Time to Swim
by Maria Cantu
The fact that I’m writing my first JTwo blog is still pretty unbelievable to me. Just a couple months ago I was in my apartment, laptop on my legs, guac and chips next to me, feeling totally screwed for a Summer internship. I went through many websites, but it was hard to find a company that I truly wanted to intern for, and the clock was ticking for application deadlines. I guess you could say I’m a little bit selective with where my time goes. I didn’t want to just send out 100 applications to places that I honestly had no interest in, just to have something to put on a resume when I was done. I wanted to learn. I wanted to be challenged. I wanted to be excited and passionate about the content I was creating. So, I ended up applying to just one place…
But first, let’s bring it back a little bit. I’ll give you a brief run down on me. I’ll start by saying I wasn’t one of those people who felt they were destined to be a filmmaker or whatever. The truth is, my lack of ability to do anything math and science related are what sort of lead me to embrace my artsiness. I put my all into whichever medium I was creating in, whether it was singing, artwork, crafts, doing girls hair and makeup, or making videos. I got my start in video production when I was in high school. I thought it’d be interesting to try art in a different form. I really enjoyed it and I was pretty good at it for my age (Even though now I look back and cringe). However, I’d do all this work, hand it in and get an A, but I wouldn’t really feel satisfied in the end. Something was missing. It made me question whether I wanted to stick with this in college.
Fast Forward a few years and I’m about to be a senior at Temple University, graduating with a Media Studies and Production degree. So, I ended up sticking with it. As time goes on, I keep growing and learning more about myself as a person and a video creator. After making a video for Blind Sports Organization, I felt that fulfillment that I was lacking in high school. The difference was that now I was telling stories that had more of a purpose; that had some substance. I’ve found that I feel the most fulfilled when I make connections with people and do stories on non-fiction topics that can speak to someone in some way, and I want to continue on this track for the rest of my production career.
Ok, now let’s get back to the internship search… I got to the 13th company listed on Google: JTwo Films. I went through their website and with every click and scroll, I liked it more and more. I definitely was able to connect with the content they created and their overall vibe. Between the personality-infused language of the website, the Projects That Matter Initiative, and the quality of the videos- wait, hold up… they have dogs?! Ok where do I sign up?
I didn’t think there was a snowball’s chance in hell that I’d make the cut. It suddenly felt like everything I’d previous done wasn’t even good, so I held off on applying. Then, one night around 9pm, I was like, “Ok, what do I have to lose?” So, I typed from the heart and hoped whoever read it would see something in me, something that maybe I didn’t. The next morning, Jelani emailed me back for an interview, then a couple weeks later he wanted me back for another, and you can guess what happened next.
Yup, your girl made the freakin’ cut. I got one of the four spots and I couldn’t be more grateful to the JTwo team for taking a chance on me. I guess I didn’t have to be so doubtful of myself after all. Now here I am, one week in and it’s been great! I only really messed up with the file naming, accidentally deleted my source footage, and misplaced my Premiere file *nervous laugh*, but a mistake isn’t a bad thing so long as I learn from it… and then don’t ever do it again otherwise Travis will probs kill me. I also found out Justin hates overlays and I put a bunch of them in my first video, so that’s good. But hey, when I was editing, this accidental cut perfectly aligned with the bass drop so I guess you could say I’m kind of killin’ it.
Alrighty guys, that’s about all I have time for. Now I’m going to develop my intern project because we’re filming this week. I’ve been pushed into the deep end and now it’s time for me to swim.
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.