The Racial Disparities of Hurricane Ike
In 2008, Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston, Texas. Leon Phillips, a long-time island resident, reflects on rebuilding the island in the years that followed.
MARCH 2023 - Filming historical accounts is an important way to preserve history, which is one thing I vow to do in nearly all of my film projects. Being able to review and edit testimonial footage from island residents allowed me to develop a short documentary that raises awareness about the racial disparities plaguing Galveston.
I narrowed over 5 hours of stock footage into a five minute short using Adobe Premiere Pro. Aside from compiling and organizing clips, I included text boxes, sound effects, and music to enhance the storytelling of the documentary.
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Storyteller for the Screen
Valeria Messalina is an independent filmmaker with a diverse portfolio of short narrative films, documentaries, and User-Generated Content commercials. These select films showcase her different talents within filmmaking, from writing and cinematography to editing and directing. Every project fuels her passion for storytelling for the screen.
Spindrift: User-Generated Commercial
Are you compelled to buy Spindrift after watching this user-generated content commercial?
APRIL 2023 - Using stock footage of fruits and Spindrift cans, I visually manipulated the clips using After Effects to practice special effects editing to mimic commercial videos that entice viewers to buy a product.
Through this project, I specifically learned how to composite, which is the process of making the special effects look real. Originally, there is a string holding the fruit slices up but I removed it frame by frame and recolored the footage so the string is undetectable. Additionally, I recolored the water to appear as if the fruit is floating in thin air.
Hierarchy of Sound
Spot the difference from the sound design in the original clip and the sound design from the dubbed version.
MARCH 2023 - This sound design exercise takes an existing clip from a well-known piece of media to be redubbed in an editing software. For this work sample I chose a clip from my favorite childhood film The Wizard of Oz (Flemming, 1939) where Dorothy returns home moments before a twister. This scene allows for various sounds like wind, rustling leaves, and animals running loose to contribute to the world-building of a natural disaster hitting a farm.
Royalty-free audio pulled from Free Sounds. Film clip used for educational purposes only. Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Promotional Campaign Trailer
What piece of advice would the late Mr. Rogers share if he were still with us today? Kindness goes a long way. Would you choose to be kind?
NOVEMBER 2020 - I reflect on the year 2020 in the only way I know how; by summoning a personal icon of mine within the television industry. Mr. Rogers' reminds us all to be kind as we confront our nation's systemic racism and rise above the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this film, I overlay original footage with news audio to demonstrate the state of Los Angeles in comparison to national news. I then imported the visual and audio clips into Adobe Premiere Pro to create a visually compelling film collage that evokes emotion through music and text.