New Baker Hotel Documentary
- Blake Calhoun
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
I've always liked to experiment and be an early adopter of new tech, and that goes all the way back to when I started making films.
Today it's shooting with iPhones. Back then it was shooting on Mini DV.
Back in 1997, digital video was brand new, cutting-edge tech. Before these cameras arrived we shot professional video on super expensive and super large Beta SP cameras. Very few people at the time owned them due to the costs, so they typically had to be rented.
So when Mini DV launched it was a real game-changer. Not only because you could now own a camera, but the quality for the price was actually very good (for the time) - and it was captured to digital tape instead of analog.
Well, since I was really just starting my career I actually did not own a Mini DV camera then (I did later), but a producer friend of mine did. So when I had the idea to interview my grandfather for a documentary about the legendary Baker Hotel, I asked to borrow his camera - and fortunately he said yes. That camera was a Sony VX1000.
Cut to 23 years later. It was 2020 and I had yet to finish the documentary (life got in the way). But I was going through my old tape library to archive everything and came across the interview tapes. So I watched them. And the more I watched, the more I realized what a treasure the footage was.
The original idea of the documentary was to tell the story of the rise and fall of the once great Baker Hotel. My grandfather had worked there as a bellhop in the early 1930s.
But by this time there had been other historical documentaries told about the hotel.
So I decided to pivot. Instead of telling a general story about the Baker, I'd focus the story on my grandfather working there as a bellhop - and then mix in the history of the hotel.
As far as I know, there’s never been a firsthand on-camera account from someone who actually worked at the Baker during its early heydays.
It’s been 29 years since that Mini DV interview was recorded, but I now have a documentary short film that I’m excited to finally share with the world... Bellhop at the Baker Hotel.
And by the way, I did actually use an iPhone to shoot some of the hotel b-roll that is shown near the end of the film. :)
I hope you'll check it out! You can watch the full documentary below on YouTube:
Thanks for watching!
-BC
