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Short film · 0:33 · made in Insaga

The Lamplighter, a short film made with AI

English voiceover · 33 seconds · 11 shots · 4 characters

An old lamplighter keeps the last flame of a dark city and gives it to a young traveller. A fox joins them on the mountain pass, the storm does not put the flame out, and at the gate the mayor says no. Then one lamp lights another. The whole film was made from one short story in one studio: the characters, every shot, the animation, the voice and the edit.

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The voiceover

The full narration, word for word. Eight lines over eleven shots.

  1. 0:00

    In a city that had gone dark, an old lamplighter kept one flame alive.

  2. 0:07

    She gave it to a traveler.

  3. 0:09

    Through the mountain pass, a fox joined the road.

  4. 0:13

    Through the storm, they kept the flame.

  5. 0:17

    At the gate, the mayor said no.

  6. 0:20

    But one lamp lit another, and the city woke.

  7. 0:24

    At dawn, the traveler rode on.

  8. 0:26

    Every story deserves its light.

Shot by shot

Eleven shots, three seconds each. The traveller's violet scarf, the lamplighter's round glasses, the mayor's chain of office and the fox's ribbon are the same in the first shot and the last.

An old lamplighter hands a glowing lantern to a young traveller in a violet scarf; a fox sits at his feet
0:00 · The lantern changes hands
The traveller, the lamplighter and the mayor climb a mountain pass at night behind a fox
0:03 · The pass
The three travellers and the fox shelter from a mountain storm under one cloak
0:06 · The storm
From the summit the group looks down at a dark city in the valley
0:09 · The city below
The mayor raises a hand at the city gate to stop the traveller, the lamplighter and the fox
0:12 · At the gate
The traveller lights the first street lamp while the lamplighter, the mayor and the fox watch
0:15 · The first lamp
A street of lit lamps seen from a window as the lamplighter and the mayor watch
0:18 · The street wakes up
The mayor, his face softer now, stands before the traveller, the lamplighter and the fox under the street lamps
0:21 · The mayor gives in
Townspeople gather in a lit square around the traveller, the lamplighter, the mayor and the fox
0:24 · The square
The traveller and the lamplighter raise two lanterns as the mayor and the fox look on
0:27 · Two lanterns
The four of them row away down the river at dawn, the lit city behind them
0:30 · Dawn on the river

The cast

Four characters, designed once as reference sheets and reused in every shot. Nobody described the fox again in each prompt.

Starring

  • Character: the young traveller with black hair and a violet scarfThe traveller
  • Character: the grey-haired lamplighter in round glassesThe lamplighter
  • Character: the stern mayor with a chain of officeThe mayor
  • Character: the fox with a violet ribbonThe fox

How the film was made

  1. A short story

    The film starts as a few paragraphs of prose: a lamplighter, a traveller, a mayor, a fox and a city without light. Insaga splits a story like this into scenes.

  2. Four characters, set up once

    The traveller, the lamplighter, the mayor and the fox were created once and then used as the reference for every shot. That is why faces, clothes and the fox's ribbon do not drift.

  3. Eleven shots, drawn and animated

    Each scene became one shot in a single illustrated style, and each shot was animated into a short clip.

  4. Voice and edit

    A narrator reads eight lines over the cut. The same cut also exists with a Russian voiceover.

Make your own

Paste your story and meet your cast

Start with a scene or a whole story. Your first 100 credits are free, and you do not need a card.

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