JTWO's Incubator Project Brings You "Fandom"
Directed by Rich Owens
I love sports. I always have. And I’ve always had a borderline unhealthy emotional connection to the teams I root for. Why? I have a couple theories. Thus, this seemed like a logical question to explore in a film. The only problem? How could I possibly explore sports fandom in sufficient detail in only a few minutes? And what happens if I don’t actually come to a satisfactory conclusion? Well, it’s in those moments of maddening indecision that it’s most important to be decisive. So I went for it.
While I have some directing experience, I’ve never been so responsible for every facet of making a film. From being behind the camera, to planning a shoot, to editing, color correcting, interviewing and writing…it was all on me to ensure the final product was up to standard. I’m very thankful for the help I had along the way from my fellow interns and the crew here at JTWO, but the sheer control I had over the direction of the project was both enthralling and terrifying. Let’s call it ‘territhralling’.
I find it hard to like anything I’ve done after tinkering with it for 40+ hours and thinking about it every possible hour (yeah, I saw it in my sleep) but I’m proud of the final product. It tells a complete story that I sincerely hope people are able to connect with.
I learned more than I possibly could have hoped for working on this project over the past couple weeks. While I’d love to go back and do this film again—incorporating several critical lessons learned—that’s what the next project is for, right?
This project was created as part of the JTWO [INC]ubator Project. A semester long internship program built from the ground up to give young filmmakers, content creators, and all around hungry for a challenge individuals a place to stretch their creative minds while preparing them for the road ahead.
JTWO's Incubator Project Brings you "Lost in Fear"
Directed by Greg Fry
In most creative situations, one of the toughest parts for me is developing the first steps of an idea. This project was no exception. I struggled for nearly a week, unable to think of a plan that I was happy with. As my time was running short, I finally came upon the idea of creating a action based commercial. My plan was to tell a story about a man conquering his fear with the help of an energy drink.
When I arrived on location I felt fairly confident in my ability to shoot good looking video, but when it came to telling a story through that video… that was a different story. I got all the shots I needed in about three hours and packed up for the day. Now, it was time for editing. I quickly laid all my clips out but began to realize that I failed to bring a true cinematic element to the video. Most of my shots looked the same and one didn’t stand out or seperate itself from another. I attempted to trim the video in order to get to the point faster but even then, I don’t think a great story was ever achieved.
Looking back on the project, I was very pleased with how the sound design and color grading turned out. Having never used Davinci Resolve before, I was excited to work and be somewhat successful with a new program. I wish I would have planned out my shot choices just a bit more, not only to create the more cinematic shots… but also to tell a more engaging story. Overall, I liked my project, but with some more planning ahead of time I think it could have been exactly what I imagined.
This project was created as part of the JTWO [INC]ubator Project. A semester long internship program built from the ground up to give young filmmakers, content creators, and all around hungry for a challenge individuals a place to stretch their creative minds while preparing them for the road ahead.
JTWO's Incubator Project Brings You "Mirror"
Directed by Adam Nitzberg
For this project I wanted to challenge myself but at the same time I didn’t want to overextend myself. I wanted to do something that would test my skills as a director while being realistic in regards to the short timeline and lack of budget. I had heard too many horror back at school of ambitious directors overextending themselves and the product coming out sloppy. The main factors that people were overzealous with, I realized, were having too many actors, too many locations, and/or making their films too long.
Project Breakdown
So, I decided to push forward with an idea that I had been juggling with for a while, a microshort, a film under one minute in length. This would allow me to focus on telling an effective story in a concise amount of time. I chose the genre of horror because I thought that would be the most effective for the length and it would allow me to explore an unsettling concept. Mirrors and reflections stuck out to me because they are something we deal with every day so the horror of them is not foreign like a monster isolated to one specific patch of wilderness or a ghost that haunts one particular house. Nearly everyone looks at themselves in a mirror at least once a day. My goal was to make those people wonder about the face they saw looking back.
Logistically, this tested my all of my skills do the inherent difficulty of the concept. I used Maria’s (one of the other interns) apartment and covered the wall mounted mirror with green screen. She then had to mimic all of her actions exactly the same twice, as would the camera operator. Then, in post-production, the two shots would be composited to give the illusion of it being a real mirror. Directing this proved to be quite a challenge.
Directing was a very different experience for me. I’ve always only captured people with a camera and didn’t interfere with what they’d naturally be doing. Kind of like a fly on the wall. The extent of my directing/staging during a shoot was positioning someone for an interview shot. So I felt really annoying and pushy telling people what to do this time. Pretty much every shot besides the found footage was staged. I planned everything as well as thought of more shots on the spot, I positioned my friend exactly how I wanted her, and told my crew what I wanted them to do with the camera. I even did Sierra’s hair and makeup. After I saw the footage on the monitor, I couldn’t wait to get editing. It was so incredibly beautiful (Shoutout to the best crew ever).
I think in that regard I mostly succeeded. I did make a couple mistakes that proved to be costly and caused me to abandon the original ending and to trim more off of the film than I originally intended. I think it is certainly not the best film I have done but it is without a doubt the most I have ever learned in a single project.
This project was created as part of the JTWO [INC]ubator Project. A semester long internship program built from the ground up to give young filmmakers, content creators, and all around hungry for a challenge individuals a place to stretch their creative minds while preparing them for the road ahead.
JTWO's Incubator Project Brings you "Barre None"
Directed by Maria Cantu
When I started planning for my intern project, I was initially going to go with a non-profit organization. I have a natural interest in non-profit work, so I thought it was inevitable that my project would be sort of like a promotional video for a local organization. But, that didn’t happen at all… and I’m glad.
Project Breakdown
I reached out to three non-profits. One responded, another didn’t, and the last one got back to me too late. I had to get creative because I was supposed to film the following week and I didn’t have time to. So I thought, “Ok, who do I know personally that can be a super reliable back-up plan and who has some kind of interesting story?” The first person to pop in my mind was my best friend, Sierra. I’ve known her almost my entire life, which I figured would make the production process smoother working with someone that I know so well. I liked that I was still sticking with nonfiction, but diverging from my original plan. It would challenge me more, but this is why I wanted to intern for JTwo in the first place.
I pitched my idea. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous because I was so confident in the story. I had a story structure all worked out from start to finish, a list of a bunch of aesthetic idea, location options, as well as the “who, what, when, where, why, and how”. Justin seemed to like it and he gave me some great ideas to add. He suggested to have Maria, JTwo’s director of photography, come along and test out their new RED camera (Uhhhh… hell yeah) since my video would have a lot of movement. I decided I would direct and edit, and Maria, along with my fellow interns, Greg and Adam, would work the camera. This ended up working out beautifully. I was so grateful for their help during the shoot and having someone on site that was more experienced than I was.
Directing was a very different experience for me. I’ve always only captured people with a camera and didn’t interfere with what they’d naturally be doing. Kind of like a fly on the wall. The extent of my directing/staging during a shoot was positioning someone for an interview shot. So I felt really annoying and pushy telling people what to do this time. Pretty much every shot besides the found footage was staged. I planned everything as well as thought of more shots on the spot, I positioned my friend exactly how I wanted her, and told my crew what I wanted them to do with the camera. I even did Sierra’s hair and makeup. After I saw the footage on the monitor, I couldn’t wait to get editing. It was so incredibly beautiful (Shoutout to the best crew ever).
Editing was one of the biggest challenges. I wanted this to be the greatest thing I’ve ever done, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to make that a reality. I ran into some issues, both technical and with the interview. My friend was nervous about saying the wrong thing, in fear that it would have a negative effect on her career. So, I had to respect her concerns and make them a priority, I had to exceed my own personal standards, and I had to prove myself to JTwo that I deserve to be here. The pressure was on.
I showed Justin my first cut and he liked it for the most part. He told me the middle to end started to drag, but I knew that was coming. I made a second cut… still not quite there. By my third cut, I did it. The fast-paced montage gave the video a much needed energy boost. Justin thought it was a really strong piece in the end.
I needed one more persons opinion before I could say I succeeded. I showed Sierra the video hoping it catered enough to her concerns, while also exceeding her expectations. Turns out, she was speechless. She said it brought her and her mother to tears. I’ve never been more proud of myself. Nothing satisfies me more than a positive reaction from my audience, whoever that may be. My family and friends have all had a similar reaction to the video. That’s the reason I chose to stick with this industry in the first place. I love making people feel connected with each other and sparking inspiration or some kind of emotion. That’s what it’s all about.
The Result
The short film was a hit amongst student films this award season, taking home Best of Show in the 2019 Louix Awards and Best Cinematography in the 2019 Addy Awards.
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 Greg Fry
Welcome to JTWO
by Greg Fry
When I look back on my life, it’s hard to remember a time where I didn’t have some sort of technology in my hand. The complexity, the fast paced evolution… everything about it grabbed my attention and pulled me in further. In my early middle school years, I began to take an interest in the photos my dad took of me. Eventually, my interest in photography spread to videography and by that point I had taken all of my dads equipment and claimed it as my own.
As I started high school, I still had no idea that I wanted to make a career out of film making, but I knew my interests were far different from many of those in my class. During my summers, I began taking my camera on countless adventures where I fell in love with the idea of short form videos. I became obsessed with the development of turning my ideas into a finished product. While I continued to create, I slowly came to the realization that I wanted to produce videos as a career.
I graduated high school and decided to go to a fairly small university for two years before realizing that I wanted something more. I transferred to Temple University in 2017 where I gained further knowledge of my craft and also developed a passion for concert photography. I spent many of my weekends at concert venues while utilizing the rest of my free time to create videos for classes and personal freelance work.
After my first year at temple (third year as a college student), I have found myself more driven than ever within the media field. With a summer at JTWO to look forward to, I cannot wait to expand my knowledge of the professional industry while simultaneously giving my own creative input when needed.
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.