A NATION UNITED, IDEAS UNITED
The Dutch National Ballet, Rutger Hauer and Amsterdam’s creative community come together over ideas worth doing for TEDxAmsterdam.
The Netherland’s most creative minds from ballet, film, photography, interactive, design and communications have joined forces with WE ARE Pi to bring to life a series of ‘living brains’ for the “Human Nature” themed TEDxAmsterdam event on 25th November. The TEDxAmsterdam ‘Ideas United’ project launches online with a behind the scenes two- part documentary charting the creation of the ‘living brains’ that will open and close the TEDxAmsterdam event on 25 November.
For the 2011 TEDxAmsterdam event, speakers and the audience will enter the theme ‘Human Nature’ to find out what it means to be human in a society that is increasingly dominated by technology and economical issues. The TEDx Talks, hosted at Amsterdam’s Stadsschouwburg theatre, will be broadcast live on TV and watched by thousands at over 30 simulcast locations set-up by TED supporters across the country. Furthermore, on TEDxAmsterdam.com you can watch a livestream of the event on the 24th (showing speaker interviews) and the 25th.
TEDxAmsterdam Experience Director Marian Spier approached WE ARE Pi to develop a creative campaign that encompassed the theme, Human Nature. Tasked with the mission to unite a nation of TEDxAmsterdam fans, WE ARE Pi created a multi-channel communication platform titled Ideas United. The ambition was to put the two-key TED messages ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ and ‘Ideas Worth Doing’ to the test. To do this, WE ARE Pi assembled a 100 strong team with some of the nation’s best creative talent to make ‘living brains’ with the added challenge to get everyone to donate their time and resources for free.
The building blocks of the campaign are simple: people come to TEDx to fill their brains with ideas, so let’s celebrate TEDxAmsterdam by making brains from people. The initial result is a ‘living brain’ formed by 48 dancers from The Dutch National Ballet and Nova Dance College, which was choreographed, rehearsed and filmed in one-day in preparation for the TEDxAmsterdam event.
Marian Spier says, “TEDxAmsterdam is very happy to be working with this great mix of Amsterdam’s best creative talent. Seeing this great idea come to life with Rutger Hauer and The Dutch National Ballet, the outcome is better than we ever imagined.”
WE ARE Pi strategic partner Alex Bennett-Grant explains “TEDxAmsterdam didn’t come to us for an advertising campaign, they came to us with a brief to unite the nation over ideas worth doing. We decided to make every aspect of the project reflect that challenge, from the concept of making brains from humans, to the epic collaboration needed to pull it all off.”
The other living brains will be interactive, created as a collaboration between everyone attending the conference in every location across the nation. The campaign will also extend into the TEDxAmsterdam 2011 visual identity with print, a magazine and video and apparel.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION: The production process started with a question from WE ARE Pi to dance2film, whom have a strong history of dance film production – “Is a human brain made from people possible, has it ever been done before, and can you help us make it happen?”. After giving a positive yes, dance2film in turn approached Het Nationale Ballet and choreographer Ernst Meisner for their support. Meanwhile, WE ARE Pi gained the support of commercial film production company 328 Stories and director/photographers Bill Tanaka. This unique collaboration ensured a firm foundation to attempt a new Idea Worth Doing.
The dancers came together for the first time to rehearse what Ernst had crafted in his mind, which will go on to be the opening performance for TEDxAmsterdam on the 25th November.
The Directors documented the choreography using a two-camera set-up, one from above with a crane and the other from the side with a dolly, capturing everything that happened within a marked performance space. The challenging balance between a first time rehearsal and film shoot was made possible with constant dialogue and adjusting between Ernst, dance2film, Bill Tanaka, and D.O.P. Wouter Westendorp.
ABOUT WE ARE Pi: WE ARE Pi is a full service creative communications agency based in Amsterdam. The agency seeks to move beyond traditional advertising and embrace strategies that breed long ideas and foster-shared value between brands and their fans. www.wearepi.com
CREDIT LIST//
CREATIVE AGENCY – WE ARE Pi
STRATEGIST – Alex Bennett-Grant
CREATIVE DIRECTOR – Hobson Chant
PRODUCER – Jamie Kim
TEDX FILM.
DIRECTOR – Bill Tanaka
CO-DIRECTOR – dance2film
CHOREOGRAPHER – Ernst Meisner
PRODUCTION COMPANY – 328 Stories
D.O.P. – Wouter Westendorp
DANCERS – Het Nationale Ballet & Nova Dance College
EDITOR – Will Judge
LOCATION – Dansmakers Amsterdam
FOCUS PULLER – Niels Roosendaal
GRIP – Antoine Petit
GAFFER – Frank van Hekken
ELECTRICIAN – Tessa van den Beukel
SOUND – Gaby de Haan
VTR/DATA HANDLER – Paul Mastoras
MAKE-UP – Marelva de Bruin
MAKE-UP – Sara Meerman
MAKE-UP – Thomas Terstal
PRODUCTIE ASST. – Dario van Houwelingen
PRODUCTIE ASST. – Martijn Willemen
PRODUCTIE ASST. – Ruben van Duijn
CATERING – Dolce Vita
LOCATION BUS – LocDep
EQUIPMENT – Camera Rentals
LIGHTS – Lux&Co
TITLES – Crabsalad
POST PRODUCTION – Glassworks
SOUND DESIGN – Kaisersound
MUSIC/ORIGINAL SCORE – Pigeon Horse Sex Tennis
SONG.
COMPOSER – Pigeon Horse Sex Tennis
VO – Rutger Hauer
CHOIR – Gillian Cowie, the British School, and children of Amsterdam
PRINT.
PHOTOGRAPHERS – Bill Tanaka
CO-DIRECTOR – dance2film
CHOREOGRAPHER – Ernst Meisner
PRODUCTION COMPANY – 328 Stories
LOCATION – Dansmakers Amsterdam
DESIGN – Crabsalad
3D BRAIN.
PRODUCTION COMPANY – Media Monks
LOGISTICS – TEDxAmsterdam
INTERACTIVE DATA DRIVEN BRAIN.
PRODUCTION COMPANY – Media Monks
VISUAL IDENTITY.
DESIGN – Crabsalad
BUMPERS.
DESIGN & PRODUCTION – Crabsalad
SOUND DESIGN – Toolbox
LIVE EVENT.
DIRECTOR – dance2film
CHOREOGRAPHER – Ernst Meisner
MAKE-UP – Marelva de Bruin
MAKE-UP – Sara Meerman
MAKE-UP – Thomas Terstal
DANCERS – Het Nationale Ballet & Nova Dance College
TITLES – Crabsalad
T-SHIRTS.
DESIGN – Crabsalad
Download the press release (pdf).
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