Ty and Friends Vavaveraki is Out Now!

hey all! it's been a minute. sorry, i sorta found myself using this website less over time. It was kinda hard because nobody I knew was on it. In any case, I've been checking it out again recently! I was pleasantly surprised seeing music on the front page, (even though it was Taylor Swift) because it felt as though I'd stepped into another dimension where minimalism never took over the design industry. i wish i had've checked more recently though as there might've been a chance that they put Ghost on the top 10 chart here, which would have made a lot of sense considering Ghost initially released their music on MySpace. Anyhoo

So what am I here to say exactly? Well, things have been cool lately! I made a little short film called Ty and Friends: Vavaveraki. Despite its status as a 'short film' it doesn't feel as though such a title is sufficient enough to encapsulate just how big a step this is for me in my animation journey. Clocking in at 20 minutes long, this would turn out to be my biggest project yet. This film that I created took me about a year and a half, and there were times where I grew sick of the production, times where the very thought of animation was painful, and I loathed the idea of art as a medium, but these negative feelings were quickly overrun by the passion and the progress I made with my work.

This project was special to me because I knew this was precisely the work that I had always wanted to make growing up. Aside from my (since healed) passion for animation and art, I always wanted to make something memorable, something people would see and enjoy. Hell, I'll let my ego out for a second and say that I wanted to see people make edits of my work, but, at its core, I made this project for myself, and also my friends.Now, despite that, I also had the idea of submitting my work to the local film festival. 7 months of anticipation later, during which I finished the film, and it premiered on YouTube to a grand total of 6 or 7 people, I received an email on my way to the dentist. I got accepted

Obviously for any other film maker, this was par for the course. Having the confidence of knowing that your project is certain to be selected for the festival is something I'd love to have, but truthfully, I had no idea whether or not I stood a chance. But I held onto hope, I put my best foot forward and went with it. That resulted in selection, which I'm absolutely thrilled about, and I've been riding this high since I found out about it. I even got my trailer posted up on the official Instagram account as one of the features, which felt surreal.

But anyway, it's freaking sweet, and I cannot wait till the day when I get to sit down with my friends and family in the theater and witness VAVAVERAKI!!!

If you'd like to witness Vavaveraki for yourself, I welcome you to do so here by following this hyperlink.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThtL04BdT7A&t=731s