JTWO bids farewell to Viveka Galindez
Final Thoughts
By Viveka Galindez
As my last day as an intern at JTWO , I believe one of the most important things that resonates to me is the ability of storytelling. Coming into this internship I believed I knew what storytelling was, but I actually had no clue. You can have beautiful footage, beautiful graphics, great cameras and gear. But if you don’t know who to tell that story, you have nothing.
Coming in I knew there was a lot for me to learn, such as specific terms for equipment, how to prepare for shoots and overall logistics on how the film industry works. I am leaving JTWO with new skills and knowledge , ready to take the next step in my career.
I produced my first ever short film “Sweet Home Alabama” with the help of Chris , Jordan Saba and the rest of the JTWO team. It was an amazing experience, from start to finish. Here I really understood the importance of storytelling. This story was so important to me, and the way I told It would shape the entire film.
Going on shoots for JTWO also was a great experience to dive in to real client work and see the logistics of a shoot. It was awesome to see a product come to life, from start to finish.
I leave JTWO super proud of everything I have accomplished, and would recommend this program to filmmakers, non filmmakers or honestly anyone who wants to dive in the world of film. As a graphic designer myself, the program was understandable, challenging but doable. The team was always willing to help out and give me an extra hand.
Thank you JTWO for this amazing opportunity, I go back to DC with knew skills, new friendships and a great short film!
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 Chris Tocchet
Crazy Fast Summer
By Chris Tocchet
This was a crazy fast summer, the days seemed to just fly by. Working at JTWO kept me on my feet and working all the time. From running intern errands, to working on big time sets, there was always something to do and work on.
Filming the intern projects was the best part. Being able to see someone’s idea on paper and convey that with a camera is always something that gets me excited. Seeing the other intern’s faces after showing them takes is a very rewarding moment for me, I love to be able to surprise people with what I can come up with and how I make their vision into a reality.
One thing from my days at JTWO that were the most beneficial for me was how I was expected to work on many projects at the same time. Before JTWO, I would have one main project I was working on and maybe a paper for school on top of that. But over this summer I sometimes had three of four projects all going full throttle at the same time. I had to learn how to balance my abilities as well as how to make certain things a priority over others.
Taking criticism is something that I have always struggled with. At JTWO there is no time to really reflect on that kind of stuff, after one of the editors or producers looked at what I did, they immediately told me what to change (they were always right by the way). I did not have time to think about myself and how I was feeling about the criticism because I had to get back on the computer and fix it. This type of workflow was really good for me, since I got feedback right away I was able to forget about what I did wrong and take the project to the next level with what everyone was saying. This sort of thing I will take with me to college and future jobs and I think will help me stand out as a filmmaker.
The shoot days were always the quickest, even when you had to get up at 4am. On set, everyone is doing something, everyone has a job and knows exactly what they have to do. That is the biggest difference between sets at college and sets with JTWO. In addition the knowledge that everyone has on set is remarkable and being able to learn from everything they do is something that will stick with me for a long time.
Even though my time at JTWO is coming to an end, doesn’t mean that I will stop creating or making new things. I have a strengthened passion for film and I feel invigorated to pick up my camera and make new films.
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 Jordan Brown
Lucky 46
By Jordan Brown
I knew I wasn’t going home for the summer. I knew that at 3am sitting in my dorm filling out my 46th internship application. I knew that if I stayed at home, I wouldn’t grow. I wanted to learn more about myself as a filmmaker and as a person. I had gotten rejected from 45 of the internships I applied to and I didn’t think I would get anywhere with the 46th, but I was wrong.
After consulting with my friends and family, creating a pros and cons list and relying a little too heavily on a coin toss, I decided to make the move to Philadelphia and take the internship at JTWO no matter the cost. Initially, I had nowhere to stay. I commuted (almost two hours with rush hour) and stayed in a hostel while searching for apartments for the summer. I was burning through money on gas and failing at making friends at the hostel. It turns out, people aren’t too keen on you after you accidentally walk in on them in the shower at 1am, but that’s another story. I talked with some people online and was able to secure an apartment in West Philly in a matter of hours of seriously inquiring.
I don’t want to tell you I was nervous at first, but I also don’t want to lie. I was standing in the middle of an apartment I just rented by myself, in a city where I didn’t know anybody, taking an internship that seemed promising but only I was able to judge because I hardly told anyone when I first got it. I realized that everything is what you make it, so I went all in.
Right off the bat, I became really good friends with all of the other interns. This helped me become more comfortable at work. As time progressed I got to know everyone and I found my comfort at JTWO as a whole. I learned the workflow of JTWO and how to work with them. They taught us their equipment and they treated us like coworkers instead of interns, but sometimes we still had to run errands or build office supplies. This internship kept me busy. I was able to work on two projects of my own, help each intern out with their projects and help JTWO out with some of their work as well. The experience was definitely worth it and I am so glad that I was able to do the internship at JTWO. I learned something new everyday and I made friends who I hope to stay in touch with after I move on from Philadelphia.
Overall, I’d say I had a pretty great summer. I met some incredible people outside of work, went on countless adventures and was able to make some memories that I’ll never forget. I indulged in cheesesteaks, discovered new music, went to my first pro-baseball game, connected with strangers on the subway, tried falafels, found a month’s rent in heads-up pennies and overall, created work that I can genuinely say that I am proud of.
I’m heading back to New York soon and summer will be over, but I’m going back with stories that’ll last me a lifetime and a new set of experiences that did the only thing I was hoping to do this summer; grow.
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's [INC]ubator Project Brings You "Sweet Home Alabama"
GO DEEPER
As I brainstormed ideas for my intern project I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful. I thought about doing a documentary on a non profit, or something along those lines. But I wanted to push myself and get creative, but also tell a meaningful story. I thought of this short film as an opportunity to show my skills, creativity, and absolute passion for film. This was going to be my first film I had ever made, and I wanted it to be the best project I had ever made.
As I thought about concepts I knew I wanted to do something that was current on the news, or a topic being talked about. After days of brainstorming I put together the script for “Sweet Home Alabama”. A short film about a young girl who gets pregnant by her rapist in a futuristic world were abortions are ilegal. I was TERRIFIED of pitching this story. I was afraid of getting a solid no from the team, and honestly I was ready for it.
I pitched the story, and I got the ok to move forward. I could feel a slight doubt in the room as to how I was going to accomplish all of this. But I was happy that the story got approved, now it was just a matter of making it happen.
The making of “Sweet Home Alabama”
As a designer, moodboards and color palettes are a must in everything that I do. One of the most important things for me in a film/design is to have strong visuals. Below is the mood board I created.
Most of the inspiration for my ideas came from music videos/ Tv shows and photography. Artists such as Sia, Lady Gaga, Macklemore where huge influences for this film. One of the Tv shows that inspired me the most was ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.
Shooting day:
What a day. What a day. Picked up Chris ( intern ) and drove over to the shooting location. Chris was shooting the video as I was directing. The weather was not in our favour as the sun came in and out and it was raining. I was worried because I had pitched beautiful sunset scenery that was impossible to shoot because of the weather. I was a little stressed but had to overcome any issues and continue shooting. My main character was also nervous as she had never really acted before in her life and I kinda forced her into doing this. I knew she had it in her to be a great actress, and she did amazing.( Big shoutout to Chris Tocchet for being one of the best cinematographers I know, he captured exactly what I had envisioned. Thanks Chris!)
Editing:
As I went to edit I realized I had so much footage that I would not be able to use as the story was dragging. I needed to keep it short and simple. With help of JTWO ( Shout out to Maria, Omar, Justin and Steven!) I was able to finalize a great cut to show the team.
Takeaways:
One of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my career as a creative is to shoot a rape scene. It was uncomfortable and disturbing. As a director I knew I needed to be very responsible and mindful on how I talked to the actors and the crew. How I talked about rape, specially when explaning to the characters the scene. This is when I realized how important it is to direct in film. I had to make an uncomfortable situation somehow comfortable for everyone in the room.
Shooting this film has forever changed me and I want to give JTwo a big THANK YOU for believing in me and helping me make this happen. I have pushed my creative limits and have made a short film I will always remember, especially because it was my first film ever.
Meet the Director
Viveka Galindez is graphic designer with a passion for film making. She loves coming up with new ideas/concepts , creating mood boards and making a project come to life. She is hoping to continue her career in film as she knows how powerful and influential film can be.
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
Director – Viveka Galindez
Assistant Director – Jordan Brown
Cinematographer – Chris Tocchet
Sound – Steven Layton
JTWO's [INC]ubator Project Brings You "Taking A Shot"
GO DEEPER
There is something incredible about being able to come together with people you barely know, and create four meaningful projects in the span of three weeks. Being able to leave my mark on these stories is something that will stay with me for a long time.
While these sets had their challenges, being able to work with three other filmmakers who were passionate about what they were doing made the process that much easier. I had the position of director of photography for all the projects created this summer, which meant I had the job to make everything look good. While I am very comfortable with a camera in my hands, directing, set design and interacting with the actors is not something I am great with. That is where the other interns really showed what they can do. Being able to have people on set contribute in such an impactful way, in ways I couldn’t, really helped to tell the story and move the shooting days forward efficiently.
There were many things I thought this bootcamp experience would bring, this included getting on sets with JTwo, which happened many times, shooting projects with the other interns, and finally learning how other creative professionals work with each other and how they produce content efficiently and creatively. This was one of the aspects of the bootcamp experience I think I gained the most from. Watching how DPs work with the directors and vice versa was amazing for me. Listening to them bounce ideas off each other and come up with solutions to problems was inspiring and fascinating. I would say that was the most important thing I learned from these few weeks. To be successful in this field, you have to be able to solve problems, and solving problems is not enough, you have to be able to find solutions fast.
I am extremely happy with how the projects turned out this summer. We were all able to make projects that not only showed our strengths and capabilities, but also how we could tell captivating and compelling stories.
The project I took on was not my original idea, this was because the nonprofit that I was supposed to make a documentary on had a hard time finding the time to film with me. So this meant with the remaining days I had left, I had to come up with a new idea, film and edit a whole project. The project I decided to work on was a documentary on my friend who dropped out of school to start his own production company. This process was a lot of fun for me because I had the opportunity to get really creative. My friend gave me more opportunities and freedoms that working with an actual client wouldn’t allow for, this meant I got to try new shots and new storytelling strategies that I hadn’t before.
Meet the Director
Chris Tocchet has been making short films and documentaries for four years now. Being able to tell a story through cinematography is challenging but very rewarding. He loves being able to make simple shots look beautiful and interesting. This is how Chris leaves his mark on every film he works 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.
Credits
Director – Chris Tocchet
Cinematographer – Chris Tocchet
Sound – Steven Layton
JTWO's [INC]ubator Project brings you "Park Avenue"
GO DEEPER
I always wanted to tell stories that mattered, and I feel like I was able to do exactly that here. I pitched the idea of creating a short documentary about a prison reentry center, which essentially helps people adjust back into society after getting released from incarceration. It started off slow. The initial reentry program that I was going to base my film around conveniently bailed on me the day after the pitch. After running around Philly like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find another reentry program to focus on, I ran into The Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC). I was put in contact with a man named John Thompson who was a current employee at TCRC and had been incarcerated. I knew I wanted to include him talking about his life, wrapping up with reentry programs helping released prisoners.
After we established a date to meet up in person and film, I decided I wanted to take John to the neighborhood he grew up in. He told me it was going to be his fourth time back in his old neighborhood since being locked up for 37 years. Other interns, Chris and Viveka, joined me to help create the film. We began the day with an interview at his office. I chose not to record video the interview to avoid ever using any “talking head” footage (this was a questionable choice, but I’m glad I made the decision). I believed that it would take away from the story. After the interview, just shy of 50 minutes, we began to film him in his office, in Center City and finally in his old neighborhood in North Philadelphia.
As we filmed, I was able to talk to John 1-on-1 more about what it was like for him to grow up, serve time and now help people who are released from prison as well. We connected and I learned to appreciate his story and his personal growth. After we said our goodbyes, we gathered our last bit of broll of Philadelphia to move onto the next phase; editing.
My first cut of the film that I showed to JTWO was five minutes long. That didn’t go well. There was a cycle: I got feedback, I improvised my own edits, my improvisions didn’t work, got more feedback, made more improvisions, improvisions still didn’t work and repeat. Eventually I ended up at a 3 minute 22 second cut that myself and the company agreed on. I created 18 different sequences on premiere and spent the last week staying after and coming in on my day off until the cut was done. It’s just part of the grind.
In the end, I am happy with the outcome of my project. I was able to capture an important story of someone who was given a second chance and able to turn his life around. These are the stories that I want to tell, and I was glad I was able to do exactly that through this internship.
Overall, this has not been what I was expecting. The whole time we were all very handsfree and on our own to complete our projects (minus the times we showed cuts and got feedback on our films). Everything was in our control and I was happy about that because it allowed us to be the creators that we are. I already want to get going on the next.
What’s next for me is working with JTWO on their sets and learning more about their style of filmmaking. I was able to hop on one set already and it was a great experience. I loved to see how everyone interacted with each other and how even with a small crew, a high quality piece was created. After this summer ends, I’ll be able to go back to college confident with new experiences under my belt that only help me grow as a filmmaker.
Meet the Director
Jordan Brown is a filmmaker from Lebanon, Pennsylvania who is passionate about social justice. He creates narrative and documentary films that address issues across the spectrum. Jordan is currently studying film at Ithaca College and plans to write and direct his own films which he considers to be realistic fiction.
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
Director – Jordan Brown
Cinematographer – Chris Tocchet
Sound – Steven Layton
Story Supervisor – Omar Alqahtani
PA – Viveka Galindez
JTWO's [INC]ubator Project Brings you "Dibs: Solving the Problem of Waste in Colleges"
Solving the Problem of Waste in Colleges
by Derrick Kim
Upon knowing that I had to create a project for my internship, I immediately had an idea in mind. After watching a lot of the previous intern projects, I knew I wanted to do something under the Projects That Matter initiative. Right away, I thought about my friend Ken and a project he’s been working on to reduce waste in colleges. This project is called Dibs.
Over the next couple days at JTWO, I spent a lot of time working on my pitch. I read over Dibs’ project development documents as well as Haverford College’s blog posts that spotlighted my friend Ken. I slowly began writing up the vision I had for telling Dibs story. For inspiration, I watched a lot of videos from Great Big Story, Vice, and Vox. With everything put together, I pitched my idea to Justin and got it approved. Justin gave me some suggestions regarding a good way to pose the initial question of waste within colleges.
The next couple days were focused on the logistics. I rented out equipment, planned out shooting days, confirmed actors, and all that good stuff. Now here was the hardest part. Finding shooting times with my friend Ken and Ahmed, the co-founders of Dibs. As full time students, there was almost never a time where our schedules overlapped. When I was free, they weren’t. When they were, I wasn’t. It was the most difficult part of this whole project, since our availability was so limited. In the end, we made it work. I also have to give a big shout out to Omar for helping me with audio throughout the interviews.
Editing was probably the most rewarding part of this project. Through a lot of trial and error, and mixing and matching, I created a flow I felt told the story well. Once it was finished, I showed Justin and received good feedback. He told me the story was good and gave me minor suggestions on how to make the video more professional. For example, since I used white for my fonts, it was hard to read when it overlapped onto Ken’s shirt in one of the interviews. Justin suggested I use a drop shadow, something I had never heard in my life. He also told me that a good rule of thumb for words on screen is around four seconds. I incorporated his feedback and finalized my intern project.
Overall, I am extremely satisfied with the final result, especially given the time limitations with school, midterms, the lack of my friend’s availability, and more. With this project, I’ve improved so much in regards to production, storytelling, and editing. I’ve looked back at this final cut, and said to myself, “Wow, I actually made this”. Not only was this a rewarding experience, but it was one that tested my limits and ability as a filmmaker/storyteller. In a sense, Ken was my first client. The best part was seeing Ken’s reaction when I showed it to him. He couldn’t stop watching it, and thanked me a million times for my help. Thanks JTWO, for giving me this opportunity to tell his 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 [INC]ubator Project - "Barre None" Wins 3 Awards
Barre None Steals the Show
This award season, a former intern of ours, Maria Cantu, completely stole the show! High on cloud nine with her documentary Barre None, the soon to be Temple graduate took home 2 Gold ADDY Awards for Best of Show and Best Cinematography under the student category, along with Best Student Documentary at the 2019 Louix Awards.
In her short documentary, Maria tells the captivating and beautiful story of a young ballerina who is able to push through the harsh realities and overbearing pressures of the dancing world with unconditional love for the art.
Having carefully developed the [INC]ubator Project for over 3 years now, we are overjoyed to see an outcome like this for an extremely deserving intern and look forward to what future years will bring.
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 "Safe Sex Now"
Safe Sex Now
by Omar Alqahtani
I went through a lot of ideas when deciphering what to pitch to Jtwo for my first film made under the Incubator Project. My first idea got put down because it involved smashing Justin mug. Also it might be because the idea was not very well thought through. But, sometimes it’s more fun to live in denial. After the failed pitch I became a lot harsher on myself when coming up with ideas. I shut down some fun ones like, involving intense, slow-motion, homoerotic baseball, or a dramatic mockumentary about razor scooters. I eventually settled on a comedy about chlamydia. I was a little iffy on the concept at first, but the pitch went through without many questions asked, so I decided to run with it.
I spent 1 day writing the script, and three days fixing up the typos. I was able to cast it pretty quickly, but got a little nervous because I didn’t really have time to rehearse. The short required the actors to react to each other in real time while in different locations, but also needed to feel lightweight. Getting that kind of timing and tone correctly seemed like it was going to be a daunting task, but I was lucky enough to surround myself with lighthearted people, that picked up on the tone pretty quickly, and were nice enough to listen to me agonize over minor line delivery.
We were able to have a light and fun shoot. It felt more like I was hanging out with friends than it was an actual shoot. In the end, I was able to capture all the footage that I wanted, but I still had this little nagging feeling that it wouldn’t work. The shoot went too well, I’m still not sure whether the scenes were timed 100% correctly or not, and it was kind of a weird concept with a weirdly planned execution. I kept thinking about every single way the edit could come out wrong.
Turns out, none of the things I was worried about became true. The problems that unraveled were ones I didn’t really think about. My first cut came out a little dull. Even with all the funky editing tricks I tried to use it still felt a little dead. When I showed my first cut to Justin, he suggested I find a way to get rid of all the negative space, maybe use some colors here and there. “Use some color” was the advice I carried when re-editing the movie. Other than the colors in the background, I tried to add little bits of life in every part of the video. Scene too quiet? Put in some music. Joke isn’t landing? Maybe if I cut between two background colors. Hospital scene a little dull? How about I add a frame of a literal pool of blood and some horror synth. I still wanted the short to feel breezy and deadpan, but adding little bits of life here and there, if done cleverly, can enhance the tone of a film rather than detract from it.
I understand that “less is more”, but sometimes, “more is more”, and other times “more makes less feel more like less”, and sometimes but rarely “less is less than more but more is less so less becomes more than what you wanted”. Art isn’t a science, add some color and see what happens.
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.