Project:
Story arc

Client:
Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative

The Harvard ALI team had seen some videos produced by Optik Nerve for Harvard and tracked us down. They wanted a series of programs that would explain ALI, serve as recruitment tools, review the history of the program, and take a measure of the impact ALI has had on the world. This was a perfect assignment for Optik Nerve; to produce high impact, thoughtful, effective programs with visual surprises and some animation too. We got to work writing three preliminary scripts to guide us before we started shooting. The client was astonished. The scripts demonstrated that we could envision the three programs, visuals to dialogue, from open to close. Then we recorded interviews over several dates when the groups would be assembled and available. We captured some surprising material from some extraordinary changemakers.

In this program, one of three, we first meet ALI Fellows considering a career change, then we hear of the campus experience, and on to the life-changing results. We interviewed over 40 people, selected small clips, and edited to create a story arc told from many voices. The result became a powerful program about people who made life decisions and embraced the role of changemaker.

Creative director/editor/writer: Rebecca Miller
Cameras: Joe Figucia, Todd Rensis
2014