TED HESSER.
All films

Meta / Instagram
Paris 2024

Shot on iPhone. Made for Instagram.

Ted’s role
Director of Photography
Project
Social campaign · 2024
Locations
São Paulo · Paris · Bangalore · Long Island

The creative brief

UGC, by design.

Meta asked for the look and feel of user-generated content: informal, close to the athletes, and native to its Instagram Reels channel. The iPhone footage and spontaneous feel were the brief.

~250MCampaign impressionsApproximate reported total
Campaign collage showing a swimmer, an athlete in a street market, and a climber, with the Meta logo.
Meta / Instagram · Paris 2024 athlete stories

The assignment

Cinematography for a Meta and Instagram campaign centered on athletes around the Paris 2024 Olympics. Ted served as director of photography on four segments, with filming in São Paulo, Paris, Bangalore and Long Island. The brief called for the closeness of a friend tagging along for the day: informal imagery shot on an iPhone, with less than a day of filming for each athlete.

The work

  • Director of Photography for four athlete stories
  • Filming across four locations
  • UGC-style films made for Instagram Reels

Close to the person.

The creative direction was to feel like a friend spending the day with an athlete. The iPhone was part of that language: familiar, immediate and at home in the feed. The work focused on the person around the performance, with the informal character Meta wanted for its own Instagram channel.

Four stories. One brief.

Each athlete had less than a day of filming. Across São Paulo, Paris, Bangalore and Long Island, the task was to make distinct stories that shared the same sense of proximity. Ted’s role was director of photography; the resulting campaign generated approximately 250 million reported impressions.

Meta / Instagram

Watch the stories.

Explore the four campaign films. Each opens on Instagram.

Paris 2024

Athlete story 01

Watch on InstagramParis 2024

Athlete story 02

Watch on InstagramParis 2024

Athlete story 03

Watch on InstagramParis 2024

Athlete story 04

Watch on Instagram

Meta / Instagram · 2025

Teen Accounts

A further commission for Instagram, filmed on Staten Island and released in April 2025. This parent spotlight brings the Teen Accounts product story into an everyday conversation about family life online.

Ted’s role: Cinematography

Watch on Instagram ↗Explore the Meta launch ↗
Nicole Lesnick and her children in the official Meta Newsroom Parent Spotlight coverWatch the film ↗

Meta / Instagram · Ohio · 2025

Parent Spotlight: Nicole Lesnick

Ohio PTA president and mother of eight Nicole Lesnick talks about using Teen Accounts with her family. Filmed in Brecksville, Ohio, and published by Meta Newsroom on December 12, 2025.

Ted’s role: Cinematography

Watch on Instagram · 0:56 ↗

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