Film Director + Creative Director
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TED Global Promos

 
 

SOUTH EXPERIMENT IS A PROJECT CREATED WITH THE PURPOSE OF GENERATING ALL THE VIDEOS FOR TED GLOBAL'S TALKS IN RIO DE JANEIRO.

 

 
 

As this is the first TEDGlobal in South America, the creative challenge was to conceive a contemporary approach that represents the region, using creativity and innovation as a tool to reframe its traditional cultural assets.

So to answer the brief, the team brought together directors, technologists and artists to collaborate in creating the videos. Led by Thiago Zanato and Pedro Burneiko, they set up SOUTH EXPERIMENT, a project based on creative experimentations that celebrate the creativity and culture of the region.

The result: a collection of filmically documented experiments that narrate the diversity of South American culture, traditions, energy and artistry. And the authenticity of each video resides within the deeper narrative of each film’s creative process.

 

Here's a selection of videos that debuted at TEDGlobal 2014 South!

 

 

South!

The idea was to combine technology and art to generate an unique expression of South American culture.

We used three sources:
Google Earth’s terrain data from South America
South American designs and illustrations
A proprietary WebGL mapping technology

We took readily available terrain data from several places in South America, such as: Los Andes (Chile), Patagonia (Argentina), Amazonia (Brazil) etc… and used it as a canvas. 

Combining illustrations from several different artists from South America, we created a fly through continent like it’s never been seen before. Finally we end on a gorgeous representation of the South, as seen from the distance.

 
 

MAKING OF:

Session 01: Stories

We created a living version of a mural created by Peruvian artist, Felix Pinchi Aguirre. This artist was renowned for his intricate, colorful depictions of his visions he experienced while drinking ayahuasca, the local entheogenic plant.

 

Session 02: Digital Reboot

To show how technology is enabling us to create art in unexpected ways, we recruited ALDO (the Brazilian band) to play instruments made of unexpected materials that can only be found in Brazil, such as mass produced toys and plastic containers from a famous street market in Sao Paulo, locally manufactured old TV tubes, etc… and created musical instruments with an artificial forest serving as a backdrop. All the objects are interconnected and generate musical and visual input that we was used to create the a video and soundtrack.

 

Making of:

 
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Crossing Borders

The idea was to graphically show the evolution of forms as they relate to the Southern Hemisphere. The forms change shape frantically, resembling natural and artificial elements found in South America.

Session 04: Field Work

The idea here is to show the scale and range of natural events around South America through the use of real materials collected from different countries. We created a series of macro shots of materials found in nature (like sand, water, snow, soil, etc...) being moved at high frequency speeds using a subwoofer, which gives them the aspect of a large scale natural event like a hurricane, a flood or clouds. The images are paired with sound to help reinforce the natural aspect of that specific event. Each material used was collected from a different place in South America. For example: wine from Chile, various spices from Peru, sugar from Brazil etc…

 

Session 09: Basic Needs

We wanted to show that ideas, now more than ever, are all interconnected and have a mind of their own. By creating a data drive experiment based on a tested model called Game of Life, we were able to record statistics on how people share certain words or ideas. The visual result is a life-like form that spreads and reproduces, just like in nature. This was developed in WebGL and Three.js, using the OpenStreetMap APL. 

 

Session 10: Lateral Action

We wanted to create a mixture of several elements in Brazilian culture, from music, dance and design and mash them together into a single short piece, mixing culture, technology and music. That’s why we got 3 completely different people with different back grounds - a Maracatu dancer, a contemporary Ballet dancer and a street dancer and projected illustrations from a Brazillian artist onto them. The effort to make it all fit into 25” is part of of the experiment and defined the video’s own language.

Making of: