Director of Photography/Lighting
Pixar Animation Studios

Sharon Calahan joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1994 as lighting supervisor on the studio’s first feature film, Toy Story. She then served as director of photography on A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and Ratatouille.

Sharon knew at the age of three that she wanted to be an artist for Disney. She went on to study graphic design, illustration and photography. Following art school, she began her career as an art director for broadcast television and video production.
Prior to joining Pixar, she was a lighting director at Pacific Data Images completing commercial work, longer format television, and graphics packages.

Creating the Look for Ratatouille

Creating the look for Ratatouille was driven by the unique challenges of showcasing beautiful CG food as well as the need to create appealing rats.
The goal was to identify the visual aspects that make food look appetizing, and then use them as stylist elements that could be applied to the film as a whole, not only the food. We wanted to leave the audience feeling hungry.
To accomplish this, we needed everything to look rich and juicy. We also wanted the lighting design to be an emotional component to the film. This talk is a view inside the artistic process and lighting design that created the Rat look.