In it’s fourth edition, TEDxUSP adressed the division between Academy and Society – a specially critical issue in Brazil, where scientific reasearch is still limited and most important Universities are public.

The institution invited us to develop the promotional video and gave us total creative freedom over the process. We seized the chance to step out of our comfort zone and sought to develop a project like we’ve never done before, combining opposing animation techniques and musical styles to create something entirely new.

We started by developing the style of our two “characters”: Academy and Society. Academy is the classical beauty: charming but a little bland in it’s sobriety. A baroque flute over regular shapes. Society is contemporary art: disturbing but irresistibly compelling. A wall of percussion over organic ink splatters. Through visual and sound interactions, the characters transition from the current state of affairs to a better future where they’re fully integrated.

The result is a film that draws inspiration from multiple existing languages to make a small contribution to the ongoing mission of sharing worthy knowledge that makes TED so great.