Big Sky Documentary Film Festival - Every Ghost Has an Orchestra
Paranormal researcher and experimental composer Michael Esposito straddles the line between spiritual and material, asking the audience to reflect on our purpose, legacy and what our actions say about who we are.
Interview with Director Shayna Connelly
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thanks! Funnily enough I started this film when I was not in the market for an idea. I was in pre-production on a narrative film – a ghost story called Gardening at Night - when my husband Chris told me about the experimental composer who’d asked him to sing on a record. Chris used the terms ‘musician’ and ‘paranormal researcher’ interchangeably to describe Michael Esposito, but I didn’t understand the connection at first. I had a lot of questions about what drew him to document electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) and then integrate them into music. I had no choice but to make a film about him because it was a film I wanted to see.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
There are a lot of ghost hunter shows, but this film gives the audience a more intimate look at what it means for someone to devote themselves to this work. The film doesn’t solve mysteries or offer answers to eternal questions. Films can’t deliver that kind of certainty. Looking at Michael’s work I think it’s easy to identify with what drives him. In essence he describes the role of art in our universal quest for meaning and purpose. He’s driven to answer the question, “what happens to us after we die,” but beyond that he sees his life’s work as fitting into a bigger picture. He offers something to the universe that he hopes can be of benefit to all, if not immediately, then eventually. As a fellow artist I relate to that drive and obsession. I think others can relate, too.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The film is about the quest for truth, the allure of mystery and how belief shapes our approach. My love of ghosts as a kid turned into a fascination with “in between states” as an adult, which is what drew me to Michael. In terms of process I identify with his struggle between the immaterial and material. As a filmmaker I am haunted by a question and my search results in a film, though the film can only point toward an answer, not verify its truthfulness.
Filmmakers, musicians and ghost hunters exist in a state where edges blur, ambiguity reigns and action represents a leap of faith. The boundary between truth and belief is often blurred as well, but as the Dadaists pointed out, collisions arising from an ‘accidental context’ cause truth to reveal itself. It is the artist’s duty to catch sight of it and share it with others.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The shoot took place over a 6-month period and consisted of three interviews with Michael, shots from notorious haunted locations in Chicago where he had done EVP recordings and a ghost hunt in Indiana. After we wrapped the film I started to edit the interviews and had a really difficult time shaping the material. My goal was to make a 6-minute film and my first assembly was an 18-minute wall-to-wall voice-over monstrosity. The pacing was off and did not reveal how eloquent Michael is. I scrapped that version and started editing visuals shot in and around Ogilvie train station. I ended up with a cut I liked, but it felt like a radically different film. I titled it signals: where do we go from here? and it became a standalone experimental film that did well in festivals. It’s ghosty, but it wasn’t the film I intended to make.
Michael’s film haunted me and I kept talking about it, hoping I could figure out what I needed to finish it. Two years later I was talking about it with Justine Burchall and we just looked at each other and realized that she was the film’s editor. I suppose we exchanged more words than, “let me get that footage from you”, but our decision to work together was a joint epiphany requiring no real discussion. We’ve also just finished another film together that will go into the world next year.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The film has been well-received at screenings and audiences are eager to talk about it. Often people will tell me their personal ghost stories in response to the film, which I love. It’s a great compliment because it tells me they connected to the film and to Michael. But I also love hearing ghost stories.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
What surprises me most is that often when either skeptics or believers talk to me about the film and ghosts, each assumes my beliefs oppose theirs. I’m not sure why that is and I tend not to talk about my beliefs in the screenings – it’s much more interesting to listen to what the audience has to say. With ghosts it’s possible to find common ground between believers and non-believers by talking about hauntings. All sorts of things haunt us – regret, grief, heartbreak, history. It’s easy to start a conversation from there.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Every film I make relates to a larger body of work. I hope that by reading about one film, it gets people interested in seeing the others. Over the past five years I’ve made 6 films about what it means to be haunted and I would love to have the group shown as a collection.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Distributors, film festival directors, journalists and people programming alternative film venues.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope the film resonates with people and makes them think about their impact on the world. The first response to the film is usually about ghosts, but over time the film’s larger issues of our legacy come to the foreground. We leave a lot of traces behind after we die. That could be art or children or our ghost. Regardless, it’s important to consider what positive contributions we’re making to the world while we’re in it and what we want to endure physically and in people’s memory after we are gone.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What will you leave behind after you die? What kind of effect will your legacy have?
Would you like to add anything else?
One of my favorite stories about the film is the title. I could not title this film. While shooting, while trying to edit myself, while it was dormant and through the time that Justine was editing I agonized over the title. The night before I had to deliver a final title in order to finish the film, I sat down with a collection of 40 terrible options and asked Chris to help. Before I gave him the list I said, “I’m looking for a title like Every Ghost Has an Orchestra,” which is one of his songs. My years-long suffering dissipated in an instant when he said, “take it, it’s yours!”
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Writer/Director Shayna Connelly is in post-production on three experimental shorts that frame her identities as artist and mother as haunted states. She is also writing two narrative features that push the boundaries of the traditional ghost story.
Editor Justine Burchall just finished another film with Shayna Connelly. She works as an editor in Chicago.
Producer Sharon A. Mooney is currently editing and post producing two short films, and in pre-production on a new film called Marla.
Michael Esposito is working with experimental musician Micky von Hausswolff on re-releasing From the Studios of Audioscopic Research by Friedrich Jurgenson, a pioneer in EVP recording.
Interview: February 2018
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTIAQ+, scifi, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Every Ghost Has an Orchestra
Paranormal researcher and experimental composer Michael Esposito straddles the line between spiritual and material, asking the audience to reflect on our purpose, legacy and what our actions say about who we are.
Length: 7:06
Director: Shayna Connelly
Producer: Sharon A. Mooney
About the writer, director and producer:
Michael Esposito uses composition and sound mediums to publish scientific research on electronic voice phenomena conducted in the most haunted places in the world.
Shayna Connelly’s work explores hauntings, liminality and the boundaries between documentary, experimental and fiction filmmaking.
Producer Sharon A. Mooney is a filmmaker who works in experimental, narrative and documentary portraiture, all focused on investigating desire and the human condition.
Editor Justine Burchall is a music-worshipping, fashion-admiring editor and videographer living and creating in Chicago. Her passion is telling stories and exploring video styles.
Travis Duffield is sound designer and re-recording mixer from Chicago and has extensive experience in production and post production sound for picture.
Key cast: Michael Esposito
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Producers, film festival directors, journalists, alternative screening venues
Social media handles:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shaynaconnelly
Twitter: www.twitter.com/shaynaconnelly
Instagram: www.instagram.com/shaynacon
Other: https://www.shaynaconnelly.com/ghostorchestra/
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Big Sky Documentary Festival
Big Muddy Film Festival
Deep in the Heart Film Festival
Trenton Film Festival
Blackbird Film Festival