Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Grossman and Jordan Johnson.
Hi Jennifer and Jordan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Jordan met Jennifer about four years ago when she was looking for a videographer to film her wedding. Through word of mouth, she heard of Jordan’s wedding filmmaking business, Melrose Visuals. Jennifer wanted a unique style wedding film that highlighted her love for filmmaking and passion for storytelling. After a few meetings to get to know one another, they quickly became friends. Jennifer had been producing short films with her production company, Seven Times Productions, for about five or six years. Through their relationship back in 2018, Jennifer solicited Jordan to help shoot some of her short films around Savannah. They quickly realized their energy together fuels one another’s passions and excels their creative drive. It creates a feeling that they can’t describe. After a few shoots, the hustle and bustle of life caused their relationship to dwindle away slowly.
Fast forward a few years (now 2022), Jordan was going through his hard drive and re-watched the wedding film he made for Jennifer. The memories came flooding back and he felt an urge to reconnect to see how she had been. What started as small talk messaging quickly became a high-energy conversation in person at a coffee shop.
It drew back the same energy they had together four years ago. The conversation was filled with passion, drive, and fervency. After catching up on their creative endeavors they were currently pursuing, they realized they had a common throughline. They both had this desire to start something new and to help the local community somehow through their talents, talents being filmmaking.
They shared their interests in filmmaking, some of which included editing, cinematography, and documentary work. They realized they had something in great balance, Jennifer loved editing, and Jordan loved shooting. They both had a love for documentary work and a desire in helping the local community. An inspiration came through to do something with documentary filmmaking for the local community.
After a few “coffee dates,” the path became illuminated, and The 912 Filmmakers began.
A small business that gives other small businesses a unique voice to market their brand. A promo-style video with a documentary twist, personalizing a business’s story rather than having a traditional commercialized marketing approach.
If The 912 Filmmakers can give small businesses a unique product that personalizes their passions in a professional way, they’ll be able to elevate their brand to attract the consumers they desire. Local businesses are the heart and soul of Savannah, and Jennifer and Jordan want the businesses’ consumers to feel why they do what they do. In return, they believe the consumers will be more willing to support that business.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part, yes, it’s been pretty smooth sailing. One of our biggest challenges right now though is getting our name out there. A lot of businesses want the services we offer but don’t know we exist yet. They see the other filmmaking businesses that have the traditional promo video approach, and our consumer is desiring something more personal. Another challenge is growing into our worth and value, both physically and with our creations. We offer something unique and personal, but a lot of work goes into this, more so than other business filmmakers in Savannah. This is because Jennifer suffers from chronic rheumatoid arthritis. She was born with an immensely painful disability which prevents her from doing physical activates that most of us can. A challenge has been for Jennifer to grow into the mindset that her strengths outweigh her disability and physical limitations. She is more than her disability, but that without her disability, she wouldn’t be the creator she is. She wouldn’t be good at what she is amazing at. This has been a growing point in both Jennifer and Jordan. Jordan helps show Jennifer her talents and to own them, and Jennifer does the same for Jordan.
She may not be able to hold a camera for longer than three minutes or able to push the record button on her own, but as a creative she finds a way for her passion to be shared with the world. She works 10 times harder than Jordan, not speaking on the business itself, but on the amount of energy she consumes throughout each day living with a painful disability. She endures a lot of pain to be able to share her passion and give back to the community. That is something both Jordan and Jennifer value, but don’t know how to express that worth to their clients.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The 912 Filmmakers are two creatives partnered together to produce personalized films that give small businesses an authentic voice to help accelerate their brand. It is an up-and-coming film production company that produces documentary style promo videos. We service small businesses of all types and backgrounds, including all industries and demographics. Our goal is to create content that echoes the small businesses’ voice in a medium that is felt personally and encapsulates the authentic feelings of the business owners.
We are most proud of the feelings we’re able to have shared from business owners and to be able to translate that to the screen. This creates for a personal film that attracts their ideal customer. The way we convey these personal stories and passions is what sets us apart from other filmmakers in the area.
We are personal not commercial.
We are two souls whose passions outweigh our limitations.
People book us not on the amount of clients we have shot for but because of the quality our passions allow us to achieve.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Savannah is filled with a few things we love. The creative energy in this city is something we’ve only felt in a few places around the world. This creates a truly inspiring work environment filled with a network of creators to collaborate and fuel us even more. The architecture, parks, squares…There’s so much creativeness to explore. This city is also filled with a great number of unique small businesses. Businesses who have a hard time getting their name out there unless you pass by them on the street. These businesses are the ones we want to create for and why we do what we do. If they had a film that encapsulates their unique and personal story and shared it to a simple platform like Facebook with a paid boost, we just might be able to help save them because so many are going out of business from post-COVID times and a lack of traffic.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the912filmmakers/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the912filmmakers
