VFX Time Lapse: The "Lots of Cards" shot from Gamers: Hands of Fate

During post-production of Gamers: Hands of Fate, one of the scenes called for an homage to The Matrix. Check out the breakdown of how the effect was re-created with cards replacing rows and rows of guns. While creating the effect in After Effects, a series of particle systems were used with just standard playing cards until the custom card art from the game itself arrived.

Watch the extended version of Gamers: Hands of Fate over on the Zombie Orpheus channel.

Music used in this video is directly from the Gamers: Hands of Fate OST which you can (and should) purchase here. It is pretty epic to listen to.

Igniting your event with a stylish bumper

Enlighten us, but make it quick. That's the slogan for Ignite Guelph, an event that last year gave a total of 37 speakers a chance to take the stage and speak to a room full of folk who had come out to be enlightened. Just think TED Talks but each talk is only 5 minutes long.

As part of the team who makes the event happen, Merc was tasked with creating a bumper to use in online marketing materials and during the speakers' presentations as well. The result is what you see above. Simple, quick and gets the point across (much like the talks at the event).

It gets placed at the beginning of each promotional video and kicks off each night of talks at the main event.

The best thing? It's good for the environment. By that I mean it's reusable. It can be used to brand each video that goes up on the Ignite Guelph YouTube channel.

The next Ignite Guelph will be held March 11, 2014. Tickets will be available to purchase closer to the date. Check Merc's Twitter and Facebook feeds for details when they are released. It's a great night to listen to a variety of passionate people talk about topics that you would never normally have thought about.

All of the talks from each event are also shot and edited by Merc and will be available to view on the YouTube channel.

Breakdown of a Title Sequence - Versus Valerie (Episode 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oje0KKZW-k Last week marked the first episode of the long-awaited web series, Versus Valerie. The Sexy Nerd Girl spinoff features Valerie Lapomme (played by the oh-so-fun-to-watch Hannah Spears) and her guy-friend...Guy...as they go through life dealing with the ordinary problems we all have to face, but we get to see the ultra-nerd Val deal with them in her own signature way: her nerdy imagination takes over and we see how she sees the rest of the world, one filled with the Borg, Jedi, and zombies.

Merc's been working away doing visual effects and title sequences for the series, which has been SUPER exciting since I've been a fan of Sexy Nerd Girl's vlog for a couple years now.

Each episode's style is based on a different sub-genre of the geek 'verse. For the first episode, I was asked to put together a title sequence that resembled that of the BBC hit series 'Sherlock'. This involved using some aerial shots of the Toronto skyline (where the show proudly takes place, by the way) and using a tilt-shift effect for the "miniature"-ized look for the show's intro.

Check out the breakdown of the title sequence below. And watch the full episode of Versus Valerie over on their channel. New episodes are released every 2 weeks.