DSU student to debut feature film in Wisconsin

October 2, 2019

Maddie Whitcomb first started making movies with iMovie on her iPod for 4-H in high school. Now, her first feature-length film, “Subject 99,” will premiere at Davey J’s Garage on Friday, Oct. 4 in Eau Claire, Wis.

Whitcomb, a senior digital arts and design major from Litchfield, Minn., was inspired to create “Subject 99,” a dystopian film where technological addiction has become a disease, after attending the DSU Theater production of “Frankenstein” in February. She worked on the script until the beginning of July when she began shooting the film.

“‘Subject 99’ is meant to be a film that assists people in thinking about common diseases and how common diseases are interpreted with the idea that technology becomes the disease,” she explained.

Whitcomb was invited to debut her film at Davey J’s Garage after striking up a conversation with UW-Eau Claire English Professor David Jones during the Upper Midwest Honors Conference last spring. Jones is also a professional musician and operates Davey J’s garage where he showcases art, music, and films.

“Every artist wants a break like this,” she said, “an option to show their stuff in a bigger scene.”

Whitcomb was already working on the script for “Subject 99” when she was approached by Jones. She brought on other DSU students with a variety of majors to participate in the project. Students assisted with audio, graphics, advertisements, and as actors.

“There are probably 16 or 17 DSU students involved with this film,” Whitcomb said. “It has been enjoyable. We’ve all taught each other so much doing this project together.”

The filming took place in July and August and was in post-production in September. In post-production, Whitcomb and fellow DSU students worked on editing, cleaning up audio, and creating graphics and advertisements.

She plans to have a showing of the film at DSU after the Wisconsin debut, potentially organizing an event to showcase others’ work at the same time.

Whitcomb enjoys narrative film making and hopes to find a small studio after graduation where she can continue working in film making.