The auditorium lights go down, and the first animation begins. Like a movie theater on opening night, the animators sit in anticipation as they wait for their masterpiece to come onto the big screen.

This year’s Wall Hawk animation team placed fourth in the UIL Filmmakers State Contest in Austin, TX on February 23. The team worked on their latest project, “Call You Back Later,” for more than a year.

In the story, Catherine “Kit” Carter and Ally Mitchell, two mother cats and secret agents, are sent on a mission to a mansion in the mountains. The mansion is owned by a rich businessman and thief, Grant Snowfur, who has stolen dangerous nuclear codes and plans to sell them during a big party he is throwing. Ally and Kit sneak into the mansion and attempt to steal the codes. The only problem? Their husbands are having a hard time handling the kits and keep calling them to ask for help.

According to the animation teacher Curt Taylor, a lot of hard work and dedication from both new and experienced students went into the making of the piece. 

“I liked that they worked as a team,” Taylor said. “It lets them speed up the process and do more complex artwork.”

The project had a lot of people doing multiple different jobs, according to junior Natalya Fedotova. Members have to cover the storyline, rough animation, final animation and coloring.

“There was linearting, there was coloring, there was voicing,” Fedotova said. “A lot of work.”

According to junior Gia Pardo-Gibson, the competition was nerve wracking for the team.

“Oh, I was excited,” Pardo-Gibson said. “I could not stop shaking.”

One member of the team said they were dissatisfied with being ranked fourth.

“I was shocked that we didn’t make the top three,” junior Yajaira Duarte said.

Despite the disappointment with the team’s place, the animation team is proud of their accomplishments.

“It was a great team,” Taylor said. “It had a fantastic team leader who really knows animation… And we have a lot of up and coming, very promising students who are talented at it.”