SHIPSTATION × RUSSELL BUTLER / INSIDE THE PROCESS
Turning a corporate brief into a human story.
A shipping company. A dancing UPS driver. An ordinary office. The story was never going to be a sales pitch.
Russell Butler’s personality is the idea—not something to script out of him. I built the creative around that, using AI-assisted preproduction to see the film before stepping on set.
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT / AI-ASSISTED PREPRODUCTION / DIRECTING / CINEMATOGRAPHY / EDITING — JAY KLEIN
01 / THE IDEA, IN MOTION
See the idea become real.
The entrance. The office tour. The dance lesson. Follow those beats from the shot plan into the animatic and finished footage. Play each film independently to compare the choices.
02 / MOVING ANIMATIC
A moving sketch to test pacing, communicate the idea, and plan the shoot.
03 / FINISHED FOOTAGE
The plan meets performance, timing, and the energy of real people.
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01 / THE ORIGINAL STORYBOARD
Plan the moments. Leave room for life.
The boards establish compositions and story beats in real office locations. They create a shared vision—not a substitute for what happens when the camera rolls.
The arrival & the reaction
Shots 2.3–2.4 / A confident entrance meets candid staff reactions.
Make the office part of the story
Shots 2.5–2.6 / Explore the location, then follow Russell through the office.
Turn a dance into a shared moment
Shots 2.7–2.8 / A repeatable footwork beat becomes a group dance lesson.
End on something real
Shot 2.9 / A shared laugh or a dry one-liner brings the scene home.
THE FILMMAKER’S JOB
Less friction. More room for the story.
Find the human idea.
Start with what makes Russell himself. Build the brand story around his warmth and humor, rather than forcing him into an advertisement.
See it before the shoot.
Photograph the actual office, develop AI-assisted boards, and test the sequence in an animatic. Give everyone something concrete to approve and plan around.
Bring the vision to life.
Use the plan to make production clearer and more efficient, while leaving space for real reactions, personality, and performance.