LATEST PROJECTS
Stop Motion Animation
For this project, I had to create a 30-60 second stop motion animation with titles and transitions. I shot in twos, so for each time I moved an item I took two photos. It took me about two and a half days to just shoot 45 seconds. Although some frames were reused, there is a total of 1350 frames (650 shots) at 30 frames per second. The video is about an obsolete gameboy selecting a game cartridge and playing it all by itself. I imported the photos into a software that combines them into one video and used Final Cut Pro X to chop up and edit the video. Sound effects and music were a challenge.
PSA - Cyberbullying
Starring Peyo Parker, Narrated by Tim Hudson
I was assigned to a group of four with a specific PSA theme. Ours was cyberbullying. Brainstorming and research was very quick. We decided the video would be around 30-45 seconds; the perfect length for a PSA. We then made a script and some storyboards, and got to work. Tim had lots of great equipment for getting smooth shots that slowly panned or zoomed in. Tim also narrated the script we wrote which sounded great. In the video shown, I did all of the editing. We received lots of positive feedback and I'm very proud with how it turned out. I would change the lighting rerecord the audio if I had another chance.
Falcon Weekly Intro Submission
Although this project was the shortest, it is one of my favorites. I needed to create a 15-20 second introduction for the weekly video news team at my school, the Falcon Weekly. The video consists of quick cuts with an upbeat indie song. The pans and zooms really add to the feel. This was a submission that made the finalists but wasn't selected. It was a great learning experience, and one of my earliest professional-like projects.
Project 4
Project 3
Project 2
Project 6
This project was very fun to edit but very challenging to shoot and organize. I was assigned with recreating the "red pill blue pill" scene from The Matrix. I had to mimic the framing, lighting, acting, and audio of the original. Preproduction was a chore. The shot sheet took the longest to complete, and I also had to create storyboards and a one page script. Filming was bittersweet. My actors and I were very busy, so we shot the scenes over two small windows of time. The shots turned out great and the props we used really added to the effect. Being best friends, it was hard to be serious so we had to shoot many takes. In Final Cut Pro I laid the original scene from the movie onto the timeline, spliced it, and timed my clips to be the exact length and timing as the original. I had to slow down and speed up some scenes but this new method was overall very successful. I matched the 2.35:1 ratio and found effects to match the lighting and color. I desaturated the clips and added a green tint, similar to the movie. If I had the chance to redo this project I would find a better time to film so we would have better continuity throughout the background shown. I would have also spent more time on a music bed, as the one I used was far off from the original.
showNtell My Story
This quick video was fairly easy. I needed to make an autobiography video. Using 'showNtell', I could quickly made an informative and professional script. The script was intended for a college application which is why I addressed the audience in that way. From the script I made a two column script and shot sheet. It took a while to film the scenes because I didn't have much freetime but I still met the deadline. The filming time was probably the biggest challenge. To get the shots I stayed after school or shot at night. Editing was simple, and I added some transitions, effects, and Ken Burns effects. If i had a chance to redo this project, I would shoot a different angle of myself speaking. I didn't utilize the rule of thirds and I find the angle to be unflattering.
Project 5
Our Junior Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team only had about six people this year. We didn't have any posters or advertisements anywhere. Meanwhile, I was trying to come up with a topic for a ~1 minute Falcon Weekly promotion. Scholastic Bowl was perfect for the criteria. Scholastic Bowl can have tense showdowns, so I immediately thought of the showdown scene from The Good The Bad and The Ugly. The music, the widescreen, and the extreme closeups were perfect for scholastic bowl. My pre-production was very intricate. I wrote a treatment, a two-column script, storyboards, and a shot sheet. I collaborated with my team and asked the coach what we should include. I made so many constructive changes during the planning of this promotion. I had collected all of my audio and we were ready to film. We filmed after one of our practices so the layout of the desks and buzzers was genuine. Most of my actors were very cooperative and we shot many takes. The low and overhead shots were a bit tricky but I ended up with what I wanted. While editing I learned about the use of compound clips as well as adding a letterbox for dramatic effect. I ran into some audio issues with my computer, which turned out to be huge roadblock for submitting the final project to the Falcon Weekly. I changed an immense amount of audio settings to compensate. I am very glad with how this project turned out, and I have only minor concerns. If I had the chance to do this again, I would shoot at a higher resolution at the expense of a lower framerate. I only needed the full 60 fps for the slow motion scene.
Project 7
Scholastic Bowl Promotion
Starring Vance Ursiny, Luella Johnston, and Ian Strasma
The Matrix "Red Pill Blue Pill" Recreation
Starring Vance Ursiny and Ian Strasma
Project 1
Parody Starbucks Commercial
Starring Jakob Lockard, Sam Zink
This is the most satirical project I have done. In Freshman English A we had began the advertisement project, where we had to select a business and create promotional material that encompassed ethos, pathos, and logos. We were purposely shooting for a cheesy video. Our group collectively wrote the script and I created storyboards, filmed, and edited. I also created a logo and animated graphics. I think the chroma keying and audio are great but I would really like to rewrite the script.
eLo Promotion Video
Created for Vice Principal Dr. Pavlini
Project 9
This is my first project I produced for someone. My teacher had approached me with the idea after the Vice Principal, Dr. Pavlini, requested that a student could create a video for the Falcon Weekly promoting online courses. I decided to take on the project and scheduled a meeting with her. I took notes on what had to be included in this video and decided that it would be around a minute. I wrote a script and planned visuals in accordance with the online courses topic. I even grabbed some screencaps from the eLo website. Since this promo included mainly info-graphics and text, I didn't have to do much filming. The biggest roadblock I hit was when I submitted it to my client. Apparently in the voiceover I was pronouncing "eLo" incorrectly. I was still behind the deadline, so I had time to rerecord the voiceover and make tweaks. Also, I couldn't find the eLo logo in a high resolution so I ended up recreating it in Adobe Illustrator. I'm very happy with how this turned out, but the only thing that I would change is the bass on the musicbed. The bass is quite obnoxious in my opinion, but it's not too noticeable.
I couldn't decide what to do for my minor project because I had been so focused on my major project. My teacher told my class that the school district needed new safety procedure videos. I decided to take it, and I partnered up with my classmate Beca Salgado to produce it. We chose the lockdown video to replace the outdated one. Our video had to be targeted to teaches, unlike the previous videos which were for administrators. Preproduction was by far the easiest part. We had an outline given to us that provided everything we had to include. It morphed into a script very easily. After planning our shots we moved on to filming. Filming this project was the biggest challenge I have ever faced in this class. We didn't have much time, the classroom that we were filming was poorly lit, and there was a substitute teacher. We ran into a lot of problems with the brand new tripod so we filmed without it. Many of the actors were very confused or kept laughing, so Beca and I had to do our best to keep everything under control and serious. After filming we co-edited, which meant we would switch off and fix each other's mistakes. It was challenging at first, but then it became really engaging and fun. Looking back at this project, I feel that we did a very good job under the challenging conditions. If I could do this project again, I would definitely coordinate the filming details with the class and choose select actors.
Project 8
Wheaton North Lockdown Safety Video
In collaboration with Beca Salgado
Since late 2016, I have been tagging along with my friend Cameron to a makerspace workshop in Glen Ellyn called Workshop 88. They have tons of tools and resources for electronic or wood projects. When I was faced with the decision for my next project, I decided to do a commercial for Workshop 88. The commercial had to be under one minute and I had to describe as much as I could. In preplanning I decided to cover the goal of the Workshop and what they provide. The owner requested that I add details on how to obtain a membership. One of my biggest challenges was filming. Since I'm in the process of getting a membership, I could only go to the public Thursday meetings. At that meeting I got a lot of footage. After reviewing it I decided I could do better. Many shots were either out of focus or shaky because it was my first time using that type of camera. I got special access to a Tuesday meeting because that was when all of the members would be there. During this second filming period I corrected my mistakes and made good use of a monopod. I had a few gigabytes of footage when I was finished, which took a whole day to sort. Editing was fairly simple, but I had to omit a few scenes due to complications at the workshop. For example, I was trying to get an interview but most people were busy. Also when I worked on the narration, I had to equalize the audio to compensate for using my phone microphone. I also changed the panning of the musicbed and the V/O. If I had another chance to do this whole project over again, I would definitely do more planning with the members so I would be able to get the shots that I wanted. I would also film on days when the Workshop was more active.
Project 10
Workshop 88 Commercial