Okay so, because this is the tale of how technology decided to personally sabotage my life (shocking, I know). My laptop—my precious baby—chose the ABSOLUTE WORST moment to have a complete meltdown! So while it was getting its life together in tech rehab, I was trying to focus on my other subjects like some responsible student (spoiler alert: I was mostly stress-eating).
Then came the moment of pure TERROR: Sir Zia casually dropping the bomb in class, asking who had finished their video. Cue that stomach-dropping feeling because HELLO, the deadline was end of January and here I was, video-less and panicking! But hey, what's a little deadline drama to add spice to life, right?
The SECOND I got home, I went into full survival mode and downloaded CapCut on my phone because desperate times call for desperate measures, people! And YES, I had to splash cash on the premium version because basic features weren't going to cut it for this emergency situation. With less than TWO HOURS before I had to submit to Sir Zia (no pressure or anything), I basically became an editing ninja!
Since editing is no joke, this is when things start to get serious.
First move in my editing marathon: slow down that old birthday video to get all those nostalgic feels pumping. For those flashback moments? I slapped on a radiance filter that screamed "THESE ARE MEMORIES, PEOPLE!" which totally separated the past from the present. Then—genius move, if I do say so myself—I kept the original matchstick and candle-lighting sounds because AUTHENTICITY, am I right? This is when "The Night We Met" started playing (cue the tears) because what says "symbol of hope meets emotional crisis" better than THAT song?
The candle was giving off this crazy yellow light that was basically blinding everyone, so I adjusted the exposure and threw on a subtle filter to tone down the yellow party happening on screen. This filter stuck around till the end because consistency is key, people! Between scenes? Fade-out transitions EVERYWHERE because we're going for "emotional journey" not "seizure-inducing music video."
For that refrigerator scene (aka the brownie's sad new home), I went FULL cold and whitewashed to really hammer home that "emotional distance" vibe. This shot was moving slower than my motivation on Monday mornings, so I sped it up just to shake things up. Same deal with the headphone-plugging scene—quickened it and zoomed in because INTENSITY! And when our character cranks that volume to 100%? You better believe I gave that moment the close-up treatment it deserved because that's PEAK emotional drama right there!
Fun fact: that red lighting when the character enters the room? TOTALLY ACCIDENTAL! That's just how the room lights decided to work that day—no filters, no editing tricks, just pure lighting luck! But I LOVED IT because it gave everything this cozy but slightly off-kilter vibe that was PERFECT. And because I'm apparently a perfectionist (who knew?), I stabilized that email-opening scene to make it look all professional and smooth.
For the grand finale—that gut-punch moment when the character gets the message "Grandma passed away"—I brought back the low-key filter to really let that emotional bomb drop. Then came the long, black fade-out because sometimes silence says everything after life-changing news, you know?
To wrap this emotional rollercoaster up with a bow, I added one last fade-out before the title "BETWEEN TWO WORLDS" appeared on screen. And no, my name isn't in the credits because I TOTALLY FORGOT, and at this point, I'd rather take another media studies exam than re-download everything just to add it. Besides, I directed, edited, and basically did EVERYTHING myself, so who needs credits anyway?
And THAT, my friends, is how this masterpiece came together—through panic, premium subscriptions, and pure determination!
