MTV Live

When MTV launched in Canada in 2006 we branded their flagship program MTV Live. The half hour show was shot at the Masonic Temple in Toronto, a building with a storied history complete with rumours of apparitions and ghost sightings.

The initial concepts we presented revolved around a weird collage of Canadiana and loudspeakers. Ducks, canoes, antlers and igloos – all the cliches and then some.

Our second approach involved a dystopian assembly of mechanical objects wandering through a bleak urban landscape. Through several iterations it became clear that the iconic Masonic Temple building had to play a larger role in the visual language of the piece.

As much as we liked the quirky original approach, the decision to include the Masonic Temple proved to be the right one. The final version features an desolate urban landscape that assembles itself and becomes populated and overgrown with flowers. The ending reveals the building reconstructing itself and filling with the shows audience.