MPLS.TV runs on the fuel of creative energy and volunteered free time. Offscreen takes a look at the contributors who aren’t always front and center on the site, and on their lives away from MPLS.TV.
Name: Chris Hadland
Age: 22
Role: City of Music cameraman
Hometown: Fergus Falls, MN
Lives in: Northeast Minneapolis
Day job: Freelance cinematographer, often working with Picture Machine and Token Media. He also fills in as a part-time box office employee for Hennepin Theatre Trust.
Bragging rights: Chris is on the road currently with local hip-hop favorites Doomtree, shooting and editing video of their No Kings tour. “Things move extremely fast” on tour, he says: “I’m shooting all the time, editing in the van and uploading content at the hotels and venues, and usually getting to bed around 4 a.m., so you learn to plan five moves ahead.”
Origin story: “I used to film homemade skate videos with my friends, and did as much as I could at my high school. I got selfish and decided I should do what would be the most fun for me after high school, so I decided to go to MCTC.”
Best MPLS.TV moment: Chris started helping film City of Music videos when a friend invited him to work on the Eyedea & Abilities installment. One of his favorite moments from those shoots, he says, was “watching 4onthefloor play a post-shoot set on the roof on which we shot, composed of Beatles tunes off of ‘Let It Be.’ Kind of a cool unplanned moment.”
Favorite local venues: First Avenue, Kitty Cat Klub, Varsity Theater
What Minneapolis needs: “A few of us went to this bar arcade in Portland called Ground Kontrol, as it’s Mictlan’s ‘favorite place in North America,’ and it was pretty damn fun. I heard there might be one in Minneapolis, but I have yet to go there.”
Dream project: “I used to know what that was, but now I’m not so sure. I love traveling and filming live shows and the creative freedom so this tour is kind of it, at least for the moment.”
Follow him: @criffbadland
Check out the video playlist below of Chris’ contributions.
