What is Considerate-Man

      What is Considerate-Man written by Theodore M. Buckwald

In the fourth grade, I was assigned to create a small scene demonstrating what it means to be a considerate citizen. The scene was to be presented in front of the entire student body and faculty of my elementary school. As a scrawny nine year old, I knew gaining the attention of my audience would be difficult, so I took it upon myself to create a scene that would go above and beyond my peers’ expectations.

            I drew up a character on scraps of homework paper, knowing I needed some sort of mascot to leverage the meaning of my scene to the audience.  I presented a small conceptual drawing of my character to my teacher. “His name is Considerate-

Man. He wears a cape and a mask and he flies around the city, instructing kids on how to be considerate.”

            The scene was a success and my character became an instant hit. After several additional performances, I culminated from the fourth grade, hanging up my considerate cape for good. This classroom character caused me to gain an interest in creating stories that would be presented to mass audiences.

Shortly after the retirement of Considerate-Man, my father introduced me to YouTube.  After browsing through many videos on the website, I created my very first channel, “Considerate-Man.”

With the help of a flip camera, I labeled myself as director and led my friends to the world of online video making. What began as a fun thing to do with friends evolved into an ongoing extracurricular activity. One day I got an email that I had received my first subscriber.  What soon followed were numerous emails informing me that my subscriber base was slowly growing. At the end of elementary school, I had an average of 500 views per video, a base of over 200 subscribers, and was featured on the front page of YouTube for several weeks.

But it was not until the age of 15 that I discovered a more mature approach to the way I wanted to create my own art. In the winter of my freshman year, I had the opportunity to visit Liverpool, England, the hometown of the Beatles. In Liverpool, my family and I went on an exclusive tour that took us through all of the famous historical locations of the band’s upbringing. Near the end of the tour, our guide brought us to a dark and cold church cemetery. Making our way through the sea of tombstones, we arrived at our destination: the gravestone of Eleanor Rigby. It was at this moment that I came to understand how the songwriters Paul McCartney and John Lennon used this graveyard as a basis of their inspiration for the song “Eleanor Rigby.”

This experience showed me first-hand how an artist is able to draw inspiration from his or her surroundings and convey a story through their respective art. Soon after my trip to Liverpool, I began analyzing my surroundings in hopes of finding material from which I would be able to develop a story.

Hoping to find my own inspiration, I began spending time in the lobby of a local Marriott hotel whenever I wanted to write. I was not trying to seclude myself or get rid of any distractions, but rather immerse myself in an environment filled with various character types who would come and go throughout the evening.

It was not long before I expanded outside of the Marriott, bringing my laptop to parks, malls, and stores. I even brought my laptop across a 23 state road trip, using all of the states as an individual canvas for my creations. With a blank word document at the ready, I would wait for something to strike a creative nerve. By observing my surroundings, I was able to become more aware of the seemingly small and meaningless things around me. I started to pay close attention to the ideas, characters, motives, themes and symbols that flourished in the places I least expected.

My winter in Liverpool helped teach me how to create my own art. However, as I grew older, I started to question my purpose as a filmmaker. When my mother found out she was pregnant for the first time she was told that her pregnancy terminated and that she would never have a child of her own. After building her strength and morale, she was finally able to get pregnant again. Unfortunately, my mother continued with the disappointment of eight more miscarriages until finally, I was born. You could say it was advanced genetic sciences that allow me to be alive, but I believe that I am here on this earth for a reason.  That reason is to share my stories with the world through film. I want my work to change the way people view themselves. I want it to challenge their perspectives and the way they perceive life. My stories are layered -- there are a million different messages and references within each one. Because of this, my films will be able to resonate with almost anyone in some way. My intention as a filmmaker is for every person to walk out of my movie having gone through a different experience.

I often find myself asking not who is Considerate-Man but what is Considerate-Man? Considerate-Man is the genesis of my creative talent. Considerate-Man is about being the superhero of your own art. By day, I am Theo Buckwald: a tall, quirky, loving teenager. But by night, I am Considerate-Man: a man determined to touch and entertain all through mass media. I continue to find enjoyment in being Considerate-Man. However, today, being Considerate-Man is not about the cape and mask. It is about being the founder of my own internet-based production company: Considerate-Man Productions.