Jonathan Lyons

If you haven’t seen the “Flying Like A Bird” video on youtube, here it is.

Today, an email went out to former ILM employees looking for a VFX expert to analyze the video and discuss whether it’s real or faked. The more I look at it, the more I believe it’s fake. I have three reasons:

1. The sudden focus shift when he takes off is very suspicious.
2. The shot of him in the air could have easily been faked practically. Those wings would probably allow the wearer to glide some distance, so he could have jump from a height to get the short clip.
3. The landing is distant and blurry.

ILMers weigh in in this article. They propose the wings are all CG.

Honestly, I wanted it to be real. And it’s that desire that is significant. People want to see fantastic things. We know the magician fools us, but that’s okay. And when someone creates an illusion that we take to be real, we are even more impressed at having been fooled. That is how P.T. Barnum became an icon of American culture. He concocted outrageous exhibits and spectacles. He would create a public buzz, put on a great show and collect the money. Imagine what Barnum would do with the social media of today. Which reminds me, please pass on this link!

The fraudsters remind us of our own foolishness. To create fraud in the name of entertainment is an art form, and I enjoy it. I salute you, Birdman!

FLOYDS FACEBOOK PAGE

Over the last several years I have spent much of my spare time creating a pair of short animated films. Since I think physical comedians are such good models for animators, I created a character of my own to practice with. His name is Floyd the Android. In February I finished the second of the two, very short films. One is called “Teleporter” and the other is “Dim Bulb” Each is under 2 minutes long.

I completed the films in early February 2011, and have been entering film festivals ever since.  So far he as been accepted into 26 films festivals.  Floyd does very well in children’s film festivals, having shown at the International Children’s film festivals in Chicago and Taiwan, and will be seen next month in New York.  At the Eugene International Film Festival it won “Best Animation Short Short”.  At the KROK International Festival of Animated Films it was awarded “Best TV Series” !  Not sure why they chose that, but I’ll take it.  Recently, the Love Your Shorts Film Festival in Sanford Florida awarded it “Best Animation.”  I was able to attend festivals in Coney Island, N.Y. and Mill Valley, California.  In the coming weeks, it will show at the Savannah International Animation Festival, the Monstra Festival in Portugal, and the Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Children and Youth, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I never considered doing a production blog for the films, since I was sure I wouldn’t have the time.  And I didn’t want to be one of those people who blog about films that never get finished.  But, once I’m done with festivals, I’ll post the films online, and begin a “post mortem” on this blog.  I’ll cover the whole history of Floyd, how he developed and what problems I had to overcome.  I’ll introduce the fine people who helped me.  I’ll discuss everything from my inspiration to the final product, where I succeeded, and where I failed.  All lessons for me that I’ll use in the future.  Thanks for reading!