While International Baccalaureate is recognized for its first-class educational curriculum, the international organization wanted to create a far more active outlet for students to make a difference in the “real world.” From poets and painters to politicians and public leaders, the IB started building a coalition that could define what it is like to live in the “meaning crisis.” But how do you describe this community of big thinkers before it’s even a thing? Our team of marketers put together a high-concept, cinematic “trailer” to tease the IB’s ambitious new plans. Justin wrote a shiver-inducing script, while Favata and Chelsie chose stunning, moving visuals that spoke to a global audience. Their work brought intrigue and inspiration to viewers and officially announced a stunning new chapter for the IB.
“Festival of Hope” Global Initiative
LAI Video was thrilled to help International Baccalaureate launch their new global initiative, the Festival of Hope. Though still in its infancy, the Festival of Hope has grown from a feeling—a desire to inspire—to an ongoing event series with real impact, and LAI Video has supported IB every step of the way, producing a proper teaser “trailer,” refining their program launch, and filming on-site for the program’s first two signature events.
Defining a Feeling
Creating A Community for Change
The Festival of Hope is many things, including a series of localized events at schools across the globe. Approaching the debut event in in Chicago, we had a lot of questions: what will the program look like? How will it keep students engaged? How will it be unique from future events? And how can we effectively capture this experience through video? With a two-crew team, we descended on Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School to film all major stage presentations AND pickup interviews and roundtable discussions with event participants. Cinematographers Jun and Donovan worked the room and sat in on conversations, prompted brainstorms, and used candid interactions to complete the picture of a community being formed. Chelsie brought this grounded approach overseas, to the second event at UWC Atlantic College in Cardiff, working closely with the school and our Welsh production partners.
Providing Accessibility to Inspiration
Following these events, we produced two distinct highlights videos to promote the Festival of Hope’s impact to future school communities. Beyond the events, we curated our content into easily accessible video presentations for on-demand viewing, offering a powerful catalogue of ideas as IB quickly prepares its next season of in-person gatherings.
Chelsie Pennello
A recent graduate of Syracuse University’s film program and track and field team, Chelsie brought her love for video production and everybody’s least favorite physical activity to the LAI Video team.
James Favata
James specializes in exploring new avenues, and who knows, together you may even end up off the map.
Helena Lehman
Helena is Senior Vice President of Client Services. She also speaks five languages- about four more than the rest of us.
Justin Kelly
Justin Kelly brings an emotional fluency to our scripts that help us continue to deliver the wow factor that our clients have come to expect. He's always simmering with big ideas and a bottomless reserve of the latest industry trends.
Donovan Randolph
Donovan Randolph joins LAI from Indigo Republic where a worked on a web series and a feature length film. He plans to bring his cinematic expertise and unique editing skills to Emmy-winning LAI Video team.
Jun Young Yang
Jun has been traveling everywhere (including a place called Anguilla) to document special events and create unique images for clients.
