If you're wondering who the creative mind is behind those inventive stop-animation videos on USOpen.org, meet Canadian Jared Jacobs, 41, a onetime wannabe rapper who occasionally goes by the name Gold Yeller.
Some artists work in oil, some dabble in clay. Jacobs' medium-of-choice is Lego, those tiny, plastic interlocking brick toys so many of us grew up with, spread across our bedroom floors.
"It was a creative outlet for me. I just started messing around with it," said Jacobs, who was raised in Calgary. "Stop-motion, I've always been fascinated by it, but I had no idea what I was doing."
Jacobs first began experimenting with short clips based on the popular AMC series Breaking Bad. One of his first productions got shared by one of the show's stars, bringing the then-amateur filmmaker an unexpected burst of notoriety. He kept pursuing his newfound passion, sharpening his skills all along. When the AMC series was discontinued, he switched to sports. A video featuring a plastic Tiger Woods went viral, and Jacobs had stumbled upon a new career, that of Lego stop-motion animator.
"My life was just different after that," said Jacobs, who soon quit his day job and went all-in. "Next thing I know, I'm taking my mom to the US Open. I can't believe that I get to do what I do for a living."
What is it that attracts him to work exclusively with Lego?
"I love the constraints that it has," he explained. "If you put constraints on yourself sometimes, creatively, that helps you."
Jacobs didn't play much tennis growing up. In fact, his mother, a longtime tennis fan, knows a lot more about the sport than he does. But he's a fast learner, something that comes through when you watch his work, be it a Roger Federer 'tweener or Bryan Bros. chest bump.
"I just try to create those little nuances that are in the sport that I know will resonate with people," he said.
"I really didn't know anything about tennis," he added. "I knew Serena Williams, Federer, Djokovic, Nadal—that was pretty much it. Now I know a lot more about tennis. I have a greater respect for it. These guys are amazing athletes."
