After his freshman year film club broke up, UW-Madison senior Emmet Battenberg knew he wanted to create a club on campus that would allow students to produce creative films and movies outside of the classroom.
Now, students have the opportunity to join the university’s newest film club.
Student Creators of Wisconsin — established in mid-September — is a new student organization on campus that allows students interested in film to create movies, documentaries, skits and other forms of films to share with their peers.
“We wanted to create a space where people who want to be creative in terms of [making films] can come and have a free reign to do what they want and have their work critiqued and supported by people who have similar interests,” Battenberg, the club’s president, said. “We didn’t see a place like that on campus, so we created one.”
One inspiration for creating the club, Battenberg said, was UW-Madison’s lack of a film school like that of the University of Southern California. Battenberg said that while UW-Madison has a “great” Communication Arts program, film students at schools like USC have more well-rounded film resumés.
“It is really hard to compete with places like USC,” Battenberg said. “I’m not saying those places are better, but I’m saying that when someone looks at a resumé and you have a USC film degree, it [looks impressive]. We wanted to be able to give people the chance to get experience and be able to say, ‘I went out and did this on my own.’”
Although the club is just a few weeks old, it already has around 15 members. UW-Madison senior Jillian Brown, who was friends with Battenberg before the start of the club, said she joined the organization because she wanted a place on campus where she “could do more hands-on stuff rather than just learn about it in class.”
The group has already started working on its first project, a “meta mockumentary” about a new film club on campus who brainstorms ideas about what to film, much like the Student Creators of Wisconsin.
“I think the collaborative aspect is my favorite part [of the club so far],” Brown said. “There are not a lot of other opportunities where you can work creatively with other people who share your interests that
The club holds meetings in room 4004 of Vilas Hall every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Those interested in joining should contact battenberg@wisc.edu and visit the Student Creators of Wisconsin Facebook page.
