Two talented artists with backgrounds in traditional and CG art, and experience in post production, animation, art for gaming systems, and toy design, had a yearning to tell stories their own way, and put together a company to do so. Nite Light Animation Studios recently completed their first CG short film entitled The Gnat and the Lion, which is based on the classic Aesop's Fable. Although created in 3D, Nite Light's artists took inspiration from stop-motion puppetry and Saturday morning cartoons to give The Gnat and the Lion its visual style. We recently talked to Burke Higgins and Tony Prohl, the co-founders of Nite Light Animation Studios, about their independent film project, and how LightWave helped them bring it to the screen.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your history with 3D?
Burke:
I devoted the first few years of my college life I devoted to the study of fine art and graphic design at Indiana University. Later I switched to Columbia College in Chicago and dove into traditional animation and film. After college, I worked at Calabash Animation as a traditional animator and clean-up artist on a number of commercials for brands such as Lucky Charms, Trix, and Keebler. I was then hired by Motion Picture Studios as a Storyboard and Concept Artist to help develop the two CGI children’s videos, Threads: A Pond Full of Pigs and Threads: Things That Go Puff in the Dark! The 3D platform used in the production was Softimage which later painfully transitioned to XSI. After that, my talents were used at WMS Gaming to help create popular slot machines such as Monopoly Money, Rakin’ It In, and Clint Eastwood’s Fistful of Dollars. At WMS Gaming I met Tony Prohl and was introduced to LightWave. Currently, I am working for The Marketing Store designing children’s toys for McDonald’s Happy Meals. At The Marketing Store I use LightWave to create animations for client presentations.

Tony:
I always loved art and animation with technology and that led me to pursue my goal in computer animation in college. During my last years at college I worked as a 3D artist at a post house assisting with commercial work for various projects, including PowerBall, Jewel, and Educational CD-Roms. After graduation I accepted a job at WMS Gaming acting as a studio art lead creating 2D and 3D animation for casino games. During late nights and weekends I and my good friend Burke Higgins created Nite Light Animation Studios. Its goal is to create wonderful CGI shorts with good story telling, visuals, and sound for Film Festivals.

How were you first introduced to LightWave 3D?
Tony:
I was introduced during college, LightWave 3.0 on the Amiga. It was my introduction to 3D and it was a great way to start learning 3D. Once LightWave 4 came out for the PC, I slapped it on a credit card and kept honing my skills at home. It was the best purchase I ever made.

Burke:
During my time at WMS Gaming, Tony Prohl introduced me to LightWave. After using a few “other” 3D platforms, I was amazed to find LightWave to be extremely user friendly. I was so impressed I had to purchase the software for my personal use.

What feature of LightWave do you like the most?
Burke:
I love the fact that LightWave is affordable and has a relatively small learning curve. I’m able to accomplish projects that I thought would be impossible a few years ago.

Tony:
The best feature is how easy it is to become a one-man show. Its user-friendliness is what makes it shine above the rest. I’ve trained others in LightWave and its amazing how fast everyone picks it up. LightWave gives me all the features I need to create my art and animation without getting overly technical about how to achieve my goal. I’ve used every package out there and LightWave is the only one that works with me and not against me.

Are there any plug-ins you use on a regular basis?
Tony:
I use ACS4 and now recently Maestro for helping take the timely task of rigging out of the process so I can focus on bringing the characters to life. Also HD Instancing was used to help fill the environments with plants and grass. Besides the plug-ins LightWave has a huge community and it’s great to have so many people out there that share the LightWave knowledge.

Burke:
Right now I’m still learning. I use everything. LightWave has a wonderful community. I am eager to hone my skills enough to contribute back to LightWave’s talented users.

What are your primary roles at Nite Light Animation Studios, and what do they entail?
Tony:
My role is to be everything under the sun: Director, Producer, Artist, modeler, lighting, rigging, animator, and compositor. Nite Light Animation is a very small studio that contains people who have a love for art and animation. Nite Light is our existence outside of everyday life, our freedom to express art and animation on our own terms.

Burke:
I also wear many hats for Nite Light Animation Studios: Director, Producer, Storyboard, Character Design, Concept Artist and Animator. Right now I have split my energies among promoting The Gnat and the Lion in film festivals, developing our second short film as well as firmly establishing Nite Light Animation Studios.

Is The Gnat and the Lion your first short film?
Burke:
Yes. Hopefully it is the beginning of many to come!

Tony:
As our first film, it allowed us to see if we can follow through on a project together that is based on our creativity and own time. It is a joy to work with someone who has the same passion for storytelling and animation without the smoke and mirrors. We make a great team and because of that The Gnat and the Lion exists.

What made you decide to bring this particular story to life?
Burke:
The Gnat and the Lion was a college project I wanted to turn into a traditional animated short. Tony Prohl convinced me to create the film entirely in 3D. After a few tests I went back and reworked the storyboards. Two or three shots from my original boards actually made it to the animatic. I tightened the character designs and off we went. During the production, Tony and I realized we could turn our talents to something bigger and we created Nite Light Animation Studios.

Tony:
This is a great story. I was working on an animatic for another project with a group of talented artists, but it became a pipe dream because too many people got involved. Burke, who was not involved in this pipe dream, had worked on storyboards of an Aesop Fable called The Gnat and the Lion during his college years. Burke worked with me at WMS and we worked very well together on many projects there. I asked Burke if I could model the characters, and said “hey you have a roadmap, the plan, the story is complete, all the storyboards are done, and we should do this”! He agreed and that’s how it started. We did add and subtract a lot from the original boards, but they inspired me so much that we had to follow through and do this project, it was meant to be. I would like to thank the talented Marco Plantilla who gave me all the wonderful feedback to make my animation more fun and exciting, he is a timing genius. Also the visuals would be nothing without the wonderful Score and sound design talent of Eddie Heidenreich and the voice talent of Gary Joy.

How long was The Gnat and the Lion in production?
Burke:
The production lasted about a year.

Tony:
There is a reason why we are called Nite Light Animation Studios. The time we spent working on The Gnat and the Lion was after working a long day at our normal art jobs. We usually started after 10 at night and it took us about three to four months spread through a years time to complete the short film. There were many nights I would lose track of time and before I knew it I would have to get ready for work the next day. I would like to thank my wife for putting up with me sneaking away to my computer many nights.

Were there any particular difficulties you faced during the production cycle?
Burke:
Time! Finding the time to work on the film was the biggest difficulty. Tony and I worked a few hours a day late in the night. Once in a while we would devote a weekend to the production. I’m thankful for my supportive wife who never complains when I sneak into bed at 2 or 3 a.m. in the morning.

The other problem we were faced with was the musical score and sound effects. We presented the animatic and concept designs to Eddie Heidenreich after which he eagerly volunteered his musical talents to the project. His wonderful score and sound effects contributed an important spark of life we desperately needed for the film.

Also, I want to thank Gary Joy for lending his voice talents and Marco Plantilla who consulted us on occasion with our animations.

Tony:
We ran into small issues of having to scale back some of the crazier effect-based shots, due to time and the fact that I was the only one at that time who knew Lightwave. We did dream big on some of the effects stuff but due to the complexity eating up a lot of time we would take the non-technical approach.

What role did LightWave 3D play in the creation of The Gnat and the Lion?
Burke:
The Gnat and the Lion was created entirely using LightWave.

Tony:
For The Gnat and The Lion we used LightWave for everything, modeling, animating, texturing and rendering. LightWave made those late nights a joy to work, I’m not sure that “work” is even the right word to use, “Fun” would be better. It is my paint brush to let my creativity flow.

How can the public get a chance to see The Gnat and the Lion?
Tony:
Right now it’s playing at many Film Festivals in the US and even overseas. We have a small trailer on our web-site and it will be on the Forest Film DVD released sometime this year. If you've got young kids, they will love it!

Burke:
The public can log on to Haydenfilms.com until the end of October and vote for their favorite short films. This weekend the film will be screened at The Mann’s Chinese Theater 6 on Hollywood Blvd for the FAIF Film Festival. We have all the festivals listed on our website.

Later in the year, as Tony mentioned, The Gnat and the Lion will be included on a Best Animation of the Forest Film Festival DVD. The DVD should be available on Amazon and Borders Books. We’ll update the information on our website as we learn more.

How is The Gnat and the Lion doing at the animation festivals?
Tony:
It has won 2nd place twice and is nominated for best Animated Film at Great Lakes Independent Film Festival. The Golden Lion Film Festival in Africa has also nominated us for Best Picture of the Festival. We have a lot more to go before the year is up, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Burke:
In all, The Gnat and the Lion has been accepted to 37 film festivals. The following is a list of accomplishments to date.

2nd Place Animation – Zoie Film Festival
2nd Place Animation – Ole Muddy Film Festival
Best Original Music – Just Another Film Festival
Semi-Finalist – Action/Cut Short Film Competition
Nominated for Best Animation – Great Lakes Independent Film Festival
Nominated for Best Film – The Golden Lion Film Festival

Can you offer any advice for animators trying to get their projects into circulation?
Tony:
Yes, a web site called “Without A Box”, Burke please explain.

Burke:
Get your work copy protected! Don’t be afraid to show your work. Film festivals are a great way to get your film viewed. Withoutabox.com is a great tool to help set up your film for festivals. They will set up your digital press kit and offer online applications. Avoid the paperwork and apply to festivals online. Your time is precious!

The Animation World Network is another great resource for film festivals as well as a news and related information.

What's next for Nite Light Animation Studios?
Burke:
We are in the design stage of our next short film Afloat in a Boat. The story is based on a children’s poem written by my wife Susan Lesage-Higgins. While we work on our second film we will be actively pursuing commercial work. We are bubbling with creative energy and our next goal is to eventually advance Nite Light Animation Studios to a Midwest-based animation house.

Tony:
We hope to be able to release Afloat in the Boat late next year. I’m looking forward to some new features in 9 to help us achieve some of our technical challenges for our new short. Lots of water effects and dynamics, can’t wait! I know that with LightWave under the hood anything is possible. We also are working on a Nite Light demo reel that shows our many talents, in hopes to get some freelance work, and if we get enough work Nite Light would then become the full-time job. Keep checking the site in the next few months for updates.

Thanks very much for taking the time to talk to us, Burke and Tony!

To learn more about Nite Light Animation Studios and The Gnat and the Lion, please visit their official site at www.nitelightanimation.com.