Bruce Alcock is a Vancouver-based, Newfoundland-born multimedia filmmaker, creative director, and founder of animation studios

Cuppa Coffee Studio Cuppa Coffee Studios (formerly known as Cuppa Coffee Animation) is a Canadian production company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Cuppa Coffee was founded by Adam Shaheen in 1992. It specializes in both stop-motion animation and 2D animation, ...

(with Adam Shaheen) and Global Mechanic. Born in

Corner Brook, Newfoundland Corner Brook ( 2021 population: 19,333 CA 29,762) is a city located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador. ...

, he has directed several animated short films including ''At The Quinte Hotel'' (2005), an animated film set to a 1968

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recording of

Al Purdy Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...

reading his poem ''Quinte Hotel''. The film, which combines stop-motion and

traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...

, received the Canadian Film Institute Award for best Canadian animation at the

Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized by ...

. Alcock went on to make several short films with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

: '' Vive la rose'' (2009); ''Impromptu'' (2013), nominated for the

Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Award for Best Animated Short The Canadian Screen Award for Best Animated Short is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian animated short film.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. ...

at the

2nd Canadian Screen Awards The 2nd Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 9, 2014, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2013.Michael Crummey Michael Crummey (born November 18, 1965) is a Canadian poet and a writer of historical fiction. His writing often draws on the history and landscape of Newfoundland and Labrador. Early life and education Crummey was born in Buchans, Newfoundlan ...

, produced for the 100th anniversary of the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster. Alcock has also created handmade experimental animation for on-air promotions for MuchMusic and directed numerous commercials. Alcock was invited to France in June 2016 to present his life's animation work in advertising at The Annecy International Animated Film Festival. In celebration of the Annecy Festival's 75th anniversary, Bruce Alcock representing Global Mechanic, alongside eight other studios were featured for their contributions to animation in advertising."Plein Feux sur le travail de Bruce Alcock". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation French Radio-Canada - ring the time line to the 16:44 minute May 2016. http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/boulevard_du_pacifique/2015-2016/archives.asp?date=2016-05-02. Retrieved 12 May 2016.'Bruce Alcock'. Sense of Place http://www.roundhouseradio.com/Senseofplace.aspx, Roundhouse Radio CIRH-FM. 13 May 2016. http://cirh.streamon.fm/listen-pl-2872. Retrieved 13 May 2016.

Career

In an interview with

Roundhouse Radio Roundhouse may refer to: Architecture and buildings Types * Roundhouse (dwelling), a kind of house with circular walls, prehistoric and modern, all over the world **Atlantic roundhouse, an Iron Age stone building found in the northern and wester ...

, Alcock discussed his start in animation while living in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, and apprenticing with animator Dirk Van de Vondel. Alcock and Van de Vondel fortuitously met in a life drawing class, which led to Alcock helping Van de Vondel with a film. Now, as co-owner of Global Mechanic, Alcock leads an unusual and successful business model. In addition to his work in art, film and animation, Alcock has launched other business startups and spin-offs, including interactive wine tasting platform Quini. As Creative Director at Global Mechanic, Alcock's current animated projects in production include two PBS children's TV series, Ruff Ruffman and Plum Landing. Ruff Ruffman is a science-based show that stars a "foolish looking, giant orange dog" who inspires children to do "task based science projects." Plum Landing is a sustainability-based show that features an alien, who gains an understanding of the earth by sending the cast of kids on tasks throughout the show. Throughout his career, Alcock has created an impressive body of commercial work. Alcock's design-based TV commercials "have led to award-winning campaigns for clients like Coca-Cola, Molson, Chrysler, Bell and Proctor & Gamble." Although Alcock is known for his work on advertisements, he is also known for his work on TV shows, independent films, apps, video games and art projects. Alcock's art projects include typographical animation for the dance/theatre/poetry/music piece, The Four Horsemen, and set and projection work for, I Send You This Cadmium Red, based on the correspondence between John Berger and John Christie. Alcock also designed the font Soupbone, distributed by FontShop International.

Animation studios

Alcock and Adam Shaheen founded Cuppa Coffee animation in 1991. In 1995, Alcock moved to Chicago to head Tricky Pictures, a subsidiary of Backyard Productions. In 2000, Alcock founded Global Mechanic in Vancouver. Since 2004 he co-owns the company with CEO Tina Ouellette.

References

External links

*
Films by Bruce Alcock
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcock, Bruce Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Corner Brook Film directors from Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian animators Canadian animated film directors Canadian animated film producers Canadian company founders