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.
JTWO Welcomes Omar Alqahtani
The Good Kind of Stress
by Omar Alqahtani
I was filming my first narrative short outside of a 7/11. One of the characters was smoking a cigarette. We were stopped by a couple of strangers asking saying that they did not have cash for cigarettes but they had a personal bottle of Grey Goose that they didn’t want. I was 19 at the time so I was pretty excited.
While working on a different movie, I called a casket supplier to ask for permission to film at his store. There was a scene where a grandma has to pick out a casket and I wanted it to be as visually compelling as possible; caskets hanging up on the wall felt like they would get the job done. The owner of the store was actually really cool about the whole thing. He gave me a tour around his little factory. He showed me his patented casket technology for people who only want to rent caskets, he explained to me how different types of caskets work, he even showed me how bodies get cremated. He has this giant machine that just sets bodies on fire for several hours. He showed me a can of ashes with leftover body modifications, such as braces, metal teeth, metal bones. It was all wonderfully morbid, but by far the weirdest part of that whole interaction is that he did not seem to mind my pretentious man bun.
For one short summer I worked with online media content company, so they send me on all kinds of weird prop runs. One time was especially different. They sent me out to carry a $10,000 chair through the busy streets of Manhattan. They half-assed the wrapping of the chair and made it my responsibility to return it without any scratches. I’m a pretty clumsy guy, and I did not want them to know that, which led to the most stressful 10-minute walk of my life. It was only 4 blocks, but it felt like 27.
All of those experiences lead to recorded moments on video. I would plug all those experiences onto a computer, and I would have to reappropriate all those memories to create a compelling narrative. To me, this is the beauty of filmmaking. The fact that the making of a narrative is a story within itself. Yes, for the audience, the narrative o the screen is completely divorced from the experiences that formed it, and for the sake of the art, it should be that way. However, the making of a movie leaves me with a lot of stories that I get to carry with me, and be able to tell my friends, family, maybe even grandchildren. I can’t think of many other professions that leaves you with so many stories to tell. That’s why I chose this profession. That’s why I took the internship at 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.
JTWO Welcomes Brynn Antaran
Old Paths, New Footsteps
by Brynn Antaran
I’ve shelved most of my high school experiences, but there are a couple lucid moments that come back to me regularly.
The first day of playwriting class, sitting in the second row as our disheveled teacher paced back and forth in front of the white board, nodding and stuttering wildly: “ Real writers, y’know, the ones who are born to write, they never stop writing. Never. They’re seeing all these things around them and writing in their head, y’know, constantly .”
And then one of my summers at a musical theatre intensive, stretching on a stage amongst twenty other teens in jazz shoes, baking alive in an old church without air conditioning in the middle of June as the artistic director told us to think very seriously before pursuing a career in theatre or art because it would be an extremely difficult way to live. “I hate to break it to you kids,” she said in her lilted British meter, “but that’s the way it is.” We should only take this path only if we absolutely had to, only if we could truly do nothing else in this world but create.
I was still a young, doubtful creative–I didn’t understand how anything could feel so sure and natural. In college, though, I fell into filmmaking and everything clicked. Directing and writing makes everything else pale in comparison, I can never get enough of it. I have this quiet certainty in it; it is the only thing I want to do.
I’m very excited to see how interning here at JTwo will help me along my career path. Besides directing/writing, I also produce and assistant direct–I look forward to flexing those muscles in commercial settings with coworkers who I can also call friends.
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 Derrick Kim
An Unlikely Path to Film
by Derrick Kim
If someone told me three years ago that one day I would be interning for a film production company, I would’ve laughed at them. Growing up in the Los Angeles area, I always had a passion for sports as a kid. I played one year of AYSO soccer and then absolutely fell in love with baseball through Little League. In fact, in first grade, my dream was to become a professional baseball player for the Dodgers. My love for baseball continued to grow until it hit me. Literally. I got hit in the face with a baseball and fractured my nose. It really sucked and I stopped playing.
However, in middle school I discovered that I was really good at volleyball where in 8th grade, I lead my team to its first ever league championship. I was hungry for volleyball and moved up to the varsity team by the end of my freshman year. That summer I worked incredibly hard, training and practicing to become a better outside hitter. I even went to open gyms before the season to get extra reps in. Hard work pays off right? Yes it does! But…I got hurt again. This time, I fractured my left ankle. I was never back to my normal self but, I embraced my passion throughout the next 3 years of varsity volleyball.
I did well academically, but felt like I never gave myself the chance to explore my creativity through classes. But, I did indirectly. During high school, my friends and I loved to go out and explore LA, Whether it was finding the best taco truck or nighttime view, we lived for adventure. We started going to spots like Griffith Observatory and Joan’s on Third to take pictures and try new foods. It was really the first time I was documenting my adventures through a visual medium and enjoyed it. So for my senior trip to South Korea and Taiwan, I bought a Canon Rebel T6i DSLR. This was my first camera and surely, I discovered a new passion for content creation and storytelling.
I packed this passion in my backpack and brought it all the way to the east coast to attend Haverford College in Philadelphia. To many’s surprise, I am majoring in economics and minoring in visual studies. Now that my playing days are over, I help out as a student assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team. Last summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to make creative content for places such as Hatch Yakitori, The Pie Hole, Alfred Tea Room, and more. It was my first time getting real world experience and I loved every bit of it. The best part was all the complementary food I received. It really reminded me of my high school adventures.
Fast forward a couple months, and here I am with this incredible opportunity to intern for JTWO Films. Although I’ve definitely gotten better over the years, I have so much more to learn and am at no better place. Hopefully, I won’t get hit by any camera equipment and fracture anything because this time, I think I discovered my real passion.
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.