Jtwo Welcomes Intern Brooke Gollmer
UNIVERSAL FEELINGS
By Brooke Gollmer
My name is Brooke Gollmer. I go to Temple University, and I will be graduating next Spring in 2023. I would like to focus on post- production, but I am a jack of all trades and a quick learner. I got into film making because I like to listen to people’s stories and find the synchronicities of life through the thoughts and feelings we have universally. The universal feelings that we have are what connect us to each other, so if you are observant of those thoughts and feelings, you will be able to present them on screen in a way people relate to. I believe that curiosity is important because it can reveal to a person a lot about what is around them, maybe even things that are always there and go unnoticed. Being passionate within the presence of our purpose is one thing I live by.
One project I finished in November truly defines who I am as a person and a filmmaker. My Air Conditioner broke, so the mechanic came to fix it. As he was fixing my Air Conditioner, let me remind you I have never met this man in my life, I was having a conversation with him, making him feel at home, and he asked me what I did. I told him I was a student filmmaker, so he asked me if I would film a music video of him to surprise his wife at their wedding. I said yes because why not. So, as he was fixing my Air Conditioner, he gave me his pitch of everything that he wanted to see within the music video. I listened and took notes, not knowing if he was truly serious about filming this music video, and we exchanged contact information. Still not knowing if he was genuinely serious, I made a storyboard with the vision he was describing to me and sent it to him.
I matched his vision pretty well, we ended up creating a short film before the music video which lead to the video being 13 minutes long, starting with the short film representing his wife and how she is a rose growing from a hard place, followed by a song called Flor Palida which he did a cover of changing it up a little for his wife. 13 was an important number for Reynaldo Deane and his wife, so I had to pay attention to detail and hid the number 13 throughout the video in subtle ways. He paid me for it, more than I asked for, which gave me the courage to say hey maybe I can do this storytelling thing for a living. I love to create and you cannot create without love. Finding love in everything will show that everything is already created with love, so if you re-create that love then it will be understood by the audience.
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 Alyssa Capitini
CREATED FOR THIS MOMENT
By Alyssa Capitini
Have you ever wondered why you desire what you desire? Or why your brain is wired a certain way or why you’re so drawn to that one thing? You continue to pursue that thing knowing it gives you a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment but uncertain why that is until one day it all clicks. It all clicked for me one day and since then I’ve been on a nonstop journey of creative expression through the eye of the camera. I realized that from a young age I’ve always desired a life of creative expression.
From dancing to singing to painting that was how I expressed my enjoyments as a little girl. I’ve looked back on old family videos when my dad would record me with his camcorder, and all you can see and hear is little five year old me saying “let me hold it!” Fast forward to middle school and I had developed a passion for photography. I remember my dad buying me a small point and shoot camera and I thought it was the best thing in the world. I would take my brother to soccer practice and while I waited I would take pictures of the flowers on the field or action shots of the kids kicking soccer balls in the goals. This all brought me a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment but it didn’t click until high school that this was more than a hobby, but rather a lifestyle that not only can bring myself fulfillment but others as well. I moved onto high school being accepted into an accelerated 4 year video production program. My time through high school was full of learning moments and experiences in a variety of film settings. I loved every bit of the program but could not help shake the feeling that I felt and thought differently from my classmates.
My peers all desired a career in the Hollywood industry, and for some reason I did not desire that same path. I questioned why I did not feel the same and often tried convincing myself that would be the path I take. It wasn’t until I dipped my foot into other aspects of the production industry that it all clicked that there are other paths to this vast world of film. After visiting New Mexico on a missions trip my Junior year and experiencing the life of the Navajo tribe and the impoverished life they live I realized there are so many stories to be told of places most people don’t even know about. During that trip I was able to build relationships with children in the community and tell their stories on camera. A documentary I created my Sophomore year on the school’s musical showed me there are stories to be told even right in front of me at my own school.
Continuing my passion for photography in College helped me to instill confidence to the people I got to take creative portraits for. The music videos I’ve helped create have taught me there are people in this world that need help also expressing themselves creatively and I have the tools and the skill to do it. All of these experiences in so many routes of film have taught me that my path in this industry is my own and its unique to me. I was able to have confidence in high school and moving forward in college that I knew my own path and why I was driven to create. I want to continue creating for the rest of my life, in whatever capacity that may be. I want to not only express myself but share the stories of others, and create stories that are waiting to be told. I am excited for what the next chapter of my life looks like as I finish up school and continue my internship with JTWO films. I hope to grow in creative ways where what I produce can impact those in inspirational and thought provoking ways.
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 Benny Flora
IN WITH THE OLD, OUT WITH THE NEW
By Benny Flora
The waves rolled in under a quaint and colorful town in southern Italy. A small, aged villa that had been converted into a hotel housed a single family of Americans; a mother and three sons. It was March and on the colder side, and so an off season for visitors. The family ran out of their picturesque cottage and sat looking at the ocean. There were two brunettes and a blonde kid. The blonde one happens to be me, the writer of this very blog post, and the middle of the three brothers. So I can speak from experience when I say it was a truly breathtaking environment. My oldest brother, 15 at the time, was the tallest and clearly undergoing puberty, with awkward mannerisms and an asymmetrical face (sadly for him he is still ugly). My little brother was short with long straight hair, and a little chubby (in a couple years he would outgrow both of us). And I was on the brink of puberty, with straight blonde hair and sporting a European soccer zip-up. Carefully painted tile lined the walkways of the hotel and moss hung from the stone walls. We had everything we needed out there in southern Italy… Except one thing was missing: Video games! As a 13 year old kid I could not go without my video games for more than a week. I loved them as much as any other 21st century adolescent, and I was eager to return home so I could crack open the latest Dragon Ball Z game that had released while we were abroad. I could not wait to play it. But we still had about a week left on this trip, so I began to play the game in my head, seeing the characters in the beautifully aged palaces and streets of Italy in order to appease my cravings. I tried to get my brothers in on it, too, but they weren’t interested. Funny enough, viewing Italy in this way did not increase my love for Dragon Ball Z or even video games; instead it allowed me to see how much story and life can exist in a setting. Suddenly, I was imagining stories that came from the smallest and most ancient cracks in the stones lining the European streets. I came up with stories that came from the blocked off and crumbling staircases in the background of our tour of the coliseum.
Naturally, upon our arrival back home I busted out my new game and played it for hours. What was strange though, was that it was not as exciting as my imagination made it out to be. Surprisingly, not playing the game was actually more fun than playing the game. I longed for the streets of Italy that let my imagination go crazy. Video games did not satisfy my imagination anymore. I wanted to see the stories in real life, not on my screen. I started paying closer attention to details in life, the things that make an object look worn or old or aged. Those are what the stories originate from; every crease, bend, bruise, or crack has its own story.
Years later, when it was time to decide where to go to college, I had my sights set on sunny Los Angeles. I had to get out of the cold weather, and I wanted to be in an action-packed environment for film school. When I finally got there, I quickly noticed that everything is a whole lot newer than the Philadelphia area where I am from. Suburban sprawl and motor malls dominated most of the land, with the “new” and “fashionable” taking precedence over the historically buildings. When I’m in LA, I feel uninspired by the modern simplicity of everything. Often I turn my back to my friends who want to go downtown to check out the fast excitement of modern urban living. I prefer the run-down beach shacks that sit by the water, stained by sand and ocean salt. There are still buildings and environment that hold the history of Los Angeles, but my worry is that they will soon all be gone.
Returning home to Pennsylvania for this summer reminds me of how I felt as a kid in Italy: distracted by the stories that are overly manufactured and consequently missing the ones that are real and inspiring. Without the hustle and bustle of west coast life I feel free to explore nature and the historic setting the grew up in with a more mature eye, and in doing so I will take my storytelling to the next level. It seems fitting that my life led me to interning at JTwo, in the heart of old-city Philadelphia where every building is aged with a good 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 Jul Heiden
I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A DAY DREAMER
By Jul Heiden
When I was a child, I found the monotony of my cushy, comfortable life in the East Coast incredibly boring. As the product of a father who grew up in New York City during the seventies and eighties, my parents were understandably protective of myself and my younger sister during childhood. However, the routine of school -> homework -> swim practice -> home -> repeat was hard for someone like me, and I was often envious of my friends and classmates whose parents let them stay out unsupervised until the streetlights turned on. Because of this, I spent a lot of time at home reading books, losing myself in page after page of fiction and fantasy novels. I was especially fascinated by the characters’ relationships with one another, the small things that made them intrinsically human, even relatable. I would spend hours during school daydreaming about the characters in the novels I was reading. I would always alter the story, though, imagining situations that I felt should have happened instead based on the characters’ personalities and relationships with one another. Eventually, as I aged from a child to a “preteen” I started to create my own original cast of characters with the help of a brand new internet phenomenon: social media. When I was around ten years old I began writing my own stories on Word 2003 on my mother’s beat up, virus-infected Dell computer which began my transition from daydreamer to storyteller.
Throughout my middle school years I would consistently start writing stories without actually finishing them. Something I would write in one novel would inspire me to write another with a whole different cast of characters and an entirely new setting. And onceI got the ball rolling with the second novel my attention would be drawn to something different. By the time I reached eighth grade I had a flash drive full of unfinished stories perpetually inserted into my mother’s laptop.
However, during this time in my life I had began to focus my attention on music. I had been discovered by Jennifer Diamond, a successful opera singer and Juilliard graduate who helped me hone my vocal abilities for the better part of five years. While I continued to daydream, I began to write less and less in order to make time for choir practice, voice lessons, and performances. Opera became my whole life—my identity—I rarely had time for anything else. I was in Midtown five days a week for hours on end after school when I was recruited by the New York City Youth Opera, I would commute to Bergen, New Jersey twice a week to rehearse with the Verismo Opera Company, and I even performed at Carnegie Hall with my high school choir. When it was time to submit college applications, I had all but stopped writing stories in favor of preparing for music school auditions.
When I got accepted into music school I was ecstatic, and my first semester at Boyer College of Music & Dance at Temple University was exactly what I expected it to be. However, as I continued my higher education, I felt like something was off. I didn’t know what it was, but I began to feel miserable. How could I not be happy? I thought to myself. This is everything I ever wanted, the culmination of my blood, sweat, and tears. But it wasn’t. I felt myself withdrawing from my studies, my grades began to drop, I stopped practicing as often. For the next two years I tortured myself in music school, trying to force myself to enjoy singing like I used to. It was useless. In the Summer of 2020, I switched my major to Tourism & Hospitality Management, but after taking one class I realized that it was not for me. In a panic, I turned to my advisor who asked me a question that turned the course of my college career on its head: “Was there anything you used to be passionate about before music?” Yes, yes there was.
It took a lot of digging, but I was eventually able to find the flash drive I used to save all my stories on, buried in a box in my closet that I had not opened since I got to college. As I sat down and read through them, I noticed that the premises of many of my unfinished stories would make great television shows or short films. After several days of research, I officially changed my major to Media Studies and Production and started attending the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University.
Which leads me to today: nineteen months, two premiers, and one award later, starting my first day as an intern at JTWO Studios. I don’t know what’s in store for me here, but I’m excited to see where it takes me (and also to hang out with the dogs)!
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 Jake Horoshko
WHAT I WANT TO DO
By Jake Horoshko
What do you want to do?
This is probably the most annoying thing a teenager can be asked. As you get older and learn to drive and take care of yourself you have to start thinking about college. When that time starts to come everyone is wondering what you want to do with your life. In reality it’s pretty crazy to expect a teenager to know what they want to do with their life when their biggest concern is their next intramural basketball game or what video game they are gonna play when they get home. Those are not the top priorities of someone who should be making major life decisions. So I said what most other kids my age said, “I don’t know.” I played sports my entire life and always intended to play football in college but I knew that my playing career would come to an end sooner rather than later. I had become so invested in sports that I thought maybe I could be a high school teacher and a football coach at the school. That was a path that many people I knew had taken and something I could see myself doing. In the back of my mind however my dream was to work with movies. While sports had become very important in my life, movies were my first love. My grandmother always tells me I learned to work the VCR before I could talk and I would watch the Toy Story movies on a loop everyday. However this just seemed too far-fetched for me to even bring up to other people, especially because my childhood home was about 5 minutes away from pure wilderness and no one I knew ever even tried to make a career in film. I was always considered the funny guy and prided myself on being the most creative person in the room. Looking back it frustrates me that I didn’t realize what I wanted to be for so long but I eventually did.
I started to come to a realization when I was 16 and I went on a vacation to California with my family. Our first stop on the trip to California was Los Angeles and we had a few studio tours planned. I am a massive fan(probably a little too big) on anything you would consider nerdy so this sounded like a dream come true. Our first trip was the Warner Brothers lot and the entire time I was in awe of what I was seeing. I saw home fronts that were used in iconic movies and shows, I saw sets that were being used just a few minutes before I was there and then I was shown the props and costumes from Batman v. Superman and I was at a loss of words. As we walked out I said to myself “I can do this.” After seeing those sets and the people working on them I realized that this was the industry I wanted to be a part of. Movies were movies that meant so much to me growing up and helped shape me as a person, so why wouldn’t I want to help create those moments for someone else? We continued on our trip and went on a few more tours and I continued to be mesmerized by what I was seeing. Countless props and locations that I watched everyday and my mind was made up, this was what I wanted to do. We eventually went home and I continued with my normal life of playing football and basketball and being a regular kid, however it felt like a small weight was lifted because I finally felt like I could answer people when they asked me “What do you want to do?”
As my college search began there were two things I knew, I wanted to study film and I wanted to play football at the highest level I could. After recruiting trips and long phone calls I decided to attend Monmouth University in New Jersey to play football and study communications. I was so drawn to the school because I was offered the opportunity to play Division 1 football for a team on the rise. However I grew frustrated being away from home for the first time and not knowing anyone. I enjoyed communications however I did not love it, and playing football was fun but lots of hard work. I decided I didn’t want to waste any of my time so I had to make a decision. Ultimately my life there did not last long as I left after one semester and I was once again looking for a college.
When I was applying to colleges the first time I was really interested in Temple University because of its high level football, location, and great film program, however I did not get in the first time around. So when I applied again I knew that was where I wanted to be. It was the only school I applied to and that made me very nervous. I eventually got in and decided to attend as a film student and not pursue football anymore. My first few weeks there were great as I loved the school, the location, and the people but I felt like something was missing. I once again decided to take a gamble and tried to get in contact with the football coaches at Temple and tried to walk on. After talking with them I was offered a spot on the roster as a walk on and was once again a student-athlete. I worked hard and had so many great experiences on the team and made lifelong memories. As someone who cried when the Eagles finally won a Super Bowl it is safe to say running out of the tunnel at the Linc is something I could never forget. However I eventually had to make one of the most difficult decisions of my life when I got a concussion during practice, which was not my first. When it first happened I’d decided I probably wasn’t going to play anymore for my health, however as I got better I decided I should play my final season of football. The more I thought about it though the more I realized that telling stories was my true passion. If anyone tells you they loved every second of playing football they are lying right to your face, especially if they played in college. I decided it was time to hang it up and focus on my passion that I eventually wanted to make my career.
Reflecting on my time as an athlete, I learned so many valuable lessons. I felt odd when I was playing because I felt a little different than everyone else on the team. I was a Division 1 football player who had aspirations of becoming a filmmaker. At the same time I felt different in my film classes because there were almost no other athletes that were studying film. At first this made me question if I was making the right decision because no one else was really like me. However I quickly realized that I was gaining experiences that no one else in my space had. This reflects me as a person and who I have always been, I have always thought about things differently than everyone else. I was always the funny creative one rather than the smart analytical one.
As my college career ends and I prepare to enter a new chapter of my life I cannot overstate how excited I am for my internship at JTWO. I know that during my time here I am getting to work with so many talented individuals on so many great and exciting projects. I cannot wait to see how my skills grow during my time here and see how much I grow as a content creator.
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 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 Bids Farewell to Intern Chloe Butler
When I started my internship here at JTwo Films I was so nervous and I didn’t really believe in my own abilities as a filmmaker. I had never even felt comfortable calling myself a filmmaker until I started at JTwo. Even after studying film in college in Ireland and doing a semester at Drexel I wasn’t fully convinced that I was cut out to work in the industry. I had never actually filmed any projects on my own outside of college settings and I was worried that I had relied too much on friends who I had worked with and never fully gave myself enough credit. After my interview with Conor and Ian I can’t lie and say I wasn’t worried that JTwo’s intern program would show me I was pursuing the wrong career.
My time at JTwo gave me so much more confidence in my abilities and taught me what it’s like to be part of a production company. In my first blog post I said that I would cringe away from the question of what area of the industry I was most interested in and at the end of my time at JTwo I am more confident in my approach to that question. After getting the chance to make my own [Inc]ubator Project I was able to try out so many different roles (as I took on most of them myself for my project) I figured out that there are so many different areas that I really enjoyed but it became more and more apparent to me that I want to pursue editing.
I can’t express how grateful I am to all the guys at JTwo (and Nova and Griffy of course) for giving me this opportunity to learn so much and grow as a filmmaker. I will never forget my experience as a JTwo intern and I’m so thankful to have gotten to meet so many amazingly talented people.
Slán agus beannacht ☘️
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 Intern Megan Swick
In the whirlwind of this past week, I’ve had my fair share of goodbyes. With the pandemic on the rise, I’ve bid farewell to some of my closest friends as they moved back home, states away. I’ve said goodbye to my professors and professional mentors on campus since we shifted to online learning. I hugged my roommates goodbye before they left me in an almost-empty house for the next few weeks. I’ve even kissed my final college experiences goodbye; even my graduation ceremony is still up in the air. But perhaps the hardest, and saddest goodbye will be to this internship, and all the amazing people (and pets) I’ve met here.
JTWO in three months has taught me more than I learned in three years of college. If you let it, this internship will grab a hold of your creative mind and steer you in the right direction to your career path. Being a part of each production process here allows you to familiarize yourself with what you love, or might hate, about everything production. Through my incubator project, days in the office, and assistance on shoots, I’ve been able to understand what I can add to the production process. My advice for whoevers in my position next is to soak it all up. Say yes to tasks you’re unfamiliar with, say yes to 12 hour shoot days, and say yes to projects that are outside your realm of experience. If there’s one place to learn from your mistakes, it is surrounded by the experienced professionals at JTWO. As someone who left for a shoot with everything except the battery to power the camera, I know they might not let you live it down, but they’ll be happy you learned and ready to support you on your next film endeavor.
Yes the experience was one of a lifetime for a college production student, but besides access to professional opportunities, JTWO showed me a fun and open workplace. I showed up in business casual work pants the first day, and I can tell you now I am typing this in jeans and a tee shirt. The weekly meetings and discussions of our weekend or relevant news allowed me to feel at home in the office. I know I am an intern, but I was treated as a coworker, and I have found that to be a rare circumstance in my experience. I also want to shout out JTWO as the sole reason I tried my first Popeye’s meal (sponsored content). I’ll carry the memory of the three piece dark with me forever. It will be hard to settle for an office culture any less than the best after my time here.
Finally some things I learned. As someone who aims to be a producer, I picked up some hard skills here like making call sheets, week-long shoot itineraries, and arguing with all walks of customer service associates on the phone. But the most important thing I learned here was my own capabilities. JTWO saw the potential in me before I did, and I couldn’t believe when they would allow me, a little intern, to play a role in their important projects. The more I worked with everyone here, the more I saw what I could do. This is a place that absolutely fosters growth, and on my way out I am applying to jobs I would have never thought I was qualified for before working here. As this is my last day physically in office, I’d like to extend a “see ya later” to everyone here. I’ll still be lurking around in Philly, so you can’t get rid of me that easily. See ya later JTWO!
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.