It has been a big couple of months for Dan Mackenzie (GHS ’07) who recently was presented with not one, but two Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

The first was in June, as supervising animator for work on the Amazon original series “Tumble Leaf”, a well-regarded series for preschoolers. The second was for outstanding individual achievement for his work on the documentary “Cosmos: Possible Worlds” episode four. “Cosmos”, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, premiered on FOX in September. MacKenzie’s episode aired on October 13.

Interestingly, MacKenzie’s Gorham friend, Eben McCue (GHS ’08), also recently won an Emmy for Motion Design.

MacKenzie is fulfilling a childhood dream working as a stop motion animator at Laika Studio in Portland, Oregon. Laika’s hit movies include three on which MacKenzie worked: “ParaNorman,” “BoxTrolls,” “Kubo,” as well as “Coraline” and “Missing Link,” the 2020 Golden Globe Award winner for best animated feature. Laika is known for setting high creative and technical standards and for making entertainment that has something important and meaningful to say.

As a stop motion animator, MacKenzie is the physical actor who moves the puppets one frame at a time to the sounds of the pre-recorded voice actor’s performance. “Animators get cast on a shot or scene, and they pose and animate everything moving on screen, one frame at a time, 24 frames per second for features, and 12 frames per second for TV shows. I often create only a few seconds of footage per day,” he said.

MacKenzie explained that much of the animation we see is made using computer generated (CG) images while the stop motion technique creates the illusion of movement by using real objects which are physically moved in very small increments between photographed frames.

When asked about the difference in the two techniques, MacKenzie said, “Stop motion is much more physical and tactile, which I like, but you’re constantly fighting gravity, needing rigs and supports to keep the puppets from falling to the ground. Leaning over miniature sets all day can also be hard on your body. CG can be done while seated at a computer where you can easily make as many adjustments to the animation as needed. In stop motion, once you animate a shot… that is it. You either keep it or reshoot it.”

In the world of animated films, individual departments are responsible for each aspect of making a feature film. In stop motion, the puppets, mostly constructed with a metal skeleton covered with silicone flesh and miniature cloth clothes, are made in one department. Sets are designed and constructed in another department, the lighting and camera team is its own entity, script writing and editing are also separate. MacKenzie said, “For my own short films, I found myself doing everything, but professionally, I am hired just for adding life through movement.”

Mackenzie’s interest in film started early when he and his brother, John, began to make movies with the neighborhood kids. He began to focus on animation in high school when he became enamored with the technique of claymation. “My parents bought me a computer and let me set up a workstation in my dad’s home office where I would animate into the early hours of the morning,” he said. He and his mother travelled to film festivals in Chicago, Atlanta, and Austin, where his short films were screened. “My parents were amazingly supportive. I really never had any pushback for pursuing this dream, as I think they saw it was more than just a hobby for me,” he added.