TEDxSFU'23 cinematic

We wanted to create a cinematic in which each speech could be condensed into one room while being 'unmasked' in some way to complement the 2023 theme. To learn about each talk, we analysed their progress 2 months before the conference during their practices.

My idea was to leverage motifs in their speeches to build a narrative arc featuring explicit and implicit visual representations.

Some talks' motifs were complex and had to be symbolized in unconventional objects. For example, comedian Janice Bannister's motif was also the name of her speech: "Give Yourself Permission To Laugh". Being a previous psychiatric nurse, Janice's relationship with comedy was distinctive to her.

Our final image was a laughing statue amidst a thunderstorm, crying tears of golden joy. At its tears, the rain slows to make space for joy among the darkness.

I showed former helicopter pilot Chris Wilson's speech "Life Beyond The Dead Man's Curve" through an oxidizing anchor wedged in the ground, stuck (representing people feeling stuck as their lives are now). The wind of a helicopter propeller stirs the overgrowth, a nod to his former career!

I submerged a brain in the choking vines and shade of a forest for internet personality Hayley Honeyman's "Unmask ADHD" talk, slits of sunlight and hope falling from gaps in the leaves. Her talk focused on neurodivergence and the experience of putting on masks for others, hiding her true self.

TEDxSFU'23 was hosted at The Centre for Performing Arts in Downtown Vancouver. Their mirrored lobby staircase was a central pillar in the team's curation of how guests would move through the space. To accent this, we made the introduction of the video take place in a 3D grand mirror lobby.