Videographer Creating Long Beach Documentary

Robert Rothman’s “Our City by the Sea: Long Beach, New York” is a preview of a full-length documentary he is creating about his hometown.

The video features photos from decades past, including turn-of-the-century sepia shots of the boardwalk and beach, as well as modern video of the Walks and West End neighborhoods.

Rothman obtained many vintage photos from the Long Beach Library and Ilovelbny.com, the website of a city native who moved to North Carolina, to create a video about the city in 2007, and he has since tapped those same resources to develop his documentary that he hopes to finish soon.

“I am looking to complete it by the end of August, fingers crossed,” Rothman told Patch. “I am doing this 100 percent solo and any help in distribution of any sort is welcomed.”

Meanwhile, he plans to post two more preview videos in coming weeks.  

Rothman worked with the Long Beach Historical Society to learn more about the city’s history as he gathered and organized the photos, edited his own video footage, mixed the accompanying music and recorded voiceovers.

He plans to emerge with a documentary of Long Beach from the early 1900s to today, which he expects will run about 90 minutes. When completed, he’ll look to shop it to various media outlets, from Channel 12 to PBS.   

“Long Beach is a very special town,” Rothman said when he was in the midst of creating his film in 2010. “It’s the town where I grew up and love so much, and I want to give back for all the joy it’s given me. And I want to convey that in this documentary.”     

Rothman’s own history in Long Beach started in 1975, when his family moved to the city from his native Los Angeles. “I guess I have movie-making in my blood,” he said with a laugh.      

With a background in graphical arts, Rothman has long been interested in film and film editing, but only got started when he bought an iMac and dabbled with movie-making on the iMovie program. Initially he made videos of weddings and other ceremonies for friends and family; then he turned to sports videos.

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A devout Jets fan, he made a YouTube video called “Greatest NY Jets Video Ever,” which has generated 71,400 views to date. Rothman is equally enthusiastic about Kiss and created an animated video of the rock band, with thousands of views.     

Then Rothman got the idea to do videos of Long Beach. “I wanted to touch on things that were closest to me,” he said.

But what began as a hobby morphed into something more serious. “Now I take much more pride in it,” he said about his video making.    

His first video was a two-minute clip of Gino’s pizzeria on West Park Avenue that he shot in 2009. He’s made videos of a desolate beach with a setting sun and crashing waves, a montage of the city’s many restaurants, and the Polar Bear Splash, a fundraiser event that attracts thousands who plunge into the cold ocean each Super Bowl Sunday.    

Looking beyond his documentary, Rothman has considered making a movie based on his mother, Theresa McDermott, who died of a brain aneurysm from the chemotherapy and radiation she received when she had throat cancer.     

“She was my big inspiration in my life,” said about his mother.    

Visit Rothman’s Long Beach videos here, and visit his Facebook page devoted to Long Beach.

* This story was updted and edited at 5:30 p.m. on July17, 2012.