Checked Bags (Short)

A combat veteran is traveling by a civilian airline. The airline now requires all passengers to check their emotional baggage before boarding any flight. After checking his bags, the man experiences the serenity of becoming unburdened by the guilt and trauma that he carries inside all the time.

  • Mark Cline
    Writer
  • Mark Cline
    Director
  • Mark Cline
    Editor
  • Mark Cline
    Sound
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 1, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    120 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • London Movie Awards
    London
    United Kingdom
    BEST PICTURE
  • Silver Mask Live Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    June 17, 2023
    BEST ANIMATED SHORT
  • Walla Walla Movie Crush
    Seattle
    United States
    July 5, 2023
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • The Film Collective Short Film Festival
    Bensalem
    United States
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • One-Reeler Short Film Competition
    Los Angeles
    United States
    AWARD OF MERIT
  • Tennessee Int'l Indie Film Festival Year 7
    Franklin
    United States
    August 2, 2023
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • Cinema Soup Film Festival
    Chicago
    September 16, 2023
    BEST EDITING
  • Mindfield Film Festival
    Albuquerque
    United States
    FINALIST - DIAMOND AWARD - BEST EDITING
  • Mindfield Film Festival
    Albuquerque
    United States
    FINALIST - DIAMOND AWARD - BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT
  • The IndieFEST Film Awards
    La Jolla
    United States
    AWARD OF EXCELLENCE - EXPERIMENTAL
  • The IndieFEST Film Awards
    La Jolla
    United States
    AWARD OF EXCELLENCE - DRAMATIC EFFECT
  • F3: Queen City Film Festival, Film Curation, & Film Awards
    Cincinnati
    United States
    BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT
  • F3: Queen City Film Festival, Film Curation, & Film Awards
    Cincinnati
    United States
    BEST MICRO SHORT
  • FEEDBACK Under 5 Minute Film Festival
    ONLINE
    BEST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FILM
  • Delco Film Festival
    Nether Providence Township,
    United States
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • Direct Monthly Online Film Festival
    Canton
    United States
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • Veterans Film Festival
    San Francisco
    United States
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • Mentone Film Festival
    Mentone
    United States
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • Wild Rover Film Festival
    Tampa
    United States
    OFFICIAL SELECTION
  • Bucks Fever Film Fest
    Doylestown
    United States
    October 15, 2023
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Mark Cline

Mark started his path in the entertainment sector in the mid 90’s while supporting his friend's musical aspirations. He spent the rest of the 90’s serving in the U.S Navy seeing the world. After completing his service obligation, he entered the Information Technology field where he is still employed to this day.

While he claims IT is his ‘real job’, Mark considers his work in entertainment as his real passion. This has led him to helping other creative types complete their own projects as well as his own. Having acted as director, writer, gaffer, sound designer you name it, if help was needed, Mark was there.

Most recently he has won several screen writing accolades and looking forward to continuing writing and making independent films.

Mark currently resides in Missouri with his wife, two cats and dog.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I had drawn a crude sketch on a dry-erase board consisting of a pair of feet dragging a large suitcase. I knew then what the subject of this story was: We all carry some baggage around. Some baggage is large, others small. The owners of the bags are unique, just like the weight and the contents. But that’s about as far as it went.

I then saw a writing exercise post challenging fellow screenwriters to a one-page script. It was a long time since I’ve done a one-pager so I fired up Final Draft and got writing. Within four hours of constant revisioning, ‘Checked Bags’ was officially born.

‘Checked Bags’ was always meant to be an animation. Cory (Harrill) and I spent a few months meeting to discuss the concept. However due to some scheduling conflicts, Cory and I decide to press to pause our collaboration efforts.

Sometime had past and Cory had shared out a new music video that was made by text to image Artificial Intelligence technology by Kaiber.ai. At that point, my only intention was to play with an AI to see what it could do. I was blown away!

Immediately I started feeding prompts into the AI interface, making a few choices with the style of the production and BAM! AI totally enabled ‘Checked Bags’ to be created from a one-page script to the finished short film in six days total.