In the past, senior graphic design major Jacoby Matott worked mainly with graphic design, but this semester he said he has enjoyed working more with photography and film.

“I’m really in my element this semester,” Matott said.

He said he’s even found a way to incorporate his work in his photography class to his independent projects. He said they’re working with text and images in class so he’s used the time to create a poster for an independent film he’s working on called “Grenade.”

“I’m kind of killing two birds with one stone because in my photography class, we’re working with text and image,” Matott said. “I’m kind of creating grind-house exploitation-style movie posters.”

Matott said the idea for the film came about while watching action films with his friends. He said they liked that the films didn’t take themselves too seriously. He describes his film as “over-the-top, cheesy and campy.”

Once they got the idea, Matott said he wrote up a quick summary and recruited more friends to help.

Matott said he’s been putting lots of time and money into the project so far.

“Granted I’m a broke college student so it’s kind of fun to prioritize there,” Matott said. He said he has the normal college expenses.

“After that’s all done, instead of spending your money on something fun … I’m putting it into props for this movie.”
Like Hawaiian punch as fake blood, Matott said.

After writing the script and planning the budget, Matott said he and his friends traveled to Rice Lake, a town about an hour north of Eau Claire around which the movie is written.

Matott said they spent entire days filming the action movie. Matott said he and his friends got so into filming, they got up at 9 a.m. and filmed until 2 a.m.

He said the film has a simple plot. A man is on the hunt for his wife’s murderer. He travels from Mexico, across the United States and winds up in Rice Lake. His life prior to the murder is told in flashbacks as he takes out the henchmen in order to get to the top guy.

“It’s a fun film, it doesn’t get very deep,” Matott said.

Matott said he wants the style of the film to mirror those he and his friends admired.

“I’ve had the privilege to work with a really beautiful camera, but once the film is all said and done, I’m going to give it an aged, scratched look so that it looks like it’s something from the ‘70s or ‘80s.”

Matott said he hopes to premiere the film on campus when it’s done.