This article isn’t Fujifilm related, or even photography related, so let me apologize right up front. My oldest daughter, Joy, is an aspiring animator and artist. If you’ve followed Fuji X Weekly for years, you’ve watched her grow. She’ll be going to college this year, in the fall. A few of her photographs have been published on this website. While not directly related to the typical topics of this website, this is connected, so I hope that you don’t mind.
Above-left: Joy was nine-years-old when Fuji X Weekly launched (Fujifilm X100F Acros Recipe); Above-right: Joy on her 18th birthday (Fujifilm X-E5 FRGMT B&W Recipe).
The backstory is that JVKE is one of my daughter’s favorite musicians. Last year he held a duet contest for one of his hit songs, Her, and Annika Wells won, so they released a new version of the song featuring both of them. Just a few weeks ago, JVKE announced an animation contest for the duet, something he had done previously for the original version of Her (Joy wanted to participate in that one, but just didn’t have the time).
With a lot of encouragement, plus the benefit of the Christmas school break, she was able to create a short animation for the song. Specifically, the contest was for the verse with Annika. Joy wanted to give the song new meaning through her animation, and I think she accomplished that in such an emotional and touching way. I don’t know the chances of her winning, but I think she did a wonderful job, and, as a proud dad, I wanted to share it with you. I’ve included the video, which is on Instagram, below (you can also find it on YouTube). Please watch it if you have a minute, and if you liked it, give it some love. I think she would really appreciate the encouragement.
I’m not sure when the contest winner will be announced. If she does happen to get selected, I’ll be sure to let you know—I’m certain that there are a number of quality entries, though. Just the fact that she put in the effort and completed the project already makes her a winner in my eyes. A 45-second animation requires a heck-of-a-lot of individual frames, each that she drew. I know that hours and hours and hours of work went into this. It’s something that she can look back on and be proud of, whether she is chosen or not. I know I’ve already said this, but I’m quite proud.
Thanks so much for sharing. I had no idea! She sure is talented and you should be super proud! I am no expert in animation but with so much talent and creativity I am sure she has a bright future ahead of her! Can’t wait to see what she creates next 👏