23-second animation catapults young Winnipeg animator to online fame
Xierra Cansino, a.k.a. XrayAlphaCharlie, has since created a music video for indie band Good Kid
Two teens outside a convenience store playfully fight over a baseball cap and a lollipop.
That 23 seconds of original animation, complete with a rom-com vibe, changed Winnipegger Xierra Cansino's world.
In 2022, Cansino, then 17, posted her animated short Sucker to YouTube and Tik Tok.
Views exploded.
"At first I was super, super shocked," Cansino, now 19, recalled. "When I saw the numbers, I didn't know what to do with myself."
Today, the animation has 8.2 million views on YouTube, and Cansino, a.k.a. XrayAlphaCharlie, has 901,000 followers.
Cansino, who started doing animation at age 14, has since created a music video for Toronto indie rock band Good Kid. She is currently an animation student at Vancouver Film School.
Her evolution from teen animator to internet sensation is at the heart of a new micro-documentary by post-high Sisler Create students.
The video is the work of Gabriel Beso and Bridget Clemente, both 18, and Markus Ramiscal, 19. The post-high school program trains students in the creative digital arts, including filmmaking.
Cansino also created an animated version of herself for the video project.
The short documentary was produced as part of CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create, a continuing video storytelling collaboration.
Meet the filmmakers
Gabriel Beso has been making films since he was in Grade 9, but he has been editing videos since he was 12. Filmmaking has led Gabriel to new friendships that inspire him to continue storytelling in new and creative ways.
Bridget Clemente is a Sisler High School graduate who wants to pursue a career in filmmaking and editing. Her passion for the film industry started a few years ago, progressing from editing YouTube videos to creating short films. In her free time, Bridget enjoys listening to music, dancing and playing with her two fat cats.
Markus Ramiscal is developing his skills in storytelling, filmmaking, editing and motion graphics, and plans to pursue a career in the creative industry in screenwriting.
More about Project POV: Sisler Create
CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create, a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC Manitoba journalists to produce short documentaries, is in its second year. Past projects can be found here.
During fall 2023, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking students and led producing workshops over several weeks at the Create program at Sisler High School.
The post-high school program focuses on education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.