we grow up so fast.
I've aimed to explore the challenges we face as we age and navigate our shifting path through life.
breaking skateboards, 2018
writer - director - producer - cinematographer - editor - sound design
Few times have I been more stressed than trying to sleep before the first day of this shoot. I had an incredible cinematographer and great PA's, and I was confident in the actors I'd cast. But even a great team can't steel the nerves of a first-time director.
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Breaking Skateboards is the most emotionally challenging project I've ever worked on. I wrote a personal story that had to be read out loud, over and over. I managed the schedules and dietary preferences of crew. I reviewed each shot to ensure it matched the overall vision. I coached child actors through some of their first roles (and was coached right back; they had both worked on more films than I had). Both my creative intuition and practical skills had their limits tested every single day for 2 weeks.
At the end of principal photography, the familiarity of the editing booth came as a relief, even with deadlines looming only weeks away. I was back on familiar territory, but challenges still lay ahead in creating a cut that would survive the scrutiny of my editing professor, in cohesively color grading each shot, and in working with my audio engineer to sound design and score the project, a first for both of us.
planet office, 2018
San Jose 48 Hour Film Competition Entry
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Best Directing, Runner Up Best Film, Audience Choice
writer - editor - sound design
At 9:00pm our writing team sat down to brainstorm a premise for our film festival submission. The final cut of the film was due in 47 hours. In the single hour it took us to go from the briefing room, where we received our prompt, to the bar in which we'd write our entire script, we'd lost over 2% of our production time.
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Writing, filming, and editing an entire film in under 48 hours was an intense challenge that became one of my favorite film-making experiences to date. The time crunch forced me sift through every detail and prioritize what absolutely had to be done, and what could be shaved away for extra time. As a recovering perfectionist, discarding the details was an excruciating task, but being challenged in this way improved my storytelling, teamwork, and time management skills in a way that a normal production schedule would not have done.
house, not home, 2019
writer - director - producer - cinematographer - editor - sound design