Oscar-winning studio Framestore has brought Resh Sidhu aboard as creative director of its Virtual Reality Studio. In her new role, Sidhu will report directly to Christine Cattano, who was recently promoted to executive producer of the VR Studio. She will use creative direction, storytelling and conceptual ideation to help lead the growing VR team in creating groundbreaking work for clients.
Framestore’s VR studio opened its doors in April of last year. Since then, Framestore has broken new VR ground, initially with the massive success of the “Ascend the Wall” activation for HBO’s Game of Thrones at SXSWi, and then with nearly a dozen pioneering projects for brands across Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and Samsung Gear VR. Other highlights have included Merrell’s “Trailscape,” billed as being the first-ever commercial “walk around” use of virtual reality; a zero-gravity tour of the spaceship in Interstellar; “The Teleporter” for Marriott Hotels; the “Volvo Reality” app to test-drive the auto brand’s XC90 vehicle; and the recent Avengers experience for the new Samsung Gear VR.
“We have grown so much since we opened the VR studio last year, and expanding our team is essential for us to further the possibilities for our upcoming projects,” said Cattano. “Resh has a one of a kind skillset and high caliber experience in creating seamless visual work for a variety of clients. Over the next year, we’re focusing on brokering new partnerships with some of the most anticipated VR platforms in the industry. With that will also come opportunities for creating proprietary VR content–pushing the boundaries of what the industry thinks we’re capable of. Adding Resh to the team was vital as we continue to be a pioneering force in virtual reality.”
Prior to Framestore, Sidhu was a creative director at AKQA London, where she lead multi-disciplinary teams serving clients like Xbox, Nivea, M&S, Nissan Global & Nissan Europe, Infiniti, Kraft Mondelez and Beiersdorf. Sidhu’s most recent work includes the award-winning Nissan IDx experience featuring the world’s debut of Oculus VR technology. Sidhu is also the founder of Virtual Realms, an online blog and community that centers on developing VR creative technologies and innovations.
