On Campus News

Interview with Dan MacKenzie, Discussing his senior film

By Naomi Laeuchli
posted Oct 30, 2012, 09:05

Dan MacKenzie, a recent graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design discusses the experience of working on his senor film and the role school played in it.

Dan MacKenzie is a recent graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design. His senor film was an animated short film called �Create� and is about a little boy creating a pet monster. The film merges reality with the boy�s imagination, jumping between his bedroom and an imaginary world where he is a mad scientist in his laboratory.


What was the inspiration behind your animated short film �Create�?

I worked as a summer camp counselor for 5 years with kids and liked seeing the ways children put their imagination to use. I admire the 'pretending' and the fun that kids can have within their head just at the playground. I also am a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes, and there's a lot of Calvin's imagination that I always found so fun. (Also, I was a kid once too!)

Can you please tell me some about the creative process that went into �Create�? And what was it like having a six month long project taking shape in your own dorm room?

The necessary school schedule was very helpful for me. The mini deadlines throughout helped me pace myself and also to really focus on the three parts of making a film. We had about 2 and a half months of Pre-Production, 2 and a half of Production and 2 and a half of Post. For my film though, the actual shooting of it took place in the "Post" section, the Production section was really just building everything.

Listening to the music, seeing the lightening and the puppet�s clothes, it�s clear you worked with some really talented people. Where these friends? Classmates? How did you go about finding people to work with for �Create�?

Thank you for noticing all the hard work others put into this project, too. Most were talented friends or classmates I had known prior. The only non SCAD-student was a talented sound designer, Martin Mayer. He and I worked together back when I was in high-school, when I was just in my early years of animating. We met online and he scored my short clay animated short,Winter Attack. I loved working with him then and thought it was fitting to have him design the sound and music 4 years later.

Looking back over your time at SCAD, what do you feel was the most important thing that really influenced �Create� and made it a project you would not have been able to do before?

A big thing that SCAD gave me was time to focus on my craft. Making this film (along with a few other classes) was essentially my job. It was nice to have the time, fellow classmates, and resources at school. I rented equipment from the school and, yep, shot it in my dorm room. Working with some great professors (I'm looking at you Maurer, Moorshead, Miles, and Webber) was great for guidance and the extra push I needed. It is a time I will always look back on fondly, and luckily have a fun direct product as the outcome of it... Create!





Resources:

http://vimeo.com/42819257

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