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So, tomorrow, it will have been an official two years since starting the No MFA Project - and this past month has been the busiest yet in terms of who I've met and deals that are in the works. I fully plan on giving all readers the total low-down on the No MFA Project, what it has been from start to finish, and what lies ahead...

But first, friends - it's been a busy, busy week, so the two-year update will actually be coming in on 'two years and two days.' In the meantime, enjoy the weekend, and remember - there's no excuse for excuses! Get out there and follow your dreams, MFA or No MFA.

Documentary Encounters

It was a fast and furious five days, but I was able to edit down hours’ worth of footage into a 13 minute, 33 second ‘ghost-umentary.’ At least, a ghost-umentary is what I’m calling it… ‘Otherworldly Encounters’ started as a collection of true ghost stories and ended as more of an argument that an ‘otherworld’ does exist all around us.

I loved every minute of working on this project, despite the time crunch. During the month of October, I interviewed real New Yorkers – including one professional medium – about supernatural experiences they’d had within the five boroughs. Despite not sleeping much this past month, I was thrilled with how sincere (and sincerely bone-chilling) these interviews were. Rather than simply present a series of ‘ghost stories,’ as had been my original intention, I instead wound up piecing together a mini-documentary whose goal, really, was to convince viewers that experiencing something supernatural is actually pretty natural in the grand scheme of things.

My aim had been to finish this video right before Halloween, which, incidentally, also wound up being right before Hurricane Sandy struck New York. That being said, the focus this week definitely shifted away from releasing this short under the most perfect possible conditions.

I’ll be doing what I can to try and drive up the number of views in the coming weeks, though, and while I’m at it – feel free to watch, comment, share, like, and enjoy:

http://vimeo.com/52363683

A few final notes on the experience of making something in the documentary style…

This was my first time doing something in this genre, and right off the bat, I can tell you that in the battle of documentary vs. narrative, they both have their pros and cons. With documentary, it’s ok for the editing to be a little choppy. You don’t have to stick to a perfectly planned-out script. You also have an easier time filming, since setting up one chair with lighting for the interviewee is typically sufficient.

On the flip side, though, without a script, a documentary can be very hard to nail down. The ending of ‘Otherworldly Encounters,’ in particular, gave me a lot of trouble. The ending I finally used was the third one I created. Likewise, there were a lot of great stories and one-liners that didn’t make the final cut simply because there was no good way to include them without going off on big tangents.

Overall, though, I learned that I loved working in the documentary style. It’s amazing the kind of emotion and history people will give you when talking about their real lives. I loved feeling how I used to feel when I was working on a paper in college and had a ton of great sources to pull from: like I had the power to piece their most valuable insights into one, super-valuable final product. 

I definitely see more documentary in my future.