In a Heartbeat is a short animated short film by Beth David and Esteban Bravo, featuring two high school boys and a heart, distributed by Youtube.

The idea behind this short is fresh and creative. I like how they came up with the “heart” character which has an individuality that is super adorable and plays the most important role in the film in bringing the two main characters together. The narrative is really easy to follow, and arouses all different kinds of emotions from “awe”, frustration, annoyance to “yay” in a compact 5 minutes.

The absence of dialogues in this film is a smart move, as we are asked to fully pay attention to the character’s smallest facial expressions and body language. The orchestra themed music on the background gives the film that magical touch, as they enhanced every actions and situations within the film. At the same time, at certain parts of the movie, instead of music there were simply just sound effects, such as footsteps and school bells which adds an element of reality to it.

Lastly, what is most important is the message of the film. The film features a love story, but instead of the normal boy and girl scenario, there are two young boys. There was a scene in the film where people give the two boys “looks” for being together, which reflects a real group of people in our society. The lesson that this movie is trying to teach is that gay people are just normal human, that they have feelings and fall in love, and that same sex love is simply love, with the target audience being people of all ages, more specifically, the younger generations. At the same time, it aims to reach and motivate those who are in the same boat as these two characters. I personally think this film succeeded in doing just that in such a brilliantly composed, visually attractive, adorable, four minutes.

Here’s “In a Heartbeat”, prepare your hearts!