“In a Heatbeat” is a short film with a ‘unique’ love story, but only because we are only just realising that gay love stories are normal too. In the teaser of this animated film, a young boy tries and fails to not fall in love. This animated short film is the work of Beth David and Esteban Bravo from the Ringling College of Art and Design studying Computer Animation. As part of their thesis project, the short film it has already captured the hearts of people everywhere without even having been released yet. The first sneak peek of the short film quickly went viral with over 46,000 retweets and 100,000 likes.
David and Bravo had originally launched their Kickstarter campaign to help fund In a Heartbeat with the hopes of raising $3,000 to help pay for their composer and sound designer fees. The internet surprised them as they came out to support the duo as 416 people backed their project and pledged a whopping $14,191 for the campaign.
The reason behind creating this short animated film was clear for David and Bravo as they took into account the LGBTQ teens who aren’t featured as much or even in mainstream films as much as their straight and cisgender (non-transgender) peers. Bravo admitted in a video promoting the film, “Being gay is a subject that hasn’t been widely explored in computer animation.”
“We want to put out a message of love and self-acceptance to all the kids and young people who struggle to identify as LGBT, just like [the main character] Sherwin does,” David said.
David and Bravo have been promoting their film in a unique way as they are using parodies of iconic movie posters like The Fault in Our Stars and Brokeback Mountain.
In a Heartbeat has no dialogues and the characters convey all their emotions and ideas through pantomime. It’s a technique that both young filmmakers wanted to use in order to appeal to a much larger international audience. They wanted to make sure that their story was universally understood, without the need of subtitling or translations. With the music of Arturo Cardelús, this teaser elevates with every passing second.
From there early sketches of the lead characters Jonathan and Sherwin they put together an amalgam of cute, funny and design. While Jonathan had to be the heart-throb of the high school with his composure, Sherwin had to be the awkward next-door-guy who was clumsy.
Jonathan’s character development. Facebook/ @inaheartbeat2017
Jonathan’s character development. Facebook/ @inaheartbeat2017
Sherwin’s character development. Facebook/ @inaheartbeat2017
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The constant struggle to keep what is in your heart buried in it can be seen as a comment on the way gay boys and men tend to fight with coming out of the closet. This teenager’s heart can be seen chasing the boy of his dreams as the trailer builds up. It’s a story that most audiences have not had a chance to see before and will tug at your heart. For those children and LGBTQ young adults, this is an attempt to share their story on-screen.
The first look of the short film was released in honour of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on May 17 which was followed by the official trailer for In a Heatbeat.
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