I AM DAPH DANIELS

I am a creative professional who is passionate about animation, cinematography, and the video game industry.

I earned my BFA in Film and TV Production at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts with a minor in Psychology. I find myself gravitating to live-action and animated narratives that tell uniquely intimate stories about identity and family from queer voices. 

From as old as I can remember, I wanted to document things. Whether it be through the written word or with a camera, my goal was always to invert the way people saw the world. I wanted to turn our reality on its head, or at least to change the perspective on mundane ideas and concepts. Once I started focusing primarily on film, my eye for cinematography blossomed and it felt like I had found my calling and purpose. I was able to put all of myself into my work; I found a way to mimic my eye with the camera’s eye.

However, when the pandemic hit in 2020, I was cut off from the live-action world when we went into lockdown. I knew I did not want to stop creating films, but I wasn’t sure how to keep moving forward. When live-action stopped and animation did not, I knew I had to learn to pivot into the realm of animation. I made a five-minute stop-motion animated film (“Monsters of Mine”) for my senior thesis and fell in love with the medium. I began consuming a substantial amount of animated works and  grew an immense appreciation for the art form and its limitless power. You needed nothing but your imagination. And thus my journey to immerse myself in that world and shift my professional career towards both animation and the gaming industry began.

Works that inspire me are Nimona (2023), the Avatar: The Last Airbender series (animated), My Neighbor Totoro, She-Ra, Pokémon, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Stardew Valley.