Animation in Advertising: A True Art Form – Global Mechanic & Acme Filmworks

Located in Canada, Global Mechanic has developed a daring approach by using hybridisation and flirting with experimental techniques. The second studio featured, Acme Filmworks, has put faith into the unique styles of several filmmakers who made names for themselves with their independent shorts.

Global Mechanic is an animation and design studio that has been making beautiful and unusual things since 2000. The Vancouver studio has produced hundreds of hours of award-winning content for films, commercials, TV series, digital media and art projects. Oscar and Emmy-nominated, they’ve been well decorated in festival and ad circuits around the world.

Overall, the studio is known for a hand-made, textural look and careful attention to movement. It’s a studio culture of invention and collaboration, where change is expected and even welcome. Very popular in the advertising world, in the spotlight at this year’s Annecy Festival, they’ve collaborated with important clients like Coca-Cola, BMW, Nestlé and TV stations, including PBS Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

Acme Filmworks was founded in 1990 by Ron Diamond. This producer with numerous commercials under his belt decided to bet on the unique styles of renowned filmmakers like Michaël Dudok de Wit, Aleksandra Korejwo, Caroline Leaf, Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, Gianluigi Toccafondo and many others.

In 26 years of existence, Acme has collaborated with artists from 24 different countries. A few names on their client list include AT&T, United Airlines, Hilton Hotels, and Toyota.

The ad work that comes out of this studio has garnered several prestigious awards and that’s part of why we’re paying tribute to them at Annecy this year.