Yesterday This Was Home: A Future of Civil Rights

Posted on by Thor

The 12 year old boy morphs into a man while seated on the Greyhound bus seat. Sam explains how his experience on the bus helped fuel his further protests in high school. It was the beginning of his continued efforts to stand up for his rights. I decided to end the film with an iris out much like the ending of a silent era movie. I had Charlie Chaplin‘s, Circus in mind.

I learned a lot doing this film. I came to realize that at most I can produce 10 seconds of animation a day which usually amounted to one or two shots a day. The animation might go smoothly but then late at night I would be painting each individual drawing. I saved so much time by doing rather clean storyboards which I then re-used as the backgrounds for each shot.It turns out I really love animating when there is a compelling story to be told.

Each day during the pandemic I plan and execute on illustration which tells a story about the news of the day. It was nice to take a whole month to tell one story with action narration and music. Animation is really the ultimate art form which ties together all the artistic disciplines.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

 

Yesterday This Was Home: They were Trailing Him

Posted on by Thor

This is the storyboard for the climactic moment of the story. The bus driver got back on the bus with several people trailing him. He walked past the children and sat the white passengers in the seat behind them.

This is the first scene I imagined when I heard the oral history. It is the climactic moment when the children’s rights were acknowledged and upheld. It was the first step towards not allowing the systemic racism to continue.

Animating this scene pushed the memory allowed on my computer to the limits. The computer crashed multiple times as I worked. I had to animate three people walking up the aisle. Part of me wanted to animate each character separately with their own cadence and unique steps, but instead I kept them in a military lock step to simplify the scene and keep the animation quick and simple. I was running out of time. I also had to cut the back ground into separate layers so that the driver and passengers could remain behind the foreground seats and characters. I animated the walks backwards and forwards from this particular stage  of the walk. It is a particularly long scene so I just kept adding steps to the characters walks until the time was allotted. Seating the two passengers was the most challenging aspect and it turned out to be rather fun as they plopped themselves down. I acted out the motions on my own using the living room couch. I have to have sat down on bus seat hundreds of times in m life. I used to ride the bus to NYC every day when I first want to college. That familiarity with riding buses is part of the reason I love this story.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours later until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yesterday This Was Home: No

Posted on by Thor

This is a short sweet dialogue scene when the 12 year old Sam says, “No.” It is a defining moment when he refused to be moved to the back of the bus. The dialogue is on 4s, meaning each drawing holds for 4 frames of film. I thought that might look clunky, loosing the persistence of vision that makes animation convincing,  but it looks crisp and fast. I like the way it turned out.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yesterday, This Was Home: the Ocoee Massacre of 1920

Posted on by Thor

Today marks exactly 100 years since the Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.  The Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) has spent three years researching and designing an exhibit about this horrific event.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

The following information is taken from the Orange County Regional History Center’s most recent exhibition, Yesterday, This Was Home: the Ocoee Massacre of 1920. For 100 years, the story of the Ocoee Massacre has gone largely untold. It has been subject to intentional obfuscation, lies, misunderstandings, and sensationalism. Memories and perspectives vary, and there are very few reliable source documents to confirm what is factual. If all hearsay, conjecture, conflicting, or contested information is removed, and you only include what most accounts mutually agree upon or what is included in primary source documents, the story is only a few paragraphs long. Though it is missing much nuance and details, this is what can be factually said.

On November 2, 1920, Moses Norman, a Black labor broker, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee, Florida. He was turned away and not allowed to cast his ballot. Later, a group of armed white men came to the home of Norman’s friend, July Perry, another Black labor broker in Ocoee, and violence ensued. Shots rang out and fires were started. Black residents were forced to flee from their homes.

Badly injured by bullet wounds, July Perry was captured by some of the armed men and taken into custody. After receiving medical attention, he was left in a cell at the Orange County Jail in downtown Orlando. According to a State of Florida Coroner’s Inquest that took place on November 3 and 4, 1920, an unidentified white mob overpowered the jailer, taking Perry from his cell.

The lynch mob brutalized Perry, and by November 3, had hanged his body in public view. His body was later moved to Greenwood Cemetery and buried. Moses Norman fled; he was eventually recorded living in New York City. Two men from the white mob were shot and killed, Leo Borgard and Elmer McDaniels, for which Carey Hand Undertaker’s Memorandum exist. Able-bodied ex-servicemen were called from across the region to come to Ocoee and create a perimeter to make sure the event did not continue, also blocking Black residents from returning to their homes. An unknown number of Black people were killed that night and others injured. Three unidentified Black individuals were recorded as being buried in one grave in a Carey Hand Undertaker’s Memorandum.

That night, many Black residents fled Ocoee, never to return. Some stayed but were eventually driven out by the terror of that night as well as subsequent violence over the following years, including dynamite being thrown into their homes and individuals being beaten and threatened. After 1926, there would not be another recorded Black person to reside or own land for any length of time in Ocoee until at least the mid- to late-1970s.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

On the day I went in to sketch, only one couple was in the exhibit space at the same time as me. There as some hand sanitizer at the beginning of the exhibit and I went back to use it each time I used any of the interactive displays.

At the end of the exhibit you can see the animated oral histories I worked on. The screen needs to be touched to play each animated short so be sure to sanitize your hands after you watch. I am glad I went this in an exhibit which is so timely. Today people marching to vote in North Carolina were pepper sprayed and arrested. This isn’t quite as bad as the Ocoee massacre but voter suppression is not a thing of the past.

Yesterday This Was Home: Surprised Driver

Posted on by Thor

The driver looks surprised and then turns and walks away. This is from the final animation. The drivers badge and shirt is pure white and his tie and the head band on his hat are pure black. That high contrast makes it so a viewer is likely to look at his badge which makes him look like a police officer although he is just the bus driver. hen you are wearing a  badge it makes it tempting to expert authority.

When the driver walked away Sam got really scared, thinking he might be going to get reinforcements.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yesterday This Was Home: I Was Scared

Posted on by Thor

After pointing out his rights to the driver, Sam felt scared. I cut to an extreme close up that quickly cross dissolved into a negative inverted image of his eyes. As he lamented that Jacksonville was like Mississippi in 1957, I flashed painting being created as negatives. All flash backs of racism of the times was done as these negative images where black is white and white is black.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history. Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Jacksonville was like Mississippi

Posted on by Thor

Jacksonville was like being in Mississippi. After standing up for his rights Sam realized he was in a city with deep rooted racial hatred. Jacksonville was the site of Axe Handle Saturday in which blacks were attacked by a white mob who struck them with ax handles. I painted a negative view of the violence which plays back as a time lapse as the painting forms. Each horrific memory is depicted with this effect. On top of this I composited an old film look with scratches.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yesterday This Was Home: Sam Looks Up

Posted on by Thor

Sam Looks up at the driver. The animation involved an anticipation where Sam lowers his chin a bit and blinks and then raised his head up. This is his chance t make a stand. The background and characters were reused from two shots prior. I isolated Sam’s head so I could animate it in Callipeg. The shot only last for several seconds as the Narrator says, “I looked up at him and I said,”. By this time I was animating up to three scenes a day. I was on a roll and realized that the steps I had taken to organize the short were paying off. The storyboards were developed enough so they doubled as backgrounds and I had worked n layers meaning I could turn off character layers if they needed to be redrawn for animation. In this case I just had to isolate Sam’s head to animate it.

In the Adobe Premiere Pro timeline you can see that the original Oral History video is under all of my storyboard and animation clips. It was edited a bit to cut out conversation and laughter that is interspersed in the oral history. I needed to keep the animation and story tight and concise.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Celebrating Black Culture: Music, Storytelling, and Poetry
Evolution of Music
Thursday, October 15, 2020

The Legacy of Ocoee: A Panel Discussion
Thursday, October 29, 2020

Lunch & Learn: Crafting the Ocoee Exhibition
Friday, November 6, 2020

The Destruction of Rosewood
Sunday, November 15, 2020

Family Days: Growing a Better Tomorrow
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Saturday, February 6, 2021

Celebrating Black Culture: Music, Storytelling, and Poetry
Storytelling & Poetry
Thursday, February 11, 2021

Yesterday This Was Home: Tall Driver

Posted on by Thor

This shot pans up from the kids to the driver. The two filed guides show the progress of the camera move upwards. My idea behind this was inspired by Alice in Wonderland where she grows in size filling a room. The camera move plays down this exaggerated perspective but you feel that something is off. The narrator recalled that this was a younger driver who didn’t have the attitude of the older driver. I cleaned up the characters a bit but let the camera move carry the story forward through this shot. Part of my inspiration as well came from Citizen Kane after the election when Kane seemed like a giant. Orson Well put the camera literally below the floor boars to get the shot looking up at Kane.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yesterday This Was Home: I Have Whites Getting On the Bus

Posted on by Thor

In this shot, the new driver explains that he has white people getting on the bus and he asks the kids to move to the back.  I decided to keep him as a looming dark silhouette in the foreground and I zoomed in on the kids which saved me from having him deliver the dialogue. He repeats the request a second time later, pleading with the kids so I focused my attention on fully animating the dialogue in that scene. I decided I could just get away with the camera move in this scene and decided the kids remained still. The style throughout the film is that the kids are bathed in light and the driver is in the dark.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.