adminThe challenge: capture the essence of TEDxPittsburgh’s theme, Activate: Ideas in Motion, in a video that would kick off the event. Those chosen to speak at TEDxPittsburgh have been actively pursuing ideas that invoke change in communities, via music, outreach, and leadership. We thought it was imperative to include the speakers and their stories in the piece.
Bringing multiple people together to tell a story in a two minute video is always a challenge. Thirteen wonderful people were chosen to speak at TEDxPittsburgh but we wouldn’t be able to use all of them. We thought somewhere between 6-8 people would be the magic number (hoping to stay around 6). We interviewed 10 of the speakers (audio only) with questions developed to fit within the theme of the event. Out of these interviews we created a two minute audio cut with music. This allowed the content to dictate who would make it into the video (the best stories prevailed). We had so many good sound bites.
For three days (May 16th – May 18th) we filmed with 8 speakers. Our goal was to capture visually, something from their personal lives and something related to their work/speech, although oftentimes the two were synonymous. Being that the event was held on the 22nd of May our post production deadline was tight. After filming we immediately began piecing the visuals to the already cut audio story.
Not only did we end up with a piece that captured a moment of the speakers lives and the theme of the event, but we also had a story that represented the fabric of the city and architectural definition of Pittsburgh neighborhoods.