COVID Dystopia: Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse

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The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse shot from COVID Dystopia has the flames animated. There is a fast pan from right to left slowing down towards blind justice.

The fifth horseman also tilts back a bit but that is hardly noticeable with everything else going on. I could pump the fists up in the air, but that might distract from looking at the horsemen. I created some nice distortion in the smoke rising as well. I consider the shot complete.

Tonight I will begin sketching Fringe shows. The next week should be filled with reviews as I sketch each show in turn.

If there are any show producers who would like me to sketch a tech rehearsal, let me know. I plan to be sketching multiple shows every day and I will not have time on my end to reach out. Shows that reach out to me always get top priority for a sketch and write up.

I haven’t sketched at Fringe for the last several years due to COVID. With COVID levels low compared to the insane peaks, it is time for me to get back in the theaters and sketch my heart out.

I plan to sketch digital this year, so the drawings will be like the film stills but rougher, since a sketch has to be finished in an hour rather than a day.

COVID Dystopia: MFers Explode

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In this scene from COVID Dystopia, the Zeros fly by rather fast and one drops a COVID shaped bomb. At the cut to the next scene the bomb explodes. The audio of the bomb being released and whistling downward is rather rough at this point. here is an audible click in the audio as well that I hope can be fixed.

When viewing the film at the Cleveland International Film Festival, l got to hear the surround sound audio for the first time. I was hoping to notice the sound coming at me at times from the back of the theater, but I didn’t hear that.

The song audio is in stereo which means the lyrics and the instruments are locked on the track together. My sound guy in Georgia tried splitting the stereo track between the speakers at the front of the theater and the back of the theater. The people making the Digital Content Package (DCP) felt that was a bad idea since people seated in between speakers in the large theater would hear the same lyrics from in front and behind. Since sound travels relatively slow, they might hear the same lyrics twice and the words would become gabled.

Lyrics should come out from a speaker right behind the movie screen and the instruments could come from any of the other 4 speakers. I am in touch with the song composer, Andy Matchett and trying to see if the original tracks for the song exist. Justin Beckler who did the production, mixing and engineering for the song hopefully has that audio on a hard drive somewhere. If so we could create a much better surround sound mix. A solid sound design for the film in surround sound is the final step to seeing the film complete. Most Film Festivals will still not want to project the film since they are proud to have returned to packing theaters in a rush to “Normal”.

COVID Dystopia: Wanna Watch the MFers

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This shot from COVID Dystopia, was fist created when bars and restaurants first reopened after the “lock-down”. America was never really locked down. People found every excuse to get out and about.

Numbers are low right now though in America the baseline is always higher than any where else in the world. I always mask indoors with a n–95 or KN-95 and I sill refuse to pack into a tight indoor crowd.

In England, a new variant, called KP-2 is taking over from JN-1. The spike in cases is astonishing. It is the single largest rise in COVID positivity in over two years. This last week saw 2 54% rise in cases. If that continues the following week then this will be the largest wave in over two years.

The variant is being found to be very immune and vaccine evasive. It will be hopping the pond soon and no one is watching. this one effects the lungs and heart. So by late May or early June expect that wave to be hitting America. I will refrain from indoor dining for some time.

In this shot the animation consists of the masked hazmat wearing bartender leaning forward and placing a drink on the bar. With that action and all the flames, I think there is plenty of action in the shot.

In the following weeks I am putting lots of time into painting the Orlando Shakes posters for next season, so animation is on hold. I had an evening off this week, and thought about going out to do a sketch on location, but I couldn’t stop myself from working on the posters.

COVID Dystopia: Watch the MFers Explode

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This shot from COVID Dystopia has flames that were hand animated. I layered some after Effects textures over the larger flames to add more movement to the painted effects. I was pleases with how the animation turned out on the torch flame. The ex-president also raises his arms a bit. His animation was always rather limited.

The waves do distort and move a bit but they are not fully animated. If I were to go back in and animate anything it would be the flags waving. I don’t want that motion to distract from the audience looking at the sinking ex-president.

Today I am off from teaching so I plan to spend the day painting Shakes Theater posters. For each poster I also have to paint a horizontal format version. I want to make sure all the vertical format posters are approved before I start that process which will double the amount of work I need to do.

 

 

COVID Dystopia: I Can’t Let It Go

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This scene from COVID Dystopia has been reworked multiple times.I might animate the guy in the foreground who is walking screen left. The rest of the crowd has subtle movement just because of the depth map.

“I can’t let it go: pretty much sums up where I am at this point in the pandemic. Hospitalizations for those infected by COVID are at the lowest point they have been at in a long time. Despite this I will continue to mask indoors and outdoors if in a crowd.

I am getting my eyes checked tomorrow. My left eye is getting blurry and distorting my view. With both eyes open I get a secondary image that distorts downwards. Since I am an artist, the vision is kind of important.

I know there is a new variant on the horizon but it hasn’t stepped in to fill the shows of JN1 yet. Talking to a student last weekend I found she has been infected 4 times so far and might have been exposed again by a friend. She was quite cavalier about being sick so often.

I follow people who are suffering from Long COVID and would like to take any steps necessary to not have to experience the way the virus destroys the immune system and can debilitate for months or years. There is no treatment and there is no cure. So I take basic precautions. I don’t mind a side wards glance. I have no need to fit in.

Is there a COVID cautious community in Orlando? If there is I haven’t seen any evidence of it.

COVID and the Brain

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I know I have written about this before but there are new studies that confirm the damage that even a mild COVID infection can cause to the brain.

A new study published in Nature Microbiology found that a COVID infection is associated with short and long term neurological complications.

Cultures were collected and compared, from people without COVID and postmortem samples from people with COVID. COVID is known to cause multi organ damage.

In another study brain autopsies were done on 44 unvaccinated individuals who died from COVID-19. The goal was to map the cell structure damage. The virus was found to replicate in respiratory and multiple non-respiratory organs including the brain. The virus was found to be replicating in the brain as much as 230 days after infection. In some patients the virus can cause systemic infection and persist in the body for months.

COVID can cause multi organ failure and shock. Some who survive, suffer from Long COVID for months or years.

COVID can cause severe neurological symptoms. COVID causes neurons in the brain to fuse. Every neuron that fused with any of the cells that hold nerve cells in place, presented a complete loss in neuronal activity. This fusion is a progressive event. Symptoms can consist of headache, fever, confusion, epileptic seizures, and a loss of taste or smell. Long-term and chronic neurological manifestations derived from viral neuroinfections are finally gaining attention five years into the pandemic. However this is an election year so there will be little talk about COVID. Hospitalizations are down to about 6000 COVID patients per week, which is the lowest it has been for years. However I am waiting for the shoe to drop on another wave.

The illustration consists of MRI scans of my brain. I am fascinated at how it interconnects with the eyes and nose. If you ever wonder why I mask indoors, it is because I value this squishy little organ that throws so many random thoughts around each day. When neurons fire, I can see things vividly. Feeling the need to fit in with the crowd is not my strong suit. Crowded restaurants and social events no longer hold any appeal. Traveling to film festivals, promoting COVID Dystopia are my one exception, but I remain masked from start to finish. Perhaps in my health’s favor, many festivals are not willing to screen the film.

COVID Dystopia: But I Can’t Let It Go

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This shot from COVID Dystopia just has a depth map applied right now. It follows the wacky wacky tube men shot which is highly active.

I now realize that I need to add more animation to this shot. I can make the girl and all the demons look like they are walking by just moving them left to right and adding some up and down motion. By altering the strides of each they can move independently without much effort.

I am also considering having the demon in front raise his hand an put it on the girls shoulder. I already animated a candle flame for the melting Giuliani shot, so I should be able to import that an duplicate it for all the flames.

I haven’t animated a shot in the film for the last week and thought I might be finished, but sometimes when I share a shot here, I realize there is room for improvement. I have started considering the story line of another short animation but I want to take care that the story being developed has heart and is more linear than COVID Dystopia. I also want to start designing the COVID Dystopia book but I am wondering if I should self publish or seek out a publisher. I am at a cross roads and want to be sure COVID Dystopia is locked in as I begin exploring the next phase.

COVID Dystopia: Yea, I should Go

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This was probably the most complex scene to animate in COVID Dystopia. I learned so much about rubber hose animation and overlapping action by doing this shot.

I am sure most people have blocked the fact that on New Year’s Eve in 2021, Times Square had no live spectators. They filled the square with Wacky Wavy Balloon Arm Men so the shots on TV would appear less deserted and more active. This was American ingenuity at work.

Right now the COVID hospitalization have dropped down to a rather high base line. England is seeing a rise in cases and as always I am sure America will follow. Now is a good time to get those medical appointments set up since this is as low as it will go before another spike in cases. We are coming off of the JN1 spike and new variants are jockeying for dominance for the next spike. The Omicron spike was huge,  so each new wave seems small in comparison. People cave been conditioned to accept mass infection.

I have stopped drinking milk because bird flu (h5N1) has infected so many dairy cow herds in America. 33 herds have tested positive so far. The cows were likely infected from chickens. Cow feed is actually laced with chicken droppings.

One in five samples of commercially available milk in stores has been found to test positive for h5N1. The hope is that pasteurization will kill the active virus, but pasteurization temperatures are not standardized. Until there is more testing, and no active virus is found in any samples, I remain cautious.

This morning I tried Almond milk on my cereal and it was actually really good. I am also thinking about making breakfast smoothies in the morning, again with almond milk and fruit like blueberries and bananas. I have made some eggs over the last week but I am making sure I cook them extra well so that they are not runny. I have one small packet of vegan cheese left over and I am thinking of switching over to vegan cheese to see how that tastes.

The primary concern should probably not be the consumption of the virus. I am sure it is airborne and that will be the primary way it spreads. Early reports are that human to human transmission has not yet happened. Then again that is what was being reported in China at the start of the COVID outbreak. Only two proteins are keeping human to human transmission from happening. I have learned to respect viruses. They are tenacious and will find a way to spread. Humans are the best mammalian host to spread the virus world wide. Since h5N1 has a 52% mortality rate, this would be a horrible outbreak if it happens.

Cleveland Airport

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When departing the Cleveland International Film Festival I flew out of the Cleveland Airport. Waiting to get on the plane back to Orlando, I sat away from the crush of people standing in line waiting for boarding to be announced. I managed to get a sketch of the only other person I saw in the airport wearing an n-95 mask.

He was oriental and tapping away on his laptop computer. He didn’t wear the mask the whole time. I think his mask policy was to only wear the mask if someone sat right next to him. The rest of the time he wore the mask as a chin strap. I actually sketched him in  chinstrap mode but erased it when he wore the mask correctly.

COVID hospitalization continues to drop and Florida has minimal cases for the first time since the pandemic began. I continue to mask indoors but take it off when outside. I always have a kn-95 in my breast pocket the way that British dandies used to wear folded hankies in their breast pockets.

I haven’t heard of a new variant to take JN-1’s place so hopefully America’s insane COVID infection rates will drop to a manageable baseline for the first time. However, I am not holding my breath. Well, actually I do for 5 seconds as I pass anyone walking outside.

COVID Dystopia: Golden Toilet

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This shot from COVID Dystopia has the former president tapping his iPhone while sitting on his golden toilet. The only animation is his finger poking the screen.

The camera pans down to show his pants wrapped around his ankles. The depth map for this scene works surprisingly well the sink in particular appears quite dimensional.

For a film made by traditional means using paintings and hand drawn animation the added layer of depth maps helps push each scene to a new level. It is a low tech Analog film with the added benefit of depth maps for a Digital dimensional World.

Now that production on the film is over. I am considering the idea of starting a second animated film. This one would have a more linear story line. I want to read a few books on story structure before I start.

Last night I typed out the events that would transpire. I need to edit that more today to fill in holes that I discovered. I probably will not write much about this project until I am 1000% committed. For whatever reason all the elements of this story surfaced when I had to move my studio.