Al Sens: The Company

Al Sens Animation Ltd. was founded in 1958 with a studio space in Yaletown. Sens quickly became well known for his “distinct and identifiable” animated line drawings¹ and for his anthropomorphized animals. Just look at his logo (or studio mascot), for example:

Sens was involved in a variety of commercial and non-commercial animation ventures. In his commercial ventures, he was primarily driven by “that dysfunctional new media called television.”⁴

…among the stuff coming out of his studio for TV are the characters for London Drugs and Vancity Saving Credit Union. He also does some animation for General Paint and sometimes animation combined with live action like Ronald’s wink and the aroma effect for McDonald’s or the mum and kid kangaroos for Domo Gasoline.⁵

Some of his work featured in TV ads became highly recognizable in Vancouver in the 60s and 70s, including the London Drugs (top three images) and Vancity characters (bottom three images), which are long since out of advertising use:

Throughout his career as an animator, Sens made many independent non-commercial films as well, largely through the support of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The NFB has a couple of his films available for online viewing on their website: “The Logger” (1971), about BC’s logging history, from the Canada Vignettes series, and “The Twitch” (1973), about political intolerance. NFB has announced, that coming soon, is another animated film on which Sens collaborated: “Where There’s Smoke” (1970). In addition to his work for the NFB, Sens also produced animations for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BC Hydro,⁷ SFU, UBC, the Learning Corporation of America, Cinemedia, Infomedia, Public Service Commercials, and Habitat, as well as numerous independent projects.⁸

His films went on to be featured nationally and internationally at various film festivals. Some of his most notable films include “Hard Day at the Office,” “Problems on an Imaginary Farm,” and “Political Animals.” “Each of these featured political themes, for which Sens became well known.”⁹ Of his work, he writes:

There is no reason why an animator cannot come on as strong as a poet, painter, or writer.¹⁰

 

 

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1. “Notes on the Filmmakers.” n.p. n.d. Al Sens Collection. RBSC-ARC 1729, box 2, folder 14. Rare Books and Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Print Photocopy.
2. Sens, Al. Al Sens Animation Ltd. [195-?]. Al Sens Collection. RBSC-ARC 1729, box 2, folder 27. Rare Books and Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
3. Sens, Al. A Sens Production. [195-?]. Al Sens Collection. RBSC-ARC 1729, box 2, folder 27. Rare Books and Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
4. Sens, Al. “A biography (of sorts).” [19–?]. Al Sens Collection. RBSC-ARC 1729, box 2, folder 27. Rare Books and Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. See my last post for an image of Sens’s full biography.
5. p. 14: Belanger, Lynka. “Animation: Animation in TV Ads.” Canadian Cartoonist, 1990: 14-15. Al Sens Collection. RBSC-ARC 1729, box 2, folder 30. Rare Books and Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Print photocopy.
6. Sens, Al. Illustrations featured in: Belanger, Lynka. “Animation: Animation in TV Ads.”
7. “Fonds RBSC-ARC 1729 – Al Sens collection.” RBSC/OSC Archives. UBC, n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/al-sens-collection.
8. p. 36: Lakin, N’eema. “Animation in Vancouver.” Cinema Canada, Aug. 1976. Web. 2 Apr. 2016. http://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/viewFile/613/685.
9. “Fonds RBSC-ARC 1729 – Al Sens collection.” RBSC/OSC Archives.
10. Sens, Al. “Movement is the Message: Notes on a moving craft animation.” How to Make or Not Make a Canadian Film 1898-1967.Montreal, Cinémathèque Canadienne: n.d. Al Sens Collection. RBSC-ARC 1729, box 2, folder 4. Rare Books and Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Print Photocopy.