Jtwo Welcomes Intern Matthew Sullivan
SHARING PIECES
By Matthew Sullivan
As I was growing up my grandfather had a saying that he repeated to me over and over again – knowing I was the middle child of a big family and more than occasionally felt lost in the crowd: “You’re a combination of all these incredible people around you.” The idea was sometimes comforting and sometimes horrifying depending on how I felt about my family any given day. I clung to the idea as it gave me a sense of togetherness with my family, and provided me role models to look up to in my siblings. The concept of sharing qualities, interests, and points of view with those around me opened a world of new outlooks and took me from a little kid lost in the crowd to one learning from it. I have my older brother’s sense of humor, as I grew up desperately trying to make him laugh. I share in my sister’s relentless sense of empathy, and therefore her unending passion for social justice. Even my closet is full of vintage pants, t-shirts, and Hawaiian shirts after raiding my grandfathers’ closets to emulate, and revamp, their styles. These pieces, which I originally only emulated, eventually built a strong perspective and sense of self as I’ve grown and made them my own.
The idea of people having the power to influence each other is something that has always guided me creatively, personally, and socially. I’ve always kept in mind that my passions, interests, beliefs, and actions can all be shared to benefit those around me in the same way I’ve benefitted from others. This sense of impact whether it be with family, friends, or neighbors I barely know, has guided me to use film as a tool for change. Through storytelling, whether it be commercial, narrative, or documentary, we can communicate our struggles and solutions, and more importantly we can share in common experiences. In doing so difficult events, subjects, and possibilities can be dealt with and evaluated in a safe environment. These pieces of ourselves, whether they’re positive or negative, simple or complex, can be shared through stories in the same way they can be shared through personal relationships – and I think that holds a power to represent every community.
Though I don’t specifically know where I’m going with my journey in the film industry, I know that I’m bringing a piece of every single person who’s influenced me along for the ride. Whether I end up a Producer, a DP, or something else entirely different down the line, my goal, as vague and simple as it is, is to use the pieces of those around me and share them with others. When I work on social justice documentaries I hope a piece of my sister’s passion for others shines through, and when I’m working on a short or music video for YouTube I’m simply trying to make my brothers laugh. These pieces of others that I see in myself motivate me and help me keep my perspective.
I want to create work that reflects the incredible friendships, families, and communities that I’ve been a part of. This guided me to interning with JTwo, as their work brings attention to the stories of different communities, and brings to light issues and experiences that may not currently be solvable, but must be talked about, evaluated, and felt. The work JTwo does through its internship program specifically interested me as it not only gives young creators the space to figure out the route they want to take, but provides the steps and lessons required to get there. I see this internship as an opportunity to learn and develop both personally and creatively, and I couldn’t be more excited or thankful for the opportunity or to see what the next twelve weeks hold in store.
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 [INC]ubator Project Brings You "Painting Home"
GO DEEPER
Coming up with this project idea was hard for me. I am usually the one behind the computer cutting up someone else’s idea. I knew I wanted to make a story that mattered and created awareness. I started researching nonprofits in Philadelphia and immediately went right to their “story” page to read about individuals they have helped. I came across Philadelphia Artz, which is a nonprofit organization that helps individuals with Alzheimer’s by having them interact with art. This sparked my idea for my project.
Dementia is a very common term used for the many forms of mental decline that has unfortunately affected many individuals in some way or another. However, there are glimmers of hope through research and therapies that have helped stall and prevent major symptoms. That is what I wanted to capture in my short. There is hope.
Filming this project was definitely a challenge. Finding an art gallery in Philly to film in was not easy. I emailed, called, showed up and got declined. Eventually a gallery responded to me and it was the perfect spot, The Art Space Gallery. The owners, Chris and Andrea were so supportive and really believed in the story. The film would not have been made without them.
Directing is something I have not done in several years. I wanted to be the most efficient and effective director for this project by handling my pre-production work as much as possible before the shoot. This definitely helped me, my crew, and cast know what I wanted for this project.
The shoot went great and that’s all to my crew and cast. They helped me along the way to make this project turn out the best it could be.
After production, I was in my comfort zone. I immediately started cutting and assembling footage. I found that I did not like the way I set up the props in the beginning shots. I was very frustrated that I didn’t take the time for set design and make sure everything looked good. I ended up cutting out those shots and moving forward. I had as many people as possible watch my cut to receive feedback. I believe feedback is the most important in editing. It helped me make the project stronger.
When I felt happy with the cut I took it into Davinci Resolve and played around with color and movement. I really would have liked the colors to be more practical effects, but the gels we used for the film were not saturated enough for the effect I wanted. However, it made just enough of a color difference in the footage where I was able to key out the colors and manipulate it to what I wanted. I think it’s the best part of the project.
I am so grateful for all the help and support I received to make this project.
Meet the Director
Lana Duda is a recent film and post-production graduate from Temple University looking to pursue and edit stories that are under-represented in film and media.
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.
Credits
Writer and Director – Lana Duda
Cinematographer – Alex Nicoletti
Editor and SFX – Lana Duda
Sound -Tony McCall
Old Man – John Nicoletti
Museum Employee – Lauren Koob
Location – The Art Space Gallery
Music – Darkstar83: “As I Breathe In Memories”
JTWO's [INC]ubator Project Brings You "Interview"
GO DEEPER
JTwo’s internship project was an exercise in guerilla filmmaking. With limited resources and a hard deadline, the full filmmaking process was condensed to just 2 weeks. Coming off of my Junior year studying film production at Penn State, this was quite the adjustment. The last short film I directed took an entire semester to make. As a result, when I pitched my first idea to JTwo, it was… over-ambitious.
While I had a premise with a lot of potential, in reality it needed at least a few months of production to do it justice. It was also riddled with logistical problems (as in filming with realistic guns, next to active train tracks, in a national park kind of problems). These are all things that could be resolved given more time but I quickly realized that this was not a project suited for the timeframe I was given.
Now I’d burned a couple days and I was back to the drawing board. I had to think on my feet and reevaluate what I wanted to get out of my intern project if I was going to finish on time. So I assembled a brand new pitch.
My new idea was much simpler on paper. It was about a girl getting ready to leave her house for an interview in the morning. I would be able to film it in my own home using my sister as an actress. By comparison, the idea seemed considerably less glamorous than its predecessor. But it was begrudgingly approved by the Jtwo executives nonetheless.
It was the right decision.
The controlled environment made shooting much more manageable considering that cinematography has never been my strong suit. I was shooting with both a camera and gimbal that I had never used before. But my new script allowed for enough time to learn as I went and troubleshoot when problems inevitably arose. As a result, I was able to gain experience in an aspect of filmmaking that I often leave to other crew members. If I had opted to film my original idea on a tight schedule, the results could have been disastrous.
The real substance of my project however, manifested in post production. I came to JTwo as a video editing intern. So ultimately, I designed the plot of my short as a means to experiment with a variety of quick cut editing techniques that I had wanted to try for a while.
Before I even began editing, I studied scenes from several films that had successfully executed the type of fast action montage I was after. Dissecting Edgar Wright’s films in particular taught me the importance of camera movement and sound design in order to pull off this filmmaking style.
A few days and plenty of whooshes later, I had assembled a cut of the film that wasn’t half bad. I was ready to show it to Justin and with one day to spare no less! I had met the deadline after all.
It was at this point that the true value of my internship with JTwo became clear. That version of the film turned out to be only the first of ten separate revised cuts that were made in the subsequent weeks. With each cut of the film, Justin watched, rewatched, and gave numerous notes. Every time I thought it was finished, Justin gave me more ideas to improve the film: little sound tweaks, pacing tips, editing suggestions. By the end, I had an entirely different film than the one I started with. This was an incredibly valuable experience. I discovered firsthand the benefit of collaborating with a seasoned filmmaker.
My biggest takeaway from the editing process was a better understanding of the intense detail work that goes into creating a professional quality final product. Although a casual viewer wouldn’t immediately notice some of the minutiae that changed between the cuts of my short, JTwo’s meticulous approach to editing went a long way in making my project more engaging.
After all was said and done, my film wasn’t finished by the two week deadline 🙁 But there wouldn’t be much point in interning if I came in with nothing to learn. I’m happy with the short film I was able to create. Although overall I still prefer working with a crew, there’s something to be said for completing an entire short film by yourself. It’s a nice reminder that I’m still capable of doing it all even though I choose to focus on editing. I will take the lessons I learned at JTwo with me into my senior year at college and beyond.
Meet the Director
Lex Forge is a rising senior studying film production at Pennsylvania State University. Rooted in a childhood of making embarrassingly bad short films in his basement, he now strives to create inventive content with a sense of humor.
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.
Credits
Writer/Director – Lex Forge
Cinematographer – Lex Forge
Editor – Lex Forge
Talent – Brynn Forge (& Her Dogs)
Music – Captain Qubz & ANBR
JTWO Welcomes intern Chloe Butler
THE NEXT CHAPTER
By Chloe Butler
If someone had told me four years ago that I would be interning at a film production company in Philadelphia I would never have believed them. I grew up in a small town in the South East of Ireland where the most exciting thing that’s probably ever happened is when a film crew showed up to shoot some scenes for John Crowley’s film Brooklyn.
It seems that most people have an unequivocally clear moment where they figure out what area of film is for them, but I can’t say the same. Even though I studied film in university I was still unsure whether or not it was the right fit for me. I’ve spoken Irish since the age of two and my whole life pretty much revolved around the language, anyone who knew me thought that I would turn out to be an Irish teacher at a school in my hometown and for a while I thought that was where my life was headed too. Even throughout my time at university I had that safety net behind me as I continued to study Irish, alongside film, just in case my little film dream didn’t happen.
It wasn’t until my third year at university after going on a study abroad to Drexel University that I came to the realization that there was absolutely no way that I was going to let that dream fail. Even after my time at Drexel and learning that the film industry was where I wanted to have a career, I still cringed away from that dreaded question ‘so what area of film do you want to work in?’.
Fast forward a few months, after studying at Drexel and moving back home to Ireland, I had one final year left at NUI Galway where I had no film classes my entire final year and I was miserable. All I was studying was my ‘safety net’ subject, Irish. I concentrated all my energy on figuring out how I was to pursue a career in filmmaking after gaining essentially no practical film skills after spending three years studying film while my graduation date was fast-approaching. I had this fanatic notion in my head that once I graduated and had that piece of paper in my hand, I needed to be on track to taking some sort of step in the direction of starting a career in the industry and that if I didn’t make the step then I never would. I’m not sure if I was driven by the hysteria of final year or by ambition or a combination of both, but however driven I made the decision to drop everything and move to the US after graduation. I figured that if I was to have any opportunity to get into the industry what better place than here, where my love for film was reaffirmed and the anxiety that I had made the wrong decision and wasted three years of my life was allayed.
After a year of planning and obtaining a visa I moved back to Philadelphia with no solid plan once I got here. I made a list of production companies in the area, and talked to a few professors I had during my time at Drexel and thus found JTwo Films. After researching the company and later speaking with some of the team I felt like it was a great fit for me. I still wince at the question of what area of film I want to focus on, but I’m confident that during my time at JTwo I’ll be much closer to having a clearer idea of where I’m headed.
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 bids farewell to Saba Ahmed
What's Next?
By Saba Ahmed
As my spring semester was coming to an end, the stress of figuring out what to do with my summer was growing daily. Where do I want to intern, what kind of internship do I want, and many more questions were circling around my mind. One afternoon out on campus, I looked up “Philadelphia production companies” and landed on JTWO’s website. I found their contact email, send them a link to my reel, and got a reply to come in for an interview. From my first interview at JTWO I could tell this was a place where I was going to learn about myself as a creator.
Coming in with a set of tools that range throughout the process of filmmaking, I was excited to grow in these skills which included cinematography, editing, and sound. What I wasn’t expecting to grow in was the role of a writer/director. Seeing myself mainly as a cinematographer, it had been a long time since I created an original piece. By going through this process of creating my own film, I am excited to do it again.
One of the biggest lessons that I learned during my time at JTWO was how important the story is and making sure you are telling it authentically. This theme of “authenticity” has been a prominent one for me this summer and will continue to be for my work going forward. Before entering the internship, I was abroad in South Africa learning the stories of the places I visited and understanding how to tell my experience in the right way. Coming into JTWO, I learned to tell my short film’s story authentically, seeing my fellow interns tell theirs, and understand JTWOs approach as well.
Connecting with people and building relationships is one of the most important things for me as a creator. I am thankful for the new friendships I have made during my time here at JTWO and knowing in the future I can reach out to the people I’ve created bonds with here. As I prepare to start my junior year at Temple University under the cinematography track, I am excited to take the lessons of this summer, the rediscovered passion for writing/directing, and the drive to tell stories right, and have a great year.
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 [INC]ubator Project Brings You "RED"
GO DEEPER
Project Breakdown:
My main interests as a filmmaker are cinematography so from the start, I knew that I wanted to create a visually focused piece. Throughout my two years at college I’ve found it easier to independently write, shoot, and edit projects. The main genre of film that as been easiest to pull this off in is mini-docs, so from the first day of brainstorming I knew I did not want to make a documentary. I wanted this experience to be very collaborative, allowing myself to focus mainly on directing. My biggest struggle was to write a narrative that would be logically achievable in the short time I had. Being inspired by previous interns blogs, I decided to brainstorm a story based on what I had available to me. The two main resources were my friend Kayla who would act and the location of her house (also my cool internship friends).
Music is one of my main sources of inspiration and I try my best to listen to new music as I brainstorm. The main song in this short was what I based the story off of. When listening to it, I felt many different emotions and themes but went with beauty because it made most sense to me. Now since the song can go in many different thematic directions, I wanted to take on the experimental genre for the film, so that when others watch the film they can interpret which emotions it sparks for them.
During my pitch to the JTwo crew they could definitely tell I had a solid foundation of what I wanted visually but had tips to make sure I drive the emotions. Around this time was when I started to focus on how I will be using lighting.Throughout the short the three main color tones are (1) Warm – when she is getting ready, (2) Cool/Moonlight – when she comes home, and (3) Red – to show her hidden emotions. 1 and 2 blend together in the final shot to show irony in the balance of these two sides of her emotions surrounding beauty.
On the day of the shoot, Chris did an amazing job taking my storyboard to reality, Vi used her creativity to set design the rooms along with handle wardrobe, and Jordan was a huge team player helping from lighting, slate, and anything else needed. I haven’t had this collaborative experience on a project I wrote and directed in a really long time and having such a great crew was amazing. Through editing this project and learning about the proper structure of sequences and organization, it was truly rewarding at the end comparing the first cut and how the timeline looked, compared to the last one and visually seeing the growth the project had even after filming took place.
Overall, the experience creating this project is one that has made me really inspired to create more narrative work. Even though the pre and post production took all the time it needed, the entire shoot was only one day. It makes me think, how many more amazing projects I am sitting on that can be accomplished with just one day of shooting, a few great crew members, and resources already available to me. All I can say is, I’m ready to find out.
Meet the Director
Saba Ahmed is an undergrad at Temple University studying film and media arts with a concentration in cinematography. Gaining an understanding of how visuals work through cinematography and editing, she hopes to tie it all back to telling real stories when directing her own work.
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.
Credits
Writer and Director – Saba Ahmed
Cinematographer – Chris Tocchet
Set Designer – Viveka Galindez
Editor – Saba Ahmed
Production Assistant – Jordan Brown
Actress: Kayla Gleason
Music by MUSICBED
JTWO Welcomes Intern Saba Ahmed
The Next Steps
By Saba Ahmed
Everyone has their own individual path that leads them to realizing why they want to be apart of the creative industry. The reasoning behind my spark with filmmaking is as specific as it can get. My parents did not play a bunch of the traditional classic Hollywood movies that inspired me to make films; I grew up watching Bollywood films. I wasn’t given a camera at the age of 8 and made little short skits with my friends; I mainly took “photoshoot” pictures for my older sisters when they dressed up. My introduction to filmmaking was editing, but before I dive into that let me give you some background about me.
My family is made up of my parents, my one brother and my two sisters (I am the youngest). My dad moved to the USA around the same time I was born in Pakistan. When I was two, we all moved from Pakistan to the suburbs an hour outside of Philadelphia. The intention of my parents move was to build a better life for my siblings and I. For us to have standard careers and to become successful. Filmmaking was definitely not on their radar as what they saw in my future, but it’s something they have learned to accept.
Since my siblings are much older than me, they all got married when I was super young. In my culture, weddings last for multiple days and with these multiple days means lots of photos and videos. One of my sisters got married in August 2008 (when I was in 3rd grade) and shortly after this was when I was introduced to filmmaking through editing. I discovered a fun little software called Windows Movie Maker on my sisters computer and began to import in all the photos and videos from the wedding and add music to make sort of a “visual scrapbook”. As simple as it was, this visual scrapbook began my learning of telling stories. Instead of just photos over some music I would take specific love songs and tell the story of my sister’s wedding by matching the lyrics of the songs to corresponding visuals. This was where I learned many simple yet fundamental techniques that I still use to this day.
Fast forward a couple years, middle school was when I was first introduced to Adobe Premiere and high school was when everything kicked into gear. I got involved immediately with the film classes that were offered my freshman year and the following three years I was apart of RedAlert a 20 minute live show production that aired every Friday. I took on the role of a crew member my sophomore year and producer my junior and senior year. This show taught me how to seriously edit, to write and bring a package together, to pitch an idea, along with more specific live TV roles such as using a switcher, directing for live TV, and even anchoring live (my least favorite yet still beneficial to my learning). I was fortunate enough to know what I loved from a very young age which helped guide where to go for college and what to be involved in.
For me, community has been a very big part of my filmmaking career at Temple University. I was fortunate enough to help found and be the founding President of DKA a Professional Cinematic Society this past year and watch our community go from 14 members to 42 in just one year. With many of these members, I was able to make my debut as Director of Photography and work on a short film called “Stuck in a Hard Place” which is now in post-production. Lastly, I have gotten pretty involved on campus by creating content for many organizations. This has built a great foundation of networking skills for me. Below is a t-shirt promo I shot and edited for a campaign on campus.
These past two years I have really focused on the kind of storyteller that I want to be. What I am starting to realize is my roots (yes the silly wedding video edits) have shaped what is important to me when it comes to filmmaking: telling real stories. Learning about places, people, certain ideas, whatever it may be, and telling this story authentically. I am dedicated to understanding the best way to tell stories that may not be my own but need to be shared.
I was immediately inspired by JTWO and their commitment to telling stories authentically. Their impact on their community through capturing stories of people, places, companies, etc got me really excited to apply to be an intern here. Now that I am here, I am eager to learn more about my specific passion which is cinematography however still grow in all of its surrounding parts because each is fundamental to telling a story.
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 Welcomes Intern Viveka Galindez
New Chapter In My Life: Video Production
By Viveka Galindez
Growing up I always had a fascination for photography. I was 14 when I got my first camera. It was a Nikon to be exact, and it had what I used to call “a fancy lens”. I was born in the United States but moved to Argentina at a young age. I grew up in Buenos Aires, a romantic but chaotic city with a strong passion for soccer. Yes, we love Messi. We also love good wine and steak.
Before Instagram was even a concept my friends would ask me to take their Facebook profile pictures and we would organize shoots. Mind you, we were all between 14 and 15 years old. I would scout locations in the city or build a “studio” in my house with different light bulbs and backgrounds. I like to think that was the official start of my career. Everyone in school knew me for my photography skills, and later on for my short films. I carried my camera everywhere, even to house parties and the most random places. I didn’t want to miss a perfect shot. It was fascinating to me to have the ability to capture moments constantly. I wanted others to see the beauty in things that I saw through my eyes.
I moved to Washington DC for college and was undeclared for 2 years. I didn’t really know what to do with my life career wise, I was lost and confused. I knew deep inside I wanted to go to film school, but because of fear to fail in the film industry I went into Graphic Design. Then, I went on to a full time position as a designer at an agency. Every night I would go to bed thinking to myself “Do I want to be 40 and regret never having taken a chance in video production?” Thats when it hit me and started to look at video production opportunities. I got an interview at JTwo Films and was extremely nervous as I had no background in video, It had always just been a hobby. A few days later I heard back from the team, I had been accepted in the internship program. This mix of adrenaline, anxiety, happiness rushed through my body. It was such a positive and exciting feeling, because I knew deep down this was life giving me a chance to do what I really wanted to do. I packed my things, moved from DC to Philly in a matter of days. Crazy right? Today as I write this post I am sitting in JTwo Films taking a chance in my career and doing what I should have done years ago. Can’t wait to learn from the team and do amazing work!
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 Welcomes Intern Jordan Brown
GETTING LOST
By Jordan Brown
I think I’ve always had a thing for getting lost. As a kid, I’ve been lost in grocery stores, lost in amusement parks, I’ve even been lost in school. The more I grew up the more I started to discover. I no longer find myself getting lost- but sometimes grocery stores still get the best of me. To me, getting lost is an adventure. To my mom, it’s a heart attack. Whenever I create a film, no matter where I am at in the process, I find myself getting lost. I lose track of time. I forget my surroundings. There is nothing in the world but me and the story. I think I love creating films and telling stories so much because it reminds me of being a kid- just getting lost.
I’ve been interested in cameras and telling stories for as long as I can remember. However, I come from a small town in south-central Pennsylvania called Lebanon, which is the polar opposite of any sort of Hollywood setting. My grandfather used to have this old Sony that he would take with him everywhere and he would record everything. Anytime he ever came by to visit, holidays or just because, he would have his camera in his hand and would walk around filming everything and narrating what was happening. He was telling a story, even if that story was as small as four-year-old Jordan falling down the stairs and busting his eyebrow open. I remember I used to love to be around him when he was recording, often pulling him to record certain things and wanting to mess with the camera myself.
When I was eight years old, I started to make my first comprehensible films. Well, as comprehensible as the mind of an eight-year-old is. One year we had a snow day. I was bored, it was too cold to go outside. Christmas had just passed and I got a whole bin of plastic army men. That day, I grabbed my mom’s camera, locked myself in my bedroom and created a stop-motion film. I was obsessed. Of course, I had to upgrade to Legos and over time I upgraded to people. I fell in love with thinking of a story, creating it and showing it off.
Fast forward some years to high school, I got serious about film. I had always known that I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I viewed high school as my time to make this dream come true or not. I was heavily involved in sports, but had a passion for storytelling. I was like the real-life Troy Bolton. I immediately got involved with my school’s media club (I was literally the only member my freshman year) and showed up every week and worked on a new project. I got involved with my school’s morning announcements and broadcast program. I remember begging my teacher to create narrative projects rather than news segments, but him telling me to be patient. I had gotten involved with PBS Student Reporting Labs, even airing a segment on PBS Newshour and later securing an internship with PBS for the summer. As great as all this was, this was not me and this was not what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life.
I had heard of a film festival for high schoolers called the All American High School Film Festival (AAHSFF). There was a film invitational part of the festival where you applied by sending in your work, and if you were accepted you went to New York City for several days to create a short film and compete in the festival. Sure enough, I applied and was accepted. At this point, my teacher looked at me and told me that he would support me in the festival and making the switch from broadcast to film (I will always be grateful for this, Mr. Schwalm). This was my chance to do what I wanted to do. I gave up almost everything for this film. I quit football, I stopped working for PBS and I even left my homecoming date alone at the dance to work on the script (I’m so sorry, but it’s the hustle). I created a team of four other students and myself. We were by far the smallest team at the festival. By the end of the festival, we created a short film I wrote, directed, acted in and edited. Although I held the reins, I am beyond grateful for that crew and my teachers that went along. They saw my vision and supported me even with the odds we were up against. We finished that festival in fourth place out of 28 teams.
After the success of being able to assemble a crew and create a quality short film, I made the switch to film for good. I took any and every opportunity I could grab. I created PSAs, short films, documentaries and whatever I could get my hands on. I loved it. I went back to the same festival, AAHSFF, and placed second which put me in position to work with IMAX by the end of my senior year of high school as a part of their In-Focus Program. I am now able to attend to Ithaca College on a communication scholarship called the Park Scholarship studying film production. This is all because I took a risk on myself.
I am a people person. I believe that film offers a special medium that gives a voice to the voiceless. That is why I base my films off of real issues. I have created films on cyberbullying and teenage depression, immigration into the United States and even the inequity of public educational funding in Pennsylvania. I consider my work realistic fiction. I study topics like a documentary and turn them into a fictional narrative film. My films almost always pertain some sort of message or address a social issue in them. My mom might tell you I’ve always been an activist. When I was a kid, I would create a film with my Legos and my mom would comment on the story something like, “Wow, Jordan. I see the way you had the Lego man in prison as a way to comment on the criminal justice reform system and how people convicted of even peaceful crimes often struggle to ever make it out of the system and adjust back into society.” I would turn to her with an eyebrow raised and agree, but it was clear that she thought I was much more intelligent than I actually was. My Lego-man was in jail for jaywalking and only serving 15 minutes of “hard time”. Now, this is a topic I’d love to actually address.
In my free time I like to explore. I like to get lost, literally. I like to go to places I’ve never been to and meet new people and hear their stories. I still love sports, especially football (go Eagles). I love to hike to the top of a mountain and be able to look out for miles and miles. I love music and concerts. I love my friends and family and wish I could spend more time with them, but they know that even though I can’t always be physically present, I’ll always be there for them. Life is an adventure and that is exactly how I am treating it. I don’t like to stay in one place. I am the guy that will call you at midnight and ask if you want to go on a road trip hours away in the morning. I consider myself predictably unpredictable. I like “spur of the moment” events, which is why when I was offered this internship, the first thing I did was smile and book myself a train ticket and a room in a hostel.
Now I find myself getting lost everyday. I just started a new adventure in my life, here at JTWO. This summer, I will be creating and helping others create all types of different projects with the company of two dogs in the workplace, who are easily the most popular staff here. I love it here already and I am very excited for what the summer holds for me. I am hoping to meet people in the industry and learn from them, after all that is the most important part. I have so much more growing and learning to do. I know that I took another risk on myself by choosing to not take the summer off, move to Philly and spend my time creating. I also know that this is a risk that I will look back on and say, “wow, I could have not have spent my summer in any better way.”
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 Welcomes Intern Chris Tocchet
STEP BY STEP
By Chris Tocchet
I have never been very talkative or outgoing but listening to people’s stories and experiences have always fascinated me. Understanding how people live their lives, make the decisions they do, and carry themselves through difficult situations is remarkable to me because it’s so different for everyone. Distinct human behavior is what I find most interesting – how two people given the same circumstances can have two completely different stories.
I grew up in a creative household. My dad is an illustrator and currently the Director of the School of Design at the University of the Arts. My mom is a graphic designer who has worked with some pretty big household names like M&M’s and Campbell’s Soup. Saying I have some big shoes to fill is an understatement.
My passion for photography began when I was eight-years-old. My dad got me a small point-and-shoot camera for Christmas. From that point on I was taking pictures of everything – school trips to family vacations – I have it all. Not too long after that, I wanted more technically and creatively. I upgraded to an entry level DSLR that also had video capabilities. While this wasn’t the reason I got the camera, it would soon become the main reason I picked it up.
Throughout my childhood, high school and even now in college, soccer has also been a huge part of my life. My passion for film had me recording things that I loved and knew. Early on, I started making videos of myself playing soccer – shooting, juggling, dribbling, and celebrating goals! While these videos of myself were fun, I realized I wanted to do more. I wanted to tell stories about people I was interested in, to get in deeper to understand them, but I also wanted anyone who looked at my films to relate to the stories and enjoy the experiences with me. This is when I became interested in documentary filmmaking.
I love being able to tell someone’s story, show what makes them unique, and reveal who they are from a new perspective. Sometimes the process leads to stories I wasn’t aware of before I started the project. I have become extremely passionate about this kind of filmmaking and want to continue working in this format and seeing where it takes me.
With this Internship at JTWO, I hope to develop my passions further, learning and collaborating from the creative people all around me and leaving my mark on the projects we work on.
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.