The legend swirls around the mysterious soda machine out in the middle of the country.
Mike James heard about the strange soda machine as a student at Franklin College. Way out in rural Johnson County, the machine was stocked with random soda and, in some cases, other oddities.
Taking a short road trip to the Smiley’s machine, maybe on a study break or just for something to do, was a rite of passage for fellow classmates.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
“The story was that there was this wild place south of Franklin that had a machine out in middle of nowhere that dispensed random sodas. I had to see this,” said James, an Indianapolis filmmaker.
That story has become the foundation for “Smiley’s,” a short film created by James that straddles the line between horror and comedy. Since its release last year, the film has garnered increased attention among the film community, having been accepted and shown at more than 20 film festivals.
In late October, it was picked up by Amazon Prime and is being streamed on the platform. “Smiley’s” was also part of the Indiana Short Film Showcase, held on Nov. 4 at the Historic Artcraft Theatre.
James, 34, filmed much of the movie in Johnson County, and his passion for the place he spent his college years shows. The end result is a uniquely intriguing film that is very much a Franklin story that anyone can get into.
“I want to present something that’s so unexpected, but also something that resonates,” he said. “This is a very absurd story, and it’s presented in a way that’s very psychedelic and out there, and yet it’s something that people can relate to. They’ve been in these kinds of situations that drove them totally crazy, and turned themselves upside down. That’s the mark of a really good story.”
In his film, James tells the story of a cursed vending machine. The main character is an obsessed college student named Mitch. In the midst of a stress-filled study session, he and his friends take a break, cruising the countryside. They find a mysterious soda machine stocked by a witch in the woods.
Mitch buys a soda, setting in motion a series of events falling down a dark rabbit hole.
James’ encounter with the Smiley’s machine wasn’t nearly as frightening. But it was still an unusual experience that stuck with him.
He was a freshman at Franklin College when he and his friends took a break from studying to drive to this rumored soda machine.
“The game was, you put your quarter in, and hit the ‘Pot Luck’ button, and it dispensed a completely random soda,” he said.
All of his friends put their money in, hit the button, and got their drinks: maybe a Hawaiian Punch, a cream soda or a root beer. But when James played the game, he got a surprise.
“I got a package of pencils. I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ And all of my friends laughed, saying that the guy who stocks this machine will put random stuff in along with the sodas, to mess with the kids who come out here,” he said. “I thought that was awesome.”
James graduated in 2008 with degrees in broadcast and news editorial journalism. But the idea of the Smiley’s machine stuck with him. Part of that fascination was the surreal setting of the machine — out in the middle of cornfields in the country. James was raised on a corn and soybean farm in White County in northern Indiana, and his rural upbringing impacted his appreciation for those kinds of landscapes.
“Far too often, rural areas are depicted in such broad-stroke ways, there are so many missed opportunities to show life and tell stories in rural settings that don’t have to be completely wholesome, or terrifying, or anything that pop culture tells you that’s what the Midwest is,” he said. “I get to tell a story from a voice about a place where I grew up in a way I don’t typically see.”
James’ interest in film stems from his own childhood. His father was a huge movie buff, and passed on his love for the art form to his son.
After he bought one of the earliest camcorders, he allowed James to run around their family farm, where he would make campy short horror films with his friends in the backyard.
“I always wanted to be a filmmaker,” he said. “There was not a lot of promise or opportunity for filmmaking growing up where I did, but I think I had a special opportunity having the kind of dad I had, who was so encouraging to it, no matter how wacky it was.”
Filming “Smiley’s” was done throughout 2017, shot on location entirely in Johnson County. The cast and crew — nearly all local actors and filmmakers — spent time canvassing the country roads south of Franklin to get their shots, including farm fields, an old farmhouse and an area cemetery.
They also worked with Franklin College officials to shoot scenes on campus, giving it an authentic feel.
“That was surreal, getting to come back to Franklin,” James said. “The staff and administration at Franklin College, they could not have been more welcoming. That might have been one of the most special parts about it: I had such a great experience at Franklin College, and they really did everything they could to help with this.”
“Smiley’s” was featured in a number of film festivals throughout the country, including showings at Gen Con in Indianapolis, the Pasadena International Film Festival, the Chicago Independent Film (+TV) Festival, the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival and the Nightmares Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio.
The opportunity to see his work on the big screen is still exhilarating, as has the chance to see how people react to the film.
“You don’t get sick of it. It never gets old. I think I still hold my breath a little bit when I’m watching it with someone,” he said. “Mainly, I love people’s reactions, when they laugh at something or you hear gasps. All of the nuances of reactions just make me so happy.”
