grab some popcorn 🍿.

‘to my neighbours,’

[3:27 mins]

A creative storytelling video about unity and connectivity in the busy, diverse city of San Francisco.

  • This short film is a quiet invitation to slow down and notice San Francisco as it really is—layered, imperfect, and deeply human. Moving through different neighborhoods, it captures small, familiar moments: morning routines, passing streets, ambient city sounds, and the overlooked beauty tucked into everyday life.

    Through a warm, reflective narration and raw, unpolished visuals, the film explores the invisible distances between communities in a city often celebrated for its diversity, yet fractured in how its people coexist. Rather than pointing fingers or offering solutions, it asks viewers to listen more closely—to the city, to one another, and to the stories unfolding just outside their usual paths.

    At its core, this piece is about reconnection. A reminder that San Francisco isn’t just a skyline or a set of identities, but a patchwork of neighbors—waiting to be seen, heard, and understood.

    Write up: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZLnU6aeJVICgKmzXebD9ip0OfoF_zEdnzZnSm5A7Xvw/edit?usp=sharing

Aesthetics Highlight Reel

A person holds onto a horizontal metal handrail on a bus or train, with a view of the outside city street through a window, reflecting sunlight.
View of city buildings seen through a narrow gap between two older brick and concrete buildings at sunset.
Sunset view of San Francisco skyline with skyscrapers, including Salesforce Tower and Salesforce Park, seen from a highway with guardrails in the foreground, and a Costco sign visible. The sky is painted with soft orange and pink hues, and an airplan
Nighttime city street view from above showing parked cars, lit buildings, and streetlights.
Street view of Chinatown with red lanterns hanging above, storefronts, and parked cars.
Nighttime aerial view of a city street showing parked cars, pedestrians crossing a crosswalk, and street markings, illuminated by streetlights.
High-angle view of a parking lot with several parked cars, surrounded by brick buildings with illuminated windows, seen from a tall building at dusk.
Low-angle view of a brick building with two red warning lights and various wires on the exterior, against a partly cloudy sky.
View of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with a speed bump warning sign in the foreground, grassy areas, hills, and partly cloudy sky
A city street view with parked cars, residential buildings, trees, and a distant view of a bridge over water.
Street view with storefronts featuring Chinese signs, parked white and silver SUVs on the street.
A wooden bedside table with a smartphone, a stack of books, and a lamp.
Interior of an empty public bus with blue seats, yellow handrails, and large windows.
Sunset over San Francisco with a cityscape of buildings and hills.

‘The Nail’

[4:48 mins]

A concept-driven, creative directive film examining the contrasts of Japanese social norms from the viewpoint of a foreigner adapting to Japanese society. Filmed and developed in Tokyo, Japan.

  • The Nail is a first-person short film about moving through a society where harmony is everything—and standing out comes at a cost. Set in Tokyo, the film follows the quiet, accumulating pressure of conformity as experienced by a foreigner navigating daily life, politeness, and unspoken rules.

    Using animation layered onto live-action footage, the film visualizes what usually remains invisible: social masks, passive-aggressive language, and the emotional weight of constant self-regulation. Daytime restraint gives way to nighttime indulgence, not as an escape, but as part of a repeating cycle that sustains the very system it seems to release.

    Sound, rhythm, and repetition shape the film’s emotional landscape—traditional beats impose synchronization, while nightlife pulses offer fleeting relief. Shot entirely in first-person, The Nail is not a documentary of Japan, but a world built from lived sensation. It exaggerates reality to make power legible—not as force, but as something internalized, normalized, and eventually embodied.

    The film ends where it begins. The crowd moves, and the individual moves with it.

    Write up: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gg61DbSoXOfL49v6vS9ig43fUzLiYZQ4nWsLNK1KvDQ/edit?usp=sharing

Aesthetics Highlight Reel

Empty narrow city street at night with streetlights and buildings on both sides.
A traditional Japanese paper lantern lit up at night, hanging outdoors, with black Japanese characters on its surface.
Nighttime photo of a traditional Japanese pagoda with multiple tiers illuminated against a dark sky.
Close-up of a dark metallic humanoid sculpture with muscular details, leaning against or resting on a surface, with surrounding objects and a textured wall in the background.
Two large, colorful masks—one resembling a face with exaggerated red lips and another resembling a frog—on display, with a sign that says "Please do not touch" in English and Japanese.
A closed shop with a colorful cartoon painting of a traditional Japanese figure on its metal roll-up door. The shop is decorated with Japanese lanterns and banners, with some text in Japanese.
Night view of a traditional Japanese temple gate with large hanging lanterns and samurai warrior posters, people walking underneath.
Nighttime street scene in a Japanese shopping district, illuminated by hanging paper lanterns and street lamps, with some people seen on the sidewalk.
People dancing at a nightclub with blue laser lights and a disco ball.
A person's hand reaching towards colorful laser beams against a dark background.
A person wearing a glove is reaching out towards a digital interface with red and blue laser light lines in the background.
People crossing a busy urban street in Japan, with advertisements on buildings and a green pedestrian signal.
Urban scene with busy crosswalk filled with pedestrians in a city, tall buildings with colorful signs and advertisements, and a large digital billboard.
Nighttime cityscape with bright billboards and neon signs, including a large billboard featuring a woman eating a strawberry and smaller billboards with Japanese or Chinese characters on a multi-story building.
A person standing outdoors near a shrine or memorial, with hands clasped in prayer or contemplation, behind a container with burnt incense sticks and ashes.
Close-up of a granite fireplace mantel with gold-painted Chinese characters, dried ornamental grass, and part of a black metal sculpture or fireplace tool.
Close-up of strips of paper with Japanese characters tied to a wooden frame at a shrine, with a traditional building visible in the background.
Path leading to a traditional Japanese temple, lined with stone statues and red banners, with leafless trees and some green foliage.
Crowded staircase at an airport or train station with people ascending and descending the stairs, some with backpacks and bags.
A subway train car inside a station, with the word 'Hangzhou' in Chinese characters on the side, reflected in greenish lighting.

Campaign + Fundraising

Alaverdi School Fundraising Video

[1:23 mins]

Developed a story-driven fundraising video centred on teacher and student voices, raising over $3,000 USD to replace the gym’s windows and materially improve the school environment.

Stray Dogs Go Fund Me Campaign Video

[1:28 mins]

To address the issue of the overpopulation of stray dogs, our team developed and produced a fundraising video from concept to final edit, including filming, scriptwriting, content creation, and storytelling.