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By Naomi Creason, Sentinel Reporter, November 5, 2008

Last updated: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 1:48 PM EST

With the success of movies from Pixar and Dreamworks Animation, three-dimensional animation has become the more popular form for children’s movies.

Audiences expect all of the wind-blown strands of fur, the almost human expressions on animals and the overall effect that makes it a little more realistic than its two-dimensional brothers.

But making those things come to life is a painstaking process — one in which Pennsylvania native Hannah Sherman is only too excited to take part.

Sherman, from Tunkhannock near Scranton, is one of the Dreamworks Animation artists who worked on “Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa,” which opens this Friday. Though the movie is a sequel to the first hit animated flick, it was the first movie Sherman has worked on as an artist.

“This is my first production and I am really excited to finally see the whole thing put together,” Sherman said. “I have a picture of the first shot I lit hanging in my cube. I still get excited when I look at it.”

Since she is still relatively right out of her college at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., Sherman hasn’t yet taken on the duty of character designs and providing main graphic elements, but she does help give the art that three-dimensional feel.

“I was a lighting artist on ‘Madagascar 2,’” Sherman said. “Lighting is one of the last steps in production and is what brings the whole movie together. What you have before lighting is flat colors and textures on all the characters and environments, but once the lighting is done, there is dimension, highlights and shadows, reflections, warmth and coolness. Lighting sets the mood of each shot or sequence. We set up lights very similar to how a photographer set ups lights to take a photograph or how a stage lighter sets up lights for a Broadway show, only we do this in a 3-D environment inside the computer.”

Time investment

Lighting every scene of the film isn’t exactly an easy task for Sherman, much less the rest of the animation team at Dreamworks. All animated films take a rather long time to produce, if the gap between sequels is any indication.

“Animated films usually have a turn around of about two years,” Sherman said. “This can often fluctuate depending on the film. I was personally on this project for seven months.”

The days are long for the artists, sitting at the computer, their eyes glued to the screen as they pore over every detail of a shot. Sherman added that the long hours can get to the artists, but it tends to be worth it in the end.

“This job can be just as tedious and stressful as any other job, but the difference for me is having the passion for it,” she said. “There is no greater feeling than having an art director final (meaning its done and ready to go film) one of your shots. It’s like a high.”

The passion she takes from the job started as a love for art at an early age, which evolved into a love for film.

“Going to the movies has always been my favorite thing to do,” Sherman said. “I chose an art school in Florida and applied to their computer animation program as a fling, I didn’t really think I would get in. To my delight they accepted me and 44 others for the program. The more I found out about the school and the closer it got to graduation, the more and more I knew that was the place for me. I guess you could say I was lucky and I found my ideal career on the first try.”

Sherman can’t wait to see her final product on the big screen and in front of a live audience, and plans on taking her ideal career to more Dreamsworks productions in the future.