Unraveled (2026)
Art Director
Film Production Coalition
Experience
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To ensure consistency across scenes, we took photos to replicate looks across several production days. Here's a graphic I produced using some of them.
Leadership Approach
This past 2026 winter quarter of my 1st year, I did work in the surreal time group as the head of the art department. It was my first time not only in FPC, but as a head of department at the collegiate level.
My responsibilities included coordinating meetings that worked with all 6 of my team member's schedules, delegating tasks, and teaching special effects in short workshops. These would build makeup application skills in a laid-back, low stakes, and supportive setting that would translate onto set. With this knowledge members could create props on their own time, experiment more easily, and now include this new skill in their portfolio for future projects.
In approaching leadership roles, I prefer to take a compassionate and holistic approach when it comes to delegating tasks and setting deadlines. I focused on team bonding first, since communication and comfort would be vital for the amount of work we had in this film. I believe only when members are fully comfortable in each other’s presence, a group (and film) is able to reach its full potential. The best part of it all is seeing people gain confidence as they further develop skills and make new friends on set.
As a first role, I really enjoyed it as I was able to quickly learn the systems used to manage films in FPC, how other roles interact with one another, including with leaders. My favorite part of FPC was being on set, meeting new people, and seeing my team slowly bond and get more comfortable with each other. It felt less like work and more like hanging out. That’s the kind of environment I’d want to foster and build as a leader, not just in FPC at UCSC but in general, with every production I partake in. in.
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Spoilers Below...
We went thrifting for potential scarves. Though none fit the vision. Eventually, we decided to make our own.
Long fabric was sewn together to create the huge scarf in the film. It also served as an amusing team bonding activity.
Meanwhile, we continued having special effects workshops to prepare for production. These skills would translate into molding fruit, a bruised neck, and a rotting arm overgrown with vines.
The scarf was workshopped with wire, string, and off-camera manipulation to simulate its movement in the open-mic scene.
The final product was several feet long, and required two handlers off-camera to control its movements. At last, the scarf had been tamed! Weekend one of production had officially wrapped!
The final SFX look involved bruising from the tightening scarf around Chloe's neck and a rotting vine infested arm. We used liquid latex, eyeshadow, foundation, fake blood, red gel, toilet paper, and leaves. It took several trial and error to get the plant to stick up and was taped around the actress's wrist as a makeshift bracelet in the end. Several layers of toilet paper dried and stuck together using latex alongside black eyeshadow and bruising near the edges created the illusion of depth. The lack of blood circulation was mimicked using black and purple eyeshadow at the fingertips. Creating the appearance of pooling blood as a result from livor mortis. These looks were used in the backstage scenes and when Chloe was found dead.
