Roman Madrigal, film sophomore, sat down to write the script for their short film idea “Honkerdoll” on a whim with only three hours before the deadline. On Dec. 6, Film Club at Texas State screened “Honkerdoll” to the public.

Every semester, the film club allows script submissions for the chance for it to be produced as a club-wide short film. The club’s board members chose one submission, and this semester was Madrigal’s “Honkerdoll.”

According to Madrigal, “Honkerdoll” is a story about financial instability and insecurity. The two main characters, Honker and Doll, perform as party clowns to escape poverty.

“I wanted to create a character [whose] public face is vastly different from their private face,” Madrigal said. “And then, their personal is somewhere in between. I thought the best way to do that was through having somebody who, like their private face, [is] something like insecurity, and then their public face is something vastly different that they used to cover their private.”

According to Madrigal, a public face is what everyone sees, the personal face is what one’s close friends and family see and the private face is what only that person sees. The characters Honker and Doll are different from each other in that aspect; Honker is pessimistic, and Doll is more optimistic with a less drastic difference between her public and private faces.

“How someone perceives you is their reality [of you],” Madrigal said. “You may not be a mean person, but if you do a mean thing to someone else, then they’ll always see you as a mean person… and there’s not anything that you can do about it, to really change how someone else perceives you.”

Madrigal was originally a computer science major before they swapped to film. As a result, this was their first year in the film program, and they did not know many people. After the film club chose their “Honkerdoll” for this semester’s club-wide short film, Madrigal suddenly had 60 club members to lead.

“The challenge was how large my crew was,” Madrigal said. “But, I learned a lot about teamwork… and like talking to people because usually, I like to do stuff in my own lane because… I hadn’t produced or directed a short film on my own before.”

Cameron Anderson, film junior, played Honker. When approaching Honker’s role, he connected with the character despite their differences.

“A lot of the times in ‘Honkerdoll,’ it was less about me trying to understand what I would do in that situation and more about thinking back to a time where I’ve been super uncomfortable [and] angry,” Anderson said.

Rather than trying to become the character, Anderson tried to find a reason to step into Honker’s shoes and bring the character to life. Honker comes from a lower-income background and faces many adversities, supporting himself by working as a party clown.

“[Honker has] had a lot of hardships in life,” Anderson said. “I have never really had that. So, it was tough finding a connection, but once I did, I took it and ran.”

Slade Allen, film sophomore, was the cinematographer for “Honkerdoll.” According to Allen, Madrigal’s openness to altering different aspects of the film allowed for a well laid out production.

“Roman really gave such a nice environment on set,” Allen said. “Some directors are very stickler with their vision. Roman emphasized on wanting to hear everybody else’s opinions.”

Allen worked on other projects before such as “Playground.” According to Allen, “Honkerdoll” was unique in its open and collaborative environment while filming.

“[‘Honkerdoll’] was… one of the most solid sets I’ve ever been on just because it felt like everyone was in the same mindset and everyone was getting along,” Allen said. “Everyone else was having a fun time… you could very much feel the passion woven within this set.”

Even though the screening for “Honkerdoll” passed, Madrigal plans to enter the short film into festivals. Some film festivals don’t allow for films to be posted on YouTube, so it is currently unavailable to watch. After the festivals, they may screen it again in the future.

“I know that the next time I screen a project, I’ll probably screen ‘Honkerdoll’ afterward in case people didn’t see it,” Madrigal said. “That’s something that I really don’t like about the club-wides sometimes is that it’s very inaccessible. So, like, if you didn’t watch it the first time, you can’t go and watch.”

For future updates on “Honkerdoll,” follow the official Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/honkerdoll/.