COVID Dystopia: Sputnik Vaccine

Posted on by Thor


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

Posted on by Thor


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

Posted on by Thor

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

Posted on by Thor


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

Posted on by Thor


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

Posted on by Thor


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

Posted on by Thor


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

Posted on by Thor


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.

COVID Dystopia: Times Square Protest

Posted on by Thor


This shot from COVID Dystopia has the doctor arching his back and looking up at the barrel of the tank cannon. I used the free online depth tool to zoom in slightly into the scene.

Back in the day people respected heath care workers for their tireless work trying to save people from COVID-19. Since then people have learned to hate heath care workers who they feel were responsible for letting them know some of the dangers from repeat COVID infections.

Over the past decades healthcare has made strides to prolong life expectancy. However since the start of the pandemic healthcare has reverted back to the 1800s.

I recently went to a doctors appointment since I needed to get a refill on a prescription. No one in the office was masked except for one secretary who wore his mask as a chin strap. Doctors offices have patients pack into a waiting room and then go into a tiny examination room. I glanced around for any sign of HEPA air filtration but there was non. Doctors seem to want to get repeatedly infected and pass that virus on to their patients.

Much of the American population has been infected. Once infected the virus must alter brain cells because the infected, might have once taken basic precautions, but they then feel the need to pack into crowded restaurants and other venues. Though smart, people can’t accept that they are not immune after suffering an infection. The saying vaxed and relaxed goes for the infected as well. The rush to a “New Normal” is too strong for most to resist. The risk benefit ratio swings in favor of repeated mass infection when a decent indoor restaurant is a consideration.

COVID Dystopia: Mass Infection Party

Posted on by Thor


This scene had the ripped plague doctor reaching out over the crowd while ghosts fly overhead. This is one of the first scenes in which I experiments with animating flames using After Effects. I would ultimately use this fire effect throughout the film.

Different scenes had different looks to the fire, so each scene required fine tuning to the effect. I abandoned hand animating the flames simply because it took so long and even when well animated, the flames tended to look false once painted. I experimented a lot with how the flames would glow.

Last night I got a request to upload the film for a large mid-west Academy Award qualifying festival. On March 8, 2024 I can officially announce the name of that festival. I have looked up B&Bs in the city and intend to book a flight soon. The film’s success is far outweighed by its rejections, but I can only focus on the success to keep pressing forward. I feel it is my job to wake up the vaxed and relaxed masses who think COVID is over.

My studio is largely boxed up now and I will be moving into a new studio on April 1. I need to be sure the WiFi is set to go when I arrive since I will need to teach virtual art classes almost immediately. I need to fill out a postal change of address form today. The to do list keeps getting longer but I have to layer it in with focused work on a season of theater posters.