Faculty of Art

Experimental Animation

Emi Vantyghem

Kevin

“Kevin” follows an undercover housecat navigating a monotonous corporate jungle, braving the average business man’s biggest fear... his boss.

“At first glance, Kevin is a simple, lighthearted comedy about a housecat navigating the corporate lifestyle. Slacking off, and trying to survive under the watchful eye of the average business man’s greatest predator: his boss. Beneath the absurdity, it is a reflection of something deeper; the feeling of being trapped in a world that you don’t fit into.Kevin doesn’t try to stand out. In fact, he blends in so well that his coworkers don’t even realize he is a cat, too caught up in their own lives to notice. He coasts through the workday with the bare minimum of effort, slacking off in hilariously unhinged ways like texting his ex, watching inappropriate content, and doing everything except actual work. His only real moments of rebellion? The ones that make him undeniably a cat. He fills a coffee cup with mostly milk, pushes his mug off a desk just to watch it break, and would rather sit in boxes instead of chairs. However his true nature is revealed in the end when he’s finally fired by his boss—a rat in a suit—which for a cat, the solution is simple.The title Kevin might sound random, but it actually comes from my own cat, Kevin. He has no concept of work, deadlines, or corporate nonsense, he just exists, unapologetically himself. The humor in Kevin comes from the contrast between the rigid corporate world and Kevin’s quiet indifference to it. The animation style reflects this. Mostly restrained, with occasional bursts of exaggerated motion when his cat instincts slip through. The office is dull, but Kevin’s subtle defiance adds just enough chaos to shake the routine. It’s not a political or social critique, but it is relatable, and anyone who’s felt out of place in a system that values productivity over personality will recognize a bit of themselves in Kevin.At its heart, Kevin is a comedy, because humor is the core of everything I create. I know how heavy life can get, and I’ve had moments where I didn’t know how to keep going. But I’ve learned that even a brief moment of laughter can break through that weight. It doesn’t fix everything, but for just a second, it shifts the focus. That’s why I make work like Kevin; not only to tell a story, but to create something for people who might need it. Because even if it’s just for a few seconds, laughter takes up all the space in your mind, leaving no room for anything else.One of my best friends, who was also the funniest person I’ve ever known, always told me to be proud of my art and to never let anyone tell me I couldn’t do something. He believed in my work before I did, and that belief has stayed with me. He was able to find humor in anything, and that ability to make people laugh, to make life feel a little lighter, is something I try to carry forward in my own work. His influence isn’t in Kevin's story itself, but in the way I tell it... in the way I tell everything.Whether you see Kevin as a silly office comedy or something deeper, I hope it brings you a little joy. If it makes you laugh for seven minutes straight—great. If it’s just one chuckle—it’s still worth it in my eyes.”