Also see their individual honorary graduate profiles: Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders.
Following an Oscar nomination for the short film The Sandman in the early 1990s, Ian and Peter set up Mackinnon & Saunders which is now one of the world’s leading companies in character development and stop-motion puppet-making. It also produces high quality animation for children, including CBeebies favourites Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service, and Twirlywoos.
Over the last 20 years, Mackinnon & Saunders has received commercial and critical acclaim for contributions to a fantastic range of feature films, shorts films, TV series and specials. It has been engaged on many children’s TV shows including Wind in the Willows, Postman Pat, Bob the Builder, Pingu, Strange Hill High, Rastamouse, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, and the new Clangers.
Mackinnon & Saunders created the characters for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, Frankenweenie and Corpse Bride.
In 2006, Ian and Peter were awarded a Special Jury Prize for Technical Achievement at the ASIFA-Hollywood 33rd Annie Awards, which honoured the ingeniously machined face controls designed especially for Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
Clients, past and present, include: Tim Burton, BBC, Disney, Ragdoll, Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, HIT Entertainment, Anderson Entertainment, Fox Studios, Cosgrove Hall Films and Laika Studios.
In 2013 the company launched a new digital animation venture: Mackinnon & Saunders Digital Studios, which produced Wanda and the Alien for Channel 5/Nickelodeon.