Motion Graphics Time Lapse: Cupid's Arrows

This was a piece that a filmmaker in town had asked me to put together for a short film called Cupid's Arrows. It was meant to act as a chapter marker for each stage of the story, but the director ended up cutting it so it remains as a conceptual work only. But I was pretty happy with it and recorded a time lapse screencapture showing how it was assembled. So at the very least you can see how this kind of motion graphic gets pieced together. Watch that time lapse video above.

Not that I'm one to celebrate Valentine's Day, but on this faux holiday go ahead and treat yourself. Do something that will be good for you. That could be hitting the gym and getting some endorphins flowing in your body, or reading a solid book that's been sitting on your shelf just begging to be read, or cook a killer dinner with a bit more flash and flavour than you normally allow yourself, or even do something nice for somebody else and spread the love around.

So in that sense, have a Happy Valentine's Day, folks!

Take care of yourself and each other.

- Jerry Springer

Watch the short film Cupid's Arrows here and give yourself a chuckle.

'Love Never Dies' Premiere & VFX Contest

The latest movie from Possibility Films, Love Never Dies, premieres at the Bookshelf Cinema on October 28th at 9pm. Merc did some visual effects magic on the short flick. Unfortunately I can't attend the screening due to some business elsewhere, but I still want to see how well my vfx fooled you. So I'm issuing a challenge out there for those who attend. Watch the video and read on afterwards for the details.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWUVXqgzM9E&feature=g-upl

Attend the screening at the Bookshelf and see if you can spot the 3 types of vfx that I did. There are approximately 25-30 shots total, but they can be all be categorized into 3 groups.

Leave a comment on the Merc Media Facebook wall with your answer. Those who guess correctly will be entered into a draw for a $25 gift certificate to Future Shop.

Winners will be announced a week following the screening on Nobember 4th on my channel and website.

Good luck and happy hunting!

Shooting Wizards in Staff Entrance

At the beginning of the summer I was shooting a short film that brought together a colourful bunch of characters. Recently I came across some snapshots of the shoot, so decided I should share them and some of the experiences of the shoot. The setup: In a scenario men are mostly familiar with, a group of famous wizards are lined up outside of a nightclub trying to work their way in to get jiggy with the hot, young ladies that keep skipping the queue.

We used the Westmount location of the Red Brick Café for our night exterior setting and arrived plenty early during the daylight hours to start setting up lights so that we wouldn't have to fumble around in the dark. The wizards required a bit of wardrobe and makeup so we knew we had time to wait.

One of the tricks we had to employ was shooting at two different locations to make it appear as one. At one point we see a limo pulling up along a downtown street and we see a group of foxy ladies step out. Next we see them walk past the line of oggling and frustrated wizards straight into the nightclub.

The problem with this sequence was that the location we were using for the nightclub exterior was on a suburban street and had a stretch of green grass and shrubberies that did not belong in a downtown setting. So we shot the girls exiting the limo at a completely separate location. We were able to plan the shots ahead of time so that the edited sequence will bring both locations together.

Right now the project is finishing up in post-production. I'll be handling a few visual effects shots that I'll bring up in a future post.