Haania Punjwani

My in-person internship experience with Vilify Media in Chicago consisted of camerawork and editing workshops, working on film sets, engaging in pre-production work, filming my personal documentary, and editing the documentary. I met with my advisor multiple times a week, both in person and virtually, to check in about tasks on pre-production and to have workshops. We also drove a few hours out of Chicago for a weekend shoot towards the end of July. After leaving Chicago, I am working on editing the short film with my advisor with weekly meetings. Coming out of the experience, I gained a whole new set of tangible filmmaking skills that I will apply to my future projects and career journey. Also, I was able to connect with other filmmakers, editors, and people in the film industry through my internship advisor and become involved in other projects in the Chicagoland area.

This experience also gave me information on festivals, advice on making a film career, and exposure to the common and unconventional pathways others have taken to create their own career. I was able to ask questions not only about their experiences, but also opinions on works in progress of my own and resources that I could use in the future in Chicago. Chicago, known as the documentary city, was a great location for this internship specifically as there were a lot of people working on something similar to what I aspired to create in my own personal project. I learned not only how to film/direct a documentary, but I also learned how to find a participant with little connections, connect with your participant and make them feel comfortable, find the ethical boundaries in the filmmaking practice, and other soft skills related to creating a film project. The biggest takeaway would be the experience of creating something of my own from start to finish as well as hearing the experiences of well-decorated filmmakers in the area. This experience felt like a significant boost in my skill set and hands-on experiences with film, and I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to be a part of it.