WINNIPEG -- A Winnipeg man who received national attention for his Lego video creation amid the COVID-19 pandemic has released a follow-up, this time thanking frontline workers.
Tyler Walsh posted the 28-second stop-motion animated video on his Twitter account on Sunday. As of 4 p.m. on Monday, the video, made with Lego, had been viewed almost 17,000 times.
Speaking via Skype on Monday, Walsh said the idea for the new video stemmed from wanting to share positive messages during the pandemic.
“Our frontline workers are putting, literally, their lives and their health at risk to be able to provide us with all of these services that they’re doing,” he said. “That’s kind of an obvious one to do a shout out for.”
Last month, Walsh, with the help of his two sons, created and posted a stop-motion video of a speech from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressing children about the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That message was very powerful, and trying to figure out a way to get kids to want to watch it might be a challenge for parents,” he said. “Wrapping it up in this Lego stop-motion I think was really effective."
Since sharing it on April 5, it has been viewed over 483,000 times on Twitter, and Walsh also released a version of the video in French.
Walsh was praised by both Trudeau and Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam for the video. Lego also enjoyed the video, sending him some more Lego bricks, which were used in Walsh’s latest creation.
The new video highlights firefighters, police officers, and health-care workers, among others, thanking them for their efforts to fight COVID-19 and keep communities running smoothly during the pandemic. Walsh said it took approximately eight hours over several days to build the set, film the video and edit it together.
“I’m just thrilled that the reaction has been positive,” he said.
Walsh had nothing but praise for frontline workers.
“We should be doing whatever we can to stand behind them and thank them for their work,” he said.
