Robert Harrington

Biography

Robert Harrington is a British visual-effects supervisor at Framestore's London studio. He began his career at Framestore in the advertising division, working as a Technical Director and CG Supervisor on high-profile commercial campaigns. Among his early notable contributions were the "Shapeshifter" campaign for Shell and the holiday campaign "Mog's Christmas Calamity" for Sainsbury's, both of which involved complex creature and effects work. As his career progressed, Harrington moved into television and episodic work. He served as CG Supervisor on projects such as MARS, the documentary-drama series for National Geographic. In that role, he helped oversee the creation of spacecraft, planetary environments, and a large number of visual-effects assets — contributing to more than 1,000 shots across the series. He also contributed to the VFX on another high-profile project, Black Mirror — specifically the "USS Callister" episode — where he led the CG team. Harrington's work reached a new level of recognition with his role as VFX Supervisor on His Dark Materials, the HBO / BBC adaptation of the novel trilogy. The first season of the show (2019) was produced with Framestore as the sole VFX studio. It employed extensive visual effects, including the creation of photorealistic dæmons, panserbjørne bears, and complex digital environments. For his contributions to His Dark Materials — notably the "bear fight" sequence — Harrington, alongside his colleagues, was nominated for a Visual Effects Society Award in 2020 for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode (Episode 107: "The Fight to the Death" (2019)). In 2021, he was among the recipients of the BAFTA Television Craft Award for Special, Visual & Graphic Effects for His Dark Materials, awarded to the Framestore team.