Upfront Summit 2018

Long-term creative partnerships are built on foundational moments, and our 2018 collaboration for the Upfront Summit remains a definitive milestone in the Awe-Full portfolio. The objective was to capture the "unorthodox thinking" inherent to the Los Angeles tech and investment scene—a city defined by its ability to disrupt established norms. We envisioned a visual journey through an abstract landscape where the city itself becomes a conduit for new ideas. By blending raw city energy with glitch-inspired motion design, we created a high-octane opening sequence that announced the summit’s speakers while setting a tone of intentional, creative chaos.

Technically, this project was an exercise in seamless multi-disciplinary integration. Working alongside 3D artist Bret Walters, we developed a world of complex, textured tunnels and valleys within a 3D environment, onto which we projected high-resolution imagery of Los Angeles. This "digital projection mapping" allowed us to maintain a tactile, architectural feel while cutting between hyper-real aerial footage and stylized 3D environments. The edit was further elevated with heavy glitch effects and dynamic typography to mirror the theme of industry disruption. The sequence culminates in a cinematic "macro reveal," bursting out of a final tunnel to reveal that the entire journey took place within the negative space of the Upfront logo—a simple but powerful metaphor for the summit’s role as the vessel for LA’s most disruptive ideas.