The Viterbo Film Club has been very busy these past few months producing their first ever short films. They include “We’re Not Laughing at You, We’re Laughing with You,” written by Sophie Fave and directed by Courtney Piepenburg; “Sketches of You,” written by Lindsey Meath and directed by Mariana Villanueva; and “The Warehouse,” written by Mahlivahn Fleckenstein and directed by Willow Jo. These productions have been fully student led, and featured students from a variety of grade levels in the casts. The casting process began in November, requiring interested students to submit self-tapes for any roles they wanted to audition for. Since then, all three projects took flight rapidly, with the first film being shot in March, and the final one, “The Warehouse,” wrapping up in April.
The film was supposed to have finished shooting in the winter, however, due to Wisconsin’s everchanging climate, that was not possible. This was due to many of the scenes being shot in the woods surrounding Grandad Bluff. The film features three college students, Max (Isaac Knudsen), Dani (Vera Shipley), and Arlo (Kalyn Schmidt). The three were hired by a mysterious company to move boxes in an abandoned warehouse, where they uncover a sinister and unusual entity that makes their job go not so smoothly.
Another film, “Sketches of You,” was fortunately able to wrap up its process as scheduled. Director Mariana Villanueva said, “‘Sketches of You’ is about the bond of two sisters and the rekindling of their relationship. It deals with heavy topics of self-harm and mental health and sheds light on the importance of having someone in your corner who is rooting for you.” The film starred Emma Phillips and Adelaide Rhys.
While they are front line faces of the film, there was plenty of work that went on behind the scenes to ensure everything went smoothly. Mariana continued, “Leading up to the filming process, there was a lot of collaboration between Erica Ashley (director of photography), Megan Wheelock (assistant director), Lindsey Meath (writer) and myself to ensure that when filming days came along, they went as smooth as possible. We lined up all the shots we had to do for each scene as well as what camera angles would work best for the story telling. Pre filming, we also made sure we had rehearsal meetings for the actors so that they felt prepared when filming days came.”
The third film is on the completely opposite side of the genre scale. “We’re Not Laughing at You, We’re Laughing with You” is about generic office worker Wally (Braydon Schoeffling), and his co-workers (McKenzie Russ and Anna Martin) who are playing a prank on him by only speaking in cliches. Filming took place inside a room in Murphy Center in February, and it also features the talent of Makayla Taylor, who plays a woman seen snacking in the back of nearly every shot. As an absurdist film, it came with its own set of challenges, but it truly paid off in the end.
All three films will be shown at the Rivoli Theatre in downtown La Crosse on May 7 at 5:00 p.m. Admission is free, so be sure to come enjoy some free, student made films, and stay after for a short Q&A with the student filmmakers following the program.
