Pointen Walls

Excited to observe some more graffiti artists this week! :-)

This set was made in July of 2010, right before I started my current job! It was my last shoot and also my most ambitious set up ever, with Marco as production designer. We needed a wall painted with the word Pointen, the name of the music group whose video we were making.

I'll definitely post the video once I get a copy! For now, I leave you with the pictures of my biggest, hardest and very last project as a member of an art department.

Pointen walls painted by Pilipinas Street Plan.

Always Up to No Good

Something from over the weekend.

I'm so tired!

UNSCHLD: Always Up to No Good, all credits here.

Swan Lake

Been staring at these stills,

listening to this track,

watching this particular online featurette (it's about production design!),

and trying to understand this lengthy technical interview of how it was shot,

with these behind the scenes pictures to match,

(A room of mylar mirrors!! Mylar is the reflective material silver balloons are made of.

It's very thin and very hard to keep flat.

So you can imagine the taxing job it was to set this room up!! :-)

Kudos to this movie's art dept!! :-))

in hopes all of these will bring me steps closer to actually watching the movie.

Nope, I checked again. Still no release date for Manila! :-(

Fox Searchlight, please send us Black Swan!! :-) :-) :-)

Stills from http://www.foxsearchlight.com/blackswan/ and www.theasc.com.

Seven Ways

Between catching up on Christmas shopping, watching Tron Legacy, The Fighter, and maybe even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 for the last time, attending our annual Christmas barbecue, getting a pedicure HAHA, and joining my friends in this launch, there is so much to do on Saturday!

Can I split myself seven ways instead?

http://unschld.com/

Salita (And look!! Not just one light bulb, but many!)

I can't believe I haven't posted this!! I remember being very excited to share it after shooting... hahahaha!

As I mentioned in my last entry, I'd been feeling a bit down lately because of some mess-ups at work. Nothing like remembering this video again to cheer me up, albeit a little! The time when this was shot, in April of last year, was probably the last time I felt really very sad about work, even worse than I feel now. But shooting this was another reminder of why I chose to stay in production, something I needed to be reminded of today, as well. :-)

And look! Not just one light bulb moment appeared, but many!

Salita by Angulo, directed by King Palisoc http://vimeo.com/kingpalisoc, shot by Mackie Galvez http://mackiegalvez.com/, production design by me!

Rocket Science

I always tell myself, "It's not rocket science," but right now, that's sure what it feels like! I can't quite comprehend nor figure out where I'm trying to arrive at.

But I'll get somewhere soon right?

Photo and panels from a very long time ago.

Our Weekends Dissolve

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What do you get when you have a room full of foil, a crazy dancing band, and a giant stoplight? A video of playful reflections and gesticulations, that's what.

One of the last music videos I built a set for has come out!!

Our Weekends Dissolve by Us-2 Evil-0

It involved a camera test on my part (to see if the reflective material would work!), a full day of setting up a room of forced perspective, and 150 meters of foil paper. I must say, my favorite moments have to be when the light is at its lowest.

It looks like an aquarium!

Almost the full band in this picture.

The room at its barest. Try to spot the corners?

A very special thank you to the setmen who built the room, to Karen who art directed, and to Nicole, Sarie and Therese who helped us out on the shooting day!! And a giant wave of congratulations to Ramon who directed his first music video!! Yayyy!

And yes, the band is as active and enthusiastic in real life as they are in the video. :-)

P.S. Looking back several entries, I realized it's been awhile since I posted an actual job/commissioned work. I find that funny because all I've been feeling lately is completely and utterly swamped! I wonder where all that work is going... Hmmm...

To Be Continued

Earlier tonight, I was having a conversation with my friend who is an editor about projects from the recent past. He was asking about how they were moving along, and I honestly couldn't answer him. Unlike him who sees a project through to its release, my commitment to productions end on the shooting days themselves. So going through my hard drive, I've recalled some projects I never saw the last cuts of until today.

Oh my god, I don't even know if this production has a title. It was a final project for my friend's cinematography class, and this is the first room-out-of-nothing I ever had to set up. As you can see, I tried to fill up the space with everything I thought could be found in a boy's room -- spray paint bottles, origami, books, action figures. Only later on did I learn (and TRY!) to art direct and edit my sets. And I don't think there's an actual final version of this short yet!

The First -- Mike's Apartment

Directed by Ted Manotoc

This music video was shot in late 2009, right on the day of Typhoon Ondoy (Int'l: Ketsana). Without any talents making it to the location because of heavy rains and flooding, we started shooting band shots, before resolving at around dinner time that it would be safer to go home to our families, and to have a second shooting day commence. I don't think there's a final edit to this video yet, but I'm very interested in seeing it because the footage looked very promising. :-)

Stray Hearts (Ang Pusong Gala) (2008)

Directed by Mario Cornejo

I think this was one of my first shoots, and it was such a small and fast production too! We started at 7am and ended at 3pm. All I knew as an art department assistant (to Christina Dy or CD, the designer/artist who taught me everything!) was that I should bring weapons and that we had a giant bucket of fake blood. And we were to shoot a practically no-budget advertisement for Cinemalaya, a local film festival here in the Philippines.

It was my first adventure with splattering blood everywhere, and the director and cinematographer (Ike Avellana) had a lot of fun improvising and planning shots as we went along. I must say, the actors, Lena Cobangbang and Mikey Amistoso were great and perfect for the roles of seemingly meek characters whose dark sides come out as they have a bloody lovers quarrel.

Last I heard, the director was able to make a short film from the footage, and bring it to Rotterdam for a festival. Here's the IMDB page for the short: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1369700/. An amazing end to such a small and simple concept!!

Good night everyone!!

Living in the Sky with Diamonds

Last year, my friend Camille from Metro Society magazine asked me to do some set pieces for a fashion shoot. The editorial was to feature dresses by Cary Santiago, a Filipino designer based in Cebu and Dubai.

Cam wanted a cold, almost winter wonderland-like set, but composed with simple pieces, so as not to take attention away from the dresses. It was our first time working together in our two years of working in our respective fields! I have to say, it was a lot of fun working with someone who was not only one of my closest friends, but also someone who was on the same creative wavelength as I am. We thought of almost the same set pieces, and I was definitely happy with what I made for the editorial.

This picture has to be my favorite of the bunch.

The flowers look like water-lilies, and the model, a floating goddess!

The dresses were amazing! Cary Santiago's couture goes for such high prices in the Middle East, and taking a look at his collection, you'll understand why. Through his pieces, he's shown his mastery of skills and design, and ultimately, pushes Philippine talent to the next level. Just the night before the shoot, Metro Society held its anniversary party, with his work as the main spectacle. Here are some pictures of the backstage madness, enough for you to see how much detail went in to every dress!

"Living in the Sky with Diamonds" can be found in the Metry Society Dec 2009 - Jan 2010 issue. Styled by Camille Aguilar. Photos by Jason Penaloza, shot at Kwannon Studios, Eastwood City, Libis. Set Design by Victoria Velasco. Make Up by Jomar Nebriaga. Hair by Raymond Ko of L'Oreal Professionnel. Modeled by Jasmine and Ria of Mercator.

Backstage photos of the Cary Santiago fashion show at the Metro Society anniversary party from Style Samurai. For more from the show and from Philippine fashion in general, visit http://stylesamurai.blogspot.com/.