COVID Dystopia: Shot 6

Posted on by Thor

Shot 6 of COVID Dystopia is of a surreal view of a sports bar. I went to South Carolina to help my sister celebrate her 80th birthday. My other brothers and sister wanted to meet a t a sports bar before we went to the celebration. The sports bear we were supposed to meet at was super crowded, although I noticed there was plenty of outdoor seating which would have been my preference. We met instead at a small restaurant across the parking lot of the strip mall.

My brother claimed I looked like Darth Vader as I approached the entry in my long winter trench coat and N-95 mask. If I could find an n-95 mask that looked like Darth Vader’s mask I would wear it. Family seem to think I am crazy for taking precautions while I think everyone else is crazy for pretending that the pandemic has ended. This second indoor dining spot was empty except my family crowed around one table. The space had no HEPA filtration system to keep costumers safe. I ordered a coke and took a few sips by slipping up my mask. I know this wasn’t ideal but the risk benefit had to be measured. Most people have abandoned all COVID precautions and I am just learning what layered risks I am willing to take.

The previous day I taught a virtual art class from a Starbucks because the trailer I was staying in had horrible WiFi. Over two hours I sipped an iced coffee while teaching the class. Starbucks was crowded when the class started but emptied out by the time the class ended. I was seated near the entry door which kept blowing open which I liked. I was a cold breeze but at least fresh air was circulating.

Seeing this shot as a still, I am noticing that some of the breath and spatter seems out of place. I will check the scene again and check the breath layer of placement and scale. I might separate each breath into its own layer so each can be scaled from a center which would be at the person’s mouth.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 5

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This shot was distracting since the paint crawled too much in the shirt of the guy who turns toward the camera. I calmed down the shirt by distorting a held cell for the shirt so the paint remained completely solid.This shot feels complete as it is. I could animate the laughing girls and the guys girlfriend but all that extra motion might distract from focusing on the guy.

I think I should leave this whole first sequence of shots as is. I like that only an individual moves in each and the rest of the horror is frozen in time. I like that one guy is picking his nose and a girl is cupping her hand over her mouth like a mask. People will not have time to see theses subtleties but at least I know they are there.

These opening shots in COVID Dystopia will stay as they are.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 4

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Thee clapping animation in this shot works well. I am going to add animation it might be to turn the rhino heads closest to the clapping guy. My concern in adding this animation is that the paint on the rhino heads might swim a bit and become distracting. It would make sense for the rhinos to turn to look at the sound of clapping hands. They would be unable to clap themselves, so they would be curious.

If you are confused by the rhino reference, it is based on an absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco. It was turned into a movie starring Gene Wilder. To me, the COVID infected are the rhinos who want to see everyone infected.

I am on the fence with this shot from COVID Dystopia. I might play with animating a rhino head turn with my online animation student.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 3

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I tried animating the black sheep several time in this scene, but ultimately that wasn’t needed once a depth map was applied. I added a depth map to the black sheep alone and composited it separately using a green screen. By tracking the camera from left to right some depth was added to the black sheep. The effect is subtle but I feel it works.

I could add some extra movement to the breath and or spatter using fractal noise to distort it. This is one of the earliest shots I set up and if I add that fractal noise movement I will need to adjust the shots around this one.

The flock of sheep have some depth because of the camera move and the fact that there are 4 rows of sheep going back in space. I could animate some ears twitching and or heads moving subtly, but I don’t think it is needed. I am keeping this shot as it is.

All the shots in COVID Dystopia once had this quiet and subtle depth. I am always balancing animation that is needed versus animation that would be overkill.

 

COVID Dystopia: Shot 2

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This shot used to be the title card for the film. COVID was written on the glass above the mystic. For the longest time COVID was the working title for the film. COVID however is too generic and there are too many books and films with the title of COVID.

A depth map was added to this shot so you feel that the mystic booth in in the middle of a long hallway. The hands animate downward. I could animate the fingers but I don’t think that extra motion is needed. I used this shot for several poster designs but decided that the atomic COVID image is simpler and bolder.

Having the gypsy in a steel torture device makes this otherwise innocent image unsettling. I will not change anything in this shot. I already changed that shot I showed yesterday and it looks better. It is nice to step back and reconsider each shot in COVID Dystopia.

COVID Dystopia: Shot 1

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In this shot the title zooms large quickly with a loud metallic sound effect while an ambulance flashes its way forward. Since the title is a bit off center it now makes me uncomfortable. I might center it exactly and see if that can work. The title could probably be bigger if I am not trying to avoid it overlapping the foreground building. When the title fades out the camera pans to the left following the movement of the ambulance.

This shot used to be a warning that you are about to see something that is horrific and you should probably run from the theater. That warning was needed to screen the film at Visual Fringe back in May of 2023. It took me a long time to decided to take the warning back out and replace it with this New York City street scene. Since the shot was intended originally to give people time to read the paragraph, it is the longest shot in the film.

I tried adding depth to the scene but it isn’t really needed since the buildings are all so far away and the camera doesn’t move. The shot lingers by just following the movement of the tiny ambulance. The only hint of the fast pace to come is the quick introduction of the title.

Every shot is like this in COVID Dystopia. I live with it for a long time and then decided it could be better. It would be great if everything was perfect on the first try but that is seldom the case.

COVID Dystopia: Berlin Premiere

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COVID Dystopia is an official selection of the Berlin Short Film Festival. We are busy getting passports and making travel plans. Though we are fast tracking the passports, there is no guarantee that the US Government will get them ready in time. Though I am super excited to screen the film for the first time in Europe, this isn’t the 74 year old Berlin Festival which will be happening several weeks later. I thought this might be an Academy Award Qualifying festival, but I didn’t do my research well enough.

I have been researching my father’s WWII military unit history and I know which towns he was engaged in as his unit moved towards Berlin. His unit crosses the Rhine Rover at Duisberg the day after Churchill crosses the river a bit further north. I also know he was at the liberation of a forced labor, or concentration camp in the Ruhr. I hope to figure out exactly what camp that was someday. There will not be enough time on this trip to explore those cities in the Ruhr section of Germany.

COVID Dystopia will be screening at 6pm on February 11, 2023 in the Babylon Cinema, Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30, Mitte Berlin.

COVID Dystopia: Wacky Wavy Final Animation

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Last night I composited the animation with the background and confetti in After Effects. The depth map is shown on top. With the depth the camera move feels like a drone or crane is lowering the camera as the mob of wacky wavy Uncle Sams gesture.

As I was working on this composite, I got some great news in that COVID Dystopia is an official selection at the Berlin Short Film Festival in Germany. I am scrambling to update my passport and making plans to be at the screening. It seems the submission process is picking up steam. I honestly thought no one would ever screen this nightmarish short.

Now that the film has won a Best Animated Film Award in the Chicago International Reel Film Festival, I realize all the time invested might have been worth it. This wacky wavy scene might be that last scene that needs animation. I am going to render the whole film again so that the Berlin Film Festival can upload the most recent version of the film.

My mission to make people aware that the pandemic is far from over continues.

COVID Dystopia: Wacky Wavy 7

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After 8 hours of teaching online students, I only had the energy to add several arms to one of the wacky wavy characters. I actually am starting to enjoy doing the overlapping action on the arms. I am starting to better understand how they blow in the breeze. Adding the fabric fringe fingers is my favorite part since they bend with the action.

I want to add several more to this front row to fill in the negative shapes between characters. In the original illustration I added partial bodies and legs in those spots just as filler. There are bodies without heads just to fill in the space. I can’t get away with that in the animation so I need a better solution. One arm is sort of dangling all alone so I will need to link that to a moving character.

The end is in sight but I will not finish today. There are a whole lot more characters that I want to animate in the distance. I will simplify that animation a bit playing down the waving motion, but it will still be lots of work. Today I will find out if the Berlin Film Festival wants to screen this film. Fingers are crossed.

COVID Dystopia: Wacky Wavy 6

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I finished up two more wacky wavy animations yesterday.I was really pleased with one where the arm waved in front of the character’s face but the move is largely hidden since the other characters are in front. Anyway I plan to do two more mid distance wacky wavy animations and then I hope to do the distant arms on a single animated layer.

The end is in sight, but I will not finish today because I will be teaching 8 hours on online virtual classes for Elite Animation. Today I am teaching character design and animation. I might animate along with the student in the animation class but I will need to also demonstrate how to animate a bouncing ball.

Yesterday COVID Dystopia was rejected by the Sacramento Film Festival. I don’t get as upset by the rejection zs much these days, since I know this is an award winning film. I also know it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. A festival director has to have some pretty big balls to screen the film while promoting in person festival screenings. The message that the pandemic is not over doesn’t resonate when you want to crowd as many people as  possible into a theater with no thought of air filtration or masking.

Again we are at the height of the second largest wave of the pandemic right now, making 2020 and 2021 look like cake walks. People however have been sold a bill of goods that the pandemic is over and everyone should go back to how things were in 1919. Mass infection is the goal, but immunity isn’t being build it is being demolished.