Since launching in Vancouver, GM has created a wide range of commercial animations including a flower-and-floating-tampon-powered color explosion for Tampax, internationally focussed spots for Coke through Leo Burnett, and spots for Kodak, Kraft, Molson Black Ice and others. A recent effort for Nestle had the GM team providing a complete production through post solution for Coffee Mate. GM animators and designers first created an animatic to serve as a map for the rest of the production. Working with DP Warren Hansen, GM used a Nikon D1 digital still camera to shoot the product, creating a stop-motion feel for the spot. While another approach would involve using a stop-motion 35mm camera, Alcock says the still camera offered an equally high-res option, and increased flexibility. "[The D1 camera] is a very precise system for getting the images you need, and it's super flexible -- you can use any Nikon lens," he says. "It's a really old school technique but it's a completely digital new technology way of doing it." The spot was edited using Discreet edit and composited and animated using combustion and Adobe After Effects.

Another Coffee Mate spot, for a liquid version of the product is scheduled to follow this one, which Alcock says was a bit of a departure from past ad approaches to the product and which met with great enthusiasm from Nestle honchos.

Coffee Mate also no doubt has some extra resonance for Alcock, who founded Toronto animation company Cuppa Coffee with Adam Shaheen in 1991. The company found success bringing its multimedia approach to broadcast branding, then to the commercial world. "We used the same experimental approach with real world grit and texture -- but at the base making sure it was about good drawing and solid design and beautiful movement," says Alcock. Alcock then moved to Chicago to run Backyard's animation arm Tricky Pictures. Last spring, he headed north again to launch GM with partner Ann Marie Fleming. The post-Cuppa Coffee days meant moving towards more live-action/animation combo work with heavy compositing, initially done through post facilities. "As I went along I found I was happier with the movement designed by animators rather than post house compositors so we strarted trying to do more of that in house." Over the last year he says he's dwelled almost exclusively in the live-action/animation realm and has outfitted his shop to handle everything up to final color correct. GM works with an array of software on Mac and NT systems, including Discreet edit, combustion, paint and 3D Studio Max, as well as Adobe products like After Effects. His shop employs around six full-time staffers, plus a raft of freelancers. In fact, Alcock made the choice to settle in Vancouver largely because of the robust talent base afforded by the city's bustling long-form animation industry.

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