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Laura Muzzarelli is a Media and Communications senior, set to graduate later this month. She’s been at MIU for two and a half years, and much of her time has been spent taking film courses and helping with the David Lynch Masters in Film students’ projects.

lauramuzzarellifilmingThe 22 year old comes from Traverse City, Michigan, and says she didn’t come to a Visitors’ Weekend before deciding to enroll at MIU, but instead “just packed up and came here.” The move was a big jump, but “it was a jump that I needed.” She had been studying visual communications previously, and wanted to come to a school with a film program.

Laura’s first time on a film set was in March when she worked as a script supervisor for DLMA students Coral and Melodia Morales. She described it as very professional and said they kept a strict schedule. She was able to “compare how they ran their set to us still learning,” and thought that was a comfortable way to learn because “they’re still learning, too.”

Her second experience working on a DLMA film was with a small crew of about 5 people, and her role ranged from loading and setting up equipment to working with the camera to getting props. “We did everything,” she said. “That one was anything and everything in between.  I just learned so much during that project.”

As an undergraduate student, Laura has had the opportunity to work on three films in total with DLMA students. On recalling those experiences she said, “It’s really great to work on their films as an undergrad. It’s really great experience.”

Laura is now working on a project of her own: a documentary series called The Love Doc, in which she interviews various couples about love, showing how we find love differently.  It’s “a mix of other people’s stories and my own and whether I find love in this documentary.”

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A still from The Love Doc promo

She began The Love Doc in May in the Documentary Filmmaking class. “I’ve always been very interested in love,” which she said sparked her idea. As the youngest in her family, she had others around her to learn from: “I’m always asking people what love is and what love is like.”

There’s already a promo out with a few 5-10 minute episodes soon to follow. It’s no surprise that the promo is adorable and intriguing, with its glimpses of Laura’s own budding relationship and her confessional-style vlogs about its progress. The real-time honesty with which she talks about the status of her relationship as she navigates through its challenges will satisfy your nosiness, while interspersed interviews give insightful perspectives on the topic of love.

So what’s required to make a film? Self-motivation and passion, Laura says. “You have to have a passion for it and that’s what MIU and working on all these films has taught me.”

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A still from The Love Doc promo

And how do you know what you’re passionate about? “With the Love Doc series, it was what I kept coming back to.  I’m constantly asking people about love and their relationships.” Laura said what she’s interested in is the different types of relationships — such as mother/child, family, and dating — in each of which “everything is different. I’m super interested in that. So even if I just accidentally found it, it’s about coming back to what you’re always thinking about. Finding your passion is about finding what you want to say to the world.”

See The Love Doc promo here.