Time to Get Real

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Andy Cline

I was away the entire month of June. I spent the first week of July moving to a new apartment. I’m ready to get back to work. And I’m ready for my new routine.

Why should you care? Among the work I’ll doing is providing an inside look at my creative documentary process as I begin new projects.

(OMG, yes, I’m still editing Trinity. But no promises.)

What’s most exciting to me is that everything I’m working on now (well, not Trinity) is either Portugal based or otherwise international.

Here’s what I’m up to:

  1. :15CITY – In Search of Human Scale: already mentioned.
  2. Os Marnotos: a story about making salt the old-fashioned way on the local estuary. It’s been going on for more than a thousand years. I began pre-production for real today. This story will include coverage of the Festival of the Canals that begins on 17 July.
  3. Something something craft beer in Portugal. I’ve been thinking about this one even before landing here. I’ve now found the perfect subject right here in Aveiro 😉 While drinking a beer! It’s OK for an idea to be less than well-formed at the start. Storytelling should be a voyage of discovery.
  4. Looking ahead to 2025, and dependent upon funding, I’m working on an idea involving colonialism, tourism, and (sustainable)(over)development in Jamaica. I’ve made a few significant strides in pre-production (source development and securing a producer) so far. But this project is not yet ready for any kind of an announcement. Well, not more than this anyway.

As mentioned earlier, I’m trying to figure out a way to incorporate TikTok into the educational component of all this work. What I really don’t want to do is a YouTube how-to thing. It’s just too much work. I need to focus on documentary filmmaking. TikTok done well is also a lot of work. I’m not necessarily promising to do it well 🙂 I’m only promising to feed the beast 😉

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Film Festival Photo Wall Selfie

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Andy Cline

I had nothing entered in the recent Fest- New Films, New Directors Festival in Espinho, Portugal. So no one had a reason to make a picture of me at the photo wall.

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I’m also planning to attend DocLisboa this year. Good festivals are a good place to network. And it is for sure that I need to do more of that. While I have personal projects ongoing (especially re: this recent announcement), I’m also looking for crew work. And just getting further plugged into the documentary world in Portugal and Europe.

I am moving apartments now following a full month of travel. More updates and scintillating content soon 😉

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In Search of Human Scale

Posted on June 24, 2024 by Andy Cline

Yes, I’m still editing Trinity. But I’m also working on two new projects — both in the early stages  of pre-production. The larger of the two is represented in this graphic. If you’ve been following my documentary career since the beginning — and who hasn’t? — you immediately recognize I’m returning to a beloved general topic: new urbanism. This time I’m taking a look at the 15-minute city concept.

Untitled ProjectI don’t know if In Search of Human Scale is a good title yet. But it does get after something I’ve been thinking since the 15-minute city concept had its moment of infamy following certain reactions to it that, shall we say, fall comfortably well within the realm of crazy conspiracy theories.

Retrofitting cities to make them more livable can certainly be controversial for any number of rational reasons. The conspiracy theories, oddly enough, do indeed point out that the idea of making a city livable isn’t without challenges and outcomes that may favor some groups over others.

Making a city livable. I tried my hand at that in Springfield, Missouri both as a filmmaking professor and as a 1-term city planning commissioner.

What if it’s better for individuals who want a livable city — a 15-minute city — to go in search of it for themselves rather than trying to change what exists?

That’s what I did. It isn’t going to happen (anytime soon) in Springfield. But in Aveiro, Portugal? I found what I was looking for.

And now I intend to tell you about it.

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Feeding the Beast

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Andy Cline

I gave my students fair warning. In my journalism and documentary classes, I would teach them my understanding of the classically “correct” way to do things. I also told them I expected them to be creative free agents and do whatever the hell pleased them and/or their employers.

I loathe vertical video. I disallowed it in my classes, unless… One of the lessons I taught was called “feeding the beast.” In short, it means giving a medium what it wants. The anthropomorphizing merely indicates that some types and modes of messages are better sent through particular media. For example, print is more suited for propositional content than video, which prefers emotional content.

Tiktok, and some other social media platforms, prefer vertical video, which I loathe. Did I mention that?

But… You have to feed the beast. I tried Tiktok a few years ago. I stubbornly refused to feed the beast. I was briefly making super-short documentary review videos. Here’s my “best” one at 3,412 views:

@docfilmdirector

#Oscar #documentaryfilm

♬ original sound – DocFilmDirector

See how I refused to play ball 🙂

Then I got pissy and decided to throw in a cat:

@docfilmdirector

#filmreview #fyp #documentaryfilm #cat #weekendvibes #tiktokcats #omg

♬ original sound – DocFilmDirector

And shortly thereafter I just walked away from it.

I have another idea. And, properly chastised, I’m intending to feed the beast this time.

Keep an eye out. I’m planning to (try to) use Tiktok to bring you along for the ride as I produce a short documentary film — sort of education meets shameless self promotion 😉

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The Last Ten Days

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Andy Cline

I’ve been away on vacation — walking the Speyside Way in Scotland.

I made this image through a pub window in Aberdeen. This fellow was also a pub patron and stepped outside for a smoke.

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Through a pub window in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.

Made with my “street” camera — an old Fujifilm X-E1 with the 18-55 kit lens. I have beaten the shit our of this camera for years, and it keeps on ticking. I’m also a fan of rangefinders. When I was a news photographer back in the early ’80s, I carried the usual Domke Bag full of the usual Nikon gear. But toward the end of my stint in journalism in the later ’80s, I began carrying a single Leica M3 with 35mm and 90mm primes.

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