Although he had some prior experience on his own, he was still relatively new to the art of filmmaking. After viewing a few experimental films in the class, Jon Paul had the notion that an experimental film was meant to be confusing. He wrote the script to Water and shot the film with his cousins on a Sunday evening for six hours straight. This highly symbolic film was very successful. Jon Paul received an A for his project, his peers complemented his work, and he was also accepted into the annual City College film festival, City Shorts Student Film Festival.

After showing his film to family and fellow teenagers, he was given a different reaction. People would say, I don’t get it! and he would slyly reply to their confused faces, It’s experimental! In June of 2003, right after the school year ended, he decided to modify the film. He wrote, re-shot and re-edited parts of the film, and it proved to be a success!