currently here at mandaluyong in the building where a local cable channel holds office. meeting is hours away and i came from an earlier meeting in ortigas so i decided to kill time at a starbucks in the building. it’s almost an hour and a half since i got here and im close to bursting, wanting to pee but i cant leave my stuff without risking them getting stolen. in the meantime i distract myself by flying my planes (iOS game) off to paris and lagos (that’s in africa) while chatting with my cousin in the US over her status comment box and text messaging a production manager over film related issues. let me see if i can get the manong guard to look over my things while i head to the john.

im excited working on movies again. this time we’re doing a period fantasy and carlo and i will be calling the shots on the design as suppose to just me. i always believe the collaboration will improve anything either of us can come up with. besides, filmmaking is a creation of many heads, not just one. the process is so much different than producing a painting on a piece of canvas. filmmaking requires various hands to pull off succesfully. the art department itself is already composed of a team for maybe 6 to 8 people.

[later] couldnt stand it anymore so i made my way to the john. thankfully my stuff seem to be untouched when i got back. just got a text that my meeting was moved to another 30 minutes. had to take some paracetamol earlier as i felt a fever coming. must be because of the heavy rain and above-ankle flood water we had to traverse through last night on the way home. already took 1000mg’s of vitamin c this morning to help and i hope it’s working coz the day is getting longer.

the past few days i have been going through clips of old filipino movies produced in the 1960s. i want to get a right balance of realism and cinematic exaggeration to the set design for this new movie. will also study the design by american films from the 60s like hitchcock’s vertigo and the elizabeth taylor movie, who’s afraid of virginia wolf.

in the span of Today im hoping to be fully inspired and finish designing this film so we can submit costing, then request funds and start our preps. films in the philippines rarely get a long preparation timetable. the design process has to happen in less than a week so it’s no big surprise why a lot of our films look haphazardly done because it is 😉

filmmaking. it’s more fun in the philippines.

on top of this, im also doing preparations for a tv commercial shoot for the weekend. TVCs are our bread and butter obviously while film will be our creative and crazy advocacy. and yes, working on the set design for a tv show. when it rains, there is baha.

[later] finished meeting with the tv execs. took the cab home so im now in my boxers. meetings for the day may be done but the work is not. will have to finish the film’s design with carlo for tomorrow’s deadline. then the revisions for that tv show’s set then the design breakdown for the tvc’s requirements plus working on the design for another tvc we’re shooting next week. oh, and a line producer called while i was in the cab if im available for that other tvc. when it rains, God will provide you with an ark because there will be baha.

see ya later.