Sharon Colman Badgered Film Techniques

Badgered is a short film that was made in 2005 by Sharon Colman. The animation is roughly six minutes long, all of which is hand drawn and colored by Colman herself. The picture was produced at the National Film and Television School, a top film university with highly acclaimed authors such as Douglas Mackinnon, creator of Sherlock and Doctor Who. The animation itself fosters an excellent depiction between the harmony of basic principles and style, both formed together to create a model animation. A spontaneous stream of consciousness normally does not play a factor within these authors’ creative processes, rather they find inspiration from past experiences within their lives. These moments of inspiration can be drawn from memorable symbols, characters, or places. These objects create a scaffolding with which they can expand outward with their imagination. Of course, Colman is no different; she expresses not only her stylistic preferences within her animation, but also specific symbols that encapsulate her past.

Throughout the animation these crows appear to be objects of comical relief. They are the animals that progress the story further, and ultimately bring the resolution. The character design of these crows is beautifully simplistic. Colman exaggerates these creature’s mouths, which contrast their eyes. The exaggeration is particularly useful for describing the audible nuisance that these animals are creating. A few moments later we are introduced to the badger, the protagonist of this animation. The character design of the badger is exaggerated for a purpose as well. Badgers are normally rather small and they have proportional heads. Yet, Colman drew this animal as a rather fat badger with a small head, sunken “eyelids,” small tail, ears, and