My '26 Capstone

Since I had taken this project into a different direction from what I had initially planned during my Precapstone semester, I have been feeling the side-effects of committing to a project idea that I had come up with within a day as a response to my project proposal feedback. If I could redo this project idea again and continue with the video essay format, I would have probably reduced it to four episodes, if allowed, and use hand drawn illustrations that matched my voiceovers.

The hiccups and hurdles I had to face since the last update have been trying to avoid complete burn out, unexpected technical difficulties such as my laptop overheating and shutting down, and sudden audio glitches while editing. I needed to push on through and continue to manage as much as I can with the laptop shutting down while I'm in the middle of editing.

Right now, the youtube playlist has been updated to having the trailer and the four episodes that were finished. For the uploaded episodes, I had gone back and added end cards to promote the playlist and the next video in the series. The instagram posts have also been updated, although I haven't been posting in it as much as I thought I would since my focus have mainly been on working on the videos.

To be honest, it has been a while since I had to use a video editing software like Davinci Resolve for projects, so it took me a minute to reacquaint myself with the basics and adjust to the latest software updates since the last time I used it. My workplace usually uses Canva for short videos, there aren't many courses that are available only online that involve video editing, and I haven't had the chance to use it for any personal projects.

As a curiosity, I had asked a few students if they genuinely sit and watch an informative video that was over ten minutes long or if they play it in the background and majority chose the latter, which puts me at ease of my decision to make the visuals simple. Because I spent most of the time on the research and writing, I knew that I wasn't going to have much time on editing, but I prioritized the content over highly stylized visuals. I needed to strike a balance of entertainment and analysis along with real life application and whether the audience thinks I've achieved it remains to be seen, but they don't seem to dislike it so far, either.

Here's a screenshot of my playlist:

For the next two weeks, I will be editing and uploading them onto my youtube channel. I would have liked to be a little ahead in the editing, but I got sick for a little over a week and spent less time than I wanted to on my project and more time resting, but I still try to do some work when I could. I even had to record the last episode while I was sick, so my voice sounds different. Fortunately, I had been cleaning up the audio as best I could as I recorded, so all I need to do is work on the visuals.

I didn't want to deal with copyright issues on youtube because they can be inconsistent on what they flag as copyright, so I chose to use screenshots for the film analysis portion. The rest would be stock photos and videos.

I knew that when I decided not to show my face in the videos that it would be more work to fill in the visual spaces and my other concern was making sure it retained attention. It's more of a podcast type but with simple visuals, nothing fancy. I'm hoping that the visuals would be okay enough and the content informative but also interesting.

Here's a 30 sec trailer that I had put together for the series:

There was some small hiccups, such as the booking of the recording room. I was unable to book the room ahead of time like I was told I could due to the booking prioritizing faculty and staff. At least it gave me more time to focus on research and writing, but it did push my initial schedule back a bit. The room is booked, though, and things should be progressing more once recording it done.

There's no drafts or visuals that I want to share at this time. I do feel like I've gotten more efficient in researching for resources, but it still takes some time to tie those resources together in writing.

The biggest hurdle is my mental health right now. I've been dealing with it for years and I can recognize when it's reaching a low point. I had gotten better on handling it over time and most days I'm fine, but there are times that it can hit me out of nowhere, along with other things from my personal life that are out of my control, and makes my mind feel heavy and jumbled. I know that I'm a week behind schedule and it is up to me to catch up on it, but I just needed some time to adjust and also do it in a healthy way. No excuses, I will catch up and take this as a lesson on how to deal with these things while working on an intense project and not beat myself over it.

Second thing is how much time it takes to research for each episode as they cover different subjects. I've probably mentioned this before. To provide research-based content, I want to make sure that the references I use are relevant and credible. Compared to my work time for episode 1, I have gotten better at research and script writing time for episode 2. Small victories.

My workplace is flexible enough to where I can ask for days off to focus on school work. I will see how my progress goes and will likely ask for days off around the post-production phase. But if I'm another week behind before then, I will have to rearrange my schedule when needed.

For now, I can share a mock up of my YT channel/IG logo that I might use and a simple promotional post for IG, which I will post soon. I will also be making more posts for IG to promote the series, episodes, and possible minor supplemental content if I have the time. Designs are subjected to change.

YT/IG logo:

IG Post:

YT Channel: CelluloidKilljoys | Playlist: Final Girl Survival Guide: from Horror to Healing

Instagram: CelluloidandKilljoys

Within the next two weeks, I'll be continuing on with drafting my scripts for each episode of the series as well as doing additional research as needed.

The hurdles that I've faced are what I've expected to happen, which is the slowing of writing progress due to the time that I need to do research for the right resources. I want to make sure that these scripts have my voice while also be research-based, so there is a balance to find in that.

I had also found that as I was writing the script, there were things that I wanted to change for the format and a few things to add, which led to rewriting what I already had. Because of this, it is taking a bit longer than I had originally planned. I hope that by drafting similar outlines for this new format it would make things easier for the next episodes. I think I also have remind myself that these are only drafts and that I don't need to stress too much of having it perfect right away.

Currently, I do not want to share any progress on my drafts. It is basically an extension of my last update with a few more things and I don't want to reveal too much of the script. I will hopefully have more to show by the next update.

One of the hiccups that I had run into is needing to replace my laptop soon. A black bar on the bottom of the screen started to appear and the laptop struggles when I try to use my usual editing software. I ordered a new laptop and it should be coming in before I need to start recording.

Another thing is finding the space to record my voice overs. The college library is under renovation, so I have been looking around for a while on where I should record. Since I'm a student worker at the library and the renovations are mostly done by now, my supervisor said I had the option to use the study rooms in the building or book a meeting room in the building we were temporarily occupying. I had also checked the public libraries for another option and most of them don't have any study rooms and one has two conference rooms but charge $100 and takes a week for the reservation to be approved.

Here is a portion of my rough draft for episode one:

Titles of episode and series may change, especially when it contains certain words, so I've put it in square brackets as a note to myself. Sections where I need references are marked with asterisks as a reminder for me.