Polk County
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Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 29, 2015 7A
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Justen Noll films a scene from “When We Were” with leads Emily Johnson, center, as Lauren Mae and Luke Disney as Colver
Allen at Dallas High School. The film will be the last Noll will shoot at DHS, also the location of his first film, “Hero Unknown.”
TELLING STORIES
Young filmmaker ends Dallas High movie making in place it all began
By Jolene Guzman
Filmography
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Rain threatens
as Justen Noll, Nathan Beat-
on, Luke Disney and Emily
Johnson make their way out
the side door of Dallas High
School near the shop class.
The foursome are the ma-
jority of the cast and crew of
Noll’s movie “When we
Were.”
Noll looks around for a
moment. It’s a nostalgic
spot, the set of a crucial
scene in the first movie he
filmed at DHS, “Hero Un-
known,” back in the sum-
mer after his freshman year.
Now a senior, “When we
Were” will be his last at DHS.
Coincidently, it’s about the
friendship — or more? —
between a girl and boy who
meet their senior year in
high school.
Noll’s 20th film, “When we
Were” seems a fitting final
production in the place his
film passion started.
“There are certain ele-
ments of the high school
that are distinct that you
can’t replicate or achieve
elsewhere,” Noll said when
asked if he will miss filming
at DHS.
“There are the memo-
rable locations and the nos-
talgia,” he added. “ That’s
why I’m doing ‘When we
Were’ as my 20th and trying
to capture the nostalgia
from ‘Hero Unknown.’”
It’s also perhaps his way
of sorting through the emo-
tions surrounding complet-
ing this part of his life.
“The title comes from
struggling between the past,
present and future,” Noll
said. “Both characters are
seniors, and senior year is
that year where the past,
present and future really hits
you. This is my attempt at
capturing that.”
Noll’s love of film actually
began in middle school,
JN Films productions and release dates:
• “Hero Unknown,” June 2012
• “Havoc,” November 2012
• “miss & HIT,” November 2012
• “The Life of a Congressman,” December 2012
• “The Lyle Project,” May 2013
• “Transition,” June 2013
• “Bloom & Wither,” August 2013
• “Tomorrow is our Today,” August 2013
• “Readiness,” September 2013
• “The Flirt,” November 2013
• “The Rebel for Christ,” November 2013
• “The One and Only,” August 2014
• “Lives,” May 2014
• “Summer,” November 2014.
• “A Little Thing Called Love,” August 2014
• “VAL,” February 2015
• “Offbeat,” to be released
• “Collectors Anonymous,” April 2015
• “Two to One,” shooting April 2015
• “When We Were,” shooting April 2015
Films in pre-production:
• “Picture”
• “Buttons”
For more information about JN Films or to watch
Justen Noll’s work go to, www.justennoll.wix.com/jn-
films or www.facebook.com/jnfilms.
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Justen Noll, a DHS senior, has directed or produced 20 films since his freshman year.
when he took a computer
class and learned to use ani-
mation to make movies.
“I made all these shorts,”
Noll recalled. “They were
terrible, ridiculous.”
But his teacher, Doug
Harms, encouraged his bud-
ding storyteller, something
Noll is grateful for.
“Mr. Harms really encour-
aged me and really wanted
to see me grow,” Noll said.
“He thought I had a knack
for something.”
KYLE STOCKDALL/ for the Itemizer-Observer
Justen Noll, center, shoots a scene from “Hero Unknown”
with actors Paul Disney and Jackson Geiger.
Call it a teacher’s intu-
ition, Harms was right.
Since that first computer
class, film quickly moved
from an interest to Noll’s
method of expressing what
he thinks and feels about the
world.
“It lets me bring to life
what I have in my mind,”
Noll said. “There’s other
mediums where you can do
that, but film has a certain
quality to it that is really un-
matched. There is so much
to it that you can express. It’s
hard to do that with other
mediums. All other medi-
ums are just parts of film.”
In the nearly four years
since Noll debuted “Hero
Unknown,” he’s directed or
produced 20 films under his
production company JN
Films, hosted online film
festivals, and launched a
small business offering film
and photography services.
He’s shown a number of
movies at Dallas’ Fox The-
atre.
More recently, he’s begun
sharing his passion and
knowledge, giving other
young directors and writers
opportunities to work on his
films.
Hannah Scadden, a friend
of Noll’s who starred in his
film, “The One and Only,”
and is the co-writer and di-
rector on “Two to One” cur-
rently in production, said
she’s learned how to work
with actors through her ex-
perience with Noll.
“With ‘The One and Only,’
he gave me a lot of room,”
she said. “He lets people put
in their own creativity. I’m
trying to imitate that as I’m
directing. I’m hoping that
I’m letting people express
themselves like Justen did
through ‘The One and
Only.’”
Another young director
Noll jokingly called his “little
protégé” has become an in-
spiration in her own right.
Alicia Scherer, who first
worked with Noll as the star
of one of his early produc-
tions, “Bloom & Wither,” re-
cently won a state competi-
tion for directing on a short
film, “This Kiss.”
She said it was Noll who
first fostered her creativity
and gave her opportunities
in front of and behind the
camera.
“Justen introduced me to
filmmaking,” she said. “He
has been so supportive of
my every move, whether it
be acting, directing, or even
photography. That brave,
young filmmaker is my
brother at heart, and I
couldn't be any more proud
of him than I already am.”
Noll plans to keep making
films after he graduates high
school in June, and he al-
ready has a few in the works.
He hopes to turn his ex-
perience thus far into a long
career in films.
While still early in his
filmmaking journey, Noll
said he’s already made what
could be his most important
discovery about the art.
“There are some many
things I’ve learned, but I
think the main (thing) is that
it’s storytelling. You should
be telling a story and there is
no other way around it. You
can have pretty images,
pretty visuals, but without
that story, it’s going to be
empty.”
Photo courtesy of Justen Noll
From left, Hannah Scadden, Luke Disney, Jenna Friesen, Nathan Beaton and Phil North
work on a scene from “Two to One,” which Scadden co-wrote and is directing.