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SC 01 Featured project · 2026

Nightwater Opening Titles

The opening titles for the 2026 Nightwater Festival: six tunnels of light, one lineup, and a logo that arrives on the downbeat.

Client
Nightwater Festival
Role
Direction, 3D, and compositing
Software
Houdini, Redshift, After Effects
Deliverables
DCP, 16:9, 9:16, 1:1

Open the case study

Pale and amber light trails sweeping in loose curves across a dark frame.
00:00:12

The first names arrive on the tunnel walls.

Thin orange lines bending across a dark floor toward the horizon.
00:00:38

The floor bends, and the music thins to one note.

Red and white light ribbons coiled into a spiral on black.
00:00:58

Each turn of the coil carries one headliner.

Fine gold and violet threads crossing in two wide loops on black.
00:01:22

Gold threads open into the shape of the festival mark.

A thick arc of pink and orange light strands bending out of the dark.
00:01:36

The arc closes on the downbeat. House lights up.

Cut 01 / 05

Nightwater, from cold to warm

Color script · 7 beats · Sampled from the grade

  1. First ring

    00:01 #C9D4D6

  2. Cold tunnel

    00:04 #7FA8B8

  3. Trails

    00:19 #D98B3A

  4. The floor

    00:41 #E36A1F

  5. The coil

    01:02 #B4232C

  6. Gold threads

    01:24 #C79A4B

  7. The arc

    01:31 #F08A5D

Each swatch sits under the frame it came from. The film warms up as the lineup gets bigger.

“Every streak of light in the film has a lamp behind it. That was the only rule, and it saved us weeks.”

Noa Calder, on the Nightwater titles

From the styleframe to the final frame

Nightwater · Shot 01 · Week 2 and week 7
Rows of small white dots curving away into a dark tunnel.
Styleframe
A tunnel of short white light streaks curving toward a bright square opening.
Final

The dot tunnel was the first styleframe the festival approved. Five weeks later, the dots had become streaks of light.

One frame, cut for every screen

Nightwater · The coil · Open gate 3:2
Frame line
Red and white light ribbons coiled into a spiral on black.

The coil, framed for the festival screen, the square lobby screens, and phones.

Nightwater 2026, who made it.

Credits

Studio

Direction and 3D
Noa Calder
Titles and compositing
Noa Calder

Sound

Music and sound design
Iris Mallow

Festival

Artistic director
Hanne Ruusk
Producers
Tomas Elling
Sade Okafor

Ninety seconds, eight weeks of light.

Opening a festival next year?
Talk about titles Read the full case

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