Collide

The University of Melbourne

Brand Campaign Film

A woman looking at her phone in a dimly lit university courtyard at night

Where Great Minds Collide is a brand campaign for the University of Melbourne that was filmed on campus, depicting almost 100 of the university’s own students, teachers, academics and executives. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the University’s significant research achievements and share the stories of how people are benefiting from these research projects around the world.

There are less visual effects in the film than most people assume. The larger ‘human sculptures’ were mostly constructed with real people hanging from large custom-built welded metal structures. The film was carefully choreographed and pre-visualised to ensure visual comprehension of the forms against the heritage architecture.

At night, a girl reads a book on a bench in a university courtyard as students walk past.
A close-up of bodies on top of one another.
Dozens of bodies are bunched together, forming the shape of a skull.
Approximately two dozen bodies hunched close together between sandstone arches.
A group of people climbing on top of one another in front of old sandstone architecture at night.
Dozens of people standing on top of one another, forming the shape of a tree.
Dozens of people standing on top of one another, supporting each other with their hands raised. Together they form a wide trunk-like structure.
A girl climbs a trunk-like structure of bodies. She is looking up above past the camera.
  • Director: Mike Daly
  • DOP: Geoffrey Simpson
  • Editor: Ryan Boucher
  • Visual Effects: Fin Design
  • Sound Designer: Brendan Woithe
  • Choreographer: Adam Wheeler
  • Producer: Martin Box
  • Executive Producer: Kim Wildenburg
  • Production Company: Exit Films
  • Agency: McCann