The down and dirty of shooting 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" stars a 6-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy and is set near New Orleans, in a fictional island region in constant danger of being washed away. The denizens' ingenuity comes as a constant surprise to viewers, who can almost feel the humidity and smell the swamp. But how did a crew of feature-film novices with a budget of just $1.5 million so persuasively create this idiosyncratic world?

By Michael Ordoña

December 18, 2012