5 Questions with J.P. Emodi ("Jason Richardson")
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
I grew up in San Jose, California. A large portion of my family is in the medical field–so naturally, the arts and filmmaking in particular were never presented to me as a career path growing up. I juggled between studying medicine, economics, and mechanical engineering... but none held my interest. To be frank, I prefered to spend my time playing video games, listening to music, reading manga–or best of all, watching movies. It wasn't until my senior year of high school when I decided to commit to filmmaking and I started to look at films in a light beyond simple entertainment. The cinema of Scorsese, Aronofsky, Kubrick, Kurosawa, P.T. Anderson were what gave me the inspiration to commit to studying film. I ended up going to San Jose State where I joined the Film Production Society. It was through the bond with other creatives in the club that I found the confidence to try my hand in shooting and directing. Learned a ton, found my community–and here we are now!
2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?
In March of 2017, I lost my dad, whom this film is dedicated to. The ensuing isolation from that grief created a starkly chilly, empty, quiet ambience within my house; a hazy, invisible fog. I live with my mom and sister and we are tight knit but I think the three of us were sort of coping separately in our own ways. I spent a lot of time on my own in a pit trying to crawl back to my normal life, and I found that the best way to pick myself up was through writing. The way I write is very spontaneous, always happens in compulsive, obsessive bursts. I found myself attached to this feeling in my house, and wanting to translate that feeling to paper and eventually to cinema. I think a lot of other young black men in particular can relate to this feeling of struggling to ask for help emotionally, and that's the crux of what I was going through at the time. And so it was from the swell of all those feelings that the ideas for Jason Richardson came to fruition.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?
The biggest challenge in making this film was nailing down and achieving the look. Our cinematographer, Joshua Pausanos, is a gem to work with; we've been best buds since film school and collaborate well together, so that part of it was easy. However, we had a specific vision in our heads for how the film needed to feel, combined with not-so-much time for camera tests. We were able to shoot some test rolls and received the footage just a week before production would begin. Based off of that footage, we had several looks to choose from--but settling down on one was slightly unnerving. I think we landed on a look that gives off the feeling we were hoping to achieve, so it was worth it.
The easiest part of making this film was working with the actors. At the beginning, I had this shoddy script and knew that I was going to have to work with the actors to iron things out during pre-production. We shot on 16mm film on a limited budget, which meant fewer takes. I made it a priority to do rehearsals and preparation for the scenes with longer dialogue. We had our discussions, and by the time we were on set, it was so easy to just go through everything in chronological order and knock out setups in 2 or 3 takes. I felt that I didn't even need to give them much direction once we were on set, and everything flowed quite seamlessly. Michael is fantastic at internalizing the emotions that need to be conveyed and that resulted in a nuanced lead performance. I asked both Maureen and Matt to perform a lot of dialogue and they nailed their shots in just a few takes. Brian, although we only had him for one day, was great at adjusting and giving me a few different options to play with in editing. I learned to listen and to trust each of them. I truly do believe that it was the energy of the actors that propelled us through and made it an efficient, fun shoot.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
A few weeks ago, I watched The Nest, directed by Sean Durkin. It struck me because the filmmakers were able to find such a delicate balance between family drama and slow burn horror. Feeling is everything in cinema; in this one, you feel this raw tension that develops throughout the film. I'm all about thrillers that are disguised as family dramas so I was immediately hooked once the film began. I'm constantly inspired by darker atmospheres and textures too, so all the aesthetics of this film worked together to create such a unique, subtle flare that really resonated with me. I wish movie theaters could have been a thing this year, but I love seeing films like that in theaters and being enveloped in their ambience--and this is one that certainly would have done just that.
5) What’s next for you?
I've always been on the fence between directing and shooting. I have a few projects lined up as a cinematographer for 2021. Inbetween, I'm hoping to hunker down and finish writing some ideas both for a feature film and a few short form visual projects. I'd like to dip my toes into documentary and fashion directing. But at the forefront, I'm trying to sit back, listen, observe, stay off of my phone as much as I can, and cherish the presence of the people within my social bubble.
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jpemo.com | IG: @jonathanprestonemodi