According to McElwee, ""Backyard" previous film was a sketch for "Sherman's March", an experiment in how I could approach the bigger film"; "Backyard" is also "cruder" because, according to McElwee, "I was just learning to shoot as a one person crew. I was just getting over that odd sense of camera shyness in reverse. It takes awhile to summon the gumption to shoot people you know well, to be able to face them and talk to them as you're filming. Also, I was using a Nagra 4, a very large tape recorder: it weighs 20 pounds and I carried it slung over my shoulder. For "Sherman's March" I used a miniature Nagra SN, a very highly developed piece of recording equipment that could fit on my belt. This technological improvement made shooting much easier.