Frame by Frame: TMU Alumni Bring George Harrison’s “Give Me Love” to Life Through Stop-Motion
Petals tilt toward a handmade sun. Paper clouds drift across a sky stitched from memory. A garden grows where time once stood still.
Behind this handcrafted world are two Toronto Metropolitan University alumni whose creative paths converged on this ambitious stop-motion production. Producer Michael Wamara (School of Performance, Acting, 2017–2021) and Animation Director Akash Tye Jones (Image Arts Film Studies, 2017–2022) played key roles in the music video for “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” by George Harrison. (external link)
Guided by Dhani Harrison and directed by Finn Wolfhard, the project brought together a team of artists connected by craft and care. Stop-motion (a medium that creates movement from the inanimate) became a form of tribute. Through thousands of incremental adjustments, an artist’s spirit was remembered. For Wamara, the opportunity marked a significant professional milestone.
“Working on this project for a legacy artist alongside such a talented crew was a dream in itself,” he says. “As a producer, you can plan for every possible outcome, but that doesn’t always mean things will unfold as expected. With this team, everything went beyond expectations. The detail, the love, the soul, and the patience poured into the work are all evident on screen - everyone involved truly cared about George.”
Akash Jones works as the animation director for the music video.
Image by Abdul Rehman, Image Arts Photography, 2017-2021
Having Dhani Harrison (external link) closely involved in the creative process grounded the work in authenticity.
“Having Dhani Harrison guide us, sharing who his father really was and how he remembers him, allowed us to honour George in a deeply personal way, while also offering the world something new,” Wamara explains. “Finn has a remarkable eye as a director. He understands not only George, but his music on a deep level. When it came time to build the garden and the world of the video, he knew exactly where it needed to go and how to bring it to life.”
For Jones, serving as Animation Director aligned directly with his passion for stop-motion as an expressive form.
“One of my greatest joys with animation is bringing inanimate and unlikely things to life through a medium that creates movement from the immobile,” he says. “This is especially meaningful to do with an artist who is no longer with us, as his fans and family get to see him one last time within the world we've created.”
He describes the collaboration as grounded in shared respect for the source material. “Working with Finn was great because he has such a close relationship to Dhani Harrison and George's music. A director who knows the source material will always make my job easier and more fun.”
The foundations for this kind of creative partnership were built during their time at TMU.
Michael Wamara and Akash Jones formed their creative partnership while studying together at TMU.
Wamara recalls creating his own short film with instruction fron Laura Nordin as a defining experience. “As an actor, it can sometimes feel like you’re waiting for a role to come along, but this project taught me the importance of creating the work you want to see and want to be a part of,” he says. “We shot over two long days using a camera we barely knew how to operate, but through communication, collaboration, and trust, we made it happen.”
That mindset continues to inform his work. Wamara later founded Nobody Told Me Studios (external link) with fellow TMU alumnus Ethan Keyes (Performance Acting, 2021). The company has officially launched and is now heading into production on its first major feature film.
For Jones, his thesis film The Lost Seahorse proved equally formative. “It was a huge endeavour for a thesis film and we worked tirelessly for eight months to create an animated short that solidified working relationships we brought to the George video,” he says. “TMU is where I met close friends and collaborators that I work with frequently.”
His company, Tye Down Pictures (external link) , has also officially launched and is currently developing new content and music videos.
Their next project with Wolfhard, a PSA for a theatre in his hometown that will screen before future films, continues a collaboration that has grown naturally from this work.
For Wamara and Jones, it’s another step in careers that began at TMU and continue to evolve through collaboration, craft, and a commitment to making work that feels considered and personal.