JTWO's Incubator Project Brings you "Never Let Me Quit"
Directed by Kyungchan Min
After the introduction of universal basic income, the world transitions into a more ideal post-capitalist society. In midst of the changing world, a young dancer attempts to process the death of their mother.
Project Breakdown
The idea for this project came from a conversation I was having with my friends: what if the widespread adoption of universal basic income led to an ideal post-capitalist society? In a nutshell, universal basic income provides a steady stipend to individuals in order to remedy widespread unemployment brought on by automation. The key concept here is the idea that unemployment is not necessarily bad. Rather, it will soon become the default status of the average individual. With the elimination of the capitalist system, we imagined a society where the abundance of free time would promote more artistic endeavors and empathetic interpersonal relationships free from the “time is money” ethos of today.
During my pitch to Justin and Maria, I was told that the project seemed “very ambitious”. With so much backstory, I recognized that it would be hard to condense it into a sub 3-minute narrative that is both compelling and meaningful. Especially in just two weeks. In the end, I decided to keep it simple: one shot, two characters, no cuts.
Visually, I was inspired by James Paxton’s work on Moonlight—particularly the shot below in the second act where Chiron meets Kevin on the beach. The softness of the light, in conjunction with the dark background, paints a beautiful scene with a lot of natural contrast. I decided to film from behind the actors because I wanted to give my characters a sense of privacy during an intimate conversation that the we, the audience looking through the lens, do not disturb.
Thanks to my friends, I was able to gather up a crew rather quickly. I worked with my friend Gabriel Meyer-Lee to write the dialogue and pick out the costumes during the first week. Since I’m not a director by any means, I received directorial advice from my director friend Julian Turner. On the day of the shoot, we arrived at the location with plenty of time and waited for the actors to rehearse their lines.
Although I found the lead actor early on, locking in the supporting role was quite difficult. Because it was closing in on midterm season, most of the potential actors were too busy to be a part of the project. I also expected rain—the final dance sequence was meant to be carried out in the rain as a baptism metaphor. Despite the forecast showing 80% chance of rain, it stopped raining three hours before the shoot. To salvage the shoot, I had the crew water down the background to mimic a post-rain environment. I think the biggest pitfall was the failure of the prop lighter. In order to inject the vignette with as much futuristic detail as possible, I borrowed a plasma lighter from my friend. It was a futuristic looking device with a purple plasma arc that acts as the combustion method. However, it failed quite miserably during the shoot, so we had to switch to a normal lighter.
All in all, this project showed me that a random conversation piece can end up as a short film in just two weeks. It was probably one of the most stressful two weeks I’ve come across in a while—with a huge chapter of my senior thesis due the same week as this project—but it was also one of the most rewarding ones. I think I often find myself saying “oh, I would totally turn this idea into a film, but only if I have time”. This project taught me that I can actually just go out and wrap up a short film I’m pretty happy with in just two weeks. The folks here at Jtwo have been extremely helpful in providing guidance, and I look forward to learning even more in the next two months.
Meet the Director
Kyungchan is an undergrad at Swarthmore College studying anthropology and film. As a cinematographer and colorist, he brings in his background in photojournalism and anthropology to provide a unique perspective to his work. After his graduation this May, he hopes to stay in Philadelphia and contribute to its growing filmmaking community.
This project was created as part of the JTWO [INC]ubator Project. A semester long internship program built from the ground up to give young filmmakers, content creators, and all around hungry for a challenge individuals a place to stretch their creative minds while preparing them for the road ahead.
JTWO's Incubator Project Presents "Plato's Closet"
Directed by Ian Schobel
I relish the rare opportunities to work on creative projects with absolute autonomy. Most of us interns are accustomed to developing our ideas in an academic setting, with lengthy rubrics that sometimes stifle our best ideas. JTwo’s intern project guidelines were barebones and direct: in more or less words, tell a kick-ass story, and keep it short.
Project Breakdown
From my study abroad film to a smorgasbord of videos for The Temple News, I’ve shot and edited most of my recent work through a documentarian/explanatory lens. It was time to break out of that groove and try working in fiction. I brainstormed for an hour or two and drafted a storyboard for my first pitch with Justin. My writing background betrayed me here; it lacked a concrete structure, and was just too ambitious given the two weeks I had to write, cast, direct, shoot, and edit. Putting words to paper, I’m not bound by anything but the limits of my imagination. So if I want to put a dozen on hang gliders above Dubai, it’s done. I just did it. That doesn’t exactly translate to film.
So when I left the office later that day (after pitching a completely different idea, which was also shot down) it gave me room to look at my project from a distance, and I decided I’d been approaching this the wrong way, focusing on the concept itself; instead, I should assemble the resources I’d have access to (mainly the actors and the setting) and build the idea from those pieces.
First: the talent. That was easy: it had to be AK and Liam, two of my closest friends. They’ve been best friends since high school, and they’re goofballs of the highest magnitude. I was pretty confident that if I experimented with a particular hypothetical scenario involving the two of them, they’d be down to play the roles, they’d respect me as director, and since their characters were largely based on their true selves/relationship, only minor character adjustments were required to fit them to my narrative. Next, the set: two years ago, when we were still in the dorms, AK and Liam roomed with a kid named Nick. We’ve all remained friends, and he now lives with two other guys in this kick-ass apartment (with adjustable mood lighting). The pieces now in place, I set to work on the script and shot list. We shot both scenes in one day, morning first, then night scene later. In the story, the scenes are reversed. AK and Liam took it in stride, though, and delivered a great performance. It took a few days to cut everything together, design a horror movie soundscape, play with levels, find the right music, color correct, and so on and so forth; and overall, I’m extremely pleased with the final cut of my first piece of fiction filmmaking (s/o to Alex for the super helpful C100 walkthrough).
Meet the Director
Ian is a writer and filmmaker. He lives by a simple creed: learn the basics and find your own way. He aims to work internationally, write short story collections, and one day–teach.
This project was created as part of the JTWO [INC]ubator Project. A semester long internship program built from the ground up to give young filmmakers, content creators, and all around hungry for a challenge individuals a place to stretch their creative minds while preparing them for the road ahead.
JTWO Wins Gold at ADDY Awards
2018 Philadelphia ADDY Awards
We capped off award show season the only way we know how: in winning style. A night of celebrating the best in Philly advertising saw us take home three ADDY awards – A gold in Sales Presentation, Catalog – and silver in both Cinematography and Publication Design/Magazine Design
WINNER
GOLD ADDY | Sales Presentation Catalog
SILVER ADDY | Publication Design & Magazine Design
Victus Baseball
Victus is one of the leading wooden bat manufacturers in the world and used by Pro players in the US and Japan. They tasked us with expanding their product offerings and redefining their brand, entirely. After establishing a new brand direction, our team got to work designing t-shirts, hoodies, hats, knob stickers and batting gloves. We designed everything down to the tags and packaging. [Some of which we can’t even show you….yet].
WINNER
SILVER ADDY | Cinematography
Drive Like You Give A F*#%!
Drive Like You Give a #&%! is a cross-platform campaign two years in the making! Our team partnered with Responsibility.org and Shaquille O’Neal to create a series of videos to encourage you to Drive Like You Give a #&%! and think about those you share the road with every time you get behind the wheel.
JTWO Wins Six Louix Awards + Opens Show
2018 LOUIX AWARDS
Our team was back at the Louix Awards this year and we picked up some new hardware for some of our recent work – winning six Louix Awards in total! We also opened the show in a BIG way with our new short film, This is Lou.
WINNER
Copywriting [Campaign Catchphrase] + Social Media Promotional Campaign
Drive Like You Give A F*#%!
Drive Like You Give a #&%! is a cross-platform campaign two years in the making! Our team partnered with Responsibility.org and Shaquille O’Neal to create a series of videos to encourage you to Drive Like You Give a #&%! and think about those you share the road with every time you get behind the wheel.
WINNER
Branding | Product Design | Brochure Design | Fashion Design
Victus Baseball
Victus is one of the leading wooden bat manufacturers in the world and used by Pro players in the US and Japan. They tasked us with expanding their product offerings and redefining their brand, entirely. After establishing a new brand direction, our team got to work designing t-shirts, hoodies, hats, knob stickers and batting gloves. We designed everything down to the tags and packaging. [Some of which we can’t even show you….yet].
Opening the Show
Our team was tasked with the concept and creation of the show open for the 2018 LOUIX Awards, an advertising awards show hailed as “the Academy Awards on Acid.” The show is an annual celebration of outstanding work of Philadelphia’s most creative visual artists, producers, directors, and abstract thinkers.
Let's Blow Some F*@#!n Minds!
A short film about a piece of shit from Philadelphia named Lou who finds himself in a precarious situation with some of the most ruthless cutthroat killers in the City of Brotherly Love.
Cast
Frank Halbiger
Ginger Kochmer
Jason Dilks
Matthew Paul
Tony Francescani
Tracy Agostarola
Bobby Reed
Danny Cardona
Jill Deardorf
Vince Marie
Zachary Haines
Rick DiDonato
Jeff King
David Wright
Rick Angeli
Nikki Mueller
Sugar House Casino
Vesper Sporting Club
DNA Salon
The Laundry Cafe
Ortlieb’s
Kissin Fresh Meats
El Vez/Ranstead Room
The Franklin Room
#SquadDeep
Of course, our team had to make a cameo!
Crew
Writer + Director: Justin Jarrett
Producer: Travis Capacete
DP: Maria Vattimo
Location Sound: Jelani Thomas
AC: Natassia Kuronen
AC: Alex Siwik
PA: Ian Schobel
Grip Team: Federal Grip
2nd AC/AD: Brynn Antaran
Set Design: Gillian Speers
Grip: Charlie Parker
PA: Kyungchan Min
Color Correction: Jason Druss
Sound Mix: Baker Studios
JTWO Welcomes Intern Kyungchan Min
Life as a Reference
Kyungchan Min
A little less than a year ago, I was on a Chinatown bus heading to Philadelphia. It was night, and the freezing air in New York made the bus more an insulated cooler than a warm vehicle. Earlier that day, I took an Amtrak up to the South Korean consulate in Manhattan to renew my passport—a dark green passport issued by Republic of Korea, the country in which I had spent the first nine years of my life. Was the bus a downgrade from the thick leather seats of the Amtrak train, occupied by hundreds of business people? Absolutely. For one, the train did not have that encroaching smell of the lavatory reaching out from the back of the bus. But I don’t remember much of my Amtrak journey from 30th Street Station to Penn Station: I don’t particularly remember the comfortable seats, the crisp yet warm air, or the quiet uninterrupted ride.
I remember the bus ride though. I remember the prickly cloth of the charter bus seat, and I remember the dark interior of the bus punctuated by a single light over a seat. More importantly, I will never forget the young Chinese father under that light, attempting to soothe his child’s cries with an iPad game. I was sitting diagonal to them only two rows behind, listening to the boy cry and his father mutter soothing words in a dialect of Chinese I couldn’t figure out.
After an hour, the boy fell asleep on his father’s lap. The father was tenderly stroking his hand on the boy’s back, and looking past the seat in front of him, perhaps past the windshield twenty rows ahead.
Then, I started crying. Somehow, I saw so much of my father in the father, and so much of myself in the boy. I remembered the two-and-a-half years my family lived in Queens, always struggling to make any ends meet, but somehow shielding me from most symptoms of poverty (not that I knew at the time). It felt like I was seeing a memory I had forgotten in my sleep, but never forgotten by my dad.
I guess I wanted to tell that story because it never left my memory, and also because it’s in line with the kind of stories I strive to tell in my work. It’s the beauty in the mundane that I etch onto my memory, not the striking glamour of a black-tie event. When I decided to become a cinematographer (and eventually a colorist) three years ago, I did not realize the responsibility I would inherit as a person of color attempting to succeed in an industry full of outdated norms and prejudices. It’s not just about making pretty images, but it’s actually about telling stories that matter.
Dr. Dorinne K. Kondo, an Asian-American anthropologist at USC, wrote in 1996 that there is an “urgent necessity for Asian Americans to write ourselves into existence.” Ever since reading those lines, I stamped them into my mind and repeated it over and over again. In four months, I will be graduating from Swarthmore College with a major in sociology & anthropology and a minor in film & media studies. At around the same time, I will be finishing up my twelve-weeks at JTWO. The seats here are comfortable, the air is nice, and the people (and dogs) have been nothing but wonderful. Let’s hope that the next twelve-weeks will be full of great progress and good-times, because I’m ready to remember it all.
JTWO Partnering with ADCP
In September 2017, our co-founder and principal business director joined the board of the Art Directors Club of Philadelphia as Film Chair. Now, JTWO is officially teaming up with the ADCP as a partnering sponsor.
One of our first projects together is collaborating to produce the open for the 2018 Louix Awards, an advertising awards show hailed as “the Academy Awards on Acid”, a celebration of the outstanding work of Philadelphia’s most creative visual artists, producers, directors, and abstract thinkers.
This year’s show will take place at the Sugarhouse Casino on February 22nd. Click here to buy tickets!
Ian Schobel: What Do You Care About?
What Do You Care About?
Ian Schobel
Today, February 12th, marks the beginning of my fourth week at JTwo.
For every intern, week one is “bootcamp,” a multi-step guide designed to familiarize the interns with JTwo’s gear and organizational practices. After a week of tinkering and troubleshooting, I proved I’m not an irresponsible dunce, and was given the go-ahead to start my intern project.
A good brainstorming spot is really all I need to get some ideas flowing. Call me a grandpa, but I prefer pen and paper in these early stages. I’ll write write write write write– let a thought run uninhibited till it runs out of breathing room. It’s easy to get discouraged when bursts of inspiration fail to strike. Eventually, through sheer number of words, something resembling a story will coalesce. Two hours later, I had a pretty good idea and three storyboard pages in hand. I sat down with Justin and pitched it.
I returned to Edit 9 desk with various holes poked through my concept; in short, it lacked an ending, and I was thinking too ambitiously given the logistics: two weeks to write, cast, direct, shoot, and edit. So I scaled back, developed a completely different idea which was almost fully fleshed out. Mid-pitch, it hit me– this was going to be a shit ton of work. When I finished, Justin gave me a kind of half-smile, half-smirk. He asked me, “what do you care about?” I chewed on that as I walked up the spiral staircase, and checked my phone: almost 5 pm, so I packed my things and headed for the The El. Rarely have I used the first idea as the basis for a final product, but I was frustrated the day hadn’t gone as planned. I hopped on at 2nd street station. Getting out of the office, the feeling the tracks jut against the train, it gave me room to look at my project from a distance, and I decided I’d been approaching this the wrong way, focusing on the concept itself; instead, I should assemble the resources I’d have access to (mainly the actors and the setting) and build the idea from those pieces.
When I write short stories, I tend to gravitate towards realism. So why not work with what I know, and draw from experience in this case, too? First: the talent. Of course, it had to be AK and Liam, two of my closest friends. They’ve been best friends since high school, and and they’re goofballs of the highest magnitude. I was pretty confident that if I experimented with a particular hypothetical scenario involving the two of them, they’d be down to play the roles, they’d respect me as director, and since their characters were largely based on their true selves/relationship, only minor character adjustments were required to fit them to my narrative. Next, the set: two years ago, when we were still in the dorms, AK and Liam roomed with a kid named Nick. We’ve all remained friends, and he now lives with two other guys in this kick-ass apartment (with adjustable mood lighting). The pieces now in place, I set to work on the script and shot list. We shot both scenes in one day, morning first, then night scene later. In the story, the scenes are reversed. AK and Liam took it in stride, though, delivered a great performance and overall, I’m extremely pleased with the final cut of my first piece of fiction filmmaking (s/o to Alex for the super helpful C100 walkthrough).
It felt really good to sink my teeth full force into a project like that. But remember, as an intern, the intern project is not your only responsibility. The intern project is just a job with a two-week deadline. Your daily contribution to JTwo’s workflow is first priority. You have to multitask, wear all the hats, be ready to drop what you’re doing to help where needed. Working on a number of sets these past weeks, it’s humbling to see that no one here is above any one task; as a smaller production company, everyone fills in the gaps as they arise, and there’s a significant amount of overlap across positions.
I try not to get ahead of myself, but thus far, my time at JTwo has completely exceeded every one of my expectations. Who knew I’d be spraying then talent with sweat on most sets I’ve worked on? And this is just the beginning. Who knows where my spray bottle will take me next.
JTWO Works With Visit Philadelphia
Visit Philly is known for their tireless efforts to display both hidden and not so hidden gems around the City of Philadelphia. In an effort to showcase the city’s food & family atmosphere, we worked closely with Visit Philly to bring the City of Brotherly Love & City of Foodie Love video series to life. Scenes in the videos were captured during two days of filming at several well known Philadelphia locations such as the Rocky Statue, Elfreth’s Alley, Tredici & Capogiro among others. Watch both projects below.
JTWO Welcome Intern Ian Schobel
Perspectives
Ian Schobel
We’re pretty similar, you and I. We’re just people.
Confined to deteriorating bodies, we each put our pants on in the morning and walk the Earth searching for affirmation that we matter, striving for happiness or success, maybe something in between, in whatever form that may be.
Where we differ is in our perspectives.
Raised by an elementary school teacher and a writer, I was (and still am) a a kid of quiet confidence, intent on exploring my curiosities. I would read everything in sight, soaking up the words like they were life support. I doodled incessantly, on any surface, and writing became an alternative mode of thinking and comprehension, an outlet for the congealed build-up of information bouncing around my head. I wasn’t aware at the time, but I was heading towards a “creative” career. And, man, it’s incredibly validating to know the guys at JTwo recognize the potential I now see in myself.
I declared myself a Media Studies and Production (MSP) major during my sophomore year at Temple University because I saw, on a basic level, the power of media; how the daily onslaught of advertisements, television shows, books, movies and news articles we consume informs our world views. I wasn’t content in being a passive consumer; I wanted to contribute to the production of content, entertaining, informing, and learning in the process.
Within the MSP program, there are four “tracks:” emergent media, media analysis, media business and entrepreneurship, and media production. I chose the production track, but then faced another decision: audio or video. I tentatively decided on video, not wanting to box myself into anything. I needn’t have worried, though. It quickly became clear that sound and visuals exist in a complementary relationship, and I seized the opportunity to study both.
Quanto sei bella Roma
Quanto sei bella Roma a prima sera…
Ah, the memories… those sweet notes drifted through Rome, Italy, where I studied abroad for a semester in 2016. I threw myself into Italian and European culture, traveling as far East as Sofia, Bulgaria. But, as you can imagine, it wasn’t enough to just live my adventure, especially given the culture shock I was trying to manage. I needed a way to synthesize everything I was experiencing, so right off the bat, I starting filming my surroundings with my iPhone. By the end of the semester, I had enough footage to put together a 20 minute documentary, accompanied by narration recalling the tumultuous story of my semester abroad:
In this moment, the early afternoon of my first official day in the JTwo office, I see this 12-week internship pushing me even further than I’ve pushed myself, a catalyst in expanding my skills as a writer, an editor, and sound-designer. I intend to get my feet wet with every aspect of production, though, because they’re all pieces of the same puzzle. And who knows? Maybe my calling is elsewhere. The only thing I’m certain of is that I’m ready to get to work and give JTwo everything I’ve got.
Sweat-boy out.
JTWO's DLYGAF Project is Featured in Philly AD News
We are proud to announce that our DLYGAF project has been featured in Philly AD News. Read the entire write up below.
Shaq and JTWO want you to Drive Like You Give a F*#K!
“Philly based film production company, JTWO Films recently partnered with NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal and Responsibility.org to produce a national safe driving campaign reminding drivers to Drive Like You Give A F*#K!
The new campaign, JTWO’s tenth project with O’Neal, features a series of public service announcements and social media ads unlike anything you’ve ever scene before targeting young adults in an attempt to get them to think twice about driving impaired. Drive Like You Give A F*#K follows the story of the fictional Responsible Driving Enforcement Agency’s Chief O’Neil and Officer Vasquez as they review the case files of several impaired driving offenders. Each offender has their own backstory representing one of the four big “D’s” of Impaired Driving – Drunk, Drugged, Distracted and Drowsy – via the offender’s characterizations. A Drunk hard partying Sailor, a Drugged prescription pill popping Grandma, a Drowsy overworked Clown and an average looking Distracted John Smith all of which provide comedic relief throughout.
The spots Directed by JTWO’s Justin Jarrett and Produced by JTWO’s Travis Capacete and Jelani Thomas were produced completely in-house by JTWO from concept through post-production and filmed on their RED Weapon 8k Helium Cinema Camera over the course of several shoots in Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Atlanta.
JTWO has worked with several national non-profit organizations around the country via their Projects That Matter Initiative. The Initiative, which was launched seven years ago with the mission of providing creative content production services to Non-Profits at affordable costs has been incredibly successful with JTWO filming documentaries and brand films in Haiti, Kenya, India and seemingly every part of the U.S. They have worked with everyone from Olympic Gold Medalist Simone Biles, the YMCA, Walmart and The United Nations to local charitable organizations such as the Eagles Charitable Foundation, Bringing Hope Home and The Franklin Institute.”