People

Josh Backer
Founder & Creative Director
Josh has helped clients utilize the power of storytelling for over ten years. His career began as Co-Founder of the interaction design company, Tellart. In partnership with the well known strategy firm, Jan Krukowski & Co., he produced award winning narrative non-fiction projects for clients throughout the United States. Josh has worked with clients as a director, designer, editor, cinematographer, sound recordist, animator and information architect. At Animal, Josh serves as Creative Director. His work has been seen in projects for corporations such as Hasbro, Reebok and Blackstone - for the architecture studios of Michael Graves and Daniel Libeskind - for universities such as Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University, Philadelphia University and Bryant University - for Not for Profit organizations include the International Desalination Association, Pan-Mass Challenge, Firstworks and Coffee Kids. In addition to an extensive career in commercial production Josh has taught as adjunct faculty at Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University School of Art, Art History and Historic Preservation, Rhode Island College’s Masters in New Media Program and the Imedia International Certificate Program in New Media (Fraunhofer CRCG). Josh has a BFA degree from Rhode Island School of Design.

Douglass Humphreys
Executive Producer
Doug has over twenty years of marketing communications experience. He was the founder of well known digital design and advertising agency, Red Sky Interactive, as well as its precursor feature film and commercial production house, Red Sky Films. Doug has deep roots in IT having been a partner at BearinPoint and a director of business innovation at Unisys. Most recently, Doug has focused on social network analysis delivering projects for Samsung and the National Institues of Health. Doug has a BA in English Literature and Political Science from Swarthmore College.

Ann Mackenzie
Producer
Ann has been producing media for high profile clients for over ten years. She has worked on various, elaborate photography productions while at Art + Commerce in New York City. Since moving up to New England she has grown with the digital advances in producing new media projects for well known brands and utilizes multiple mediums such as photography, digital video, 3D, and animation/motion graphics. Ann leads the Animal productions to ensure that they are on time, on budget, and always within the strategic creative developed through the collaboration of Animal and the client.

Eric Weindel
Director of Animation and Visual Effects
Eric began his exploration of animation when he started making flip books at the age of 15. As a dedicated filmmaker with meticulous attention to detail, both Eric’s professional and independent works have won various awards and have been screened in film festivals internationally. Well versed in animation techniques including drawn animation, stop motion, computer generated CGI, and compositing, Eric leads the creative technical process behind the animation at Animal. Eric attended the Rhode Island School of Design and earned a BFA in film, video and animation.

Jack Lenk
Director of Digital Media
Jack combines a background in design with experience in commercial motion picture production for a multidisciplinary approach to visual communication. With a degree in Industrial Design from Rhode Island School of Design, he launched his career as an information designer at the renown studio Dynamic Diagrams, mapping information architecture for online publishing systems of clients like AOL, American College of Physicians, and Cadmus Communications. His creative eye in photography has earned him exhibition awards and shoots for clients like Sirius and Hasbro. Jack’s passion revolves around the intersection of storytelling and technology, employing photography, film and new media to visualize non-fiction stories. He works closely with NGOs, arts and culture organizations, and academic institutions to capture and convey their stories in real-world environments. Jack has also taught digital media courses and workshops at Rhode Island School of Design and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University.