Alani Marie Smith is a senior Film & TV Production major at USC. Originally from New York, she yearns to reshape the constraints of traditional storytelling through a lens that captures not just the beauty in the physical, but the essence of life. As a self-taught painter, tattoo artist, and mixed media artist, Alani is now working to develop skills in film directing and cinematography. For her, filmmaking is the journey into the complexities of human experience and she loves how film so effortlessly connects people from every facet of life.