Via Optima was founded by two lifelong friends: David Torcivia and John Merizalde. The two met in sixth grade where their interest in film allowed them to quickly bond. David Torcivia had run a daily news show in 5th grade and John Merizalde had already decided he wanted to be a director. Clearly, film was in their blood.

Soon after meeting, the duo created their first bit of media that someone, somewhere certainly considers a movie. Regardless of it's quality (or lack thereof), the film would jump start countless productions the two would create. You can view this animation and read more about it's creation here.

After their first creations, a slew of poorly animated creations emerged from JASC Animation Shop.Tired of animating every frame by hand, the now seventh grade duo looked to new software and discovered the mother of all internet video: Macromedia Flash (as it was then called). Macromedia Flash presented a steep learning curve but after a few test creations (and more importantly - the discovery of motion tweening) a decent movie was made. This movie was expanded into a trilogy starring a type of character animation invented for the movies - Chibis (pronounced Chee-Bees). You can view an episode from this trilogy here.

Finally, in eighth grade, John Merizalde received a camcorder and the first live action short was create. Terrible though it was, it was lightyears beyond the flash and JASC abortions the two had suffered through previously. Throughout high school David and John slowly built up their filmmaking skills through the creation of numerous shorts and school projects. During this time, several media companies were conceived, created, and then slowly corroded away until a new one would rise again from the ashes. It was actually great sport and endlessly entertaining.

At the conclusion of their senior year, the two determined that they must create a final film before their departure to college that would epitomize all they had learned in their 15 years of combined film experience. David dusted off a script he wrote in ninth grade and production soon began. Thus was born The Shepherd. A film created on an incredibly low budget (many would say no budget) but made to look as professional as possible. David and John worked tirelessly to find the best way to do everything a two-man crew could. Thus was born Via Optima which translates to the best way. It is mantra the two hold dear and follow everyday in the journey that is filmmaking.

Though the two will be going to different colleges, they will not be far apart (physically or mentally) and will continue to collaborate on a new project that is sure to shatter all expectations of what two nineteen year-olds (at least they'll have turned nineteen when the film is released) can create.

Check back often for updates and new media at Via Optima. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc., please Contact Us, we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thank you and good night.

~Via Optima