“In a Heartbeat” —SCREENGRAB
The crowd-funded animated short film “In a Heartbeat,” created by animation students Beth David and Esteban Bravo, has gone viral. The four-minute video, about a boy whose heart literally chases his crush, is currently on YouTube and Vimeo. It was viewed 2.4 million times on the day it was uploaded.
“We wanted to challenge the preconceived notion that LGBTQ content is not appropriate for younger audiences,” Bravo told NBC News.
“In a Heartbeat” originally meant to feature straight characters, but Bravo and David changed that idea and launched the Kickstarter campaign in November, which raised over $14,000 for the project. “Its success proves that there are audiences ready and hungry for this kind of content,” said Bravo.
David explained the universality of the short: “Ultimately it’s a story about a crush. That’s something that almost everyone has experienced and can understand.”—OLIVER PULUMBARIT