Inspired by the neurological condition linking one sense to another, I came up with the game concept as an introduction to VR project development. VR allows for experiences that wouldn't be possible in real life, and it was always a core idea behind the aesthetic, experience, plot, and execution of the app. Due to my musical background, I wanted to provide an original musical experience to the player, hence using the drum playing as a main aspect of the game.

I was able to learn more about Synesthesia online as well as interview a fellow UM student with the condition and include aspects of her experience in the game (color choices in relation to pitch played or letters displayed, sizes and pigment saturation of the color clouds, textures used throughout, etc.), while more accurately raising awareness on the condition during the first part of the game.

My project partner, Varun Krishnan, coded the application using C# and OpenXR for cross platform support.

I edited the application's promotional video (incorporating sound effects and music to bring visuals to life) for presentation at the XR grant showcase.

Four the robot came to life for a 3D character design class in which I learned how to to build a 3D model from a sketch reference (front - profile) in the Autodesk Maya software. I was able to section his body for texture mapping, as well as rig him with a skeleton to apply motion capture from the website Mixamo. I then transfered the project into Adobe Aero to film him as my AR co-star in a short investigation style film. The video above showcases snippets of him in action.

I designed this colorful, collage-inspired, rendition of Athena in Adobe Illustrator as one of the characters to be animated (later, in After Effects) in a 2D music video project for class this semester. Without a drawing background, I wanted to create an original interpretation of the greek goddess using Greek statue aesthetic (the face, with lighting work), collage work for added texture (golden breastplate, glitter hair), while retaining anatomical proportions for a credible character design.

How I Feel About Pregnancy was a script written this semester by a fellow film production classmate which explored a different take on pregnancy through a character study within the psychological thriller/ horror short film genre. As a student film producer, I am usually involved (and support my team) with raising funds, budgeting, securing all necessary resources (locations, equipment, props, etc.), paperwork (authorizations, licenses, etc.), script revision, casting, craft (food/catering), planning, scheduling, art direction... anything the specific project and team might need to successfully complete the narrative. For this specific project, I was also the music editor and overall mixer (music, dialogue, sound effects). 

This film premiered at UM's 2022 Canes film festival and has been selected to compete in the 2022 Student World Impact Film Festival amongst 5,000 entries from 100+ countries.

This project was realized as an entry to the 2021 AGBO 48h competition which meant gathering a team, locations and resources in a timely, cost-efficient manner, as well as remaining adaptable during all stages of production to meet the tight deadline.

Mrs. Steal Your Man was a project selected for UM's 2021 Sound of Silent Film Festival in which student filmmakers and composers are paired together to score original music to existing shorts. The collaborative aspect is a great introduction to the process of tailoring music for a specific narrative, and the score is performed live by a Frost students orchestra during the festival showings. Sydney Miyao composed the score for this project.

This re-score of the Blizzard Entertainment's game Heroes of the Storm was completed as a Frost media scoring class assignment for the video game scoring section. As a music composer, the main considerations I observed during this exercise were: a musical theme and orchestration that reflected the mood and content of the video, timing (when different instruments or melodic elements were introduced to accompany onscreen actions) and musically following the overall plot development (the hero's journey, rising above the obstacle). As a classical pianist, I have a stronger background in the classical repertoire when composing, but wanted to play around with the rock and metal idioms as influences to accompany this action-packed trailer.

A musical composition where I experiment with sound effects, synthesizers, plug-ins, texture loops and non-acoustic instruments in Logic Pro X. Modern, environment building.

A composition using software instruments, in which I worked within advanced settings of Pro tools plug-ins to manipulate the sounds and try to replicate more closely the natural sound of orchestral instrument sounds considering player behavior (breathing, physical limitations, note duration, etc.). Fantastical, orchestral.

A piece written to experiment with textures by blending orchestral aesthetics with synthesizer heavy instrumentation. I explored filling the acoustic space with panning so that the listen would be more spatially interesting.