About the Project
Alaska was shot and edited during the summer of 2025. I took inspiration from various sources, such as an OpenAI commercial, YouTube videos, and music. But most inspiration came from Quentin Tarantino's movie, Pulp Fiction, for its nonlinear storytelling. When I was in Alaska, plenty of video ideas came to me, but I couldn't pick one, so I brought it down to four different topics: the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, my Mom’s Narrative, Wildlife & Nature, and Seward. When editing these topics, I noticed it all felt drawn out and boring with long dialogue. I decided to split the stories apart to keep the viewer constantly on their toes.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was an interesting part of the trip. We took a helicopter to the top of a glacier where the dogs live at the top of for months at a time. There were very informative guides that narrated the whole section. It was recorded on my phone in my pocket which gives the video poor quality, but it’s better than nothing! All the dogs were happy and barking the whole time and just wanted to run free, which I thought was amazing.
Mom Narrative
My mom was the main one who wanted to go to Alaska for what seems like forever. Originally, we were supposed to go in 2020 but that was canceled due to Covid and all of the restrictions in place. Fortunately we made it now! I really wanted her to speak for this video as she has great things to say about her dream that came true. I believe her section came out pretty well with the video and audio, but I am mostly happy about the emotion there is in it.
Wildlife & Nature
This section was the most technical, as stated earlier, I had most of my inspiration from this section by Zian Fournier’s YouTube video “whycrywhenyoucancut.” With its unique music transition and different sections moods, I felt I had to recreate it with my Alaska footage. Additionally, the music was from the Camille 2000 soundtrack, taking “Camille 2000 (end titles)” and “Ballade.” Lastly, I tried to create a sense of suspense in this, but couldn't figure out how to do that. When listening to Jeff Buckley’s Grace, a suspenseful clock sound could be heard, which I recreated, pulling off the same feeling.
Seward
Seward was by far my favorite part of this trip. When I was on a boat there, the guide told me some very unique history about the town. So I created a whole section on it, narrated by my history-loving Dad. The small town has a beautiful look that is unmatched by many, it looks like it was stuck in a time capsule since the 50s with a natural view straight out of a dream. It would be a great place to visit once more and settle down when I’m older.
My brother Jacob and I on top of Mount Healy in Denali National Park. It was awesome.
