This past Saturday was Doggie Derby Day held in Baldwin Park, Orlando, Florida for the past several years. An event for dogs and people founded eight years ago by Bob and Julie Hemphill this nonprofit Bright Side Event is a great day for everyone and their best friends. Fresh air and exercise for all concerned. This short documentary offers a look at some of the activities during the event. It is fun time for all involved. Most of the canine competitors opted for no interviews but a few did bark a reply.
It’s not difficult to come up with an idea for a documentary project. There are non-fiction stories around us all the time. Taking that idea and deciding how or if you want to tell the story takes some effort. There are a number of questions to ask yourself. For example is this a story worth telling, will anyone be interested in the subject? This doesn’t preclude working on a project to inform others of an issue or topic that needs to looked at. We’re talking about how broad the subject or idea is and what the best way to document it might be.
The best way to focus your idea and find the story is to come up with a Concept. After you have a Concept you can work on a Treatment. A Concept is a sentence or two that focuses your idea. For example we came up with a Concept for The Baldwin Park Story, that reads:
CONCEPT:
Explore the community of Baldwin Park in Orlando Florida from its birth, beginning with the closing of the Naval Training Center (the site on which the development is built) to what it has become today.
Once we knew what the Concept was we could start developing how we wanted to tell this story; this is done by writing a Treatment which is a narrative description of how you envision telling the story and the who, what, when, where, and why of it. This process requires researching your idea and concept, which may lead to a number of discoveries. In the case of The Baldwin Park Story it led us to a number of issues concerning Planned and Green Communities, New Urbanism and other Social realities.
One of the things we plan to look at in The Baldwin Park Story is the similarities and/or differences between a planned community built in an urban environment and a traditional city neighborhood. In many cities people are moving back to the neighborhoods their families reluctantly left years ago. Most neighborhoods were comfortable places to live for any number of reasons. Planned Communities offer many of the same amenities as neighborhoods did, like being able to walk to stores, and children walking to school. Do people get to know their neighbors in a community like Baldwin Park in the same way they would in a traditional neighborhood? Many urban neighborhoods were dominated by one or two ethnicities. What role does ethnicity play in a Planned Community and the New Neighborhoods?
After some interviews with individuals associated with the development of Baldwin Park in Orlando, Florida shooting began in and around the downtown area and along Lake Baldwin. The notion was to get some footage that would complement the interviews and give us a feel for what this “planned community” looked like.
Baldwin Park is built on the ground, which was once a Naval Training Center that was closed 1993. Located in Orlando, 10 minutes from the down town area it was acquired by the City. After much debate and time it was developed as new community, based on New Ubanism concepts in the heart of the city.
The documentary begins with this community and plans to explore the ideas of New Unbanism, Planned Communities, Green Communities and the shift from suburban living to revitalized urban environments.
Baldwin Park, Orlando has been successful in a number of ways as an urban planned community and provides the documentary with starting place to look at other communities and aspects of New Urbanism and Urban Planning.
The documentary also plans to follow a number of families and individuals moving to and living in Baldwin Park and similar urban areas to learn first hand who and why people live there.
J R Martin
Downtown Baldwin Park, Orlando, FLoridaStreet Fair Baldwin Park, Orlando
This past Saturday was Doggie Derby Day held in Baldwin Park, Orlando, Florida for the past several years. An event for dogs and people founded eight years ago by Bob and Julie Hemphill this nonprofit Bright Side Event is a great day for everyone and their best friends. Fresh air and exercise for all concerned. This short documentary offers a look at some of the activities during the event. It is fun time for all involved. Most of the canine competitors opted for no interviews but a few did bark a reply.
