电影制作硕士 instructor Jennie Jarvis loves to stay busy, but she got the inspiration for her award-winning film 连接 当她被困在家里时. 在2020年的夏天，珍妮看着 上演了, a British sitcom shot over video conferencing software during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jennie took that inspiration and called on her years of experience in writing, 导演, 并表演用Zoom创作自己的电影. 结果是 连接这部剧最近为珍妮赢得了两项电视金奖.

Jennie always knew she would have a future in entertainment — she started acting when she was just five years old, 她上的是一所艺术高中. 她后来获得了电影学士学位, a master’s degree in English (with an emphasis in 电影 Studies and Dramatic Literature), 以及创意写作的美术硕士学位.

Committing to that level of education would be a full-time job for most people, but Jennie continued working as she earned her degrees. She was 导演 for theater and film while she was still in school, 但她很难找到值得追求的剧本. That’s when she shifted her focus to writing, which also helped her find work in academia. She started teaching scriptwriting (she is currently teaching 脚本生产 & 分析) in 满帆’s 电影制作硕士 program in 2013, and she’s stayed busy with her work on campus and her professional projects — including 连接 -从那时起.

连接 is a sci-fi short film set in a distant future where climate change has forced humans to evacuate Earth. 劳伦, 一个住在摇摇欲坠的宇宙飞船上的女人, turns to her ship’s video dating system to try and forge an advantageous romantic connection with someone on a better ship. 连接 几乎是在极速上空被射杀的, and it recalls the sense of isolation and attempts at connecting over a distance that many people experienced during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

我有这个想法 连接, 我就说, “好吧, what kind of world would you have people interacting specifically through some kind of video platform?“我倾向于写很多科幻小说和奇幻小说, 所以在我的脑海里，我想, “好吧, 我们有两个人在不同的宇宙飞船上说话, 这就是它们相互交流的方式.’ Then I just built the story from there,” Jennie explains.

Other parallels between Jennie’s narrative universe and the pandemic are at play throughout the film. When 劳伦 meets Jeff through the dating platform and finds out that he’s returning to Earth soon because he’s essential to their rebuilding efforts, 她说, “成为必不可少的人一定很好!” Jeff replies with, “You know the thing about being essential? 这意味着我们是一次性的.”

“劳伦 wants to get off her ship, Jeff is scared of getting off his ship. I think we were all dealing with that during the pandemic,” Jennie says. “那些被认为是必不可少的人, 是的, 他们总是出去, 但这意味着他们在冒生命危险. 这并不一定安全. There was a lot of that kind of thing that I was playing with.”

极速对 连接的故事, and online communication platforms also helped Jennie’s talented team put the movie together from locations around the world. Jennie directed the movie and played 劳伦 on one of 满帆’s soundstages. Her leading actor, Bill Jamieson, played the role of Jeff from Baltimore, Maryland. 连接他的编辑在亚特兰大拍摄了这部电影, 乔治亚州, while a team in Malta took care of the visual effects and compositing.

Jennie entered the completed film in over a dozen film festivals and contests, and the movie has already taken home two major accolades: a Gold Craft Telly Award for Writing and a Gold General Telly Award for Low Budget (Each Minute Under $700). 连接 is also an official selection of the 2022 Fort Lauderdale 国际 电影 Festival. While she’s waiting to hear back from additional festivals and gearing up for future projects, Jennie is encouraging 满帆’s future screenwriters to take creative risks and jump into filmmaking as soon as they can.

“You can't wait for other people to give you permission to make a film,” 她说. “电影太贵了, and one of the big reasons why people don't make more of them is because they're like, “好吧, 我没有钱. 我没有钱.“嗯，[连接不到300美元, and most of that money went towards food on set… Don’t feel like you have to make the biggest of the big films. 只要愿意创造东西.”