It's all about the heart...

let yourself feel. from Esteban Diácono on Vimeo.

Before I start, I would like to point out that you should watch the above video at least twice before formulating an opinion.

I understand how most stories are crafted. I have picked up a paint brush. I am constantly involved in the writing processes of brainstorming and editing. I have snapped a picture and played with photoshop. I can speak and have told my own stories. I've shot videos and edited them. The bottom line is that I understand how most of the stories have come to life but this one, I watched and I honesty don't know how it came to exist. I understand that it involved animation and a computer program, but I do not know how it was created. The importance is that I didn't need to understand how it came to exist to understand its message and be truly moved by it.

From the moment it started the music was captivating. Its the type of melody that reaches into a person and plays along with their heartbeat. I might be the only one but when I hear a piano like that, or the strings like that, I imagine the musician clearly. I could sit for hours watching the hands of a musician strum away on the ivory keys. Which might be why watching the animation of the video was so particularly fulfilling for me. The movement was perfectly on time with the music and provided the visual stimulates that I was anticipating with such a vivid tune. The animation was like a ballet choreographed to each note, with the calm procession of one lone dot seemingly swimming and as the strings entered so do the other dancers (the other colors) in a twirling exhibition.

Which leads me to just praise the use of color! The stable and mellow background that sets the mood for the piece from the moment it is presented to the audience. Blues establishing the sense of calm, but maybe alluding the loneliness? The blue fading into shades, mostly grey, behind it. The idea of the character moving forward while leaving a trail behind establishes a sense of leaving a legacy, a memory. But as the music and the character moves, the trailing legacy slowly but surely fades with the push forward. As we hear the strings, we see the brighter colors arrive. The pinks, reds, yellows bring us others. Friends, family, society twirling around our character all of a sudden bringing in new life, bursts of energy. Its chaotic in a controlled and very beautiful way. Though the bursts don't last, they continue until the end of our lone character's journey.

Then comes the narrative of the story, words that represent the characters journey and what the artist might have hoped to convey. Below is each quote that is presented in the order in which they appear:

There is nothing in the caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.

Do not break the silence.

You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.

Remember quiet nights.

Burn down your bridges.

Think outside the box.

Let yourself feel.

I only add to those sentiments, pay attention to where the characters & the music are when each appear. Also notice that the end quote and the title of the piece are one and the same, maybe Mr. Esteban Diacono is hoping that his audience remembers something? Either way thank you Esteban for sharing your story, it was a pleasure. It is a true marvel how art has become such a wondrous interaction!