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My name is Malcon Pierce.
I'm the director of <i>Versa.</i>

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<i>I wanted to be an animator my whole life.</i>

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<i>I just wanted to work for Disney
and make movies.</i>

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<i>I was an animation supervisor on </i>Moana.

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<i>Our first sequence into production was</i>

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<i>the sequence with toddler Moana
going down to the ocean,</i>

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and over the course of this period,
my wife and I were expecting our son.

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And there was a unfortunate complication,
and we ended up losing our son,

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his name was Cooper,

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on his birthday, on that day.

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<i>I remember the first day
coming back to work,</i>

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<i>and I decided that I'm gonna
distract myself mentally,</i>

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and just, you know, keep myself
super occupied, like, everything's fine.

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And that was the thing that was
like, "Man, I'm so not fine."

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<i>I had never gone into the nursery.
I'd never been able to.</i>

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<i>My wife, Keely, she was the opposite.</i>

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<i>She was spending time in there,
she would read in there.</i>

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She was just totally living
in this moment,

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<i>and really connecting
in a really healthy way.</i>

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She has a photography background,

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so, she says, "I think it's important
that we capture, sort of, this moment

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with our grieving process."

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<i>And she took a series of photos that
became sort of the thematic of the short.</i>

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It's a very personal story,
and, you know, it's scary

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putting that out there,

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<i>but I've found it more empowering</i>

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to open up and share,
than try to avoid it.

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And through this project, Keely and I
were so humbled by the support

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from all of our friends and family
and the studio, you know, it was amazing.

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<i>She's really the strength
behind a lot of it,</i>

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<i>and really helped me see, and still does.</i>

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<i>That really was the nucleus</i>
<i>of the film that became </i>Versa.