COVID Dystopia: Shot 4

Posted on by Thor

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: Shot 3

Posted on by Thor

The third shot of the film is inspired by Rhinoceros, a play by Eugène Ionesco, written in 1959. In the play people begin turning into Rhinos one by one in a city. The main character refuses to become a rhino and he is the last human remaining. A movie was made of the play staring Zero Mostel of Fiddler on the Roof fame and Jean Wilder as the protagonist Berenger.

As the American population has been repeatedly mass infected with COVID, those who remain uninfected are a minority. The infected seem to loose empty and an ability to avoid repleaded infections. They actually brag about how many infections they have survived as their gray matter deteriorates and their arteries harden.

The last hold out for information from the COVID conscious community seems to be on the ever failing twitter platform. Those like myself who have been shouting into the void still have a narrow platform to issue warnings which go ignored by the ever growing herd of rhinos.

I had to do this shot twice. The first time I relied on Photoshop to fill in missing information once I cut out foreground elements. The program didn’t do a good job. I was better off painting in the missing rhinos by hand. These much looser painted passages are barely noticed as the camera zooms in on the audience.

This image shows the Rhinos shot in progress. The first two rows have already been isolated and the third row is in the process of being isolated by erasing the far rhinos. The rather transparent green rhinos are being used to show where I need to do some touch up painting on the row of rhinos behind the green row. In all I think this shot had 6 rows of rhinos that needed to be isolated.

See the full COVID film now!

Rhinos

Posted on by Thor

Rhinoceros is an absurdist play by Eugène Ionesco, written in 1959. There was a movie adaptation in 1974. Over the course of the play the inhabitants of a small, provincial French town turn into rhinos. It is about conformity and mass delusion. Ultimately only one human does not succumb to the plague. The main character’s love interest begins explaining that he is in the wrong for wanting to remain human. The rhinos, stampeding down the streets and building hallways seem happy as they bellow and scream. “Those are the real people.”, she says about the rhinos, “They look happy, they are right to do what they did.” She then quietly walks out the doorway to become a rhino herself, leaving him alone. The last human in the town and perhaps the earth.

We are living in a rhino apocalypse where the best defense is to be immune to peer pressure. Most people are returning to a pre-pandemic life. However the pandemic is not over with over 500 Americans dying every day. Granted back in January thousands of people were dying every day but over 2000 deaths a week is not unacceptable. Basic health precautions are still needed.

As people pack together in public spaces, they are living a mass delusion thinking no mitigation measure are needed. They are living a lie. Being fully vaccinated, I believe I am safe from hospitalization and death, but I am not safe from Long COVID. There is not treatment options or cure for Long COVID. It would mean months, years or perhaps a lifetime of debilitation illness. About 1 in 5 people who were infected develop Long COVID.

The CDC published a study which states, “It is likely that a substantial proportion of patients surviving COVID-19 will experience long term symptoms, requiring prolonged care even after a mild or moderate disease. These symptoms might negatively affect patients quality of life.” Though in black and white, it seems to have been kept rather quiet. There are no ongoing warnings about the dangers of repeat infections causing Long COVID so most of the population remains ignorant. Ignorance is bliss.

When I wear an N-95 mask in public, some people are genuinely insulted. You can see the anger in their eyes. They fear the mask because it reminds them that they are living in a fantasy. The contagion has already spread. Most people have bought into the mass delusion that becoming infected multiple times is the new normal.

Mass delusion is intoxicating and tempting. When you see large crowds of Rhinos gathering in tight herds and breathing in each others faces, it is tempting to believe that life has returned to normal. The rhinos seem happy. But the virus can not be seen and it is still circulating. Vaccines and repeat infections are not stopping the spread of the virus and the proliferation of new more infectious variants.