Category Archives: musings

musings

on the shelf 1

20121201-014627.jpgthis book is very easy to read and i would have finished it earlier except that i always lack for time. jhem gave me STUCK RUBBER BABY as a gift but it’s not exactly light reading so im trying to finish guy delisle’s BURMA CHRONICLES first (enjoyed his PYONGYANG tales so i picked this book up at the recent comic con).

as ive deactivated my facebook today, i do hope to read more books and graphic novels and watch more movies. i know a lot of my time is spent online because of facebook and the other social networks so bear with me while i switch things up and attempt to blog more instead haha). let’s see where this goes, this crazy, inspired leap to facebook freedom. i pray i also get motivated to go back to drawing and maybe write a script. cheers and “hoppy” holidays 😉

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art & design, filmmaking, laundry therapy, musings

waiting game

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.

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art & design, filmmaking, interior design, musings, set design

production designer job description

taken in 2005 on the set of kaleldo, the 2nd feature length film dante mendoza directed and i designed for. here actress cherry pie picache is fixing her lapel while we look on. crazy times.

stumbled upon setdesign’s tweet about skillset’s article on the responsibilities of a production designer. although i took up architecture and interior design (once upon a time) and eventually got a degree in fine arts, i never really studied production design. there is no course on production design here in the Philippines, just a 3-unit subject offered under the film program, which i never took. in high school, i yearned to direct movies but never to design for film.  i counted on cesar hernando as a mentor in college but my training came from cannes winner brillante mendoza, when he was still known as dante mendoza, the production designer.   a friend of a friend recommended me to mendoza back in 2004 when i really didn’t have an idea what i would be getting into except the fact that i’d be involved in a shoot.  you may call me an accidental production designer, like most designers i know.

production design in the philippines is a tricky sort, one that hasn’t been formalized and standardized.  there are expectations but the working styles, commitment and the art department designations vary per designer. more often than not, here in the Philippines the production designer is a designer, art director, set decorator, wardrobe and props buyer in one.  when i was an apprentice for dante mendoza, i learned to juggle different requirements for various tv commercial projects all happening at the same time. our team ranged from 3-6 people per project with overlapping responsibilities. i later learned other tvc designers, like butch garcia and adelina leung, would have a different art department team for each project.  practices in production design also adjust slightly when working on film (independent and mainstream), print media, tv shows and music videos.

was offered to work as art director for an international ad recently. i immediately said yes, not only because i was excited to work with the celebrity talent but more because i would be working with an international production designer (and production staff).  the prospect of learning something new and hopefully improving my work as a designer and that of my team thrilled me.  add to this the fact that the director used to be a production designer as well raised the stakes but i was stoked and was more than eager to get the work started.

the skillset article breaks down what would be the ideal setup for the art department, something we local designers can hope to have and given the budget of most productions in the Philippines, we can only dream of. im reposting the whole article below

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art & design, costume design, musings, set design

expert lagundi

this is a super delayed blog post, especially since the tvc has almost stopped airing.

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worked with direk lyle sacris and cinematographer j.a. tadena on this tvc for ritemed lagundi (production house abracadabra, agency mccann worldwide). the requirement was to setup for 4 different period vignettes for a 1-day shoot. 2 of the vignettes were aided with CG backgrounds but i still had to setup a forest floor for my china set and some elements for the UP manila part. the thailand and europe vignettes were full studio dressups, the latter being the most challenging in terms of proppings.

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sketched this forest scene (above) to give clients an idea of what i would be setting up (below).

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here, our chinese actor (below) is putting a lagundi plant into one of tita tem’s old baskets i pulled out from our living room.

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art & design, interior design, musings

masinag

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i kinda like the design of the interior of this starbucks coffee shop at sm masinag. love the exposed hardiflex and the bare steel with the wood flooring used on the wall #walalang

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carlo met up with his college friends late tonight at this cafe and i decided to tag along. i like the modern take of the vintage wood paneling and the mix of industrial chairs in this shop.

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laundry therapy

work has been crazy the last 2 months. i was practically sick the entire time we worked on this year’s shake rattle and roll i cant even fathom how i survived it. im thankful of course that work caught up towards the end of this year, im not sure if it was enough to compensate the 3 months of idling away at home because the industry almost went on a standstill. then typhoon sendong happened in cagayan de oro, where im from, and iligan.

my family has been spared from the flood, thank you Lord. but running water in the city is nonexistent and it seems it will remain so for another month.  a lot of families have been displaced from the river area, and more found dead (960 as of last week’s count) making this the worse natural calamity to hit the country.  thank God i had my laundry done before i flew here (and was able to weed out clothes we werent using anymore and giving them up as relief goods so my closet is now decluttered and very much organized).  and because i was so busy on my last day in manila, i totally erred deciding i skip taking a bath prior to leaving for the airport because we were try to meet a work deadline AND packing for the trip. i forgot there was no water in CDO!

will enjoy my christmas weekend in mindanao but will have to fly back to manila right after to start preparations for a tvc in january.  what vacation?  unsa na? cheers and to more shoot projects and hopefully to more blog entries!

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