COVID Dystopia: Till the Internet Went Down

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Animation in this shot form COVID Dystopia is limited to a depth map and camera move. You would think that this man would be out of the news by now but he still gets endless coverage due to his criminal trials and the fact that he is running for office again.

Now he sends out tweets during his trail claiming that thousands of his followers might invade the courthouse and he claims the judge isn’t qualified. It is just the usual rantings of a mad man. I should have put him in a straight jacked in this shot, but then he could not hold his precious phone.

Yesterday I finished the last two shot that I had correction notes for. I will go over the notes I wrote her over the past several weeks but I am feeling the film is complete.

No I face the challenge of what to do next. I can start designing the book, but I wold prefer to have a publisher rather than self publish. I would hate to print a whole lot of books that then say in boxes unsold.

H5N1 is also on the horizon with American cow herds being infected far more than previously suspected. One dairy farmer in Texas was infected from direct contact. Human to human transmission has not yet happened. At the start of the COVID outbreak in China all officials claimed the virus could not spread between humans as well. THey wanted to pacify the populace rather than warn them.If that does happen the h5N1 pandemic would be far worse than the COVID pandemic with a possible 56% mortality rate. The virus has been detected in commercially available milk but it is believed that those are viral fragments that can not cause infection. If this virus does spread we have the tools to stay safe but people have bee too well trained in denial and dark ages ignorance. People can not take precautions against something they can not see.

COVID Dystopia: Breach the Grave to Claim the Crown

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Queen Elizabeth died after a bout of COVID 19. Her cause of death was listed as “Old Age”. She died 7 months after her initial COVID infection. She reported that the virus left her feeling very tired. Old Age is not a cause of death. It is a shame no better report is available.

One online gossip site, website Hollywood Unlocked, falsely reported in February of 2022 that the she had died at the age of 95 from COVID-19. The site didn’t credit any official royal sources, but Hollywood Unlocked CEO and founder Jason Lee took to his Twitter at the time to back up the outlet’s report. “We don’t post lies and I always stand by my sources,” he wrote at the time. After the palace reported that the Queen was still alive, Hollywood Unlocked issued a statement on social media apologizing for the incorrect story and blaming the report on an “intern journalist” who “published the draft post by mistake.

The queen did die 7 months later on September 8, 2022 at 96 years old. I am not saying the COVID infection killed the queen,  but it didn’t help her health. COVID attacks the heart, the brain and every organ that is a part of the vascular system. Even “Mild” cases of COVID damage the immune system and damage organs that can cause death months or years later.

In this shot from COVID Dystopia, I used Volumax Portrait to build a depth map of the queens face. She gently rotates for the duration of this one second shot. No other animation is needed since it is simply a portrait shot.

Today I am working on making a framework rural home explode. I have it worked out where I need to animate 14 frames of the building expanding and roof tile flying upwards.

The challenge is in deciding how much of the house I should hide behind the explosion and how much of the framework I should keep showing. I worked until I dropped last night and I hope to finish that today.

I have started getting to rehearsals to sketch, so those are being interspersed among the film I shots I am posting in order.

I looked back at a Facebook post from back at the beginning of the pandemic. Back then people loved what I was doing and suggested I should make a book of the work. Today, I am convinced people hate the work and wish it would quietly go away since they are pretending that life is back to normal, just with more sickness and death.

COVID Dystopia: Breached the grave

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I had to animate this scene twice because I first animated the scene a resolution that was too low. The scene is working fine now. The film was rejected by another film festival yesterday. This has to be the most hated film festival jurors see. I feel it is my responsibility however to keep putting it out there to be seen. I feel I have to keep reminding audiences that the airborne virus has not magically disappeared just because a politician lifted the National Emergency. COVID is a seasonal virus the seasons are Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. The virus is not getting milder. The virus is not a cold. The virus is not a flu. The virus wreaks havoc on the immune system making people more prone to there infections. The virus fuses brain neurons and damages blood vessels and the heart. The virus is airborne traveling long distanced in the air like smoke or perfume. We always has simple measures to stop the spread such as properly worn N-95 masks, HEPA air filters and proper ventilation. The vaccines to not stop infections from happening. They do help prevent hospitalizations and immediate death. Each repeat infection makes it probably that the person will develop long COVID and become disabled.

I only have a few more scenes that need touch ups in this film. Yesterday I wanted to refine the Zeus scene but I was unable to find the After Effects file. I will have to search for the scene again today. I will be teaching virtual art classes for six hours and then sketching a production of Who is a Afraid of Virginia Wolf. Hopefully I will find the file I am looking for late tonight.

I am searching for late night sketching opportunities. Many of my virtual classes end at 8pm so sketching rehearsals is often out of the question. If anyone has suggestions on late night events that are ripe for sketching, let me know. I usually have topics ready to pursue and sketch, but right now, I am searching for what is next.

Whisky Duo at Eden Bar

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I decided to cover the Florida Film Festival as an outsider. My film, COVID Dystopia was rejected by the festival. My thought is that the Florida politics shown in the film probably disqualified it. It is a bit too hard edged for the quaint hometown FFF.

I have sketched the festival many times in the past and I know you can rub shoulders with some pretty incredibly film makers just by hanging out at the Eden bar.

I saw more than my share of films at the Cleveland Film Festival which was a truly incredible experience. So I don’t feel the need to review films at the Florida Film Festival. Instead my thought is to cover the Florida Film Festival ancillary activities.

As I walked up to the Enzian Theater I could hear live music. Whisky Duo was performing outside on the patio in front of the Eden Bar. The bar was packed as were most of the outside tables. The front two tables closest to the performers were however empty. Chairs had been borrowed to seat more people at other tables so I set out my art stool. I masked up since it was a dense crowd.

I was enjoying the set until they broke into playing The Bear Necessities, from Disney’s The Jungle Book. Ugh, Disney’s sweaty paw seems to try and permeate all local arts and culture. I liked that yellow blooms had fallen from a tree onto the table and I liked that the Live Music banner reflected the dense Florida foliage that surrounds the Enzian. The performance was free, you can’t beat that.

On the night I did this sketch, International Animated Shorts were to be shown at 9:15pm. The laughing crowd around me were probably waiting for that show to begin.I figured that a crowd interested in seeing International Animated Shorts might have a familiar face but I didn’t recognize anyone. This weekend I will be buying a ticket to see the shorts for myself. I am curious what types of animated films were selected.

The musician announced that they were performing their last song. I panicked and sketched faster. I got some semblance of line work done of the performers before the end of the song. I spent the rest of the time working on the background and adding color. The lights made the painting a challenge since they kept changing color. I settled on the bright purple lights.

COVID Dystopia: Back to Normal

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I like the animation for this Maya sacrifice scene.I did a very fast hand swipe down into the chest cavity with a big smear frame for one of the hands. Once a hand rests on the victim it became a held cell. Even the animation of the blood drops came off pretty effortlessly. The skull mask was added to the animated scene. The original illustration did not have the mask.

There is depth added to the scene but it is hardly noticeable since only the temple in the background is affected. Head tilts on supporting characters finish off the animation.

Yesterday I reworked two of the early scenes in the film, adding a blink to the fortune teller scene and a blink to the guy turning his head n the rhino scene. The rhino scene is a bit low res, but I don’t think it is worth it to totally rework everything. I added a sharpen effect to the head turn animation and hope that improved the look a a bit.

Today I plan to animate some sea foam coming off the bow of a life boat. I also plan to animate the oars as well. As it is now it is very clear it is a held cell being moved. The extra animation should help bring the scene to life. I am also considering adding snap zoom effects back as a transition between each stanza of the lyrics. In the timeline seen above each stanza has a different color. I am not sure if I am committed to this idea but I want to play wit it as a possibility.

By the end of this week I want to consider the film complete. Most festivals refuse to show the film because they have embraced the idea that their festival has moved beyond the pandemic. No one wants to look back and certainly no one wants to be told the pandemic is ongoing. The film now has just a 16% acceptance rate. That seems insanely low to me, but perhaps that is normal. Who knows.

COVID Dystopia: Flaming Baby Close Up

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This close up of the flaming baby has a depth map which makes the face turn with the camera move. The hand drawn flames and breath are the animated elements. With so many people expressing an interest in seeing a longer slower version of the film, I am in a pickle. Part of me wants to storyboard a more linear story structure that is easier for an audience to digest. After the screening of COVID Dystopia I could feel the audiences stunned silence before the applause. Perhaps they were thinking, “is that it?” I also don’t give the audience a chance to identify with any single character which they could root for.

Having spent a two solid days watching short films, I have a billion ideas about what could make COVID Dystopia even better. Whoever, Though I am still making tweaks to animation that needs improvement, I will not start an overly ambitious longer form of the short. I have to live with how it has turned out. The Seattle Film Festival turned down the film as soon as I got back from Cleveland. COVID Dystopia had only a 17% acceptance rate. Film Freeway has claimed that is a good acceptance rate but that is hard to believe.

I will keep promoting the film at festivals because I think people need a swift slap in the face to remind them that the pandemic is not over. There might not be another huge spike like the Omicron wave, but people are dying from COVID at the same rate as automobile accident deaths. The vaccines are helping prevent death and hospitalizations, but vaccines don’t prevent infection.  Most of the population has embraced mass infection. The virus decimates the immune system. Meanwhile Long COVID keeps disabling people. Every repeat infection increases the chance of people developing Long COVID.

COVID Dystopia screened at Cleveland International Film Festival

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The Cleveland International Film Festival was impressive. Granted COVID Dystopia didn’t win any awards, but it was an honor just to get to show it there.

There were some amazing shorts in the After Hours Short Film block that COVID Dystopia was shown in. Bounce House by Callie Bloem and Christopher J. Ewing won the award for the best After Hours Short. It featured a post apocalyptic world with giant sloths and of course a bounce house.

I think my favorite was The Looming by Marsha Ko. It features a stellar actor who is truly haggard in his look. He lives alone and occasionally talks to his Alexa device. Alexa failed several times in different horror films, usually turning off the lights when the character desperately needs the light on. I can identify since I now live alone and occasionally open the front door just to listen to the security system say, “Front door open.” She isn’t a great conversationalist but its what I got.

There was a talk back after the screening and I was surprised that there were a bunch of questions about COVID Dystopia. I of course talked about the beginning of the project in March of 2020 when I started doing a painting a day about the pandemic.

One woman wanted to know if there would be a longer form of the project. My answer to her was that the long form project would be a book which I felt no one actually would want to see but I feel it needs to to be made for people 100 years from now. She raised her hand and said she would certainly get a copy. Now that I have a potential sale, it is time to create the book.

Someone else asked about the music and I got to promote Andy Matchett and the Post Apocalyptic Rock musical, Key of E. I couldn’t believe that the mic kept being handed off to me. I got flummoxed by a multi point question but think I answered it in the end. While COVID Dystopia was being shown a large group of people in the row in front of me started waving in friends. By the time they were all settled the film was over. Perhaps COVID Dystopia presents too much too fast. Next time around I need to make something with a straight forward narrative structure.

While doing the sketch above of the Allen Lobby, I had to swing my filmmaker lanyard behind my back since it got in the way of my sketching. As I was finishing up, an usher walked up behind me and asked if I wanted my lanyard scanned. It turned out a long line had formed all around me, and the audience were about to go into a screening. I asked what film was being shown and one of the ushers laughed. The film was, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. The title probably sounds better in French. It sounded good to me, so I went in. I sat way in the back of the theater, away from the crush of the crowd. As the lights went out, my glasses fell to the floor. I got on my hands and knees to find them using the faint light from my iPhone but with no luck. I sat through the whole film wondering where the glasses could be. Reading the captions was a challenge but the message of the film was not lost on me. I loved it. At the end of the film, when the lights came back up, I found my glasses which had bounced one seat over. I later saw the vampire actress walking in the lobby. I couldn’t help but stare, her porcelain face was as white and frail as in the movie. If only I knew French.

At the Shorts Jury Awards and the Shorts Audience Choice Awards, I got to see all the winning films. The winner for best animation was Anita Lost in the News, a film about a failed emigration of a family out of Iraq. It seemed to be stop motion animation with the family being created out of newspaper clippings. I don’t think there were many animated films. All the films I saw in the tow days I was at the Film Festival were live action documentaries or narrative films.

Cleveland International Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia was shown at the Cleveland International Film Festival. I got up at 4am to get ready for the flight to Cleveland. I made an egg sandwich before I left which became important since I forgot to eat for the rest of the day. The Frontier flight was on time and I got to Cleveland around 10am. I couldn’t check into my air b&B until 4-m so the Lyft driver took me directly to the theater district.

It was cold and raining, so when I got out of the Lyft, I dashed directly into the CSU Idea Center right next to the theater. On the 6th floor there were a series of panel discussions on the making of films. The panel discussions were, “The Story: the journey from page to screen”, and “The Business: follow the money.”

The panels were filmed, so I found a spot where I could sketch the cameras and the audience. Since my film literally had no budget, just my time, blood sweat and tears, I was certainly curious about the money side of making films. It was inspiring to hear all the filmmakers trials and tribulations on their film making journey. For each it was clearly a passion rather than a way to make a quick buck.

After the panel discussions I made my way to the theaters. Dear god these Cleveland theaters are opulent and gorgeous. I asked several red coated ushers where I could sign in as a filmmaker. The guest services area is where I signed in. I was given a lanyard and a swag bag. I was the told I could attend any screening I liked. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought I would have to pay $18 for each screening.

I then wandered slack jawed through the theater lobbies that were all interconnected. In the Connor Palace I thought I might just sketch the lobby but the ushers directed me towards some doors.  A screening had just started. I had no idea what film was showing, but I went inside. The introductory trailer had just started. The immense theater was dark. I stumbled half way up an aisle until I had cleared the opulent balcony.

The film was titled “Minted” bout the rise and fall of the NFT art market. I am so glad I saw the film. The film showcased how NFT helped artists make a mint during the rise in the market. They showed Bepples sitting with his family as his NFT sold at Christie’s for 65 million dollars. Other artist success stories showed them fining freedom of expression and financial independence. It all seemed to good to be true. And it was.

Another Artist found her digital creation were being stolen and sold by others as NFTs. Artists were making good money because they made royalties any time their work was sold. Those royalties disappeared once the bubble burst. Artists can no longer make a living off of just selling NFTs. Many were commercial artists before the NFT craze but they had to return to commercial work after the crash.

Speculators got into the market just to make a quick buck. Most of the art being sold was put crap but the craze allowed crap to be worth millions. The NFT craze coincided with the height of the COVID pandemic. In the documentary artists were wearing masks when they were struggling to make a living. But when their work began selling for thousands of dollars the mask came off. If my work ever starts selling for thousands, I might consider taking my mask off as well. Then I could afford the inevitable health care costs not covered by insurance.

COVID Dystopia: Babies bursting Into Flames

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This scene from COVID Dystopia has hand drawn flames. I later started doing flames using distortion tools in After Effects, but these flames work just fine. I see no reason to go back to make these flames like the other more digital flames. The film has a mix of techniques used to create flames.

COVID Dystopia faced two rejections from film festivals yesterday. It is the flaming baby no one wants to hold. To counter the rejections I researched festivals I would like to submit to next. The only response to an indifferent world is to press ahead.

On April 12, COVID Dystopia will have screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival. It is part of the After Hours Part 2 Shorts block. I will be flying in to attend the screening. I am hoping to sketch the theater before the screening. Since I will be traveling light, I will not have my art stool so I will get some exercise as I stand to do the sketches.

I will be bringing 5 by 8 inch poster cards that have the lyrics on the back. The printing job by Fed Ex Kinkos is horrible. The type was printed as a dot screen and is barely legible. Anyway I want to get rid of these 40 or so cards and print up better cards. I also have about 50 “COVID is not done with us” buttons. I don’t know if there is a place to leave this free swag but I will find out. Is it cold in Clevelend, Oh God I hope not.

COVID Dystopia will also be streaming on CIFF Streams online from April 14, 2024 – April 21, 2024 (Part of short: “After Hours Shorts 2”). Tickets for online viewing are $14.

COVID Dystopia: Tanks Attack

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This shot from COVID Dystopia has tanks on the streets of New York City firing up the invading virus’ as they float down the side streets. I like how the shot is working.

The entire film was altered to get rid of he snap zoom effects between shots. Those snap zooms were the original reason I wanted to create the film but I am realizing the intensity and speed need to be dialed back a bit for the average audience to have any chance of digesting all that is being thrown at them.

A random Facebook message from a follower in South Africa convinced me to slow things down a touch. He said his wife kept asking him to freeze frame the movie so she could see all the details in each shot. I recognize that people might miss many details, but that is true to the times where the 24 hour news cycle keeps churning out viewpoint weather true or not and the internet further distorts simple truths.

This film has had a 17% success rate in getting into festivals. Those are slim pickings. The list of rejections is immense. I had tow festivals reject the film yesterday. Facing so much rejection eventually wears you down. But when I get a rejection I research a new festival that might accept the message and I also refine and improve shots. I hope I am polishing a gem and not something that everyone hates. From curse words in the lyrics to very adult themed images, I know I am facing an uphill battle. The audience is out there however I just need to find them. This will be a year of patience and perseverance.

In two days I fly to the Cleveland International Film Festival where COVID Dystopia will screen at 9:50pm. This is the first Academy Award qualifying festival that the film has been accepted into. Hoping to make the most of that 17% acceptance rate.