 Eager to explore the music video medium, Stipe secured funding for a short film that would accompany music from the first half of Reckoning. Stipe's concept was to film the project at folk artist R.A. Miller's Whirlgig Farm, and he recruited Athens filmmaker James Herbert to direct it. In March 1984 R.E.M. filmed Left of Reckoning at the Whirlgig Farm in Rabbittown, Georgia. The short film draws its title from the fact that it is soundtracked by five songs that appear on the "L" side of the vinyl version of Reckoning: "Harborcoat", "7 Chinese Bros.", "So. Central Rain (I 'm Sorry)", "Pretty Persuasion", "Time After Time (AnnElise)", in addition to "Second Guessing" from the R side. In contrast to standard music video imagery, the film consists primarily of footage of the band members wandering around the farm, while Herbert utilizes close-ups, silhouettes, and slow motion footage. Herbert utilized rephotography during the editing process, which involved taking photographs of film frames at random, while also closing in or pulling back from the image with no regard to narrative. According to Buck, "It was really inexpensive to make and kind of fun. We just asked [Herbert] to edit something to four minutes' length, but he's used to making 20-minute films, that's the length he works in. He just made this film that goes along with the first side of the record." While MTV did not air the complete film, the channel's program The Cutting Edge (funded by I.R.S.) aired the "Time After Time (AnnElise)" segment, and the snippet featuring "Pretty Persuasion" was aired by other music programs.
