Director, Cinematographer, Lead Editor & Colourist
3-Person team: Anica (Yuting) Li and Venus Kong
3-Person team: Anica (Yuting) Li and Venus Kong
About the Project & My Role
Stitched in Vancouver is a short-form documentary produced in partnership with the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) and SFU SIAT, exploring the future of sustainable fashion. The film highlights the innovative work being done at LaSalle College, focusing on how the next generation of designers is reimagining textile production. The narrative is anchored by Ana, the Faculty Lead at LaSalle, and it follows the journey of Ariana, a student researcher working with experimental biomaterials to potentially create the future of eco-friendly products.
As the Director, Cinematographer, and Team Lead, I managed the production within a three-person team. Because of the project's ambitious scope and the varying experience levels of the crew, I assumed responsibility for the primary visual execution, specifically focusing on camera operation and lighting design.
Visually, I established a clean, soft aesthetic to bridge the gap between an educational piece and a professional corporate showcase. I utilized naturalistic lighting setups with soft diffusion to create an approachable, authentic atmosphere for the interviews. For the B-roll, I focused on an observational style, capturing genuine moments of the students working with raw materials. This approach allowed us to maintain a polished, professional tone while authentically capturing the tactile nature of their design process.
Cinematography & Technical Execution
Multi-cam
Multi-Focal Length: I implemented a two-camera (both Sony FX30) interview setup to create dynamic editing options that could emphasize different emotional beats, and it provided essential coverage, allowing me to mask dialogue edits and tighten the pacing by cutting between angles, ensuring a seamless narrative flow without distracting jump cuts.
I used a 30mm lens to establish the subject within their environment, allowing the audience to see the context
For more vulnerable or passionate moments in the interview, I cut to a tight angle using a 55mm lens. This compressed the background and created a shallow depth of field, forcing the viewer's focus entirely on the subject's expression.
30mm Lens
55mm Lens
Colour Grading
To maintain maximum control over the visual tone, I captured all footage using Sony S-Log3 in 10 bit 4:2:2. This logarithmic profile maximizes dynamic range, preserving critical detail in both the bright window highlights and the darker lab environments.
As seen in the comparison below, the raw S-Log3 footage is intentionally flat and desaturated. In post-production, I transformed this "blank canvas" by restoring contrast without crushing the blacks, ensuring a balanced, high-fidelity image. This approach allowed me to prioritize natural skin tones and organic textures—essential for a narrative focused on sustainability and human connection.
Talking Head in SLOG3
Talking Head Colour Graded
Mannequin B-Roll in SLOGC3
Mannequin B-Roll Colour Graded
Lighting
To maintain consistent visual quality across different rooms at the college, we used a lean, efficient two-light setup. Our primary goal was to ensure flattering skin tones while using the secondary light to create depth and separation from the background.
Key Light: SmallRig RC 120B with a Softbox (Soft, diffused light for faces)
Secondary Light: GVM 80W with a condenser/spotlight mount (Hard, directional light for shaping)
Setup A (Ana): We positioned the SmallRig with a softbox to the side as our key light to provide soft, flattering illumination on the face. The GVM was placed behind the subject as a dedicated backlight, creating a distinct rim light on her shoulder and hair to separate her dark blazer from the background.
Lighting Diagram for Ana's Talking Head
Ana's Lighting Setup
For the student researcher, the background was vibrant and filled with mannequins that were crucial to the story. Here, we repurposed the GVM 80W to act as a background light. By spotting the light onto the mannequins behind her, we illuminated the environment to show the context of the fashion lab, while keeping the SmallRig 120B focused on the subject to ensure she remained the focal point.
Lighting Diagram for Ariana's Talking Head
