This August I spent 3 days out on the open ocean filming my insane friend prone paddle 54 miles around Santa Cruz island. We wanted to make an inspiring film to get more girls out into nature and in the water. I was the cinematographer, editor, sound designer and animator. We went all in to showcase the beauty this island has to offer. All the animations are hand drawn, utilizing rotoscoping and a bit of After Effects. I also filmed on a super old 8mm kodak movie camera, shooting on expired film to get that vintage feel. Everythign was editing together in Adobe Premeire, and the audio design was done in Adobe Audition. Click the link to read the blog for a full breakdown of this insane adventure.
This reel showcases most of my hand-drawn animation work. All of these are done in Procreate, some utilize rotoscoping techniques, and others are done using simple onion skinning. I really love simple black and white color ways, it gives this certain feeling of watching a sketchbook come alive. Whenever I animate I always start with a sketch, and think of ways I could make a simple 2-d drawing come to life. Animation is quite time consuming, this 4 minute video took over 80 hours of drawing. I like to think of it as a form of meditation. I have spent a lot of time Traveling in Asia, and while meditating on my experiences there, I realized that when time has little meaning, and begins to slip though your fingers, there becomes no obstacle or constraints holding you back from pure creativity. It is not about what the final product is, it is about how we get there.
Street SKATE!! This experimental skate film mixes animation and live action footage for a never before seen take on never giving up. This fear of failure is something seen in everyday life. The concept for this film was simple: How can we inspire people to keep trying new things? Street Skate begins with all the failures, and ends with all the successes, and the constant form you can see throughout? Friendship. I wanted to showcase a unique take on the typical skate documentary. Mixing art house style with a grungy shaky-cam aesthetic. The animations are all hand-drawn using frame by frame animation techniques and composited in after effects. I also use a program called Touch-designer where I can code in audio-reactive elements and make visuals that react to the beat of a song. My uncle is the creator of Zoo York (the first NYC skate brand) and I wanted to incorporate his influence into this as well by overlaying a voiceover from one of his interviews from back in the day. The skateboarder mentality is one of immense strength, and I hope this video inspires anyone and everyone to get out of the comfort zone, hang out with your friends, and never be afraid of failure.
A La Mode: an experimental fashion film. For this film I really wanted to showcase my skills as an emerging fashion designer, but also as an all around creative director. I wanted to showcase fashion, animation, projection mapping, and film, combine it all seamlessly into both an art house film with a message, as well as a fashion film showcasing my designs. The medium of video and animation portrayed my ideas in the most visually continuous form that I was searching for. I made each piece of clothing by hand using sustainable fabrics that were sourced second hand. I wanted to make cargo pants that were couture inspired, streetwear that could also be worn to a red carpet. Satin fabrics and pearl belts were my way of showcasing a look that could be both high end or worn to a low key event. I was heavily inspired by Ludovic de Sant Sernin, an androgynous designer who focuses heavily on the masculine as feminine. I wanted to create fashion pieces that could be worn by anyone. The harness shirt that I designed weighed about 7 pounds due to the amount of chains.