FRAMED 40: Creative Director Jason Fox

If you could travel back in time, which theme park attraction, experiential stunt or immersive experience would you love to have worked on?

If I could travel back in time and take my knowledge with me, I’d go to medieval England and try to pass myself off as some kind of wizard, impressing rich folk with a Pepper’s Ghost or something fancy with mirrors… and hopefully not get burned as a witch.

Which project felt like the biggest 'impossible' leap for Framestore at the time, and how did it change the company?

Nothing has ever felt impossible, to be honest. It’s always felt achievable, just sometimes a mammoth task to create such long shots at high resolution and framerates.

Your career highlight to date: 

I would say any install trip; I love getting into the hard hat and high vis to work with the crew installing an attraction. That and getting backstage at Disney World, touring all the attractions at night to see how they work. Looking at the tiny pair of shoes in the forced-perspective scene in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, things like that.

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in immersive media?

A couple of things, and I wouldn’t say “media” was the draw. Punchdrunk’s performance of Faust and The Sultan's Elephant by Royal Deluxe are two things I can point at that really opened my eyes as to how immersive experience can be elevated into the realms of art. Prior to that, growing up visiting Blackpool Pleasure Beach, going to Theme Parks, and more recently playing every Escape Room I can find all over the world, that all led me into the world of immersive attractions.

What was your first role at Framestore?

Creative Director, still waiting on that promotion!

How many people worked at Framestore when you first joined the company?

No idea, maybe a few thousand.

Describe your career journey to date:

I started doing web design back in the 1940’s. A few years later I found myself in a “digital agency” whatever that means. Still doing web design but also directing little online shorts and marketing stunts for brands. Did a few bits and bobs for Secret Cinema, then came to Framestore to help kick off the Immersive Department.

What was a key piece of technology you used when you started your career?

A computer.

What is Framestore to you?

But Framestore has been a great place to develop the Immersive Department; we’ve come a loooong way in the 12 years I’ve been here. So I’m quite proud of what we’ve all created and the clients who now come calling.

Which of Framestore's past projects means the most to you and why?

Of the projects I’ve worked on, Radius/Test Track was cool. It was a pleasure to work on, the clients were great, the crew were great, and the ride is pretty good. It was really cool to do a ride in Disney World.

What is the one piece of Framestore culture that hasn't changed in 40 years?

Shotgun.

Favourite art form?

Installation

Favourite image?

This sounds really pretentious, but I recently saw Vanta Black in the flesh at an Anish Kapoor exhibition. The effect of a true black void was quite striking.

What’s your favourite immersive experience, ride, or interactive installation and why?

Hard to pick a favourite, but the Ghost Train at Blackpool Pleasure Beach is imprinted on my soul.

What is the last piece of art that inspired you?

Saw a cool thing at a Team Lab in Tokyo. It has a stupid name, “Asymmetric Cosmos & Asymmetric Existence”. It’s basically a light installation that uses overlapping beams from lots of controlled stage lights to create points of light in space.

How do you unlock your creative problem-solving when hitting a roadblock?

Throw it away, start over. Don’t be precious. Ask a friend how they’d tackle it. Go for a walk.

Who in the industry do you admire most and why?

I think it’s mostly weird one-offs. My friend Mark Cline built Dinosaur Kingdom and a Haunted Monster Museum in the hills of Virginia. People like that who make cool, funny, experiences off their own backs. Or another friend, Chris Latner, who has made the most beautifully crafted small-scale immersive experiences in the form of escape rooms or museum pieces. Those folks are inspiring to me.

What’s the best advice you’d give to a digital artist starting their career in 2026?

That’s very hard to answer, it’s a very broad selection of artists. If you’re striving to create photoreal work in any capacity, I would boringly say study the fundamentals of your craft. Look at how the old masters used light, composition and narrative. Look at the real world. But if you want to make abstract art, throw anything at the wall to see what happens. Mostly, experiment.

Technology has changed so much. What do we do now which would have felt like magic when you first joined?

I’m afraid it’s AI. It’s the bad guy in many ways, but we can not put the genie back in the bottle. To remain competitive, we have to adopt it in a manner that doesn’t step on the creative intent of our artists, and I know that it is already in motion.