A mischievous, bordering on masochistic pleasure exists in making ultra-low budget feature films, and those involved have to be out of their gourd in one way or another. A 12-hour-a-day circus of artists, technicians, and anxious producers playing tag on walkie-talkies only to manufacture realities or surrealities (or fail completely). Objectivity and subjectivity blend in what will hopefully appear a fully human experience on screen, but with a twist of tone and affect. This is our job.

What 50% of southern Minnesota looks like. The other half is corn.

Working on location throws curve balls. This particular shoot rendered flies. Lots and lots of flies. Jesus, is SW Minnesota full of flies! There's nothing quite like being stuck in a 1970s Winnebago minus air conditioning plus horse flies. Combining that with the body heat and anxiety of five to eight people, you've got yourself a mental-breakdown cocktail. We all felt a little like this, I'm sure:

Well, this shoot served up a full platter of Holy Crap with a healthy side of shenanigans. From drunken karaoke at a Danish folk school to filming at the infamous Corn Palace of South Dakota, not a dull day was to be had on the production of Hap and Ashley (working title, wink wink). As an Assistant Camera, opportunities to pull the ole DSLR rarely surface, but the ever-ready iPhone, to my chagrin, has made quite the b-camera (see Instagram feed for proof). This trip has solidified three things in my brain—firstly, that I need to invest in a laptop; secondly, that media, photography, and self marketing really are changing form; thirdly, that for someone who haphazardly blossomed in the beginning of the internet age and for a brief time basically lived digitally, I am surprisingly out of touch with how to present material to a wider audience. How I do the Instagram? How I put pretty picture in front of face? Hello? Anyone out there? It's dark in here!

These are only some of the thoughts on the mind of an AC while on duty. Other thoughts include: "I wonder if they know the director fell asleep," "don't blow the focus, moron," "they want me to mount the camera WHERE," "you know, managing a grocery isn't so bad," and "fuck it."

So really what I'm trying to say is that filmmaking on this scale blows the pants off of most "traditional" employments and truly must be seen to be believed.

Now, I present a series of photos shot on the periphery of production. If you try really hard, you can imagine the sort of tomfoolery happening somewhere outside of each frame.

the daily beat