TEDxLSU 2017 – Chain Reaction

Credits

TEDxLSU 2017 – Chain Reaction

TEDxLSU

With 900+ participants, 13 speakers, 6 community showcases, 62 volunteers and one mind-blowing stage production, TEDxLSU 2017 was one for the books!

Every year, the LSU CxC team positions its student volunteers in teams led by an industry mentor. They approached Launch Media Creative Director Wes Kennison to act as the mentor to the newly formed video team in the fall of 2016, and we jumped at the opportunity to work on such an amazing event.

As the planning progressed and the show date grew nearer, Wes was asked to put his background in lighting design for live production to work as the Design Director for the 2017 set. One of the early ideas involved projection mapping.  After some discussion, this was picked as the design direction due to it’s ability to express the Chain Reaction theme in a tangible way. Wes worked with fellow Launch Director Ryan Golden to deliver a 3D modeled environment (based on an iphone photo) of the LSU Union Theater for students to begin experimenting with. Video team member Martin Debord came back with a fantastic design idea for the stage that involved a series of cubes placed stage left and stage right, Martin also worked with campus resources to construct a proof of concept of these cubes.

Wes and TedX video team member Ian Andre and TEDxLSU Tech/AV Coordinator Kevin Dibenedetto worked to shoot a series of practical haze effects in the Launch Media studio, using a projector and a cutout of the “Ted X” to capture the effects in camera.

Wes and Ryan then teamed up to take this footage and create a title sequence based on the show theme of ‘Chain Reaction’, which explored the idea of chain reactions throughout history. We also curated additional show content for use as interstitials in between speakers (thanks Beeple!), then packaged up and delivered all of the edited content for playback on the projection mapped set.

All of the above mentioned efforts simply wouldn’t have been possible without an incredible amount of support from TedX organizers Rebecca Burdette, Annemarie Galeucia, and Kevin Dibenedetto; whose guidance and tactical support make the TedX LSU event a reality every year.