BRISTOL, UK — Independent animation studio Aardman (www.aardman.com) has announced the appointments of Steven Shapiro and Harry Linden to the positions of chief technical officer and head of stop-frame production respectively - both newly-created roles. The studio recently received an Academy Award-nomination for its animated short, Robin Robin.
Photo (L-R): Shapiro and Linden
As CTO, Shapiro will oversee the technology teams and develop a technology strategy reflecting the long-term plans of the studio as it takes on an ambitious slate of projects over the next five years. He will also play a key role as Aardman hones its creative skills, bringing character, story and craft to opportunities enabled through new platforms and emerging technologies.
Shapiro joins Aardman from The Walt Disney Studios where, as principal architect, motion picture innovation, he focused on applying innovation to support productions across all The Walt Disney Pictures live action studio banners, from Marvel Studios to Disney live action motion picture productions. Prior to this, he helped build the production technology team at Marvel Studios in his role as director.
As head of stop-frame production, Linden will support Aardman’s specialist teams to deliver an expanding stop-frame slate, which includes feature films, shorts, specials and series. The slate also includes commercials and content produced for partners. He will work closely with the head of CG production, Jess McKillop.
Linden has worked in film and TV for 25 years across advertising and promos, trailers, series and features. His experience spans live action & animation, 2D & 3D, stop motion & CG, at all levels of budget. He first collaborated with Aardman was as floor manager on Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave (1995), before working with the studio again on its first feature, Chicken Run (2000) as production manager. He worked on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (Warner Bros., 2005) as production manager and was line producer on Coraline (Laika, 2009).