Documentary #2

 #2

    The first thing we had planned for the documentary was getting an interview with South Florida city planners, specifically for Miami and Weston. Nina was the one in charge with emailing them and seeing if we can get a good interview but we sadly never heard back from them so we had to switch to an alternative.

    We knew we wanted to film in Miami first but we didn't really plan out too well what we were going to film which did end up being very inconvenient at the end of the shoot, same thing applies to when we filmed in Weston Town Center, although when the time did come to shoot we were lucky that Town Center was full of merchants selling goods, that really helped the whole community aspect of the whole thing.

    Our original outline was pretty good, we wound up focusing more on the suburbs than we expected but if anything that made it better to me.

    For our script, Alejandro was responsible for it, all I added was the opening paragraph and a little blurb at the end, ending the whole thing off with the title "A Walk In The Park"

Script: 

• (V.O.)  

INTRO: 

South Florida, the deepest part of the American Peninsula. From the humid swamps to the lively beaches, to the empty uninhabitable fields, to the Orlando mouse parks, to the lively city, and the quiet suburbs, South Florida is one of the most diverse and popular parts of the country. Many out-of-state tourists will flock to beloved beaches in Miami and experience the state’s large melting pot community. 

However, this is not the reality for many of us living in Florida. Some of us live in tightly compacted suburbs locked behind a gate, such as the master-planned Weston. Founded in 1996, Weston is any suburbanite dream home; it’s even filled to the brim with almost identical housing, so you can feel at home wherever you are! 

Now a big issue with the suburbus is the very sidewalk you walk on. In the suburbs anywhere from anywhere is too far away to walk, if you don’t have a car then you won’t get far. This issue is nonexistent in most cities where the infestructure focuses on keeping all places you might need to go to close together while the suburbs have planning more focused on keeeping you safe. 

Suburbs: 

But what does this kind of planning really breed? 

If the goal of the city is to bring people together, the goal of the modern suburb seems to be to keep them apart. Look around. We are surrounded by high walls, meticulously manicured hedges, and gates that separate us from the outside world, and from each other. Weston and countless suburbs like it are designed to be driven through, not walked. The streets are wide, the sidewalks are often empty, and the places you need to go, like the grocery store or a friend’s house, are just too far away. This is not a failure of will, it’s a failure of infrastructure. 

(B-ROLL: Slow, steady shots of wide, empty suburban streets) 

In this landscape, socialization isn't an accident; it has to be a planned event. You don't bump into your neighbor while grabbing coffee; you schedule a meeting at the community pool. The only truly shared space is the road, and that’s a place reserved for single-occupancy vehicles. Walkability isn't just about fitness; it's the invisible framework that enables community. 

City: 

The contrast is clear. Just a short drive away, the city itself functions as one massive, accidental social club. 

Look at places like Brickell City Centre in Miami. 

(B-ROLL: Fast-paced shots of crowded sidewalks in Brickell. Show the MetroRail, people eating outside at restaurants, and the "iconic photo angle" footage of tall buildings.) 

Here, density is an advantage. People live stacked on top of each other, sharing walls in apartments and condos. While this can lead to its own issues like overcrowding, noise, and traffic, it ensures one crucial thing: constant, unavoidable interaction. People HAVE to mingle. The proximity of essential commodities, from the bodega to the entertainment venue, means that hundreds of people are compressed into the same small geographic area every single day.  

The community is built right into the pavement. 

Toss to interview: (City) 

For people who grew up in this environment, this kind of spontaneous community is simply the norm. 

(A smooth transition into an interview clip, maybe with some dramatic classical music to kind of interrupt the serious nerd talk with something unexpected) 

We spoke with (NAME OF INTERVIEWEE 1), who grew up in a city environment where everything was just a walk away. 

(INTERVIEW CLIP 1: Start the interview. The interviewee talks about growing up in a city where facilities were walking distance.) 

Toss to interview 2: (Suburbs) 

So, what is the cost of the single-family home, the two-car garage, and the master-planned isolation? It’s not just inconvenience; it’s a fundamental difference in how we build a life. 

In the suburbs, the car is king. You cannot participate in the community, even the “perfectly” planned Weston, without it. 

(B-ROLL) 

The vast parking lots and multi-lane roads are the veins and arteries of the suburbs, connecting houses to the few commercial centers. They also act as insurmountable social dividers, physically separating us from our neighbors and forcing us to experience the world through a windshield. The city, on the other hand, prioritizes public and active transportation—the bus, the train, the bike, and your own two feet, all of which put you in direct, unfiltered contact with the public. 

To understand how drastically this changes the experience of growing up, we spoke to (NAME OF INTERVIEWEE 2), whose childhood required a car just to buy a snack. 

(INTERVIEW CLIP 2: Start the interview. The interviewee talks about growing up where facilities were NOT walking distance.) 

Conclusion: 

The difference isn't about better or worse people; it’s about better or worse city design. 

While the suburbs offer the undeniable advantage of personal space and less density, they trade this for social distance and required planning. The city, for all its chaos and crowding, forces people together, creating the kind of tightly knit community that relies on constant, unplanned collisions. 

It's difficult to create a truly integrated, diverse community when the infrastructure itself is designed to lock people in and keep the world out. The people living behind the gates of Weston are often friendly, but they are not a community in the way the city is. Their proximity is chosen, their interactions scheduled, and their connections require an engine and four wheels. 

(B-ROLL: maybe a slow, meditative shot contrasting an empty suburban street with a bustling, diverse city square.) 

The suburban dream promised peace and quiet. For many, it delivered on the quiet, perhaps too quiet. Some may still see the safety, beauty, and education of the suburbs as enough of a reason to claim them as their home, and if you do then I’d reccomend maybe going outside for a bit, experience the beauty of life, walk down the sidewalk not that you have an option. Wouldnt it be nice to be able to get to do it every day for a short period of time to get basically anywhere? It’d easy, as easy as a WALK IN THE PARK 

(FADE TO BLACK.)