Our Style of Storytelling

Nathan Sterner and Shelly Dutchak have been producing children's media together for the past 5 years. They began their collaboration while students at Montana State University, where Shelly received a degree in Studio Art and Graphic Design, and Nathan received his in Film/Television. They each have a hand in the project's conception and story development, and then assume their roles with Nathan as Director and Animator, and Shelly as Production Designer and Character Fabricator. To date they have produced two films and books with 716 Productions, A Stormy Night and Onami: The Great Wave, and are in production on their third.

Susan Justin has composed music for feature films and documentaries aired on TBS, TNT, Lifetime and PBS. She enjoys a parallel career as a music educator and has written many songs for children. Her favorite part about film scoring is the effort to capture the locale, the time period and the atmosphere of the visuals. "Music is an integral part of storytelling for film and Onami gave me the opportunity to go to another part of the world, both geographically and spiritually. Plus, Nate's claymation is awe-inspiring and absolutely adorable."