At the University of Wisconsin - School of Medicine and Public Health, the second year medical students create a video to be played during the first-year student's orientation week. The goal is to provide some entertainment, and maybe a VERY LITTLE bit of guidance to the incoming class. This video was created by the class of 2014 for the enjoyment of the class of 2015. It was originally shown during the orientation week in the Fall of 2011.
The video is filmed in the style of The Office (with hand held camera shots, and candid interviews with the characters). It follows a stereotypical group of medical students through their first weeks in school, up until their very first medical school exam. The characters are named after the UW-SMPH Learning Communities. They also embody some of the most stereotypical medical student personalities.
"Student Doctor" Gunderson, as she likes to call herself, is the Gunner - always looking to get an edge up on her classmates, truly believing that she is the perfect medical student, and striving for beyond the very best of her abilities.
'Mickie' McPherson is a fearful person, unable to truly focus on anything because she is in constant fear of messing up, doing something terribly wrong, and eventually failing.
Bamforth is a brute of a man and has the personality to go along with it. He lives and dies by his love-affair with the weight room. He excels in the musculoskeletal organ system block because he can literally visualize EVERY muscle in the human body just by flexing.
Bardeen may as well be the Dean of Student Bar Tabs if a position like that exists. He is a 'Bro of all Bro's' and would never be found in the library on a Friday or Saturday night because he is most def Mackin' on da Honnies at the local pub.
The un-named character who never actually interacts with any of the rest of the medical students is one of the infamous "Lecture Capturers". He is the student who never comes to class, watches all of the lectures online, and then shows up at exams. He is the student who sits down next to you at the last exam of the second year of medical school and you look over and think, "Whaaaaa?!? Who is this dude? I have NEVER seen him before!" Then immediately after the exam, instead of looking up all the answers to the questions you just got wrong, you instead look at the class photo and try to find out who this mysterious character is that you will one day call your colleague...
Then we come to Middleton. Middleton is the only one of these characters who has his head on 'mostly' straight. (We say 'mostly' straight because clearly if he is willingly subjecting himself to the rigors and brutality of 4 years of medical education followed by the amplified rigors of 3-6 years of residency, he isn't exactly the poster-child for sanity.... but when it comes to those of us who DO willingly sign up for this lot in life - he has his ducks relatively lined up) :-). He cares for his fellow classmates, is a great team player, and sees reality for what it is. He also makes a really nice and thoughtful monologue at the end!
We hope you enjoy this comical portrayal of what it is like to journey through the first few weeks of medical school.
Also, this is only the first-cut, and a rough edit of what the movie is meant to be. There are plenty more scenes that were filmed and will be added in the future. The making of this film was done the week prior to and DURING the orientation week in which is was shown. So, because of that time crunch, there are still more hilarious scenes to be added and some outtakes that will have you rolling on the ground. ...is that a good enough 'teaser' to keep you excited for the "editor's-cut" that will be released sometime before we graduate from medical school in 2014?!?!
***Important regular-sized "Fine Print": No character is meant to truly represent any actual person. All of these portrayals are meant to be comedy - which over emphasizes small things to make them huge and hilarious. Please don't take anything too seriously...because clearly we didn't***
