You Surely Can Eat a Shuriken!!

Nobody believed in Mihk when we were shooting this. Mackie tried to shut down production by saying there would be no time in the first day of shooting to squeeze this in. We didn't have a tape to shoot with. Pong was getting frustrated. I wasn't even on set when they were shooting it; I just dressed up Gutch and Bea. But here they are! Three wonderful, genius virals about Shuriken Bars - something you'll see in Episode 2 of 'Kada Kwento. =)

The Sandwich Guy

I tried food styling last week for my friend Maui and his branch of The Sandwich Guy. The whole week prior to the shoot, I was so scared and anticipating that I'd be stressed during day itself. I thought I'd be a major cause of delay because I'm not really a food stylist, right? I wouldn't know what I was doing! Haha!

But it was actually a lot of fun! The food was pretty simple; I just had to set them on plates that rotated. I just kept in mind that I had to make the meals pretty, clean and shiny all the time! =) Here are some of the plates we took. Mackie did a great job lighting them too -- especially since he had very limited lights. =)

Chili Con Carne Baked Potato


Seafood Carbonara


Veggie Salad
(in which, I had to whip up my own version of egg yolk!
Since only the egg whites were available... funny!)


Pesto


English Egg Salad


Italian Style


Their Best-Seller! Ham Bacon Lettuce and Tomato (HBLT!)


Chicken Fillet


Pollo Rosmarino


Peanut Butter Banana


Crabstick Mangoes


Bigtime

Online Flyer with all the plates we shot!
Check out their website guys! www.thesandwichguy.com
And drop by their branch at Total Corp. Building in the Fort! =)

I don't know how to label this post.... Hahaha! I guess I'll start a food styling label with this as my only entry!

'Kada Kwento Shoot Day 1

The project that's been keeping my busy in recent weeks is a series of short films, called 'Kada Kwento. It's produced by Pelicola.tv and Globe Telecom, and its first episode and trailer came out last week (click to watch!). We just wrapped the second day of shooting as well, but since only the first shooting day results are out, I can only show pictures of what happened then.

This is Jen Chuaunsu; she plays a character named Dani. Episode 1
is her story, and we shot in Divisoria for the entire morning of the shoot.

Since it's a very congested marketplace, we endured the heat,
and a lot of human traffic to get certain shots. By the end

of that location, we were all exhausted and it was only noon!

There are seven characters in the series, all with distinct personalities that come together at the night of their friend's birthday. I'm styling it, and the job seems pretty easy since it's just one outfit per character for the entire duration of the shorts. One of them, however, Jackie, has an imagination that runs so wild that she sees the characters from the book she is reading come into her real life, and we had to include one of those imaginary friends in the trailer. The book was the Wizard of Oz, and the character was the Scarecrow.

Jackie, played by Gaille Reyes,
and the Scarecrow, played by Keith Tan (who is also our editor!).

With the help of Carmie, the make-up artist of the shoot, I think we were able to come up with something to be proud of. Keith doesn't look like a real REAL Scarecrow, but it works! I love the eyebrows as well, I think the make-up was such a crucial part, and that Carmie did a great job with it. That, along with some canvass, brown spray paint, dead leaves from my garden, thick rope, and thick dark blue upholstery material, brought life to the Scarecrow that was no longer just in Jackie's imagination.

With Carmie and Keith, who was really patient with us as we
dictated to him what he could and couldn't do -- like scratch his face. =)


Just had to include -- me trying to be a DOP again hehe =)

The trailer is attached to Transformers 2 showings at Rockwell Cinemas, but due to a boo-boo by Rockwell on the first day (which just so happened to be when 91 of us cast and crew members, friends, and colleagues watched together), we didn't get to see it on the big screen. =( Problem fixed now though, and it should still be showing! =) Check out the website: http://www.globe.com.ph/kadakwento weekly for the next episodes, and for who else is behind them! =)

And lastly, a clue for 'Kada Kwento Shoot Day 2:

Wizard of Oz + My chrome fingers = Which character next?!?! =)

Three Things for Tonight!

Before sleeping off this drowsy day (had a 24-hour shoot yesterday that KILLED me! Will share about that soon =D I spent the whole day wishing I were back asleep!), I'll post three things I did in the past month:

1 -- I had a lot of cancelled shoots this month. =( Here are two pictures of some prepping I did for what didn't push through:

Spray Painting Paper Cranes!
There was no budget to work with, so I had to recycle old props
like these paper cranes -- used even by CD before I met her!
So they're probably older than my career... hahaha!

I had to recycle my frames too!

2 -- I did make up for a fashion show for the first time, too! It was so hectic! But I managed to do five faces in about five hours. That's so fast for me!! Hahaha! Anyway, here are some pictures of backstage with all the make up!

Tons of make up to share!

I couldn't help but notice that whenever we, the make up artists, weren't busy with a model in front of us, or during our breaks, a bunch of us would be busy putting make up on ourselves! Can't help it, I guess. =)

3 -- BOW TIES! =D I love bow ties and have been fascinated with them since I started loving men's fashion. It's one of my favorite men's accessory, and I couldn't find a self-tie one in this country for so long. I had my friend Sab buy one in the US, and now that I have it to copy its pattern, I can make my own! Here are three bow ties I made tonight as gifts for my guy friends birthdays this week:

Extra thank yous to my sister Gisella who was actually the one who sewed them. Hehe =) I can't use a machine yet =S but I want to learn now because I want to make TONS more and bow tie the world!!! =D

Good night!

Blast from the Past! An Art Dept Boo Boo!

In Episode 1 of Rakista, Caloy, the lead, goes to an Eraserheads Tribute Night in Route 196, and sees CC, his love interest and ultimately, the reason for his forming a band (and the show's premise). We dressed up the place with a bunch of posters, and even had a tarp for the "stage area."

A couple of weeks ago, that's almost a year after we shot that episode, we return to the same bar, and a poster is still stuck to the glass window. It was my boo boo as Art Director for that being left behind... =S But I won't deny it was kind of a nice, nostalgic moment too. The poster even had "The Matador," on it, which was, in the script, the original name of the bar the event was to be held in.

I didn't take it down yet, so you can check it out if you go to Route anytime soon. =) Maybe they won't notice ever!

Taya

In line with my stop motion fascination yesterday, I dug up a video we made at the beginning of the year. It was stop motion as well, using light drawings this time. I was part of the team of "light painters," and in order to get ready for the shoot, we had two camera tests that were months before. I think we started in August last year! Then finally, we shot for five days this January. Here are some pictures of our camera tests:

"Rain"

A ring around me!

I'm not entirely sure of the details of what the DOP, Pong, would do, but it's something like -- he would keep the shutter of the camera open for as long as we needed to animate with LED flashlights, and one frame (yes, one FRAME - it was a very tedious process!) of the video was born!

Here's our "wrap" picture, all of us happy to get it done!

From L-R: The light painters! Gino, Marco (head light painter), me, and Mei.
Then Pong (DOP), Nic (Director), and Zig (Producer/PM/AD).

The band, Up Dharma Down, with their "instruments" =)

Our director, Nic!

And here's the video!

After this project, I think I can say I'm an expert at drawing musical notes and hearts! Hahaha! I always wanted to do a butterfly too, so I did that instead at our wrap picture. =) All pictures in this post, by the way, were taken by Pong! =)

Post Its

I love how the simplest object can be turned into art. When I think about a set's design, especially when it's a normal-life scenario (like a girl's room or a boy's room), I always try to come up with one weapon of choice -- one thing that would be the simplest thing alone, but multiplied would be a fantastic element in a set. This is a perfect example of that idea. It's GREAT. =D

Source video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWM0FNPZSs

Corrugated Cardboard Chandelier

It's been more than a week since my last post! I promise to catch up with all the stuff I did - mostly gift crafts and prepping for a shoot! Here's one of the things I made for a shoot, out of corrugated cardboard:

The Orange Corrugated Cardboard Chandelier!

I saw the design online a couple of weeks ago, and when I was thinking of what to include in what I was prepping for, I saw this and I knew I had to put it in the video. A bulb is supposed to hang at the center of this "chandelier" to make it light up! It was hard to cut (I even used a cutter - which I hate! I love scissors!) - but it was worth it! I love this, I want to make it in wood and permanently hang one in my room!

Will update more soon! Still working and being stressed at the moment... =)

Summer Eyes

Today was my last day of make up classes! I can't believe 13 sessions went by so fast. Here are some pictures of my last two days! Fashion show make-up/Evantrail eyes! =) In summer colors! I can't believe it's June already!

CD and My First Try at Evantrail Eyes
I love summer colors and CD was very enthusiastic about them too! Yay!



Gisella and My Last Day
I just wanted to practice the last session's lesson again,
and my sister Gisella was my model! =) A young, fruity, summer look! =)

Thank you to everyone who agreed to be my model! =)

Polka Dots

I saw this picture in my daily gossip blog rounds, and fell in love with the skirt! I tried to copy it with some fabric I have here at home and this was my result:

My sister Gisella doing her best fashion blogger pose


Close up of the waist...

I soooo want to make another one now!! It wasn't even as hard as I thought it would be... I can't wait to find more fabric, this time hopefully a nice floral print like the original skirt. =)