Category Archives: filmmaking

filmmaking, musings, travel

blogging in january

it’s almost mid january. we’re halfway through shooting brillante mendoza’s film with seiko currently titled “foster” with the magnificent cherry pie picache in the title role. i still work as prod designer for mendoza here and next month i will be looking for greener pastures somewhere mundane. im looking forward to another short break (i hope) in mindanao or a trip to batanes with tita tems, if my funds allow me. tita tems got pictures from architect-friend joven ignacio of batanes as he is doing a study in the area. the pictures are magnificent, an untouched virgin piece of land, almost nomadic in nature and totally lord-of-the-ringish new zealand quality to it. complete with goats running on fields and the ocean surf breaking the silence of the overcast afternoon. i got all that from a friggin piece of snapshot. crazy ! 😀

had an amazing vacation last christmas. dropped by dumaguete before the xmas break to visit His magnanimous faisal alih and the royal family. a fun 2 nights of unwinding and piano-playing, videoking, walking down the beach and merienda-ing at the famous sans rival cafe.

then i surprised my family by arriving unannounced in mindanao. haha. cuzins (pamangkins actually) came over mindanao to enjoy the company of the locals and the environment. cuzin ace wrote out a wonderful plan visiting key sites in camiguin for an overnight trip. our third day was spent washing clothes in the rapids of the cagayan river ergo white water rafting 😀 my first time. totally amazing, ubber fun. of course i love the water but i havent really trekked down a river in a long time (last time was when we were kids in GUSA in the 80s). exciting three days there, the next time my cuzins-pamangkins come over we’ll try going up lake sebu in cotabato.

crazy this so-called life. love it ! cheers !

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filmmaking, movies, musings

getting excited of going back to roots

jhem and i had been talking about doing his full length video again, “blangko,” a horror-comedy. independent films are fun especially if youre doing it with friends. i miss the feel of indie productions where you chip in instead of getting paid, and the fact that your equipment is low standard because you cant afford the big keg lights. yet the film output is great because the concept has always that.

in the meantime we slave over the production of “agua de mayo” which is taking the toll on our health and our psychological state of minds. ive been plagued by wants to run off the boondocks of mindanao or the depths of the ocean. be a hermit up in the hills or bum around the family house in cagayan. nothing wrong wih the production, it’s just getting so stressful for me.

hay naku, buhay. in the meantime, here’s a pic of me with liza lorena. she is one of a kind, makulit, exremely thoughtful and very kind. we got to eat at her house while checking out her costumes. she sends forwarded messages and quotes once in a while.

ok, another pic. with charlene who’s remained beautiful and statuesque. during the shoot of lactacyd tvc and print-ads with aga muhlach (printad photographer raymond isaac)

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filmmaking, movies

back from pampanga and still alive

had to work out the remains on the shoot of dante mendoza’s new film, now currently titled “agua de mayo,” title courtesy of service driver andy oyo-a.

im still alive, thank God. it’s been a harrowing experience shooting the reception scenes. who would have thought the costume rentals didnt send johnny delgado and cherry pie picache’s barong with the rest of the gowns? and we were to shoot in 10 minutes? and the barongs are to come from angeles pa, about 30 to an hour away? and liza lorena arrives on the set in pampanga and realizes her wigs and accessories are left in antipolo (and you cant get angry because she’s such a nice person)?

and you begin to run out of food props because the extras started eating them all up? and they didnt bring polos and some came wearing spaghetti straps for a wedding? and the waiters didnt bring enough uniforms with them? and i sent for a few more? and the waiters forgot to bring them down the service vehicle? and when we were to start shooting the service vehicle suddenly left? and you run out of excuses? and there really is no way to take out the frown on my forehead except at end of the day because it’s the end of the day?
still from the film currently shooting (pics by julius). here is gammy viray, johnny delgado and alan paule (seated on the couch).

kaleldo 1

pic of cherry pie fixing her lapel (body mic). there’s me, direk dante and AD william.

kaleldo 2

it’s hard working production designer when your director is also a PD. the pressure can be terribly mind-blowing. i wont go into details, all i can do is keep my head at bay and continue working. although i learned that in this line of work there are no quitters (patayan na kung patayan), im near collapsing and giving up already. yet life goes on and perhaps something good will do come out of this. thus the wind continue to blow through angel aquino’s hair.

pic of me (in a more relaxed mode) and juliana palermo in between takes. at least i can still joke around with juliana while preparing for the next setup. she of course is bisaya (from davao, we first worked together in http://www.xxx.com) and she is jus very kalog and easy to work with. people will see her in a different light in this film, it’s a far cry from her public image, and her character here showcases her real easy-going self.

juliana palermo and ben padero

juliana palermo

it’s almost 9pm and i havent had dinner. will get back to you.

(2 hrs after dinner – box o’ rice jamalaya regular)

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filmmaking, musings

here’s a picture of me taken last thursday (feb 18) while on a break during a shoot at our garden studio in mandaluyong. the wall behind me was built, which i supervised, for the shoot. it was a replica of a real wall found in korea, and this was made out of plywood, styrofoam, and painted in cement. eto trabaho ko. astig.

that’s rajie at the far end and another carpenter, working on a signage props for this shoot. he’s the head setman/ artist of my boss (dante mendoza). he’s muslim and that has brought a particular connection of understanding between us, natives from native mindanao. originally my boss thought i was muslim also, seeing that rajie and i spoke the same language at times and we seem to understand each other clearly. that and the fact that i sport a billy goat’s goatee and a tubao or an arabian’s headgear (yung red!). he’s also deaf in one ear and we have to either talk out loud in front of him or speak clearly in his good ear.

we took photographs of korean talents in winter clothes, running through fake snow (styrofoam and rock salt). it was very hot that afternoon and the koreans werent exactly enjoying having to act as if they were freezing in impossibly hot weather. oh well, the things you have to do for a chance to be on the papers hehehe

also, we shot in the ayala underpass that evening. earlier i took digital pictures without permission and the guard on duty bounced on me and was raving mad. he was also badly scared. i wondered why he was so angry. i reckoned he would be more friendly if a tourist or a pretty girl were doing that. i later realized i looked like some terrorist (haha) and this happened when the ayala bus bombing was still fresh on everyone’s minds. cheers! 🙂

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filmmaking, food trip, musings

it’s very late now, it’s almost morning (that makes it very early also) and im still up and about. i was just working on the revisions in the screenplay of the short film my group and i are doing. it’s been a pretty exciting weekend. i remember when i was just whining to my friend ces about pen medina not being able to text back. by friday last week, i received a text from my professor that ricky davao has called him to say that yes, he’d like to work in our film! i was alone in the jeepney that afternoon and so i let out a huge hurrah (more of a wooh!). unfortunately chaka kaayu akong fone na gigamit wala koy text out capabilities (i could only receive text). so i couldnt share the news, and not until i got to the college of mass communications where i met old classmate berns that i could relieve myself of this news. we believe it’s a great opportunity to be working with a real actor, and it’s such a blessing that we actually got him (or he got us). God is good. a few hours later i was texting my friends gem ron macb ces and faisal, and my family tatay, mamati, ta an, toots, ta tems. it’s just fun, and i was so excited about it that i almost got into a fever! talk about pure excitement! anyhow im fine now, and quite adjusted. im actually tense that im still dealing with jaclyn jose’s manager. she has yet to read the script and make a decision. i will be contacting the manager again later at noon. i hope and pray she says yes too. that would be really really incredible.

last saturday ta tems, toots, ej and i met up in megamall to dine with tito momie who is about to leave for indonesia later in the morning (this 4am thing is confusing, it’s already the next day but im still last night mode, you get me?). we ate at saisaki, a japanese restaurant and our first time to deal with quasi-authentic japanese cuisine. my first run down the eat-all-you-can banquet was pretty safe, i took breaded meat and some fried rice. later i tried the raw fish and wasabe, sushi, maki, etc. it was pretty good and deceiving as well. i never though fish could get that heavy! after dinner we walked (thank God) out of megamall and had coffee at seattle’s best. after a really heavy dinner, it’s such a nice feeling to cap everything off with coffee (although im not a coffee drinker). then it’s walking time again to tito momie’s hotel where we checked out his new laptop (ibm thinkpad). had some pics taken and then it was homeward bound for us. God bless, tito moms on your trip! and yes, ill do your laundry. give me two days, three perhaps to do everything. ciao! =)

ps. got news pics of lucas maximus but i will be posting them as soon as i can afford the time. peace! in the meantime check out the old pics again, click mi familia!

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filmmaking, movies, musings

it’s 3:49 in the morning and i couldnt sleep. i was in bed since 12 and ive been turning and twisting all night. i eventually decided to come downstairs and surf. i think i had too much Coke tonight, although that never happened before (not being able to sleep, i mean). then again, it’s been a long time since i had that much coke. and i mean, the softdrink kind!

perhaps ive just been too preoccupied with the developments of our class film project. suddenly we’re contacting real film actors and the whole shenanigan just got complex and challenging. not that we’re backing down, but we really dont have much experience for this. if we actually got ricky davao and jaclyn jose it would be a really great learning opportunity for us. it’s scary in a way, and exciting on the other hand. we still have other things to plan out though, one would be logistics. the other and most important of them all deciding factors, the finances. im losing sleep over all these details and we actually have to start doing studies for the film! we’re shooting stills here at home later in the afternoon so i might have to get back in bed in a few more minutes. at least we’re mighty serious about this film project. all im asking from you are prayers. =) and if you spare alms (we’re talking thousands here), that would be much appreciated. =)

my org in fine arts, cinema as art movement (or CAM) recently screened darren aronofsky’s “requiem for a dream.” ive seen the film before, i was able to find a pirated copy in philcoa sold for only PhP40. i was watching it off a computer monitor and, though it lessened the possible effect the film would have on me, i nevertheless enjoyed it. it was a painful movie about 4 people on a downward spiral to self-destruction (how else would you explain the downward spiralling effect anyway?). the imagery was indeed haunting and very, very interesting. what i didnt realize until now was that viewing it on the computer hindered what could have possibly been such a heart-wrenching experience.

yesterday afternoon as i watched the film again on a huge tv, in a dark auditorium, and playing off a DVD player i was transported to brooklyn and into the very lives of those 4 people. i could have died in that screening, i wanted to cry. this powerful film was just so painful to watch (i cant find any other word to describe it). i suffered, looking at them succumb to horrible ends and terminating what could have been a beautiful life. they had dreams and they lost it. the score, led by a string quartet, kept beating and torturing us viewers as it played endlessly to the deaths of their dreams. requiem for a dream. aagghhhh! jared leto and the luminescent jennifer connelly played lovers who wanted the perfect american life. ellen burstyn, if i am correct, was nominated in the oscars for this performance as a supporting actress. she’s jared leto’s lonely mother whose wish to be on television was really all about being remembered and loved. damon wayans is the fourth player in this quartet of doom. painful and hauntingly beautiful, this is one film you should not miss.

“harry, will you come home today?” – marian, “requiem for a dream”

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filmmaking, musings

ive just finished a lot of my assignments for the week thus i can afford to write a little something for this page. it’s such a guilt trip to be doing so much extra-curricular work to write for other stuff when what youre supposed to really do is not yet done. im not making sense. ill start over.

finally i found time to update you on some news about me. i just finished my cancer awareness project for editorial design and it’s such a relief. ive been struggling with that assignment, my work was eternally not good enough thus my professor just kept disapproving it. i wanted to understand what he wanted to see from my work and everytime i thought i got it, there was always another thing. we just didnt meet on the same level and it frustrated me. eventually of course we met and agreed on something and i got a pretty good grade for it. though the grade is important to me, the work and effort i put on my work is worth much more. sometimes i dont pass assignments on time, and risking getting the deduction for it, just because im not happy with my work. im happier with a really nice plate and a low grade than an ok plate with an ok grade. and of course at times i just dont make anything good. =)

im also getting pretty busy with preparations for this film project we have to do for our electronic media class. my group mates mike, jojo, marco and b3 and i are still working out a lot of kinks in pre-prod. i made a script and did the story treatment out of jojo’s concept and i think it’s coming out pretty well. one problem though, it’s hard to whip up dialogue. especially since it has to be in filipino! i never thought it could be that hard. anyway, we’re still trying to get pen medina to play the tatay role for this film. i actually texted him yesterday but up to now, he hasnt replied back. bad sign? im just hoping he ran out of credit. we will still have to consult with my professor but if in two day’s time we dont find him, i go to next actor on the list: gammy viray. him i know may be well in reach and might actually work with us. his wife is ama quiambao and is my first choice for playing nanay in the film. at least this way, we get them both in a film, and i guess that’s cool. are we being too ambitious in this project? i do think that you reach for the stars but keep your feet planted on the ground. if i dont get all these great actors then perhaps i can move on to lesser players. unfortunately i still dont have a plan B. what happens if i dont get them good actors? i dont want to think about it.

in the meantime let me share some poems i did years back. the math poem i did while sitting out a calculus exam (probably) that i flunked (expectedly). you see, since i couldnt find a way to answer them problems, i was thinking what i waste of space it is if i pass in an almost empty blue book. solution? write. i wrote a lot of poems and short essays in math exams. unfortunately these are all i kept. so here it is, the math poem (click on the link down below)! the other poem is one i did while trying out the typewriter i brought here from home. wanting to feel more of a writer, i lugged around that heavy piece of machinery on the boat and through the journey to katipunan. years later since i never really got to use it, it started to rust and i was actually saddened by that. anyhu i wrote some interesting pieces with it and here’s one of them. i hope i could put in the other stuff i wrote with that. actually that period of my life was when i was most angsty. this poem, staring into you, is the non-angsty thing i did when i was ‘angsty.’ i guess im using the term too much but just for kicks, here’s another coming your way: angsty! read on!
math exam poem
staring into you

ps. got news from my professor. just now i was text-conferencing with him (cesar hernando, production designer in batang west side) and he suggested that if we cant get pen medina perhaps we could try ricky davao. i was pretty excited with the idea of working with the actor. then if ever we get ricky davao, ama quiambao is definitely too “mature” for him as a wife so we have to get somebody of ricky’s age. sabi ni sir hernando baka si jacklyn jose nalang daw. he’ll try to get in contact with their managers tomorrow. i was kinda worried anton might be too young for them. the only solution was to make anton younger than he really is, perhaps make him a highschool student. besides he looks pretty young for his age, 20, and he is not that tall besides. i guess he’d be a perfect troubled highschooler! this would really be a good experience for all of us. so i guess it’s back to work, gotta make the script much better than it is today. the prospects of making this film is getting scarier and challenging everyday! the good Lord help us all. =)

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