Ringling College grads win award for LGBTQ animated short

Filmmakers Beth David and Esteban Bravo expected to be noticed and hoped for some industry recognition.

In July, the two Ringling College of Art and Design graduates released “In a Heartbeat,” a four-minute, digitally animated film that now has  more than 30 million views on YouTube.

Their film earned a Student Academy Award. And just might win an Oscar.

Their heartfelt project began as an assignment — the toughest assignment of all at their college.

Ringling College takes a “show me” approach to its graduates. To prove they’ve learned their lessons, each student must create a graduating thesis project in his or her field. Bravo and David were computer animation majors and frequent collaborators. Fall 2016 marked the start of their senior year. Their thesis project loomed — a computer animated film, naturally. It was time to show the college what they could do.

So what would they do?

Bravo and David put their heads together in a late night bull session. A friend joined in — another student animator. They began brainstorming. And their friend had an idea …

Her cartoony concept would put a smile on cartoon virtuoso Tex Avery’s face.

A shy boy sees the object of his affections and hides behind a tree. But his heart betrays him—and literally leaps out of his chest and runs in pursuit.

David and Bravo loved the idea. Their friend had other projects to pursue. With her blessing, they took the idea and ran with it. With one change …

Their friend’s original pitch had been a boy-meets-girl story. They turned it into a boy-meets-boy story.

“The original narrative had been done,” David says. “Esteban and I are both LGBT, so we decided to approach it from that angle. That made the love story much more personal for us. We could definitely relate to it.”

The film’s hero became Sherwin, a closeted gay teenager. His heart’s desire became a male classmate named Jonathan.

Changing his gender changed everything.

“The story works on many levels,” says Bravo. “On one level, it’s a universal story about a shy kid with a crush who doesn’t want to admit it. On another level, it’s unique to the LGBT experience. If Sherwin admits his love in public, he’s going to be outed. He has to face his fear of dealing with his own emotions and other people’s judgments.”

“Sherwin’s not merely afraid of admitting his love,” adds David, “he’s afraid of admitting who he is.”

Bottom line? They had a great story with relatable characters. A highly visual story. Both agreed it would be wordless.

But having a great story is one thing. Telling it is another.

For the rest of their senior year, the duo worked long hours to bring their tale to life. Two Ringling College instructors guided them. Paul Downs supervised preproduction. Sean McLaughlin offered a road map through myriad details of production itself.

The young filmmakers’ influences ranged from the old-school animators of Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes to the new-school digital animators of the Walt Disney Co., Pixar and other studios. Both had high praise for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “Tangled.”

David adds that contemporary mainstream animation has surprisingly little room for LGBT characters. Bravo agrees.

“We have to look to independent films for that,” he says. “Daniel Ribeiro’s ‘The Way She Looks’ really inspired us. It isn’t animated, but it has a similar theme.”

By November 2016, they’d almost completed their film. But it was still a silent film. Adding professional quality audio meant paying a composer and sound designer—who didn’t work cheap.

To close the gap, they started a Kickstarter campaign. “We asked for $3,000, but were hoping for $5,000,” David says. “The donations poured in—and kept pouring in, even after we met our goal. We had $14,000 when it was all over.”

That funding boost paid for the finishing touches. In the spring, their film was a wrap. “In a Heartbeat” earned praise and high marks. They graduated in June. A month later, they released their animated film short on YouTube.

It immediately went viral.

The page views climbed. They kept climbing and didn’t stop.

“We couldn’t believe it,” says David. “It felt like a dream — and still does.”

The response was overwhelmingly positive. The young filmmakers felt the love, and they wanted to share that love with other animators who tackled similar subject matter.

“‘In a Heartbeat’ proves there’s an audience for an LGBT love story in the world of animation,” Bravo says. “We hope the big studios are paying attention.”

In the midst of all the public and critical acclaim, David and Bravo had submitted their film to the Student Academy Awards, which is the equivalent of the Oscars for  the collegiate level.

Nothing happened.

Then, in early September, an unnamed official from the Academy of Motion Pictures gave Bravo a call. An oddly prankish call.

He said that there was a problem with the film — and asked to set up a conference call with David. Once he got both filmmakers on the line, the official asked if they’d be free on the second week of October. “Yes,” they said. “Great,” he said. “Because you guys are medalists for the Student Academy Awards.”

Hearing that news made them both feel as though their hearts were leaping out of their chests.

The awards ceremony took place Oct. 12 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Only 17 student filmmakers attended. Bravo and David’s film was one of three competing in the domestic film school animation category for gold, silver and bronze medals. Thanks to the Student Academy Award, their film can compete in the Best Animated Short Film category of the 2018 Academy Awards Ceremony. And, yes, they’ve submitted it for consideration.

In the meantime, life goes on. David now works at JibJab, a digital entertainment studio based in Los Angeles. Bravo is an animation intern at Blue Sky Studios in Greenwich, Conn. That doesn’t mean their creative collaboration is over.

“Esteban and I love working together,” says David. “We’re definitely continuing our film partnership.”

Does that partnership include the further adventures of Sherwin and Jonathan?

“We’ve talked about a sequel … or maybe a children’s book,” says Bravo. “But we’re not done with these characters, yet. Sherwin and Jonathan are still in our hearts.”