UPENN SENT ME TO INDIA FOR A VIDEO PROJECT

I love to travel in general. When it comes to travel for a video production project, it gets really exciting.

So I went to India for the University of Pennsylvania’s school of Social Policy and Practice. The goal was to shoot a mini doc of a trip that students were taking to rural parts of India. The trip was centered around Microfinance and Collectivism in rural India, and how both contribute to overall wellbeing of the population. What a trip!!

I had never been to India before so I didn’t know what to expect. Of course I had read up on India, saw images, various docs etc. But how much can you really prepare yourself for this? I did all the usual steps. Made a list of people I needed to interview, shot lists, travel, accomodations, shoot schedule. Ya know…..Pre production. I was told not to eat the street food which sucked because I love street food. And I was told to close my mouth when showering because you don’t want to swallow the water. Oh boy! I DIDNT GET SICK!

BUT…..When I arrived it was quite the culture shock. I don’t think I had ever witnessed a level of poverty, inequality, and lack of infrastructure, especially in rural areas. Despite this……….The country is lush, beautiful, and I have never seen a collection of citizens so dedicated towards one another. I was on a 3hr train ride from Goa to Mangalore heading to where the shoot was. I was incredibly sleep deprived and jet lagged. I was not well. I was offered food and medicine on the train by a family! I stuck out like a sore thumb! I don’t get offered food from anyone in NYC lol!

The entire trip was a huge success. In fact, it was so successful that I even had a monkey break into my room. Where is the success?? It took a bottle of Pepto, pistachio nuts, 3 packets of cough syrup, and a pair of socks. It left my passport, keys, money, lenses, gear, laptop and my sanity. Success!

The final cut of the project came out really well and UPenn was incredibly happy with the mini doc that we created. See some images below.