Comes over from agency side, having held same title at McCann Erickson
Jonathan Shipman has been named head of integrated production in the New York office of visual effects, animation and digital production company Framestore. With more than 25 years of production experience in advertising, Shipman will add a broad range of skills and unique business perspective to Framestore NY as the company transitions into a new stage of growth. He will report directly to Jon Collins, president of Framestore.
Previously, Shipman was head of integrated production at McCann Erickson, where he was instrumental in establishing and growing the company’s integrated production offering for major brands, including Dentyne, General Mills, Nestle Waters, MasterCard, Kohl’s and Nikon.
Shipman spent the past 12 years at McCann Erickson, starting out as an executive producer and moving up the ranks to deputy head of production, and finally head of integrated production. He is distinguished for creating the company’s first-ever integrated department, and evolving its postproduction facility from strictly client services and new business operations into high-end creative.
Prior to McCann, he was a senior producer at Ogilvy & Mather, where he worked on accounts that included Jaguar, Amex, Kimberly Clark and Kraft. Shipman began his career at DMB&B.
Collins said that Shipman will help accelerate Framestore’s continued evolution into a team of creative, strategic problem solvers.”
Recently, Framestore worked with The Coca Cola Company to help produce the “Polar Bowl,” the second-screen engagement that attracted more than 600,000 viewers during the 2012 Super Bowl and received worldwide attention. It also partnered with Drive Productions to create a 4D projection on the Maritime Hotel in New York for Hewlett Packard’s new Z800 workstation. The animation, called “Elf Factory,” featured Santa’s helpers busy at work constructing the new HP device debuting during the holidays.
Framestore is an Oscar-winning visual effects company (The Golden Compass), creates images for every platform and is regarded as a leading U.K. authority on stereoscopic 3D. In addition to working for Hollywood studios, advertisers, ad agencies, production and gaming companies, Framestore also generates its own paid-for content, including: VFX in Your Pocket and Polar Peril.
Steve McQueen Shows Wartime London Through A Child’s Eyes In “Blitz”
It was a single photograph that started Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen on the journey to make "Blitz." As a Londoner, the German bombing raids on the city during World War II are never all that far from his mind. Reminders of it are everywhere. But the spark of inspiration came from an image of a small boy on a train platform with a large suitcase. Stories inspired by the evacuation are not rare, but this child was Black. Who was he, McQueen wondered, and what was his story? The film, in theaters Friday and streaming on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22, tells the tale of George, a 9-year-old biracial child in East London whose life with his mother, Rita ( Saoirse Ronan ), and grandfather is upended by the war. Like many children at the time, he's put on a train to the countryside for his safety. But he hops off and starts a long, dangerous journey back to his mom, encountering all sorts of people and situations that paint a revelatory and emotional picture of that moment. SEARCHING FOR GEORGE AND FINDING A STAR When McQueen finished the screenplay, he thought to himself: "Not bad." Then he started to worry: Does George exist? Is there a person out there who can play this role? Through an open casting call they found Elliott Heffernan, a 9-year-old living just outside of London whose only experience was a school play. He was the genie in "Aladdin." "There was a stillness about him, a real silent movie star quality," McQueen said. "You wanted to know what he was thinking, and you leant in. That's a movie star quality: A presence in his absence." Elliott is now 11. When he was cast, he'd not yet heard about the evacuation and imagined that a film set would be made up of "about 100 people." But he soon found his footing, cycling in and out of... Read More