A collection of creative works during time spent inside of the outgroups that describe a two-year journey of honing a creative voice and harnessing a heart of service.
For each entry, I have detailed my role, contribution, joy, challenge, variations and similarities with other positions.
Multidisciplinary resource building of interactive media techniques and access for these resources:
(HEALTH POLICY + ENTERTAINMENT): (Completed) CDC Panel Oct 3: Pre-production research
Role: Pre-production researcher. I researched the scientific bases, commentaries, and other easter eggs found in The Last of Us II game and HBO show to make discussion points for a combined panel between the CDC and USC School of Cinematic Arts. I felt excited to trace the inspiration footsteps of the creatives who played with the concept of fungi as a zombie apocalypse culprit and then depicting that premise respectfully for the TV show counterpart which was released during COVID-19. This is one of my only pre-production for an event experience that directly hosted voices from science and entertainment, I see a future in this and would do it for free (but won’t)!
(NEURO-OPTHALMOLOGY + VIRTUAL REALITY): VR Driving Simulator for visual field loss
Active status: complete local prototype with no crowd actors or specific project measurements. Transferred to summer workers as of 5/2024.
Role: Technical producer. IRB edits, team recruitment, project documentation, and task management on Notion. This project is sort of my thesis experience because it started during my first and only summer in the MA program and ended a little after my graduation. I was responsible for recruiting based on the connections I had made so far and aligning all work towards clinical and feasible goals. Most importantly, I documented our progress and lingo differences in a project Notion—I wish I had this for all cross-discipline collaborations! The project contact is Dr. Jefferey Gluckstein at [email protected]
(MOLECULAR BIOLOGY + VIRTUAL REALITY): World in a Cell VR Experience by Inner Space (Completed)
Role: IRB co-author, Usability Researcher, and Science Coordinator. IRB edits, usability playtest coordinator, usability data researcher and report author, and coordinator between science content and development teams. I held these roles for the summer of 2022, and it was my first full-throttle science education VR experience project. I loved the back-and-forth ideation process and being able to quickly validate with objective third-party playtesters. The project was USC-associated but not completely internal to the Games department, which was the perfect placement for a games-for-science early role.
(NON-LINEAR STORYTELLING + VR/XR/AR): Ganek Immersive Studio at USC
Role: Producer on Capstone project, Lab student worker. Assisted production for an M.S. capstone VR experience, They Shall Not Come Back, created Ganek’s Instagram, and collaborated to build Ganek’s website. I was excited to help build such an open-source VR/XR/AR center housed under SCA and accessible to all students. As of writing this, it is bittersweet to part with a studio that grew so much in a few years, but I know I’m leaving it in a good place as more student interest pours in to manifest in more and more projects.
Original storytelling with technical and/ or narrative experimentation:
3D Animation exploration in Cinema4D: CTXA Dreams class final
Role: Solo creator. Without regard for the learning curve, I was determined to learn Cinema4D as my first 3D modeling program to fulfill my CTXA assignments. Of course, it wasn’t the learning curve but the tech spec limitations that limited my scope. Still, I produced quick animations for the CTXA Science Visualization course, as seen in the visual podcast later. Yet, I wanted to still create a visual music/poetry piece for the CTXA Dreams class taken in my last Spring Semester. I was also curious as to where my visual tastes would lead if I designed and lit an environment entirely from my imagination—unbolstered by tech limitations or strict course prompts. The piece I finished with is called OCTANE, and to me represents what I see in a deep sleep (perhaps after a heavy work day), which is my version of the murky liquid void from where ambition originates and can spark. The poem is from In Vitro from DKMH and is read by Dacre Montgomery; the song is sentimi by madame. Kathy Smith, the professor of the dreams course, had great critique and feedback, which words and processes I’ll carry throughout my creative explorations. Namely, that I have a recurring color theme I didn’t know about.
VR FILM: (Completed) Entropy at Night, VR 180-degree stereoscopic film
Role: Solo project creator. This is my first VR film, initially begun in CTAN 504 Production in VR course, where I was given access to the film with a Meta-sponsored dual fisheye lens Canon camera (R5C). The R5C camera can uniquely capture 180-degree environments stereoscopically and can only be fully viewed in a VR headset, so I chose to experiment with its long exposure settings and photograph light painting art. Light streaks in 3D? Cool. This technical process has never been done at the time of my production, so I think of this project as my most “SCA” experience of figuring the filming out as I go. I submitted my process and lessons learned through Annenberg’s Graduate Symposium posted on their Instagram. I will also upload the slides and final product (360-degree, stereoscopic view settings I developed and viewed on a Meta Quest 2) in a zip file below.
PODCAST PRODUCTION WITH COMMUNITY INTERVIEWS: Podcast about adoptee experiences and media representation
Role: Solo creator, audio engineer, interviewer, scriptwriter, editor. I was tasked with drafting a plan, not delivering a full episode, for a solo podcast about anything during the CTPR Practicum in Podcast course. At the time, I was inspired by an episode by The Cut’s podcast called Transracial Adoptees are Tired of TV, which reported the paradox of adoptee media representation where any quality of onscreen depiction may not be well received. I am not an adoptee myself, but I am a friend, daughter, older sister, and niece of adoptees. I invited and recorded conversations with these adoptees to produce a trailer, art, and a pitch deck with a survey. I spoke passionately about this project, and that same semester, I was asked by Professor Wendy J.N. Lee to present during the CNTV Cinematic Ethics course, which is a required course for all SCA students, and designed a survey to gauge this representation topic with rising creatives. All of these materials and more are attached in the zip file below.
VISUAL PODCAST FOR SCIENCE TRIP: Immersive podcast on ocean floor bacteria for Alaska research cruise hosted by a new-coming Dornsife microbiology lab
Active status: Research trip is planned for the second half of July in Alaska.
Role: Artist, science communicator, podcaster. I was put into contact by the VR Production professor, Eric Hanson, with a new microbiology professor who will join Dornsife in Fall 2024, Dr. Drew Steen. I was invited to join their July 2024 Alaska research trip to make a creative product, and I chose an immersive storytelling podcast. So far, I’ve made a slide deck detailing the production plan of the episodes, recruitment images, 3D art, and a visual trailer. I am excited to funnel my collective production skills for this extremely in-the-field assignment.
ASTRONOMY JOURNALING APP: Asterist app is the first interactive stargazing app with a journaling element
Role: Game Producer and Sloan contributor. From a small 10-member team primarily led by new faculty members Sean Bouchard and Martzi Campos, I saw this timely and artful app come to life within my last year of the MA program. Originally, I joined with a shared space science interest, but I found my narrative design and usability research skills most helpful. Similarly, I saw the talented MFA and MS counterparts of my USC Games cohort year apply their skills and combine their resources to make a finished product that was uniquely ours. While not a thesis, Advanced Games Project (AGP), or attached to any course, I think the pure volunteering aspect of this collaboration hosted a shared enthusiasm and passion for the project that is evident in its design. The website is linked here, below is a photo from 2024 Games Expo at our booth.
Multidisciplinary writing skills and community involvement:
JOURNALISM: Annenberg Journalist for Arts, Culture and Entertainment Desk
Role: Student SCA writer, critique on the multicultural depiction of grief through art, expression of generational challenges, and the currents in the creative community at large. In this role, I grew from writing opinion pieces about the media most immediate in my purview to keeping a pulse on USC’s/LA’s community happenings and being able to report on-scene. Eventually, I was in tune with the Annenberg Media student buzz to help and contribute without necessarily writing pieces. This hub became a crossroads of connections as I found access to spaces and voices I would have never within a traditional Games student experience, and others had me as a contact for the Games department, too. Linked is my writer's profile, and attached below are the original images I made for articles.
COMMUNICATION THEORY: (Research paper and Figma Prototype) App that uses AI based on foundations of communication theory, specifically Emory Griffin’s Phenomenological Theory
Role: Writer and designer for Cosmic Chatter. This is an assignment for a Communication Theory course where we were tasked with using generative AI to refine an existing process or make a new one. As I was inspired to work with Asterist during that semester, I made the opposite of that app. In Asterist, the user can connect the existing stars to make a new constellation, which they can write journal entries. In Cosmic Chatter, celestial bodies will temporarily pass through the user’s sky, and their “chatter” or comments about Earth can be overheard in the app. Linked is the Figma mobile prototype, and attached are screenshots and the final research paper for the Communication course.
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