A movie set right on campus

By Gayle Worland | Video by Ma Vue | Photos by Taylor Wolfram and Bryce Richter

If the setting for a scene in the upcoming movie "Morning Moon" looks familiar, that's because it's the real thing.

The fictional, full-length feature was shot this summer in Madison, with much of the action filmed right on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. In the director's chair (or, more often, on his feet overseeing the action, as pictured above) was UW communication arts professor Aaron Greer.

Greer - who also wrote the screenplay, is producing and will edit "Morning Moon" - is a seasoned director with more than a dozen short and full-length documentary and feature films to his credit.

"I've always been particularly interested in character-driven films," he says. "I was very influenced by films that came out of Europe and South America in the '60s and '70s - character-driven, with real people, real places, a little less of the gloss and glamour of Hollywood."

The story of "Morning Moon" centers on a 22-year-old Minnesota college student named Selena who journeys to Madison - and the UW campus - in search of clues to her mother's past. Selena's mother, with whom she had a strained relationship, has very recently passed away, and kept the identity of Selena's biological father a secret. Through a strange turn of events, Selena becomes a fixture in the lives of Avi and Nya, a longtime Madison couple trying to start a family in an emotional journey of their own.

While professional union actors from Chicago won the roles of Selena, Avi and Nya, UW students and faculty help fill out the cast. Current theater student Jenny Duarte Castillo, for example, is playing a small but key role in "Morning Moon," as is African American studies professor emerita Sandra Adell. A number of alumni - now professionals in the film and video world - are serving on the film crew.

On the set, everyone "is very kind, very encouraging," says C Kessler, who is doing costumes, hair and makeup for "Morning Moon." "I think Aaron has hired people he also likes." Kessler, a 2024 communication arts graduate, now works with many former classmates on short films in Madison, including fellow Badger Alejandro Dominguez, the sound mixer for "Morning Moon."

Both took a senior-year capstone filmmaking course with Greer and his UW-Madison colleague Erik Gunneson, who is assistant director and co-producer of "Morning Moon." Kessler and Dominguez each credit the skills and friendships from that capstone experience, along with other coursework, for leading them to professional opportunities after graduation.

In mid-July, both crew and cast showed up for a pre-arranged day of filming inside the UW-Madison Office of the Registrar at 333 E. Campus Mall. A few employees continued to work at their desks, but most were working off-site that day, clearing the way for the set-up of lights, audio equipment and an ad hoc wardrobe and makeup department.

Once the meticulous installation and a run-through with the actors was complete - a process that took several hours - the actual filming began. After two short takes, Greer was satisfied with the shot and ready to move on to the next.

Many more shots would follow. The actual filming of "Morning Moon" - stretched over nearly two dozen, 12-hour days in July - came after a year of painstaking planning. In the registrar's office, for example, scenes were shot out of sequence to maximize the natural light and make the filming as productive as possible. Pulling the individual shots together into a cohesive scene would happen later in the editing room.

"Aaron's a really calm director," says film crew member Kyla Pollard, a 2024 communication arts graduate who is now pursuing a master's degree in filmmaking at New York University. "He knows what he wants. It's nice to be on set with a director who really cares, and who also has a clear vision of his own."

A Milwaukee native who grew up watching the latest blockbusters at the local movie theater, Greer did not become intrigued by the art of filmmaking itself until his college years.

"I majored in history. I was doing an honors thesis and had gotten interested in the history of the Cuban revolution," he says. "Somehow I landed on this idea that I would look at how the Cuban media changed in the early years of the revolution, and the only Cuban media I could get my hands on was the dry government newspaper - or films."

The films riveted Greer. "I'd never seen anything like them; they weren't anything like the big Hollywood films, and I started reading more about the filmmakers," he says. "That's really how I got the bug."

Since then, Greer has taught film studies and production at several universities and won multiple prizes for both films and screenplays. He came to UW-Madison in 2020, and as he wrote "Morning Moon," he knew he wanted to set it here.

"I've been part of the group of folks lobbying for film and television tax incentives to return to the state," he says. "We obviously encourage some of our students to try to stick around and make work in Wisconsin. If we're going to have an ecosystem for that, I have to film in the state myself - and of course I want to. I want to see the places I'm living in and I'm from on the big screen."

Greer also wanted to demonstrate to his students that they have all the filmmaking resources they need at hand. "They're able to make really moving films with the amazing equipment that we have here at Vilas Hall," he says. "It's stuff they can put in the back of a car or minivan - you don't have to have huge trucks of equipment to make a film look good and sound good."

The university has been "incredibly supportive" of Greer's project and allowed access to multiple sites, he says. For example, in one scene Selena watches a campus tour; in another, she stops by a meeting of alumnae in Lathrop Hall. Other Madison spots are featured in "Morning Moon," including Gunneson's own two-story house, which serves as the set for scenes taking place at Nya and Avi's home.

Funding for the film has come primarily from grants, including a Creative Arts Award Greer received from the university's Division of the Arts. Shooting locally with university equipment has helped lower overall costs. He plans to edit the film while on sabbatical this fall and submit it to film festivals next year.

The cast members Greer hired - from the 600 actors who applied - are paid union-level wages. Beyond their paychecks, many on the film crew are earning valuable experience, too.

Pollard, the UW alum now pursuing a four-year MFA at New York University, reconnected with Greer after her first year in New York. The film professor had taught one of Pollard's favorite undergrad classes - screenwriting - and wrote her a letter of recommendation for graduate school. Pollard had also read a couple early drafts of "Morning Moon."

When Greer invited her back to Madison for the film shoot in July, "It really felt like a full-circle moment," says Pollard, who serves as the grip and electric swing (assisting the head lighting technician) for "Morning Moon." "Coming back here is just an honor, because Aaron's been such a help to me," she says. "It's such a beautiful thing to see this come to life, from the first draft to here."

For Gunneson, coordinator of the university's Digital Cinema Production Certificate, it's gratifying to see former students return to campus as professionals, both sharing and honing their craft. "One of the advantages of shooting on campus is that it just feels right," he says. "All the parts we need are right there."

"I always tell my students that one of my favorite places on earth is a film set," Gunneson says. "Here I am, in one of my favorite places." ■