I wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t. Based on my previous assumptions, it’s a small non-profit organization conducting interviews for corporate purposes — you know, normal stuff. However, now, I’m not so sure anymore.
I became aware of it recently through the recommendation of one of my friends, Jack. He interned at this place a few years ago and shared their website with me after I vented to him about needing an internship. Initially, I was quite dismissive about it, as I’d much prefer working at somewhere larger instead of an underground non-profit. However, I was eventually convinced as he mentioned that overall, the job was very relaxed, just editing pre-recorded interview videos. Additionally, it allowed remote work. So, having received no other offers, I decided to give it a shot.
I explored their website for a while. My first impression of their front page was what one would get from looking at any corporate website: Simple, somewhat boring, containing basic info about their service. However, the content of their service grabbed my interest. I’ve heard about non-profits doing education, charity, even social justice. But interviews? That’s a first.
Going over their FAQ section, though, none of my questions were answered. The description of their services was extremely vague, something like “the interviews we conduct here will be a unique, life changing experience.” There were no specifications on its use or its worth, like whoever was running this group was just expecting people to sign up for it. But it did say that all interviews are free, so I guess there will be people doing this just for the sake of killing time.
When applying for the job, the first of many strange things that occurred was that I never received a job interview. Three days after submitting my resumé, I got my job offer. In their email, they seemed suspiciously eager for me to join. I almost took this as a scam if not for the $5,000 deposited directly into my bank account, which was an incredibly generous amount for a college intern. I was surprised that they trusted me that much. My guess was that they were short-handed, so they were willing to take anyone who applied.
Reviewing some of the sample videos they sent me, their low standards confirmed those suspicions. Most of the footage was shot in either extremely boring medium shots or framed at very strange angles. Sometimes the camera was focused on irrelevant background objects, and other times the images were completely blurred together. My job was simply to stitch these clips together, cut away some of the mistakes, and ensure the interviews were generally viewable.
However, it wasn’t my job as an editor that concerned me. Rather, it was the content of these interviews. It would be an understatement to say that they’re bizarre.
To begin with, unlike other companies that would send files through Google Drive or email, these videos were mailed to me on a hard drive. Its contents were so disorganized, it took me days to even figure out which video belonged to which participant. Most videos were completely unwatchable, either a black screen with people mumbling nonsense in the background or just random shots of walls and ceilings. However, eventually I was able to pick out a few videos that contained some degree of useful info and organized them into four videos based on the different interviewees. All the footage has dates labeled as their title, so I’ll describe them to you in a chronological order.
July 20th, 2015
This is one of the earliest videos on the hard drive, which also happens be the easiest to understand. In this video, a blond, middle-aged woman went on a half-hour rant about her life as a single mom. She was sitting in a small, ghostly-white painted room, with no windows or doors visible. I was never able to figure out the exact question she was answering, as they began shooting in the middle of her response. She claimed to have two boys, both still in elementary school. The entirety of the video was her detailing how incredibly difficult it was raising her children. Halfway into the video, she got so worked up tears began forming in her eyes. Frankly, I was surprised that nobody had cut her off, considering the content of her speech was so boring that I doubt anyone would find it entertaining. When she was almost finished and transitioning into talking about her own childhood, the video cut off.
September 9th, 2017
The second interview was split into multiple clips. It seems that the camera went off a few times during shooting, causing some of the footage to go missing. However, I doubt anyone noticed (or cared), as they didn’t bother reshooting the interview. The angle at which the interview was shot was also bizarre. Instead of zooming in on the participant, it filmed the entire room, making the subject appear incredibly small. This seemed unreasonable to me as the room, which took up the majority of the screen, was nothing remarkable — resembling a regular, averaged-sized living room, decorated in a basic, old-fashioned style.
The interviewee appeared to be a young Hispanic man, no older than 16. Throughout the video, he seemed uneasy, constantly fidgeting on the couch he was sitting on. Sometimes, he’d turn around to take quick glances at the kitchen behind him, as if he were prepared for someone to emerge from there. Again, the video did not capture the interviewer’s question, only the interviewee’s response. The quality of the microphone was so horrendously awfully, it was difficult to decipher exactly what he said. I did my best to interpret his speech and stitched all the clips together. Here are some of the snippets I’ve deemed important:
“…. (Too faint to understand) … I mean, my life is pretty boring… (Mumbling in the background) … Anything? Anything is fine? …Well, this happened three years ago, I don’t know if it counts … My sister and I were playing hide & seek in the park. I was thirteen, and she was seven. At first — (jump in footage) When I was almost finished with the countdown, I heard her scream, opened my eyes to her being dragged away into a white van. A man in a black hoodie was pulling her into the backseat. For a second, my mind went blank. I remember running to her as fast as I can, grabbing onto the car handles, pulling the door open. They sped up and tried to pry my fingers off, but I managed to hold on. Eventually someone saw the commotion and called the police. Those kidnappers were captured on site, and my sister and I were sent home … I don’t know if this proves anything, but it’s probably the proudest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
The audio disappeared from this point on. From what I could tell, the young man soon finished his response. Standing up, he looked much more at ease, almost overjoyed. He proceeded to have a short conversation with whom I could only assume were the interviewers. After the better part of two minutes, he walked to the camera, shook a hand extended from behind the screen, and left the room. The video ended there.
March 2022
This third interview took me the most effort to organize and interpret. Not only was it divided into multiple videos, but it was also shot over the spam of many weeks. All the clips were either unbearably blurry, or simply too dark for me to distinguish anything significant, even after I raised its brightness and contrast. I was only able to discern the interviewee due to his unique voice. He had a ragged, broken voice. When he spoke, it felt as if each word were uttered with great effort, like someone had just shoved a pile of jagged glass down his throat.
I picked out all the footage that contained his voice and edited them together into an incoherent mess.
As I mentioned before, due to the extended period of shooting, the scenery in this 10-minute video was constantly changing. Sometimes, the camera showed decor inside a dark room, and other times, I could barely distinguish the shape of a warehouse. It appeared to me that whoever this interviewee was, he was constantly being transferred to different places.
In his response, with considerable difficulty, he spoke about his life as a former drug dealer. He mentioned that he started selling marijuana before it became legal and went to jail a few times for it. He claimed to have done it for his family; he was out of a job and couldn’t keep up with the increasing rent and food prices. With three children to feed, he wasn’t left with many options. However, about six minutes into the video, he began to pause more between sentences, his voice wavering and shrinking. Through the loud buzzing of the warehouse, I discerned a familiar murmuring that had surfaced in the background again It was too muffled for me to understand, but whatever they said surely had an effect on the man as he soon broke down sobbing.
“I don’t regret what I did, man… I didn’t have a choice.” His voice became so small it was almost lost in the thunderous background noises. “I don’t know why you’re doing this. P-Please, please just stop.” He choked through the intense crying. I paid close attention for any notable sound other than his pleas, but oddly, there were none. All I could hear was his quiet whimpering. This went on for another two minutes or so, then the video cut abruptly.
January 17th, 2024
The last video had already made me uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure what I was witnessing or what was happening in those clips. Needless to say, normal interviews don’t make people break down into tears inside random warehouses. However, it was this video that prompted me to quit my job.
Based on previous experiences, I anticipated a hard time editing this video into something comprehensible. Yet, after viewing the entire film, I was surprised at the fact that they actually shot the complete, coherent interview this time, without cutting away any information. And a part of me really wishes they hadn’t done that, for you see, the interviewee in this video is my friend, Jack.
You can imagine my shock when the cameraman walked through a wooden door, and I saw Jack strapped to a chair in the middle of a tiny, claustrophobic room. But before I could figure out what was happening, the interview began.
“Hello Jack. Please, tell us about your life.” It was the first time I could hear the voice behind the camera with perfect clarity. It was crisp and smooth, with a silky texture that gave me the mental image of a morning news host.
“Please, please just let me go… Please.” He started struggling, his legs squirming around, trying to break free of the ropes straining his ankles, but the knot held strong. The metal chair that was welded to the ground barely budged under his commotion.
“Excuse me, perhaps you didn’t hear me last time. Let me ask you again: How have you lived your life?”
“I-I, I graduated as a Magna cum Laude, I’ve published two research papers in science journals. I was also c-captain of —”
“Jack, I hate to disappoint. But you and I are busy people, and you know this is not what I asked for.” For a moment, he sounded almost remorseful. “Now, let’s not waste each other’s time, I’ll give you one last chance to answer my question. I want you to answer truthfully, is that okay with you?”
“Y-Yes. Yes…I…I have a girlfriend…”
“Have?”
“Had! I had a girlfriend.” I could see fear in his eyes as the interviewer challenged him.
“Aaaaand?”
“I, I cheated on her…”
“So? What did she do as a response?” His questions sounded, in a twisted way, playful.
“She… She killed herself.” Jack suddenly broke down wailing, his voice desperate and trembling. “I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I have done, I shouldn’t have cheated on her! God, I’m so, so, sorry.”
The cameraman produced an audible sigh. “Well, Jack. It seems like we’ve reached a conclusion now.” The voice continued with an exaggerated tone of disappointment. “You derived happiness from the suffering of others, and for that, your life has been worthless and you’re someone truly pathetic.”
No! No please! It wasn’t my fault she killed herself, I’ll make it up to her family I swear. Please just let me go! Please —”
The video ended.
There was only one clip that came after this one, and it was supposedly filmed the day after, as it was titled January 18th, 2024. In which, a hooded person was strapped onto a metal table. Apart from his covered face, his entire body was stripped naked. The audio of this clip was missing, and honestly, a part of me was relieved knowing what psychological trauma it saved me from.
As the masked man struggled frantically in his straps, the cameraman slowly took out and sharpened a hand saw on a saw file. Then, adjusting the lenses, he casually focused the camera on the subject. Leisurely, he approached the man. When he tapped the edge of the saw on his leg, the strained man began flapping in a frenzy, waggling like a fish on a chopping board. In a gruesomely slow manner, he proceeded to saw into his right leg. As blood began spurting out into a red fountain, the hooded man arched up, flailing manically as he tried desperately to get away. Five minutes into the video, I could clearly see a thin sheet of yellow fat bubbles surfacing onto the purple flesh wound. Blood has pooled all over the table, forming a pond of a dark shade and splatting all over the cameraman’s upper body. When the saw reached the bones, the cameraman had to raise his arm and strike repeatedly with immense force until they cracked open and broke, revealing the porous bone marrow inside. At that point, the man had already passed out, limbs twitching lifelessly on the violently shaking table. When his bone was fractured into two pieces, the mutilated leg instantly bent into an opposite angle under the force. At that moment, I couldn’t take the disgusting images anymore and closed the video.
It took me a long while to recover from what I saw. For days I had to repress the impulse to puke when seeing raw meat at Walmart. Whatever this organization is, it’s not doing normal, legal shits. The interviews and the follow-ups it’s conducting are of such twisted nature that I could not abide by. As of now, I have reported the content of the videos to the police and have given them the hard drive. I have yet to receive any follow-up. Still, I want to warn you.
Let the videos serve as a warning to all of you, to never, ever take an interview at this organization called ‘Interviews for Life’ — not only because they dismembered a living person, but because as of now, Jack has been missing for weeks. No one has been able to reach him since January 17th. And I sincerely believe that, if he were to come back, he won’t be coming back with all of his body parts intact.