Framestore Pictures Director Murray Butler ranked in Top 10 on Director of the Year List, Cannes Lions 2022

Framestore Pictures Director Murray Butler has been announced as number six on the global list of top 10 directors by The LIONS Creativity Report 2022. The annual list ranks the most creative businesses and people in the world and serves as an important resource for creative benchmarking.

Butler’s Director of the Year placement was calculated on the accumulation of points from shortlisted and Lion-winning work, which this year included Framestore Pictures projects SHEBA® ‘Hope Reef’ and the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) ‘Don’t Choose Extinction’ campaign.

Butler and award-winning VFX studio Framestore worked alongside advertising agency AMV BBDO and Mars Incorporated cat food brand SHEBA® to technically and narratively deliver a visual underwater CG masterpiece with a hard-hitting environmental message. 

Butler again teamed up with Framestore and creative agency Activista to raise awareness of how devastating fossil fuels subsidies are for people and planet, and to urge more climate action in the wake of the UN's Code Red announcement. Delivering a world-class shoot at the UN Assembly Hall in New York and impressive CG dinosaur for the film, ‘Don’t Choose Extinction’ was translated into over 32 languages and VO-ed by international celebrities.

As an award-winning Director and Executive Creative Director who brings his expertise in VFX to complex storytelling, Butler focuses on stunning cinematic film and performance with a smile and plenty of heart. He is a collaborative problem solver who thrives when finding technical solutions to creative challenges, regardless of medium, ranging from model making and miniatures to virtual production. Butler brings equal enthusiasm to working with CG dinosaurs and coral reefs as he does to working with celebrity talent like Tom Holland or Rowan Atkinson.

Most recently, Butler also directed the action-packed, stunt-heavy, sci-fi adventure for Dell’s Alienware, and reimagined Greek god of the sea Poseidon for a visually stunning Kohler campaign.