Our work

We collaborate with our clients to create fresh possibilities for their future—these projects balance the need for information, narrative, spectacle, and imagination in equal parts.

  • Featuring client work and agency projects from non-fiction storytelling to experience design and exhibition curation:

    SIFF-X Immersive Storytelling Festival: FEARLESS + Seattle International Film Festival VIRTUAL REALITY: AN EVOLUTION: TEDx Presentation CREATIVE EXCHANGE LAB: Pilot + Exhibition @ Pacific Science Center GRACE HOPPER CELEBRATION: Live Virtual Conference for Anita B.org, Production Company: Opus Group SELF ACADEMY: Program Profile for CREA SWEET CRUDE: Feature Documentary DEFY CANCER: Capital Campaign Web Broadcast for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Production Company: Opus BEN SAUNDERS: LOOK FORWARD GKOFY23: Speaker Profile for Docusign - Production Company: Tencue BOUNDLESS with Shankar Vedantam: Innovation Seriesfor Dell + Microsoft - Producing Agency: Lacy Maxwell Experience; Production Company: Tencue 100 YEARS OF ONE CORNISH: Gala Video for Cornish College of the Arts THE GODMOTHER OF VR: Nonny de la Peña: Retrospective Exhibition VRRV/Virtual Reality Re-creation Vehicle: Immersive Storytelling Pop-up

    VIEW ON VIMEO

STORYTELLING

BUMBERSHOOT: Announcement Reel

  • Announce the return of a beloved arts and culture festival in a quick effective trailer utilizing the client’s interview and b-roll footage.

  • Client: New Rising Sun, producers of BUMBERSHOOT 2023

    Credits: Director: Leleita McKill Camera: AveryJohnson Post Creative + Editing: FEARLESS Sound Mix: Bad Animals Color: Golpost

  • This video was used as the front page of the announcement website and brand identity because it effectively communicates the creative direction and spirit of the festival.

BOUNDLESS: Dell/Microsoft Innovation Series

  • Create lightly branded non-fiction content for high-value customers of DELL who are interested specifically in learning about unique approaches to entrepreneurship and innovation. Showcase diverse, out-of-the-box ideas through in-depth, long-form journalistic conversations hosted by Shankar Vedantam of Hidden Brain Podcast.

  • Clients: Lacey Maxwell AgencyLacey Maxwell Experience for Dell/Microsoft and TENCUE Productions

    Credits: Executive Producer: Lacey Maxwell Experience Production Company: TENCUE Productions Host and Co-Producer: Shankar Vedantam, Hidden Brain Creative Director: Sandy Cioffi Editor / Post Production Supervisor: FEARLESS

  • The series was nominated for and won The American Business Awards GOLD STEVIE 2023 and was a finalist for the 2023 EX AWARDS 2022.

POWER STRUGGLE: Documentary Short

  • Follow the stakeholders of a large power infrastructure project in rural Montana as the process unfolds. Some issue positions taken by ranchers, environmentalists, power company executives, and government officials do not always fall where we would expect.

  • Executive Producer and Director raised funds for and self-produced as Mad Eye Media.

    Credits: Producer/Director: Sandy Cioffi Director of Photography: Greg Westhoff Additional Camera: Teal Shore, Phil Camp Associate Producer: Tammi Sims Adviser: Kathleen McInnis

  • The project was chosen for the Big Sky Documentary Pitch Sessions in 2011 and chosen to move forward for the Humanities Montana documentary fund.

CREATIVE DIRECTION

LAUREN WEEDMAN BLOWS

  • Provide overall creative direction, strategy, and marketing for a four-city development run (Seattle, LA, NYC, Boston) of Lauren Weedman’s new live solo performance, highlighting Lauren’s move to co-producing and co-owning her work.

  • Client: Lauren Weedman, producer and artist, Outrage On Stage producing company

    Credits: Video Producing/Editing: FEARLESS Cinematography: Winfred Ezel + Obsidian Creative

  • During production, FEARLESS began documenting behind the scenes. An ongoing documentary project, Gonna Be A Star Someday is in production.

    Parallel to the live show, FEARLESS Creative led a pilot program for micro-investment in art and artists, CoPro (co-producer), to fund artists’ careers–for the long term.

GRACE HOPPER CELEBRATION

  • Create an engaging live-broadcast presentation at a time when conferences had to be virtual. For the event opening, working with the frame “place matters”, we captured iconic footage of Chicago, where AnitaB.org is headquartered, to play behind host Jeanne Sparrow. The script highlighted the wide array of innovation in the city, including the contributions of the indigenous peoples and AnitaB.org’s work to support women and non-binary people in tech.

  • Client: The Opus Group for AnitaB.org

    Credits: Production Company: Opus Group Executive Producer: Kristen Zavorska Executive Creative Director: Caryn Mambro Co-Creative Directors: Sandy Cioffi + Juliet Veulens Chicago Shoot Director/Camera: Sandy Cioffi Host: Jeanne Sparrow Editing: FEARLESS Creative Script: Cortny Dunleavy

  • During the event review, the client noted the efficacy of this opening as particularly addressing the need to connect with audiences - to be located in a specific place during a remote experience. This added deeply informed he engagement design work of the collaborative creative and production team to culminate in a very successful virtual event.

DEFY CANCER: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

  • Sandy Cioffi of FEARLESS was engaged by Opus Group to join the production team for the DFCI big DEFY CANCER launch event during the COVID lockdown. The core brief was to transform the launch of Dana Farber’s largest capital raise from an in-person event to a compelling virtual broadcast. Sandy’s and FEARLESS’ roles included establishing documentary aesthetics for shooting and lighting and in the storytelling through personal profiles of patients, physicians, and staff. And to oversee the editing and integration of run of show, graphics, music, and final event video.

  • Client: The Opus Group for Dana Farber Cancer Institute

    Credits: Executive Producer: The Opus Group Heather Teitsort Producer: Beth Lipson Writer: Peter Smaha Creative Director: Juliet Veulens Video Director: Sandy Cioffi Post Supervisor: FEARLESS Creative Music Direction/Composition: Julie Wolf Content Producer/Field Director/Post-Supervisor/Profile Editing FEARLESS

  • The client measured audience data and found that the viewership retention rate had exceeded targets substantially. It was a very successful kick-off for their campaign, which was a large hurdle during the pandemic.

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

SIFF-X Immersive Storytelling Festival

  • During the height of excitement about the coming intersection of VR/AR and filmmaking, FEARLESS collaborated with the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) to launch Seattle’s first immersive storytelling festival, showcasing the work of national and international VR/AR/MR artists; and hosting workshops, panels, and incubators to explore the potential of this emerging embodied language for art-making, entertainment, civic problem-solving, and the creative economy.

  • Clients: Co-Production with Seattle International Film Festival, Title sponsors Vulcan Technology, Panogs, Washington Filmworks

    Partners: City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Mayor's Office of Film and Music, Virtual World Society

    Credits: Programming Director: Gretchen Burger Creative Director: Sandy Cioffi Curation/Production: FEARLESS

  • Featured work by New York Times VR, Vrse, Wevr, RYOT, The Royal National Theatre Immersive Storytelling Studio, a Biennial of Nonny de La Pena’s pioneering immersive journalist work, and presentation by VR engineering pioneer Tom Furness.

EMBODIED NARRATIVES OF THE SILICON RAINFOREST

  • Create residencies for Seattle’s art/technology communities to experience and learn The Machine To Be Another, a virtual reality experience created by the BeAnother Lab (Barcelona) exploring the potential of embodied virtual experience for empathetic human connection. The project was in residence in 2016 at TWIST360°, Seattle Girls School, and in 2018 at “What Is Reality”/Creative Exchange Lab pilot at Pacific Science Center.

  • Clients: Oculus, Three Dollar Bill, Pacific Science Center, 4 Culture

    Credits: The Machine To Be Another: BeAnother Lab Curation/Production: FEARLESS

  • Part of FEARLESS’s larger ambition and project to establish the Pacific Northwest as the nexus of human-centered / public benefit technology innovation.

    Press:

    KCTS: https://www.pbs.org/video/kcts-9-machine-be-anotherempathy-virtual-body-swapping/

    City Arts Magazine: https://www.cityartsmagazine.com/tiny-bubbles/

    Seattle Weekly: https://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/seattles-virtual-road-to-transcendence/

VR/RV IMMERSIVE Storytelling Pop-Up

  • Design a pop-up public art exhibit showcasing the trajectory of storytelling from sitting around a campfire looking up at the stars to immersive experiences where the stories exist all around you in Virtual and Augmented Reality VR/AR. The program featured: 360° shorts by Seattle artists, and high school students on the theme of ME/WE: Our Future City; a 360° oral history of the Red Apple grocery store by the Shelf Life Community Story Project; Reforestation of the Imagination augmented reality flower series by Ginny Ruffner; a spherical video campfire; and Virtual Reality Re/Creational Camper because “Wherever You Go, There You Are!”

  • Clients/Partners: Oculus, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Public Library, Seattle Public Schools, Seattle Center, National Film Festival for Talented Youth, Museum of Pop Culture

    Credits: Creative / Production: FEARLESS Engagement Design: Framework + FEARLESS

  • WIth the public presentations of technology or cultural development and the creative economy, more than 10,000 people engaged with a unique approach to this intersection.

EDUCATION

MEDIA ARTS SKILLS CENTER PILOT

  • Design and deliver a 3-month prototype for Seattle Public Schools' new Media Arts Skill Center. Through a project-based approach, students learned traditional and immersive media storytelling from industry professionals and developed projects addressing the theme ME/WE: Our Future City. The class culminated in a public event at Seattle Center where students presented their work and engaged mayoral candidates in a live-broadcast conversation about their priorities, values, and commitments for Seattle's future.

  • Client: Seattle Public Schools, Paul G Allen Family Foundation, The Creative Advantage, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

    Curriculum Development: Scott Macklin, FEARLESS

    Student VRRV Showcase: Design/Production FEARLESS

    Video Credits:
    Cinematography: Scott Macklin, Laura James Producing/Editing: FEARLESS

  • This was the pilot/founding year for the Media Arts skills center, and it has continued to grow and teach students in Seattle every year. The unique partnerships and curriculum helped to shape and drive this sought-after education option for high school students in the Seattle area. https://www.seattleschools.org/schools/skillscenter/

CORNISH COLLEGE of the ARTS: Film + Media

  • FEARLESS produced this video for a large live event celebration, the 100th anniversary of the Cornish College of the Arts. The new Film+Media program, led by Sandy Cioffi, was announced at this event. Bringing over 30 years as an educator, Sandy Cioffi oversaw: writing and designing curriculum, selecting equipment and technology, executing a successful accreditation process, hiring faculty, recruiting students, forming partnerships with Seattle’s film industry and arts and culture organizations.

  • Client: Cornish College of the Arts

    Credits: Producer/Director: FEARLESS Creative Director: Sandy Cioffi Graphics: Scott Garner Music: Tom Baker Editor: Gretchen Burger

  • Riley Shanahan performed the narration of the video live, providing an example of the intersecting excellence available at the college. The event raised 3X the annual event average. And the film program was fully accredited and launched within one academic year.

CREATIVE EXCHANGE LAB

  • Imagine, design, and prototype a collectively-owned research, co-working and education program. Create a public/private laboratory dedicated to facilitating the relationships between technology, art and culture; and the public interest. The initial concept was expressed as part of Washington Filmworks’ creative economy initiative. Pilot labs were run in 2017 with Seattle Public Schools Media Arts Skill Center, and in 2018 at the “What Is Reality?” exhibition at Pacific Science Center.

  • Credits: Washington Filmworks, BeAnother Lab, Pacific Science Center, Framework, Scott Macklin

  • https://www.cityartsmagazine.com/reality-blooms-in-the-creative-exchange-lab/

    https://crosscut.com/2018/08/can-virtual-reality-transform-your-reality

THE FUTURE OF

WE STREET: The Future of Neighborhoods

  • As a response to Big Tech’s smart cities initiatives, we ask: what does it look like when a community designs, owns, and benefits from the technologies we use and forge? In 2019, FEARLESS brought together public artists, industry, government leaders, activists, students, and technologists for a series of human-centered design sessions to explore The Future Of our neighborhoods // Our streets. We considered the intersections of mesh networks and community-owned data, community stories and public forums in the digital ether, community care minted into local digital currency, and steps for conducting first-phase experiments.

  • Client: Our future neighborhoods

    Credits: Concept/Creative Direction: FEARLESS Collaborating Producer: Lesley Bain + Monica Taylor of Framework Design/Execution: Scott Macklin, Framework, FEARLESS

  • CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS:

    Lesley Bain: urban design, founder Framework

    Patricia Boiko: Physician, Public health advocate, documentary filmmaker

    Joselyn Engstrom: Arts & Culture networking and community building

    Winfred Ezel: Community Leader, business owner, filmmaker

    Evan Feenstra: Creative technologist, UW + Fognet, peer-to-peer connections, internet of things

    Jack Hoyt: Student, intern

    Jude Jing Gai: Creative technologist, Immersive Square, VR tech convergence with mobile + web

    Stephanie Hillman: Sierra Club Greater Seattle Area, non-profit organization + management

    Elisha Johnson: Public art curator, artist, founder Wa Na Wari, OAC

    Tina LaPadula: Art + Education, youth development + employment, OAC

    Scott Macklin: UW Public Interest Technology instructor, education

    Robin Oppenheimer: Media scholar, 911 media arts

    Sabrina Roach: Digital equity advocate, media ecosystems policy

    Alex Rose: Film + Media City of Seattle, creative economy, OAC/OED

    Tim Schmuckal: Attorney, start-up founder

    Tess Selim: Technology + digital marketing, product manager, GeekGirlCon founder, Women’s March fundraiser

OCTAVE 9: The Future of the Orchestra

  • In the discovery and design stage, FEARLESS worked with architects LMN and the Seattle Symphony to consider the question: “What is the future of the orchestra?” We did this to facilitate a collaborative vision for a new immersive performance/incubator space that is internationally recognized for its ongoing investigation and inquiry into the ongoing question. Designed a robust first-phase research process with architects and symphony staff. Explored with LMN’s innovation design team the design implications of an immersive space. Led user narrative exercises with symphony staff to understand the broadest possible range of audience. Researched immersive/interactive materials and technology, with an eye for designing immersive paradigms instead of specific technology. Met with pioneering XR technologists, manufacturers, and XR artists working at the intersection of art, music, and technology.

  • Client: Seattle Symphony Orchestra, LMN Architects

  • https://www.archdaily.com/916983/octave-9-raisbeck-music-center-lmn-architects

    https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/classical-music/heres-a-first-look-at-seattle-symphonys-octave-9-a-performance-venue-that-morphs-into-different-kinds-of-spaces/

Experiments in The Future of Money

  • Reimagine new local economics, both within and outside of traditional institutions. Explore the role of artists and art-thinking in creating economies. Ask impossible questions like, why aren’t we printing money? And why can’t communities own their technologies and data? Since our agency’s inception, FEARLESS has been engaged in Future of Money research, experiments, and investigations, from issuing “coin” for participating in the Creative Exchange Lab pilot to contributing to real-world creative economy conversations and reports.

  • Clients: City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture/Office of Film + Music for their creative economy inquiry, research and 2019 Creative Economy Report

    Credits: Many partners on this journey, key collaborators include Scott Macklin, Creative Exchange Lab pilot participants, BeAnother Lab, WE STREET participants

  • This work is ongoing and several projects, products and a podcast are in the works!

You are changing lives and making innovation more inclusive.

Elizabeth Scallon, Director of Incubation Enablement @ Hewlett Packard