13073078_10154121405938288_1003719044_o

stayed away from facebook and logged off twitter since monday because i havent had time to watch the new game of thrones episode. but im looking at all the positives of this action. i had more time to nap between meetings and shoots and during the long uber ride home in rush hour. i missed the hullabaloo of catcalling and whistling controversies and i think that’s a good thing. too much drama and the guy hasnt even really started working yet. my mobile internet is not exactly all that happy though because instagram consumes a lot more data and i hit my cap too fast.

112030-Melisandre-meme-avoid-social-n-NKyZ

btw, im blogging because im not exactly on facebook still.

im thankful carlo and i got to watch x-men apocalypse last week before we got busy. btw, the critics should just really stop because the movie was awesome. the only thing i didnt like about it is nightcrawler’s jeje hair. sansa stark was awesome as sophie turner as jean grey. and im loving the new cyclops. the character was always my favorite compared to wolverine.

20160423_162225-1

20160510_055738

we just finished majority of principal photography for SINGLE/SINGLE season 2 with pepe diokno. the cast is awesome and fun but shooting as fast as we did takes a toll and ill never really like shooting for tv. unless maybe if i were working on a show like game of thrones or some weta production in new zealand then i wont have complaints whatsoever. the best person on the set in S/S was, hands down, utility jay-r who was always gracious and checking that everyone gets hydrated. such a selfless man. thanks, kuya jay-r.

also finished a shoot with paolo dy that i wasnt able to personally shoot haha (because i had a conflict sked with single single). carlo supervised the shoot as double unit instead. wow double unit. i never do double units, btw, but had no choice for this because of the celebrity talent’s schedule. paolo’s fast on the finishing touches and marketing of his new full length movie, ignacio, a gorgeous costume drama on the saint, coming on in july. hope all goes well for paolo and the film!

20160523_145319

and im excited to buy a new printer. my other one conked out after 3 years of continuous, “unlimited” printing. and when it did, i was broken and unproductive creatively and realized i was totally reliant on printers. i wish i could afford a portable printer that does A3 paper but i can only afford this. and im happy.

20160526_194155

had a short trip flying to cagayan de oro last week to see my cousin get hitched. he wanted me to “host” his reception as i have done with our other cousins’ wedding reception dinners years ago. and so i went. hahaha congrats tonski and zsazsa!

then i got to meet my brother-in-law’s adopted pitbull, bruno. and while i believe in good-hearted dogs, this 8-month old puppy chilled my heart a bit because i was considered a stranger in their house. he barked at me! hahaha and while he slowly approached and licked my hands, his body language was still on guard and anxious and he stares at me (head to toe). it will take a bit more time for him to fully accept me but ill only be seeing him again in december and by then he’ll have grown up and totally forget me. cesar millan, help. haha

20160529_161718

but i was at the beach with him that sunday. and because he was so busy swimming to get back to land, i got to hug him and carry him above water.

20160405_072306

so many gorgeous people on the set of SINGLE/SINGLE, mind you. and all are easy-going, kind, and considerate of everyone. matteo, shaina, anna luna, brian sy, bernardo bernardo, jc santos, and the dame cherie gil. then we have the gorgeous will devaughn, who walks in and worlds stop. actors aside, i only agree to work in non-tvc projects based on the cast of characters behind the camera. who can say no to bianca balbuena? aber? along with her epic partner, pepe diokno, and epic lover, bradley liew, we have kuya ruel (char kuya), kulas, ms ninay, lilit, patti lapus (extraordinaire), martin and maki. kalorks roll call na ito sige nga. pero hindi na lahat ha, haba the list. shoutout to our hard working team, kitch, sammy, docdoc, nante, melben, isabel, ken, vinze.

20160412_105942

and speaking of vinze, this guy was our intern for the whole two months of summer. i warn interns that production shoots go beyond their required 240 hours of internship and they have to be willing to stay a bit longer to complete a project. this guy stayed two months and went through 5 different tv commercial shoots and 6 days of the SINGLE/SINGLE shoot. still so much to learn but hardworking, he wanted to just stay forever as art department. but like all interns, and because i believe in real education, i strongly demanded he bring his ass back to school and finish college before coming back to work full time in the art department. i tell you, you’ll thank yourself years later. and your mom will be the most fulfilled mom because she’ll see you on stage getting your diploma. congratulations in advance on your graduation, vinze. 😉

and i have now finished my coffee and have to run off do prep for another shoot. cheers and wishing everyone a safe and productive weekend!

20160417_204859

ps. this is perhaps the best ramen in manila ive ever experienced. was introduced to this by direk erin pascual. life changing ramen. this is mendokoro ramenba in salcedo village, makati. the shoyu ramen is the best and the only thing i order and eat because i cant get over it. no, i cant.

art & design, filmmaking, food trip, laundry therapy, movies, musings, set design, sketch

a week off facebook

Image
art & design, interior design, set design

happy enervon users

this series of tv ads just came out featuring celebrities michael v., carmina villaroel, and anne curtis. i had the pleasure of working with gian mawo, under straight shooters, and legendary producer dante nora with the over the moon ad agency on this campaign. the brief was originally a talking head against some chroma limbo background. the director, however, wanted to situate the tv personalities in their private spaces, some sort of comfort zone where they can easily take us on a journey to their past by way of pictures on walls or on albums, etc.  their personalities are reflected in that room, complementing the “interview” and the take aways of the photos. i especially loved bitoy’s set only because im partial to interiors with bare cement walls and i wouldnt mind living in that space.

these were the set pegs and the initial designs i prepared. we had to scale down bitoy’s set, making it more intimate.

PROJ SPREAD PD DECK PPM.002

set design for bitoy

set design for bitoy

PROJ SPREAD PD DECK PPM.007

set design for carmina

set design for carmina

PROJ SPREAD PD DECK PPM.005

set design for anne curtis

set design for anne curtis

i eventually reworked my sets into google sketchup nearing the construction phase. while the sets were all of the same dimensions, the sketchup output also served as a guide for my set decorator once we got to dressing up the rooms in the studio. btw, it was our first time shooting at the shooting gallery and wow, awesome studio.

proj spread bitoy copy

proj spread carmina with door panel

proj spread anne copy

the director and the creative team of the ad agency were generally happy with the sets so i was thrilled. it was tricky setting up bitoy’s photos as well as i had to configure the sizes of all photos prior to printing them on cintra boards. here is a screencap of the layout i made on a 10 feet x 20 feet wall. i had to eventually take out the photos that showed bitoy’s family as there were ad rules prohibiting us from doing so, i forgot what rule basta ayun.

Screen Shot 2015-09-02 at 2.20.43 PM

and here are the full ads. woot woot!

Standard
art & design, costume design, filmmaking, interior design, movies, musings, set design, sketch

shooting heneral luna part 1

HENERAL LUNA is in the last stretch of school tours and promotions prior to the movie’s release on september 9, 2015 and artikulo uno has already released a series of behind the scenes featurettes, including a production design video featuring carlo and myself. however, let me take you further behind the scenes and the design process for one of the sets featured in the current trailer, including trying to meet requirements for our first day of shoot.

a lot of the movie’s intense scenes was staged in this convent room where president aguinaldo’s cabinet staff would meet to discuss (argue) plans for the impending conflict against the americans.

heneral luna IMG_2416-Edit copy

we’ve started reading and studying the heneral luna script august of 2013.  the script called for the cabinet meeting to happen in a convent. historically, the philippine government often had to move around and meet where it would be convenient and church convents would be akin to board rooms/conference rooms in our modern life setting. by this time, our govt had been driven out of manila and aguinaldo held office in the provinces. i started researching on visual pegs with photos of convents in the 1890s and any local government meetings i could find.

Continue reading

Standard
art & design, set design

giving instructions

worked on the DOH ad about prenatal checkups for moms in their 1st trimester pregnancies. sent this out to my setman carrying minor technical instructions. ive tried google sketchup years ago but it was only last year that i relied on it to furnish my construction crew with clearer plans instead of my normal hand drawn sketches.

Standard
art & design, laundry therapy, set design

random drawing

drew a kitchen set design that was eventually cut out from the director’s treatment of that particular tv commercial project. playing on blacks and neutral colors (cappuccino maybe) and brushed aluminum steel for the appliances, plus bright vintage acrylic lamps in orange for a pop of color.

in reality i wouldnt put the oven right next to the refrigerator but sometimes for a commercial, one has to employ creative license and in a second or two, establish the whole kitchen in a wide shot and in the succeeding frame show why the oven had to be positioned at the back of the talent standing behind the counter.

posting that drawing here. drawn via app on the ipad using paper by 53.

IMG_3896.PNG

Standard
art & design, costume design, filmmaking, movies, musings, set design

the 15th shake

we’re roughly midway shooting through the 2nd episode of regal film’s widely anticipated horror anthology, shake, rattle, & roll, now on its 15th version. carlo and i are working again with jerrold tarog (director), mackie galvez (cinematographer), and benjamin tolentino (editor). we did our first SRR episode years back for punenrarya (blogging about that here) and got a lot of notice for that episode, especially from the brilliant performance of our lead, carla abellana. this time she’s back working with us along with dennis trillo, john lapus, and the magnificent chanda romero. watch out for SRR 15’s 2nd episode in december 2014!

Standard
art & design, costume design, movies, musings, set design

HENERAL LUNA Teaser is out!

the film we worked on for about a year of our small, insignificant lives (compared to fallen heroes who fought for our liberation) just released a teaser trailer! sharing with you a glimpse of the biggest movie we’ve all worked on, so far! i give you jerrold tarog’s HENERAL LUNA!

.

directed by JERROLD TAROG cinematography PONG IGNACIO production design BENJAMIN PADERO & CARLO B. TABIJE music JERROLD TAROG editor JERROLD TAROG catering JERROLD TAROG free coffee JERROLD TAROG sunscreen JERROLD TAROG (kadaghan bas imo ngalan diri JERROLD TAROG) screenplay JERROLD TAROG ED ROCHA HENRY FRANCIA producer ED ROCHA executive producer FERNANDO ORTIGAS

please like our HENERAL LUNA facebook page.

Standard
art & design, movies, set design

heneral luna: happy people make happy sets

after a grueling race against time, the art department managed to finish enough of our train and station set for HENERAL LUNA to be able to shoot on time as scheduled last week. perhaps given another day of construction on location, sets such as this would have a bit more detail and more texture. as they say, works of art are always works in progress. that didnt stop us from celebrating when the day’s shoot packed up of course. and with pictures taken by our DOP, pong ignacio. (sorry, no photos of the set at this time)

10420711_10152920540387519_610003849_o

bottom row: jetro, mike-abueg, sammy, iyah, arman, myself, carlo, kitch. next row: melven, docdoc, pollyboy1, chet, kuya jaime in white, vlad in the cap, kuya polly, mikee and monica right behind me, ciara, rhon. backrow: bong in red, rydel, pollyboys (sorry, i dont remember all of their names, will research), norman in blue, richard, mike with the buri hat. not in photo were ate lhen, lolafer, dianne, nikki (who decided to get a glass of water at this time and couldnt be found, hence she missed this).

10426520_10152920540377519_805688038_o

10429532_10152920540372519_1260640968_o

10420700_10152920540347519_723201668_o

10418712_10152920540257519_341123542_o

and so we dance

10418765_10152920540152519_285959515_o

i am a designer but i am nothing without a team that backs me up for everything that needs to be built and purchased and setup and stowed away after a shoot. i always believe that with the combination of talent, skill, time, and work put in by this people, we’d have a great movie. however, it also wouldn’t be worth doing if everybody was so cranky and serious. that is why i always pick easy-to-deal-with people and i like to keep my crew happy and not ngaragged as much as possible (new word, put it in webster. means, harassed and stressed out to the nth level). and of course, as they say, the more the manyer. thank you guys.you’re all awesome!

heneral luna day 25 done. 5 more days to go. gow!

Standard
art & design, costume design, filmmaking, interior design, movies, musings, set design

ABOVE THE CLOUDS BEHIND THE SCENES: Production Design

during the shoot of pepe diokno’s 2nd full length feature, ABOVE THE CLOUDS, last year, bradley liew, a malaysian filmmaker, was tasked to create short featurettes for the film’s behind the scenes. bradley and pepe were able to release the first two featurettes that discussed the director’s vision and our 2 lead actors even before we finished shooting the whole thing. the 4th episode in this series, released just a few weeks ago, was about the production design and featured us 😉 as much as the requirements on paper seemed simple enough, it is not. whether you are designing for 2 actors on screen or 500, all film projects require careful planning and attention to detail. watch this vid and see if we actually made sense. the shoot of ABOVE THE CLOUDS took almost a year to do so my hair also went into different lengths and feels haha. cheers!

Standard
art & design, costume design, filmmaking, interior design, movies, musings, set design

HENERAL LUNA: 8 days done. 17 to go

heneral luna IMG_3145

we finally finished the first 8 days of shoot for HENERAL LUNA that has brought us to tanay, taal (batangas), bulacan, and all the way to ilocos (vigan and laoag). forgive me but i did plan to write a full blog article about HENERAL LUNA but the holy week has shut my mind down into rest mode. hence i wont be writing anything except this hi and hello. hi and hello! hopefully be back in full mode after this weekend. or after the end of this shoot in june. haha cheers!

IMG_2363

dop pong ignacio silhouetted against the 18k sun

IMG_2771

shooting a dining scene in the gorgeous villavicencio house

IMG_3407

dressing up a vigan street early in the morning for a 1-shot scene at the break of dawn.

heneral luna IMG_3422

meta mode pointing my camera at the mobile monitor showing me pointing my camera at the mobile monitor showing me pointing…

heneral luna IMG_3500

my props and set boys. if rocks made up a mountain, i have a big mountain to lean on to. happy people make a happy set. keep smiling, boys!

Standard