March 30, student-run movie-making group the Badger Film Group premiered their first movie on YouTube for the world to see— a short film titled “Liquorish.”
The film is a comedy about underage students trying to use fake IDs to buy alcohol at University Liquor.
The Badger Film Group is a group composed entirely of University of Wisconsin students who each have a passion to do something in the film industry, whether it be writing, directing, editing or even acting.
Founder and UW sophomore Jared Rosenthal was inspired to create the Badger Film Group when he met other students who shared his passion for movie-making in his communication arts classes.
He felt that his collaboration with his classmates should not end at just making projects and hoped they could all come together and do what they love. But this time, not for a grade. Rosenthal rounded up as many students passionate about movie-making as he could and brought them over to his apartment where they would meet for weekly script-writing sessions, and, eventually, filming sessions.
Despite being the leader and creator of the Badger Film Group, Rosenthal stressed how much of a collaborative effort this project has been. Rosenthal said it was amazing to see so many people come together, as the people who helped were able to specialize in their talents for this movie. He said it took a real committee of people to put this film together and make it what it is.
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There were about 12 people working together to write this script, which had led to a lot of chaos and non-uniformity when it came to creating an idea for the film, Rosenthal said. But, the two things that every member of the group agreed upon were that they wanted the film to be a comedy and they wanted it to be relatable to their primary audience — students attending UW.
That is where the members decided upon the “Superbad” inspired idea of students trying to buy alcohol from University Liquor with a fake ID. The filmmakers thought their audience could easily relate and find humor in this situation. Group members Julia Chumlea and Lindsay Adams were the people who provided the most ideas and really shaped the script, according to Rosenthal.
Filming took about two days, and all of the scenes were filmed inside University Liquor or right outside the store, on the sidewalk. Some key contributors in the film’s production were freshmen Miles Foster, whose love and extensive knowledge of history as a film journalist made him Rosenthal’s right-hand man in directing. Sophomore Sam Rebholz’s cinephilic appreciation for good shot composition and precise attention to detail made him a great cinematographer and had him taking the reins of the editing process.
But, Rosenthal said the team valued a diversity of perspectives on staff, so plenty of members came in without the mind of a film-lover, including cinematographer Blake Switzer, who had become a part of the group after Rosenthal found his film work on Instagram. Though Switzer’s work was not related to filmmaking, Rosenthal was still incredibly impressed with his ability to make spectacular shots.
Rosenthal saw this group as an opportunity to “create something huge” and viewed the process of creating this film as a stepping stone to something big. He hopes to keep releasing more films with the Badger Film Group, and that each film will be better than the last because they will have learned something new from the previous production process.
Rosenthal said he also hopes to use these films to help promote the beauty of Madison, and he wants to grow the audience of his work beyond UW students.
Liquorish is available on Youtube and stars Zach Kaplan as James, Sarah Eisendrath as Mason and Felipe Castro as Steven. Other members of the crew include Max Rebholz, Sophie Mayer and Megan Tennessen.
