So I’ve been revisiting some of my projects and essentially uploading the process: the ideas, experiments, happy accidents, questionable decisions, side quests, and occasional moments of oh wait… this might actually work.

Consider this my version of the training program.

Welcome to the Mei Tricks.

Skyline College 2025 Wrapped

Skyline College "Wrapped": A Spotify Wrapped–Style Year-in-Review Video

A 69-second social media recap video created for Skyline College, modeled after Spotify's 2025 Wrapped campaign.

Strategic context: Other college and university accounts were also publishing Wrapped-style content that week, mostly using static graphic templates. I wanted to recreate the feel of scrolling through an actual Wrapped by building a fully animated, motion-graphics version instead.

The project was self-directed end to end: concept, motion graphics, and final edit, completed in two days from first sketch to posting.

Launch caption: "We're ready for you, Skyline College. Come on down. It's time for the Fall 2025 Wrapped."

What it involved:

Reverse-engineering Spotify's 2025 Wrapped visual language of a black/white/green/red palette with hand-drawn, psychedelic geometric patterns into a reusable set of animated elements
Learning Adobe After Effects from scratch to build custom motion graphics: animated squiggles, geometric patterns, and beat-synced pulsing dots (matched to the track's rhythm using expression code)
Designing and animating a "race" sequence using concentric-circle timing and custom code, casting the college's student body president and vice president against the college president in a social-media-engagement race for that semester
Editing the final sequence in Premiere Pro, with a custom song selection sequenced so each track's outro flowed into the next track's intro, mirroring the transition style of the real Wrapped experience

Skills demonstrated: motion graphics design, After Effects, Premiere Pro, self-directed learning under a tight deadline, social media content strategy, video editing, creative concept development

Impact: The best-performing single-video post that month, with likes roughly double the typical post in its content category.

There Be Ghosts

Oh Klahoma / Halloween Ghost

Trend-Based Social Campaign • Creative Strategy • Video Production

Sunglasses are surprisingly hard to keep on without ears.

I learned this the hard way. Or should I say, the haunted way.

Back around October 2025, the viral “Oh Klahoma” ghost trend was popping up all over my feed. I really wanted to create our version, but I lacked the obvious production prop: white sheets.

Then, while organizing the office, I noticed the logo tablecloths sitting in a wagon of supplies for College Hour, Skyline College's weekly tabling event. I immediately saw them as ghost costumes.

I grabbed a camera and tripod, recruited two unsuspecting student assistants, and turned an ordinary workday into a side quest.

Our first attempt had the Skyline logos facing outward, which meant our “ghosts” were wearing black sheets. One of the students suggested flipping them over. The reverse side was gray. Perfect.

Then came the sunglasses. The students found pairs in their cars, and we hit our first real production challenge.

It was windy. We couldn't see through the sheets. But we were committed.

From there, I set the camera to auto-shoot and directed a series of deliberately recognizable scenes, with poses that strategically held our glasses in place. We recreated the iconic Beatles Abbey Road crossing, waited at a campus bus stop like ordinary students—meaning, all staring at our phones—raced around the track, posed around campus signage, read at the library, and shopped for new hoodies at the bookstore.

For the final call to action, I repurposed a giant foam-core ad prototype from a previous BART campaign that was headed for the trash. It became our enrollment backdrop and delivered the final message: Just Start.

The project turned a viral social format, repurposed materials, and a spontaneous production into an original piece of enrollment content designed specifically for our campus community. More importantly, it was just a lot of fun.

Role: Creative concept, visual concepting, directing, camera operation, production, prop/resource sourcing, editing, social strategy, and Ghost #3

Budget: $0

Quality time with the best student assistants ever: Priceless

Communication challenge: Use a viral social format to create timely content that still feels specific to Skyline College rather than like a copy of what everyone else was doing.

Creative solution: Adapt the recognizable ghost trend around Skyline's own people, campus locations, materials, and enrollment message—turning a trend into an original campus story.

Commencement Teaser

Commencement Teaser

Social Media • Creative Concept • Copywriting • Teaser

I created this teaser for a Save the Date commencement announcement. The college had just renovated their track and field and I happened to see a worker slowly walking along painting the track lines. I waited for her to do a full round and walk into my frame. In a world of lightening fast cuts and 3 second hooks, I went the opposite route, creating an achingly slow reveal. As the worker came into frame, the words appeared to keep the viewer invested:

“We’re drawing the line between student and graduate...save the date”

The post used a classic soundtrack and humor to make an otherwise routine institutional announcement entertaining, timely, and memorable while keeping the information clear.

Caption: Preparations are underway… very slowly. But trust us, it will be worth it.

Role: Creative concept, copywriting, institutional messaging, cultural adaptation

Creative approach: Storytelling · Humor · Audience engagement · Institutional communications

Communication challenge: Make a routine save the date announcement memorable and engaging.

Creative solution: Go against trend and slow the speed of the reveal.

May the Course Be With You

May the 4th Enrollment Campaign

Social Media • Creative Concept • Copywriting • Pop-Culture Storytelling

For May the 4th, I transformed a routine enrollment announcement into a rewritten Star Wars opening crawl.

The concept borrowed the recognizable structure and dramatic language of the original films, recasting Skyline College as a “beacon of hope” and the approaching end of the semester as an intergalactic crisis: finals were looming, registration deadlines were approaching, and caffeine supplies were dangerously low.

I developed the narrative around familiar Star Wars archetypes—professors as fearless leaders, counselors as wise guides, and support staff as a “council of Jedi-level” resources—while positioning students as the heroes of their own educational journeys.

The final message brought the parody back to its actual purpose: summer and fall enrollment.

“May the Course Be With You.”

The campaign used a recognizable cultural reference to make an otherwise routine institutional announcement entertaining, timely, and memorable while keeping the enrollment information clear.

Role: Creative concept, copywriting, campaign messaging, cultural adaptation

Creative approach: Pop-culture storytelling · Humor · Audience engagement · Institutional communications · Enrollment strategy

Communication challenge: Make a routine enrollment deadline feel relevant and engaging.

Creative solution: Translate the message into a cultural format the audience already knows.

The Nugget Dino Chronicles

Community Storytelling • Social Campaign • Creative Writing • Character Development

This is the story of Nugget, a stuffed key fob dinosaur I found on campus grounds one rainy day that inspired an entire campaign. It started as a joke, a Lost Flyer reaching out to the student community to find its rightful owner.

Well, social media is an amazing thing. The owner reached out immediately. Naturally, I demanded proof. I take my job very seriously.

She checked out and I invited her to the office to return the dinosaur.

A reporter for the student-run newspaper, The Skyline View, left me a message, asking for an interview. I declined, because I was already onto the sequel.

Before turning Nugget over, I created an entire achingly slow pan montage reel set to Sarah McLachlan’s tender ballad about the ache of parting and bittersweet solace found in cherished love from the past – I Will Remember You.

A week later, I created a whole series of Valentine’s Day notes for campus. Nugget was in my thoughts.

It was quiet on the dino front for a bit. I thought the story had passed, novelty worn off.

Boy was I wrong. A few weeks later, the school newspaper posted a picture of a curiously familiar green plush. They called him “Fennel, the Journalism Dino”

I told my team we needed to take swift and decisive action against this flagrant act of copyright infringement. Of course, this is not professional behavior and highly inappropriate for a college social media account.

Unless, of course, it’s April Fool’s Day.

I decided to write an entire backstory for Nugget while subtly challenging Fennel’s existence, channeling my inner Street Fighter energy:

It was a dark and stormy night— (okay, actually, it was daytime, but the storm was real). A lone, yet undeniably adorable, green dino was found—soaked, lost, and in need of a hero. A campus-wide search for his rightful owner ensued. The story captivated hearts across hyperspace, uniting the Skyline College community in 24 hours of pure, wholesome triumph. His return was legendary. A story with heart. With an arc. With a Sarah McLachlan montage. His name? Nugget (as in *dino* nugget, the absolutely most perfect name ever). 🦖✨

Fast-forward a month… and suddenly, another green dinosaur appears. No backstory. No journey. No dramatic rain-soaked rescue. Just a red shirt and a title—Fennel, the Journalism Dinosaur.

Coincidence? Tribute? Suspiciously convenient rebranding?

Hey, we’re not here to point fingers. But the people deserve answers. They deserve a happy ending… and if Star Trek has taught us anything… red shirts don’t have the best survival rate (read Redshirts by John Scalzi). 👀🖖

And honestly, Skyline View… if we could have a Nugget, why settle for an herb? 🌿

This was deemed too aggressive and vetoed. “Make it a love story!” I’m told. And so I did.

The same day, the View posted their response, acknowledging the nod to Nugget.

What began as a potential rivalry became a campus-wide love story, with the community voting whether the two should be “shipped.”

The campaign unfolded across multiple formats: social copy, graphic design, photography, video, narrative writing, and audience interaction. The student newspaper responded publicly to the story, turning the joke into a playful exchange between two campus organizations.

The result was an entirely fictional character universe built from a toy I happened to find on the ground—and an example of how a small, unexpected moment can become a reason for a community to participate.

Role: Creative concept, campaign development, character development, creative writing, copywriting, graphic design, photography, video, social strategy, community engagement

Budget: $0

Formats: Social posts · Video · Photography · Graphic design · Creative writing · Community interaction

Origin story: One soggy dinosaur found on campus.

Communication challenge: Create authentic community engagement without another conventional announcement, event promotion, or institutional message.

Creative solution: Turn an accidental campus moment into a recurring character and serialized story that gave the community something to follow, react to, and help shape.

Wednesdays, Am I Right?

Portrait Photography • Creative Concept • Motivation

Too far. Too sunny. Too Wednesday.

That's what I thought before heading to the Golden Gate Bridge — one of my five trips there this month.

Tonight it's a saxophonist at the historic Savoy Tivoli in North Beach. I'm there to shoot video. It's late, it's downtown, it's jazz. I'm dragging a bit.

At my traditional job, the schedule was pretty predictable. It's Monday. Go to work. Deal with emails. Go home. Rinse and repeat. The decision had already been made for me.

Freelancing removes that structure, which can be both liberating and mildly annoying.

I wake up and have no idea what the next week will look like. A two-hour job can appear out of nowhere. Or I find myself driving an hour out to somewhere I've never been. I'm the photographer or videographer, running the show at events I've never experienced before.

And every time, I have to make the same tiny decision: do I want to go?

I always say yes.

Because one, it's nice to get paid.

But more significantly, a part of me is drawn by the potential, the unknown.

That Golden Gate shoot was for a family from France. I'd already mentally mapped the route for the perfect backdrops. What I didn't plan for were poses. I'm more of a prompt photographer.

"Can you dance?"

He did a spontaneous coupé and laughed, then went on to do an arabesque.

They taught me the French word for smile — sourire — and later posted my first five-star review:

"Mei est une personne adorable et très professionnelle je recommande vivement. Merci encore"

I learned something new: I actually love working with tourists.

There's something amusing about meeting people from other countries and being told, "You have a beautiful city."

I'm still dragging a bit. Tonight's event starts past my bedtime.

Who knows, maybe I'll end up loving jazz.

Role: Photographer, creative direction

Creative approach: Humor · Audience-first storytelling

Challenge: Get out of bed

Creative solution: Just do it

High Low Buffalo

Creative Concept • Video Production • Brand Storytelling

High Low Buffalo.

That was what I walked into at the Savoy Tivoli, a landmark club in North Beach. It was a wedding after-party happening way past my bedtime, and I was on assignment to film a live DJ-and-sax duo.

The maid of honor was finishing her speech, sharing how she and the bride always made time for High Low Buffalo—a ritual where they’d share one exciting high, one challenging low, and one totally weird “buffalo” from their day.

By the end of the night, I had all three.

The evening ticked off the usual wedding checklist: someone discreetly wiping a tear, yet another glass shattered on the dance floor (Every. Wedding.), and a guest of honor being lifted into the air.

Except this time, the guest of honor was a full-size plastic skeleton named Skelly, who apparently shared many core memories with the bride.

My main job was capturing the live dynamic between the DJ and saxophonist. But it was dark, crammed, and there are only so many ways to film a guy with a sax before the shots start repeating.

Then Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” came on.

The crowd lost it. Fists pumped in the air as a group in the front belted the song like it was their battle cry.

I love this song. So obviously, I was now fully invested.

I was all over the saxophonist. Above the crowd. From the floor. Circling him like a fly. Stretching my tripod overhead for low budget drone shots. It must have looked like a bizarre workout routine, but I'd probably be the only person who noticed.

Eventually, I took a quick breather next to Skelly.

Looking into his solid black sockets, we silently decided he needed a bigger role.

After all, he was central to the bride’s story.

I hauled Skelly up, leaned him over the DJ booth, and draped his arm around the DJ.

Without missing a beat, she caught on, grooving alongside her bony co-DJ and finishing with an underarm turn mid-set.

High: Pink Pony Club.

Low: The lighting.

Buffalo: Skelly.

I Do Birthdays

Creative Concept • Video Production • Current Event • Photography Storytelling

I can now confidently put on my resume: I do birthday parties.

If you haven’t heard, the Pokémon World Championships kick off in SF today. I couldn't attend, but I caught a little piece of my own Pokémon action recently at a 5-year-old’s birthday party.

Most event photography requests revolve around very specific milestones: weddings, baby showers, maternity shoots, birthdays. The thing is, these milestones are much more significant to the people in front of the camera than they are to the person behind it.

A 5-year-old’s party is not high on my excitement list. But for the birthday boy and his parents, it’s a milestone. They are focused on their moment while there is a whole party unfolding. These are the moments I scan for with my camera.

Some parts are really funny.

I hear the little boys debating who’s stronger and who’s older and which fact holds the ultimate status check.

Click.

I catch multiple hands reaching for the forbidden treats at the cake table, toes extended for that much-needed final inch.

Click.

I see the newest attendee, curiosity stretching toward the jumpy house while his hands remain tightly anchored to his father’s finger.

Click.

I engage with the brother, who was resistant to me and my camera.

“Do you like the Cal Academy? Is that hoodie Claude?”

“Yea, he’s dead. He was 30 years old. They threw him a party.”

Click.

There’s the birthday boy, sitting squished against his friend discussing Very Important Things. They are facing away from the party, completely absorbed in their own world.

Click.

I silently root for the spunky girl duking it out in the jumpy house against every single boy, completely unaware that she instantly became my idol that day.

Click.

I delight in the 2-year-old perfectly repeating after me as I identify every color around us.

I melt at her utter enthusiasm towards one of the boys.

I see her index finger headed straight for the nose, knuckle deep.

Click. Click. Click.

I admit that last one was my personal favorite. I only hope Mom appreciated it as much as I did.

Role: Creative concept, video production, filming, editing, copywriting, photography

Setting: 5-year-old Birthday photoshoot · Larspur, CA

Creative hook: "I do birthday parties" Pokemon World Championships

Hit It, DJ

Creative Concept • Video Production • Pop-Culture Storytelling • Brand Content

Fun fact: I have this weird fantasy where I say, “Hit it, DJ!” and then break out in some karaoke hits to a crowd of people. Fortunately for the greater population, I am not delusional. I can’t sing.

But I found someone who can. And she happened to be a DJ.

We were on location for a wedding. Before we arrived I had a brief with the assistant: please say those fateful words during sound check.

“I’ll try,” he said.

I had proposed a side project for our DJ, a mashup of her singing the same song with cuts from different venues

“What’s your walk on song?”

“I don’t have one… do I need one??”

“You’re a DJ. Of course you do.”

She chose Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends”, which in my opinion was the absolute best possible choice for her - “Come on get me, get me on the floor. DJ what you, what you waiting for?”

I asked for her DJ edit.

The day of, our spectacular assistant did the thing and delivered the cue as I focused the camera on her to catch her reaction.

The final edit is yet to come. But in the meantime, hit it DJ!

Role: Creative concept, creative direction, video production, filming, editing, copywriting, concept adaptation

Setting: Full-day branding video shoot · Kenwood, CA

Creative hook: "Hit it DJ" + Britney Spears Till The World Ends = DJ with personality

Communication challenge: Take advantage of production set-up B roll from a branding shoot and use it for multiple yet distinct content.

Creative solution: Build a recognizable narrative around the circumstances already present: a sound check moment paired with a spontaneous karaoke moment to showcase the person behind the brand.

A Full House of DJs

Creative Concept • Video Production • Pop-Culture Storytelling • Brand Content

This reel started as a simple promotion for a branding photography session.

We had a full-day shoot at a studio in downtown San Francisco, with a dozen people, lighting equipment, wardrobe, and a very tight production schedule all packed into one room. I was there to help keep the shoot moving. Naturally, I was filming.

The creative connection came quickly: they were DJs looking to refresh and elevate their image, and we had a house full of them.

I grew up watching Full House, so the opportunity to borrow its iconic opening sequence was too good to pass up.

Looking for a DJ? FCE has a Full House of them.

Turn your brand into a classic.

Like the original TV intro, the reel introduced each person individually—DJ So-and-So, one by one—turning a straightforward branding shoot into a recognizable pop-culture parody.

Everyone had a DJ title.

Except Joe, the assistant.

Several weeks later, during a long drive to another shoot, someone pointed out that Joe deserved his own title. I agreed.

So I remixed the reel.

The second version leaned further into the transformation from nostalgic 90s sitcom to modern DJ brand and gave Joe the credit he deserved:

With Spectacular Assistance by Joe.

What began as behind-the-scenes content became a branded concept with its own visual language, narrative structure, and sequel.

Role: Creative concept, creative direction, video production, filming, editing, copywriting, concept adaptation

Setting: Full-day branding photography shoot · San Francisco

Creative hook: A room full of DJs + a classic sitcom = a Full House of DJs

Communication challenge: Turn behind-the-scenes footage from a branding shoot into content that felt like part of the brand—not simply documentation of the shoot.

Creative solution: Build a recognizable narrative around the circumstances already present: a room full of DJs became a Full House, allowing pop-culture familiarity to carry the concept while introducing each artist individually.