FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) - “My love of (Wisconsin) was haunting me, because I had been to California too long,” said John Mitchell, a film producer, who was born in Cameron, near Rice Lake.
Because of this, he started a travel blog when he visited for a family wedding in Stevens Point in 2010.
A year later, he attended the Rose Bowl to cheer on the Badgers, and found himself surrounded by his foam-hatted countrymen.
Amazed and amused by the Cheesehead enthusiasm, and since he had his film equipment with him, he shot some video clips of the tailgating and atmosphere at that event, which the Badgers would go on to win.
On a whim, he also purchased airplane tickets to attend the Super Bowl as well, and sure enough, the Packers took home that trophy as well. Again, Mitchell had his camera and again, he shot some footage of tailgating.
“As I’m flying back to California I’m like ’This is a movie. I think there is something deeper than just the fan,’” said Mitchell. “And so the whole premise of the film is you see me tailgating at the events and I’m flying back and I say ’I had to go back to Wisconsin to see what the deeper meaning of being a Cheesehead’ was . and to get more fresh cheese curds.’”
Five years, and a lot of humor, cheese, beer, sports, tours and sunsets later, Mitchell had - almost entirely by himself - filmed, cut and finished a feature-length documentary on the essence of a Cheesehead, Action Reporter Media reported (https://fondul.ac/1KPoXFx).
The title and tagline?
“Cheeseheads: The Documentary. We are so much more than a funny foam hat.”
In its early stage, the piece was targeted toward the fandom of the Green Bay Packers.
“Originally the question was ’What do you think of the fans?’ if I got a celebrity or a notorious person, and then eventually it was ’Fans, what do you think of each other?’” said Mitchell. “The film evolved well beyond the fans thing because we were more interested in ’this is a love letter to Wisconsin,’ and the Packers just happen to be a very important part of the culture, but not the only thing in the culture.”
As the film grew, it began to center around three main abstracts: Philosophy, local pop culture and humor.
To convey those abstracts, Mitchell - and his inflated cow - buckle up and set out to travel the state.
“Me and a camera and a cow,” said Mitchell. “And I’m not kidding; go look in the back seat, she’s still there.”
Why an inflated cow? Because the cow, glimpsed throughout the film, becomes an “everyman”: a stand-in for the viewer. This is Wisconsin, after all.
Mitchell spoke with local, state and national celebrities with a tie to Wisconsin, toured factories involved in Wisconsin’s major exports, shot hours of scenery from across the state, looked in to all of the attractions of Wisconsin and did some more tailgating. He recorded the footage both with a video camera and his iPhone, and did all of the voiceover narration.
“It’s all done in a very fast-paced way. You are never bored. We don’t hover on any topic for more than five minutes, and when we are on those (longer) topics, it’s either on the beer or cheese, and who wouldn’t stay for five minutes to watch that,” said Mitchell. “I went for the stuff I love about Wisconsin, and I want to brag about it to the world.”
It turned out that the stuff he loved about Wisconsin resulted in approximately 150 hours of video footage. He then pared it down to six hours, then two, then finally made the finished film one hour and 45 minutes long. Much of the footage, however, is available in brief clips on youtube.com/user/iamwords, or by searching “CHEESEHEADS The Documentary.”
The documentary begins with a philosophical questioning of what it means to be a Cheesehead, laid over stunning shots of the northern lights, provided to him by Shawn Malone, of Lake Superior Photo, one of the many people he met on his journey. It then cuts to a flashback of Mitchell’s childhood in Cameron, which he has since learned is a universal memory of those who grew up in rural Wisconsin.
He then breaks down the history behind the word “Cheesehead,” to see if it has meaning beyond the Packer fandom connotation. For this, he went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to talk to some gentlemen he affectionately calls “word nerds.”
“They take the word dead-serious,” said Mitchell. “Doesn’t matter what word it is.”
From there, armed with his definition, the documentary flickers past everything Wisconsin. At the end of the day, Mitchell collected more than 300 releases from those he spoke to so that he might use their footage in the final film.
To say that any one city was more or less integral to the story than another would defeat the purpose of the story: To celebrate all of the interesting nooks, crannies and highlights of Wisconsin.
“It’s a large state, and in less than two hours I had to cover all of it, so some towns, in the first six-hour draft were well represented, but in the 1:45 version they’re a clip or two,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell’s day job as a freelance producer means he has been involved in the film industry for many years, but has always worked as a subcontractor, doing projects along the lines of voice-overs and commercials, always for other people.
“I really wanted to go make my own (film) rather than being just the producer guy who sets schedules and pays bills. ’Producer’ may sound good at the Academy Awards, but it’s a very tedious, managerial job,” said Mitchell.
An aspect of the documentary that Mitchell pushed for was the integrity of the project, in regard to sponsorships. Every penny of the production came from his own pocket, he said.
“No one paid to be in this movie, and no one was paid to be in the movie,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell’s Wisconsin nature wasn’t lost on the people he interviewed.
“Always good to see a ’Sconnie’ native go to California but love his home state so much he makes it a documentary project,” said Eric Paulsen, a DJ with 99.1 The Mix in Milwaukee, co-host of Discover Wisconsin, owner of Wellstream Media and StateTrunkTour.com, Wisconsin native and one of Mitchell’s interviewees.
“He seemed very genuine, and he’s been fun to talk with about this project and very open to feedback. He’s ensconced in California and Hollywood madness all the time, but he approached this with the Wisconsin humility and honestly that helps make our state special.” Mitchell met with Paulsen to discuss the history of Wisconsin’s roads, and the two worked together on a “Lake Express trip,” which will be featured in the final film.
Mitchell has much to say about his documentary, which is to be expected after something consumes several years of your life. He is also optimistic for it to be completed, regardless of whether or not it becomes famous.
After the DVD is made available to the public, Mitchell plans to make sure that every library in the state receives a copy, free of charge.
“That’s important to me for the simple reason that, while not everyone may have expendable income to buy the film, and many don’t, they should still have some kind of access to see it. Libraries are an obvious choice for that,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell doesn’t have an exact timeline for when that will happen however, because of the cost. He said that he likely won’t be able to facilitate the donation until 2016, “unless a charitable someone or company steps in to help.”
“While the film is quite entertaining, it’s also an insightful observation on love of place, and some of the many wonders of Wisconsin and our beloved Cheesehead Culture, and I want as many people as possible to be able to share in that,” said Mitchell.
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Information from: The Reporter Media, https://www.fdlreporter.com
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