Half Rez 10 -  Opener

For the 10th anniversary of Half Rez, the team intentionally broke tradition.

Rather than handing the opener to a single studio, the focus shifted to celebrating the festival itself. It's people, it's energy, and a decade of motion design history. The idea became an archive-driven edit built from past event footage, previous intros, new motion work, and experimental AI treatments.

I was brought in to cut and synthesize this mix into a fast, momentum-driven opener that could set the tone immediately. Working across a wide range of assets and contributors, I pointed toward the track that locked the edit in, with Impossible Acoustic and Motion Sound taking it from there to shape and finalize the music and sound design. The goal was simple: find the rhythm fast, trust instinct, and make something that felt alive, current, and unmistakably Half Rez.

The final piece opened the live event and doubled as a flexible source of social content in the lead-up to the festival. It helped frame the 10-year milestone without over-polishing the energy that makes Half Rez what it is.

On a personal note, I was genuinely stoked to be part of this one, not just to contribute, but to give something back to a community that’s created so many chances to learn, connect, and cross paths with people I’ve looked up to for years. Half Rez has always been as much about the conversations, pinball, cube races, and drinks as it is the work, and getting to help shape a milestone moment from inside that circle meant a lot.

I handled editing and synthesis of archive footage, integrating new motion work and experimental AI treatments to create the opener and social content for the 10th anniversary event.

Client: Half Rez
Agency: Black Book Studio
Role: Lead Editor
Skills: Premiere Pro, After Effects
Additional Credits: 

Logo Design and Creative Direction
Amador Valenzuela / Black Book Studio

Animation:
Alison Kim
Chad Lynn
Morad E.
Rachel Oftedahl
Sara Kopke

Music & Sound Design:
Impossible Acoustic
Motion Sound

Additional help:
Anthony Vitagliano (Design input)
Chris Schmidt (CG technical direction)
Miqui C. Crespo (Social media, animation)

Half Rez Committee:
Amador Valenzuela
Chris Schmidt
Gavin Morrissey
Josh Van Praag
Michael Kislovsky
Miqui Crespo
Siena Esposito