Sharon’s first film is up for an Oscar

4:56pm Wednesday 15th February 2006

Sharon Colman is on cloud nine. She can't quite believe it. After leaving the National Film School in Beaconsfield last year, she has been nominated for an Oscar award for her short animation film Badgered.

"Life's just completely manic. I haven't been able to take it all in. The phones are ringing and there is so much to organise", Sharon says with a soft Scottish lilt in her voice speaking from Tandem films in London where she is now a freelance animation director.

The 27-year-old film-maker from Loch Lomond made her seven minute graduation film while she was at the film school.

It tells the story of a badger who wants to get some sleep but is disturbed by two pesky crows who keep him awake. Then he is disturbed when the Ministry of Defence stores nuclear warheads in his glen.

"The idea comes from my home-town in Scotland. I live quite near to a Trident submarine base and not far from a conventional ammunition dump," says Sharon. "I really value my own personal space and a safe home. Feeling secure is very important to me. And I am an environmentalist. It disgusts me when people abuse a beautiful landscape."

She chose a badger as her main character.

"Nobody had done much with badgers in general. They are very beautiful-looking animals, and they have nice colours to work."

She uses muted colours in greys and blacks.

"That is like the Scottish landscape for me. I did keep it very minimal and simple deliberately. I didn't want to complicate things. The colour scheme is based on places I visit in Loch Lomond."

Her style is simple, using 2D drawings.

"It takes a while to developed a style, and I will say that is now my style. They are quite naive drawings, and the characters are quite naive in the way they think. I have given them a very innocent look on the world. And I think that works well when you want to create charm and empathy."

Sharon explains that she spent a lot of time developing the character of her badger and comic timing.

"I did read a lot about empathy in your audience. With all that knowledge, I tried to use key things in the character to get that across."

The short seven-minute film took one year to make.

"There are 12 frames in one second, sometimes 24. There could be 12 drawings or 24 drawings every second it depends on the speed."

Sharon had a team of five people working with her, of which three were doing the animation.

"The National Film School is extremely professional, and it gave me a chance to get a crew together. On the film we had a producer, set designer, composer, editor, voice actor. It wasn't a hashed together art school film. We had Dolby digital dubbing we had the works. And also the National Film School has given me the chance to meet people in the industry."

She also had the support of her mentor Oscar-winner Daniel Greaves of Tandem Films.

"He was with me from start to finish. He was looking at my animation all the time and helped me to perfect it and correct it. He helped me to get the comic timing right and edit the storyboard."

Greaves says: "I am thrilled that Sharon's talent as a 2D animator has been so universally recognised. This is a beautiful piece that encompasses charm and simplicity in a film that takes a fresh approach to hand-drawn animation."

Sharon always had a passion for animation, ever since she was at school in her home-town of Balloch.

"I was always watching cartoons. I just carried on drawing when people had stopped. At high school I made the decision of my career path, and that is when I decided. I always wanted to be an animator."

She went to Glasgow School of Art and left with a BA (Hons) Illustration in 2000. At art school she developed a passion for film.

"I do watch a lot of films, not just animation. I watch as many films as possible."

Her influences have been Neil Jordan's Company of Wolves, Sam Mendes's American Beauty and Danny Boyle's films.

Sharon enjoyed her two years at the National Film School and loved living in Mayflower Way, Holtspur.

"I miss it actually. I miss the trees. It was a beautiful place to study. I preferred living there to the city."

But right now with the phones constantly going and buying her plane ticket to Hollywood for the awards ceremony, Sharon has only one big decision to make. What to wear for the Oscars.

"I am working on it," she laughs.