Inspired by a life-threatening family tragedy, New York director/writer/cinematographer Vincent Peone (who co-founded the video team at collegehumor.com) leads a stellar crew on a seven-month, stop-motion and CG journey to reveal the magical story behind just why The Sea is Blue.

Vincent Peone: “A decade ago, my life was almost unrecognizable. My family was thrust into turmoil when a fire tore through my childhood home, badly injuring my mom and kid sisters. There aren’t words for the feeling I had when I thought I might lose my family.

“My mom, Doreen was alright, and while Angelina had suffered severe injuries, she was on a clear recovery path.

“All attention then turned to the middle kid, Dina, who had sustained third degree burns to nearly seventy percent of her body. Months of harrowing uncertainty lay ahead as Dina fought through a drug-induced coma – my mom, Angie, and the rest of our family waiting patiently by her side.

“To make painfully slow-moving minutes go by, I decided to write a story. I imagined Dina was off on a profound adventure, struggling to make her way home.

“After three long months, Dina woke up. She grew strong again. Both of my sisters have gone on to pursue their dreams these past ten years, making me the proudest brother. Their strength and confidence inspires me to this very minute!

“Somewhere along the way, I decided I was ready to share the story I wrote by Dina’s bedside.

“Thank you to Josh Ruben, who’s been an advocate of the project from the get go. We made a pact when we formed Josh and Vince a few years back that we were going to use it to tell stories we couldn’t tell anywhere else.

“Thank you to Mike Healey, who’s dedication and immense patience for this project is directly responsible for bespoking it into existence. Thanks to friends Kathleen Gerber + Lori Nix for their tireless work fabricating stunningly detailed miniatures, Andrés Cardona for making it look beautiful, Noella Borie David for breathing life into lifeless puppets, the Jerome Foundaion for believing in the project, Garrett Fennelly, Alex Schepsman and the rest of Field Day for getting behind it, Mike Ritchie and Gloo Studios, Big Block Media, Dream Machine Creative, to name a few.”

Written and Directed by:
Vincent Peone

Executive Producers:
Josh Ruben + Vincent Peone
Mike Healey
Garrett Fennelly
Alexander Schepsman
David Kornfield

Animation Director:
Mike Healey

Director of Photography:
José Andrés Cardona

Production Design:
Kathleen Gerber + Lori Nix

Associate Producer:
José Andrés Cardona
Lacy Wittman
Alex Kurze
Steve Intrabartola

Storyboard Artist and Character Design:
Daniel Dussault

Underwater Character Design and Fabrication:
Kathleen Gerber

Character Facial Design and Sculpture:
Jon Payne

Body Sculptures:
Lisa Frost

Clothing and Hair Design:
Molly Light

Armatures:
Julian Clark

Additional Puppet Sculpting:
Brandon Grether, Maxwell Sorensen

Main Title Design:
Jackie Russo

Lead Stop Motion Animator:
Noella Borie

Stop Motion Animator:
Mike Healey
Matt Christensen

VFX Producer:
Steve Intrabartola

3D Animation:
Jamil Lahham
Spencer Noble

Compositor:
Navid Bagherzadeh
Mike Healey

3D Character Rigging:
Spencer Noble
Han Hu

2D Animation:
Zack Williams
Pete Ahern

Additional Animation and Rotoscoping:
Dylan Steinberg

CG provided by Gloo Studios

Photometric Scanning:
Mike Ritchie, Tianlun Jiang

Modelling and texturing:
Mike Ritchie

3D Tracking:
Anita Kwan, Josh Brune, Tianlun Jiang
Cam Slusar, Mike Ritchie

Lighting and rendering:
Mike Ritchie, Josh Brune

“Bean”:
Sarah Natochenny

“Uncle Wolfie”:
Jim Donaldson

Narrator:
Roger Babb

Sound Design and Mix:
Heath Raymond
Evan Mangiamele
Stefano Campello

Original score by:
Ramona Córdova

Colorist:
Jaime O’Bradovich

Special Thanks:
Corwin Carroll
Kenny Solomon
Tucker Voorhees
Brian Steinberg
Fred Hashagen
Zach Poots
Chelsea Manifold
Corwin Carroll
Andrea Allen
Laura Turner Garrison
Katie Andrews
Hana El-Assad
Paul Lowey
Jason Hujber
Adrian Walker
Doreen Peone
Natalie Camarda
1st Ave Machine
YouTube
Vimeo
Abel Cinetech
Gloo Studios
Big Block
Company 3
Heard City
Dream Machine Creative
Shriners Hospitals for Children
The Town of Saugerties, NY
The Glasco Fire Department

Made possible in part by a contribution from The Jerome Foundation.