Melanie is on her computer hard at work on an illustration of Alex the lion from Madagascar.
	The Characters form Madagascar
	If it acts like a duck, and walks like a duck, it probably looks like a duck! The design of an animated character determines how the character moves. When designing characters, animators ask questions about their physical features, as well as their role in the story. Is the character short, fat or lanky? Does the character have two legs or four? What's the character's story? How does he/she look at life? What are her basic attitudes? Is she happy, adventurous, a neat freak? What's her relationship with the people (or animals!) around her? Check out the latest imail. Look familiar? Storyteller "To be an animator, you have to want to tell stories and be a great observer of life. When you watch people at the airport or the mall, you think, "How do they walk? Can I tell how a person is feeling just by the way they are sitting?" You have to be a good observer of people's behavior, because one day you might draw upon that knowledge (pun intended) to create a scene." Melanie Cordan

Behind the Scenes: Hollywood Animation

By Leanne Gluck, Staff Writer

How long do you think it takes to make an animated movie? Six months? A year? Four years? Read about Melanie Cordan, a character animator on the new DreamWorks film Madagascar and find out what it takes to make those animated movies you love so much!

Drawn to It

When I was little, what I really wanted to be was an actress! I also loved to draw. I would come home after school and sit on my bed and create stories in my head and then draw them out on paper.

When I was 16, I saw The Little Mermaid. I'm not sure if it was because she was supposed to be 16 and that she was the first redheaded animated character I had ever seen…but something about her performance really clicked. I thought "AH HA! I can draw AND be an actress." So I went to my career center at school and learned about animation schools.

Cracking the Books

I was always considered a good artist growing up, but when I got to college (the California Institute of Arts), I discovered that I was one of the WORST artists in my class. It was very difficult. At my year-end freshman review, my animation teacher actually wrote that it was doubtful I would ever be an animator. The three things I had in my favor were an innate ability to act, my sheer determination, and unwillingness to give up.

I graduated with a BFA in Character Animation. I had been strictly trained as a 2-D animator (that means I worked primarily with pencil and paper.)

On To Hollywood

I've been very fortunate and have worked with some of the most prominent studios and creative talents in the business. I've worked on:

- Toy Story 2
- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
- Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Shrek 2
- and most recently, Madagascar

It takes so much time to animate a shot. It takes 24 separate poses to create one second of animation. So, to animate a three-second shot, it will take around two to three days! Teamwork is an extremely important part of animation. We wouldn't be able to finish a film in time if we didn't work on teams. Even in teams, Madagascar took four years to complete!

Fave Characters

I'm partial to Marty the Zebra because almost all of my shots were with him. But there is one character in the film (and I'm not going to tell you who it is, because it's supposed to be a surprise) that was sooooo outrageous and so fun. I'd have to say he was my favorite.

Interested in learning more about animation? Stay tuned for next month- Interview with the Animator, Part II.