVID Dystopia, I will be easy to find as the one person in a KN-95 mask. We might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.