BUILDING TENSION, SPARKING ACTION: FOUND ON FORWARD'S MAIN TITLE'S
How do you capture the exact moment when ideas shift into motion? For Found, it meant crafting a visual language of suspense and release, where minimal whites and sleek silvers collide with bursts of raw energy. In our interview, Creative Lead Ambrogio Bergamaschi shares how the team turned the dreaded-yet-desired blank page into a playground of transformation, bringing Forward Festival’s 2025 vision to life in a title sequence that’s both refined and explosive.
The Main Titles clip for the Forward Festival season 2025 has just celebrated its premiere. Can you tell us about the idea and concept behind it?
For the main titles, we wanted to celebrate the blank page, the moment that everyone fears yet also longs for. Whatever form it takes for you, the blank page is the place, the playground where the process of transformation begins. We wanted to tell the story of letting ourselves be guided by intuition, allowing time to shift our thoughts into ideas and ideas into physical forms.
The refined vision of Forward Festival – and this year’s motto – is “Turn Ideas Into Action”, which is also reflected in the title sequence. How did you bring that vision to life visually?
Ideas alone are not enough; it takes action or an event to bring them to life. In the title sequence, we wanted to capture the tension of something about to happen, a promise that one thing will evolve into another. We achieved this by establishing a relationship between two objects, creating a natural attraction or sense of antagonism.
The Main Titles feel like a burst of energy in motion. In what ways did you channel the idea of “Turn Ideas Into Action” into the pacing, movement, and overall flow of the sequence?
The timeline of the sequence is split into two halves. In the first half, it’s all about setting the audience’s expectations: Will the ball hit the switch, and what will happen when it does? We used a combination of slow motion and relentless pacing, pushing tension to an almost uncomfortable limit. In contrast, the second half of the film bursts with speed and energy. Nothing is held back; the ideas are finally released, taking unexpected paths and influencing one another. One spark ignites the next in a chain reaction full of energy that almost takes on a life of its own.
The overall visual language of the title sequence embraces a refined and elegant palette, with soft whites, warm creams, and sleek silvers. What inspired this aesthetic direction?
We approached the concept of the Blank Page almost literally, using the stark contrast between the build-up and the activation to highlight the power of colour. While 'white' may seem empty, it actually holds a wealth of detail in its subtle palette and textured surfaces, embodying the context of creativity. Even a blank page is filled with potential. Alongside these pristine, gentle elements, we wanted to introduce materials that could bear weight and deliver a strong impact. Metal, the substance of tools, became an important visual motif woven into each scene.
From the very first spark of an idea to the final render, what did your creative process look like?
Our initial idea was to create an arena charged with both potential and a sense of tension and frustration. With that in mind, we brainstormed dozens of scenarios that explored the concept of “building towards the inevitable.” We imagined scenes and pairings of objects that could interact naturally under the laws of physics, resulting in outcomes that felt both promising and suspenseful from the audience’s perspective. We then focused on the most compelling scenes, using motion as our primary method of testing. Even with very crude, blocked-out shots, we could immediately start constructing the edit to emphasise the tension at play. From there, we explored materials and cinematographic options to establish a consistent style. A significant amount of R&D went into the activations, ensuring we could deliver the energy and colour burst you see in the final piece.
How did working with Echoic Audio, the team behind the title’s sound, influence the atmosphere and overall impact of the sequence?
Collaborating with Echoic Audio on such a cool brief is always a great opportunity. We focused on keeping the process as collaborative as possible, influencing each other's creative choices along the way. The team at Echoic were involved from the very early stages, when the edit was still a collection of rough sketches. This early involvement allowed us to create something truly consistent in terms of the visual and sonic relationship. Sound really is 50% of the experience, and amplifying the buildup was crucial at every stage. While editing helped shape the pacing and tension visually, layering in audio elevated everything, intensifying the anticipation and making the final impact even more powerful.
Were there any moments in the process where things took an unexpected turn – and ended up making the work even better?
Almost every day brought unexpected turns on this project. When working on a blank-page project, you are your own client and must recognise when something isn’t working. It takes courage to set aside your original idea (and your pride) and focus on what’s working better and more efficiently. We had to make decisive choices for every scene and truly let ourselves be guided by the process, which is exactly what the sequence is about.
When you’re working on something as defining as a festival’s Main Titles, how do you balance creative experimentation with a client’s vision?
Fortunately, the client's vision was all about experimentation. The brief was open, but for us, “turning ideas into action” carried real significance. From the very beginning, we found ourselves aligned with the client on this vision.
Looking back at the finished sequence, what moment or detail are you most proud of – the one you hope the audience notices?
In the simplicity of a minimalistic environment, everything comes down to the small details. We took care to give each surface the patina and depth of something simple yet curated. Also, the way we divided the sequence into two halves, before and after the activation point. In the first half, we pushed slow motion to the edge, holding the audience in suspense and making the anticipation almost uncomfortable. I hope these details are something the audience will appreciate.
As motion and 3D designers, what does “turning ideas into action” mean to you personally?
We all have personal projects or even just ideas that inevitably end up on the back burner; that’s just how it goes. For me, “turning ideas into action” means taking a thought with potential and transforming it into a tangible piece of work. When we have the time to do this, and it shouldn’t be done indiscriminately, the result is always a discovery. That’s why we encourage everyone to give it a go.
