COVID Dystopia: Brain Damage

Posted on by Thor


Even mild cases of COVID cause brain damage. Most people don’t like to hear this. Even a case of COVID that felt “no worst than a bad cold” can cause lasting damage to the neurons in the brain resulting in a 30% decrease in a persons IQ. Worst cases of COVID then result in an increased loss of neural activity in the brain. Just mentioning the long term damages caused by COVID can cause a science denying anti vaxer to froth at the mouth. They want to blame anything but the virus.

This scene has the two scuba divers animated as they swim back towards their ship. Presumably they have just finished inspecting some neural damage and need to type up their report back on the submarine.The background was filtered in a free online depth map generator and It allows the camera to zoom towards the making it quite believable that you are moving along the brain neuron. I am quite pleased with the effect

As for myself I feel that it is my responsibility to take basic steps to keep from getting infected. I always wear an N95 mask inside. Air in the studio is filtered using a high quality HEPA filter. I am getting out and sketching in theaters again, but I will be the only person masked as I work on my sketch.

I have been sketching in the Orlando Science Center this week and was pleased to see several staff masked. I am glad a few are following the science.

COVID Dystopia: Just Past the Earth’s Face

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This scene went through quite a few changes. The last was adding an orange glow to the center of the crowd and adding a blue tint to rest. This is the one scene that I left as hand painted animation for the flames. I like the look with the many layers of paint. Working this way was just far too time consuming.

I find it odd that the timeline for the movie does not render when there are captions. I might be better off exporting the captions as a separate SRT file. What SRT means, I have no idea. I need to start researching. I rendered the film yesterday and one of the early scenes rendered with a black warning box over several frames. Oddly the warning box was back behind one of the characters. It was resolved when I closed Premiere Pro and reopened it. I need to figure out what that was all about in case it is an ongoing situation.

Maybe I should just consider the film done with all it’s problems and glitches. Pam keeps insisting that the film is just a distraction. I feel like leaving the known problems unresolved will be an even worst distraction.

The problems with the audio need to be resolved. I may need to work with another talented folly sound technician. Having worked on this alone for so long it is hard to give up the reins. I just have to find someone who is a true artist with mixing sound. Right now the soundtrack feels like it was mixed by a bull in a china shop. I do want the film to be a blunt slap in the face, perhaps the sound reflects that aesthetic. Honestly I can only tell what I have once I hear the soundtrack in a huge theater with surround sound. I will know what I have on April 12, 2024 when COVID Dystopia plays in the Cleveland International Film Festival.

I just realized that COVID Dystopia is the only animated film being shown in the after hours shorts programing at the Cleveland International Film Festival. My film appears with films with titles like Slay, and Meat Clever. It sounds like my film was  correctly curated. I have resisted submitting the film to festivals that don’t screen many animated films. Perhaps I should reconsider that idea. Every day I look at festivals whose submission deadlines are coming up. The ongoing challenge is figuring out which festivals are bold enough to screen this blunt and harsh critique of the human response to an invisible threat. This is a film festivals love to hate as they rush to “normal.” It takes just one minimizing judge to tilt the scales.

COVID Dystopia: Sputnik Vaccine

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This scene definitely needs some touch up work to the painting of the star field. IN the original painting I didn’t bother to paint  black behind the satellite. When I animated the satellite that less than stellar are became visible.

The shot happens in less than a second, so I think no one has time to notice the blotchiness in the painting of space, but I know it is there.

Right now I can only note the work left to be done since my time is fully involved in creating a series of theater posters for the Orlando Shakes.

Each morning I wake up knowing what what poster needs work and I hope to have that poster finished by the time I go to bed. I have two more posters I need to work on. Today I hope to finish the painting for a new play being presented at the Shakes next year.

Tonight I hope to finalize plans to head to Cleveland in April. I will be moving my studio on April Fools day. I already ordered WiFi so I should be able to keep this site up and running on move day. I also need to be ready to start teaching virtual art classes almost immediately. I am making sure I accomplish some moving task each day so that moving day might happen quickly.

COVID Dystopia: Asteroid

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In this scene from COVID Dystopia I tried hand drawn flame animation with this hot of the asteroid but found a better solution using after effects to create the flame animation.The techniques used to animate these flames were then used through out the rest of the film.

I left hand animated flickering at the leading edge of the asteroid. These flames are mostly transparent but give the impression that the asteroid is heating up.

Soon I want to find someone to start fine tuning the surround sound audio mix. The surround sound was thrown together rather quickly by a technician, but now I need someone who can fine tune the n=mix and consider all the subtitles of mixing sound effects with the music.

I asked for two adjustments to the audio on the last round of edits and only one of those adjustments was done. I need to be able to sit down with the person doing the audio.

Andy Matchett mentioned someone who might be willing to do the work. He also might be able to get all the original audio files which will open up vast possibilities inn the audio edit.

At the Cleveland International Film Festival in April, I will get to hear the surround sound mix in a large theater for the first time. I am hoping that the audio glitches that matter so much to me will not be noticed by the audience. I have an Air B&B booked in Cleveland and I need to book the flight tonight.

COVID Dystopia: A Giant Metal Planet

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As I am posting this scene from COVID Dystopia this morning, I discovered that the caption was missing the word, metal. I must have watched the film dozens of times with the captions but honestly there is never enough time to read them all. I get distracted by the animation.

I edited the word back in before sharing the scene here, but the Cleveland Film Festival will be screening a version of the film missing that one word. I doubt anyone will notice the mistake, but I will know it is there. If this one mistake managed to sneak its way in, there might be others. I will watch the film several more times today and only read the captions.

This is a busy month for me. I am sketching at the science Center to document their new Nature exhibits which will be opening soon. Animals are being added now that construction is close to being finished. I sketched the reef tank yesterday and there was one lone hammerhead shark circling the large tank. I learned that all the other tropical fish were in the back going through quarantine.

I am also doing a season of theater posters for the Shakes. This is my favorite assignment each year. The painting have to be done quickly and the posters often evolve quite a bit before reaching their final version. On top of all this I am packing up the studio and will be moving April Fools day. I am sad to leave the space where I was able to safely produce the hundreds daily paintings of the pandemic series. I stopped doing the pandemic series when the National Emergency was lifted, but the pandemic is far from over.

A film Festival in Dublin proudly announced on their website that there would be no masks or safety precautions of any kind at their next festival. Clearly my film would never be accepted to be shown at a festival in such a state of denial. I considered sending it anyway, just so several judged might be rudely reminded of their blindness, but then I decided to keep the $25 and submit elsewhere. COVID Dystopia is a film that Festivals love to hate.

COVID Dystopia: Duck and Cover

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No one is moving in this scene from COVID Dystopia.Only the camera moves to show some dimension to the scene. I could clutch fingers together tighter or add some subtle arm movement but it would hardly be noticed.

The whole films dances between lots of movement and very little movement from scene to scene. My experience working on background characters in the movie Mulan helped train me to decide which movements are important and when stillness is more appropriate. It is all a matter of judgement.

Last night I booked an Air B&B in Cleveland. I plan to fly in on the day my film screens. My film is being shown at a late night screening so I will probably have time to explore the city a bit before heading to the theater. The B&B is just a six minute drive from the theater, so it might be a manageable walk on foot.

For me this is an exciting screening since the theater, with surround sound, can seat 500 people, and this is the first Film Festival which is Academy Award qualifying. I am rather realistic however since I know this is a film that most people hate. Most people have embraced the propaganda that COVID is no worst than the flu or a cold. The recent CDC guidelines essentially encourage workers to return to work while infected. Mass infection is the new norm. We are coming off of another wave peak but levels of infection in America never return to a reasonable low. COVID is not a seasonal virus. For this film to say that this is insane makes it an outlier. I honestly do not think most people even  comprehend what they are being shown.

COVID Dystopia: Like J.T. was in the Mall

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This shot has one child swinging from the meat hook. I think that is enough motion to carry the shot. The virus stamps on the foreheads of the children hardens back to the time I lived in Washington State and a cow escaped from a neighbors yard.  The family I was with brought in a van and the cow was string up. It was killed with a single bullet hole to the forehead and slaughtered on the spot.

An entire generation of children are being slaughtered slowly with repeat COVID infections. The first to go is the brain but since the damage isn’t visible to parents they think their children are fine. The solution is simple, just clean classroom air with HEPA filters. The investment is small and the benefits are huge but Americans are an  inflexible bread.

There are nine stages of grief and Americans can not moves past denial.

COVID Dystopia: I saw the children screaming

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This scene is an example of why this is one of the most hated films in Florida. The public servant in the scene is Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis. Though screened as storyboards in two smaller Florida Festivals, I have had no success in getting the film shown at larger festivals in Florida. It would seem that the message that the Pandemic is far from over is not well received in the sunshine state.

The boy in the chipper is fully animated. It was fun animating his legs flailing. DeathSantis leans forward slightly as he prepares to throw the girl in next. The girl is frozen in terror. I could animate her arms and perhaps have her struggle but the shot is over before the audience would have a chance to notice. All the other children are also held cells. They could shift their weight from foot to foot or struggle to see. A rather fast pan distracts for their stillness. Now I am thinking that their lunch boxes should have images of the virus on them. We will see. If I find time I will make it so.

COVID does cause irreparable harm to children’s brains and vascular systems. The children don’t immediately die their IQ goes down and they can not concentrate as they did before. I suspect an entire generation will be destined to die young. The Baby boomers might be the last generation to live long lives. Since Americans will die young, Social Security will no longer be a benefit that Americans can collect. The government does not want to protect Americans, they want Americans to work until they die, preferably young, while on the job. The growing population being disabled by Long COVID however if foiling their plan. If a dictator is voted into the American presidency, the disabled will be not only be ignored, but sidelined, vilified and disposed of.

COVID Dystopia at the Cleveland International Film Festival

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I am pleased to announce that COVID Dystopia will be screening at the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) on April 12, 2024 at 9:50PM in the Allen Theater which seats an audience of 500. CIFF is the first Academy Award qualifying festival that the film has been accepted into. The festival also has online screenings between April 14 and April 21.

I will be flying out to Cleveland to attend the screening since this will be the first time I get to experience the film in such a large theater with the new surround sound soundtrack. The soundtrack still has some glitches and problems and could use a solid artistic run through for refining the folly but it was finished at breakneck speed to meet the festival deadline. The only way to really judge how the sound is working right now is to hear it in the huge theater.

COVID Dystopia: I saw the children screaming

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This shot in COVID Dystopia shows children are fully animated running up Omaha Beach. In the film, at speed it is really impossible to see that the bullets flying across the screen are actually virus’.

The illustrations freeze a moment in time giving the viewer a moment to think and reflect. In the film the shot is over in less than a second giving a panicked feeling that children are in danger.

A recent study has shown that even mild COVID infections are causing permanent scaring to children’s brains and vascular systems. Such permanent damage is internal and therefor easy to ignore for the average American. COVID has been quietly destroying children’s immune response to all viruses.

Measles is making a comeback in Florida. This is another airborne virus which is the most contagious respiratory virus known. It had been eradicated, but the rise of the anti-vax movement means that it is making a comeback. In 2020 about 120 million children did not receive the measles vaccine. Healthcare is stepping back into the dark ages. I am hopeful that some people might take Measles seriously because this virus causes visible scaring on children’s skin. If the damage is visible it might be noticed. Then again most will accept measles scars as the “New Normal.” About 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurological complications.