I am a baby shark…
Posted: December 3, 2010 Filed under: Arkeofilms, Kano | Tags: Arkeofilms, filmmaking, Kano, Life Change Leave a comment »I keep seeing this really nice nugget from Margie’s wallpaper: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” This aggravates me sometimes because it reminds me of things I should be doing that I’m not doing at that moment.
How it would be nice to start obsessing over my next project, but it seems unfair to the one I just finished…But I didn’t know that after you’re done with a film, you’re never really done with it for a good while. There are screenings to attend, questions to answer (why did you make such a film???), speeches, and parties (which are fun sometimes I admit) and all the things that are apparently part of the game.
This is not a complaint but more of a realization that these things really take a whole heck of time! (So maybe I’m complaining an itty bitty bit) It’s really hard to get all worked up on the next thing. I’m not a recluse enough or strange enough to be removed from the normal activities of the unglamorous part of filmmaking- firm handshake, halo! yes of course…hearty laugh followed by intense look so as to project sincerity and good listening skills. I can do it, I will do it, but never losing focus of what to do next.
Because that is the main thing.
If I don’t keep swimming I will drown.
Amster-deyam!
Posted: October 19, 2010 Filed under: Arkeofilms, Kano | Tags: Amsterdam, Arkeofilms, documentary, happy thoughts, IDFA, Kano Leave a comment »I’ve always wanted to go to Amsterdam…
1 – for the access to certain organic goods (as they say: NO TO SMOKING. YES TO TOKING!)
2 – to see (i’d be too chicken to transact) the commerce via intriguing window displays to show off “wares”.
3 – and the biggest documentary festival in the world that happens last quarter of every year, IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)
Which is why i’m so frikkin excited to go this November. More for number 3 than anything else. Thanks to the documentary that has taken me, as Joe says it…25, 265 years to make.
This doc has certainly brought me to places I would never have thought of going. From a shoreside village in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, Philippines to the pine-covered hick town of Coquille, Oregon, USA.
And now I go to Amsterdam.
Doe het!
She is not done
Posted: July 18, 2009 Filed under: Kano | Tags: documentaries, Kano, movies 1 Comment »She thought it was almost over. She’s been doing it forever. Well not forever. Let’s say she’s been doing it since 2005. Had we been talking about a baby then that baby would’ve been in Nursery right now, learning the alphabet…C you’re so cute and full of charm, D you’re a darling, E you’re exciting…why is it that most of us still have to sing the alphabet to know what comes after K. So anyway, it is not a baby. It is however novel-like in breadth and she is therefore doing only one thing, because it is the only thing she’d be patient enough to do that long a time. It is of course the epic movie. The movie that some generous Korean is waiting for and the same movie zat ze Swedish perzons are waiting for.
So she makes a call to an American consultant, who hopefully knows what he’s talking about. Because as he gives his 2 cents on the never ending movie in the making…the world comes crashing down on her. The American tells her: It’s still very rough at the moment, I will be able to give you finer points when you’re done.
She did not have the heart to remind the American that she already mentioned that she was just about done. The American assures her that it’s very strong and she must keep on going. But she is too disheartened to tell him…that there seems to be nowhere to go. Because she thought it was almost over.
But it’s not over. More hairfall on the floor. More second guessing. She needs that second wind to get to the finish line which apparently is still far far far away.
I need the doctor
Posted: May 20, 2009 Filed under: Arkeofilms, Kano, movies | Tags: Arkeofilms, d-word, dude, fernanda rossi, Kano, Life Change, movies, teddy co 2 Comments »I need her so bad. Her name is Fernanda Rossi. And with the way she writes and talks (I haven’t met her in person but her voice is so distinct when she writes), it seems rather impossible to pay her. She is the story consultant to Academy winners and festival regulars. Over the weekend, d-word, the documentary forum where I am a member but officially only a lurker, is hosting a 5-day “conversation” with the documentary doctor Fernanda Rossi. I am hanging on to every word she writes, desperate to have an illuminating moment where the angels appear behind me or a lightbulb pops above my head.
I’m willing to run on the street naked if the moment comes.
She’s trying to tell us frantic and lost filmmakers the things you can do with the unimaginable hours of footage that one has amassed. I listen to her wisdom, trying to see how I can apply it but I just wish she had a wand and touched my timeline and voila! My story telling becomes compelling, my faulty structure…cured. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
But it is not that wonderful. And my falling hair is at an alarming rate. I am given to spurts of unreasonable anger towards the Dude. I am given to slapping the fat cat because he’s there, unperturbed by my perturbed state. I am careless about slabbing butter all over my keyboard, as I monstrously eat copious amounts of popcorn or toast with cinnamon and butter absentmindedly. And now I know why we are given to paying exorbitant amounts to be saved by the doctor. To fly her in all the way from New York and do her thing now sounds such a small price to pay. But I think the Swedish funders might smirk in disapproval. And I wish them not to smirk. I wish them to smile when they see the lovely documentary that they have invested in: “Vat a vundervul movie from such luverly woman.” I vant them to zmile in apprufal. And the Koreans too. And Teddy Co. Especially Teddy Co.
I’m beginning to daydream about my deus ex machina.
The Doctor : Wow! Such compelling material. If only you can do this (she touches the monitor with her dainty fingers)…and transpose it here (then she kind of twitches the clips on the monitor a la Minority Report) and look at that.
Monster : It’s just as it should be!
The Doctor : Prepare your calendar because it’s going to be a busy year for festivals and broadcast and interviews and all documentary glory.
Monster : [blushing and speechless]
And the Doctor rides in her pumpkin carriage and is off to save another documentary in distress.
And I become a beautiful princess with less hair.
Top of Mind Top 3 Stuff
Posted: March 27, 2009 Filed under: Arkeofilms, Kano, movies, television | Tags: alternative career, american movies, Arkeofilms, asian movies, books, documentaries, drinks, dude, european movies, favorite sites, happy thoughts, Kano, Life Change, list, movies, pinoy movies, Reading list, television, top 3 1 Comment »It’s always so hard for me to think of my top 3 of anything. But this time, I’ll make it easier and think of the stuff that come to mind in order. This is also procrastination…as I progress, snail’s pace, to the finish line of our first rough cut.
BOOKS
- Shipping News by Annie Proulx
- A Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography
- A Once and Future King by TH White
DOCUMENTARIES
- Hoop Dreams by Steve James
- Grey Gardens by the Maysles Brothers
- Capturing the Friedmans by Andrew Jarecki
PINOY MOVIES (this is hard)
- Kakabakaba ka ba? / Dir by Mike de Leon
- Bagets / Mario J de los Reyes
- Salawahan / Ishmael Bernal
ASIAN MOVIES, but not Pinoy
- In the Mood for Love / Kar Wai Wong
- Chungking Express / Kar Wai Wong
- Raise the Red Lantern / Yimou Zhang
EUROPEAN MOVIES
- Amelie (I can’t help it…the commentary is the best part of it all) / Jeunet
- Jules et Jim / Francois Truffaut
- Butterfly and the Diving Bell / Schnabel
AMERICAN MOVIES
- Clueless / Amy Heckerling
- Groundhog Day / Ramis?
- Godfather (is this Hollywood? in a sense…very hollywood) / coppola
TELEVISION
- West Wing
- Six Feet Under
- Todas
DISHES BY THE DUDE
- Crispy Patalbog
- Key Lime Pie
- Poached egg with roasted tomato and basil, swimming in olive oil and other leafy goodies…resting on bread.
SITES
- www.cnn.com
- google reader (is that a site?) –it has all the blogs of people i follow, from chums to bourdain to perez hilton to inquirer.net
- www.mirandajuly.com
LIQUIDS
- Sunquick
- Coke Light avec Rhum
- Apple Juice
I WANT TO LEARN
- français
- how to drive
- CPR
I WANT TO SEE
- New York City
- Barcelona
- the Pyramids
ALTERNATIVE CAREERS (wishful thinking lang)
- investigative journalist
- lawyer
- back-up singer
*Not that you’d care, but I posted the pictures after the list. Just to make sure I don’t muck the train of thought.
Route Recalculation
Posted: December 5, 2008 Filed under: Arkeofilms, Kano | Tags: Arkeofilms, Battle Rock, gadgets, happy thoughts, hi-tech, Kano, oregon, Port Orford Leave a comment »
photographed by our cinematographer Corinne de San Jose
(PORTLAND, OREGON) Jennifer is the name of the beloved little lady patiently anchored to the dashboard of our rented car as we traveled 1,500 miles to go around the absolutely beautiful countryside of Oregon in nine days. The GPS my cousin borrowed from a friend for us became so indispensable and in fact absolutely necessary that we gave her a name. Before this trip to Oregon, I have never been to North America, and the idea of going around towns so small that the building where Arkeo’s former office was had more people living in it, was a little daunting.
I’m in Oregon to shoot a documentary and find people who don’t want to be found and locate obscure places. When I was able to track down one address, all I had to do was type it into Jennifer, and voila! I feel a little guilty because it’s so easy. In fact, if we made a wrong turn (usually when we were too engrossed listening to our cinematographer’s playlist and thus missing Jenny’s instructions) Jennifer would be prompt with a solution: “route recalculation,” she’d say. And then she starts talking about the new exit we have to take. There’s no blaming, no cursing, no stopping to ask the rare highway walker.
We’ve come such a long way from the days of film and even hi-8. I have never fully understood the power of technology until Jenny just took over the navigation and changed the way people travelled. And it wasn’t only the faster and more efficient travelling. I brought with me a P2 camera and Goliath (my Mac Book Pro) and I was able to dump everything I shot using Goliath and saving it in an external hard drive. When the hard drive I brought all the way from Manila started acting up (yes Joe, you gave me a faulty drive!), I just got a 250 gig hard drive from Walmart, and it’s the size of my palm. Because we could only predict our itinerary for tomorrow the day before, we could not book motels in advance. Producer Mario Cornejo would go to Google Earth or Google Maps and look for motels near our next itinerary; he would then proceed to book after reading postive reviews online. We also check accuweather to determine what to wear for the day.
I am constantly amazed by the gadgetry of high technology. And as much as I know that in the end, it’s all about what ends up in the frame, regardless if it is in 720p or 1080i, the process leading up to the actual shoot has become so much more convenient that I can actually concentrate on what I’m going to shoot.
I am in Oregon
Posted: December 1, 2008 Filed under: Kano | Tags: happy thoughts, Kano, oregon Leave a comment »Where I just had free thanksgiving lunch in the middle of nowhere with really amazingly friendly strangers.
Where I got lost in Wal-mart, the monster mall, completely distracted from this sinful extravaganza of choices.
Where I have eaten most of all the Reese’s varieties (which I will review in another entry). It is indeed the land of chocolates.
Where everywhere I look, as we ride down that endless highway, there’s a pine tree one after the next…it’s Christmas Tree Heaven.
Where every single day, I am amazed what brought me here.
It is only when I spend about 5 minutes every night to liquidate receipts that I am reminded this is work.
The crazy truth about non-fiction
Posted: June 9, 2008 Filed under: Arkeofilms, Kano, movies | Tags: Arkeofilms, documentaries, errol morris, films, independent movies, Kano, movies, werner herzog 1 Comment »If everything was planned, it would be dreadful. If everything was unplanned, it would be equally dreadful. Cinema exists because there are elements of both in everything…Despite all of our efforts to control something, the world is much, much more powerful than us, and more deranged even than us.
-Errol Morris in conversation with Werner Herzog
It’s what I always remind myself when I want to make the work more exciting: Just let it all hang. The world’s already crazy as it is. We are all crazy as it is.
Haaay…life.
It never ends
Posted: January 29, 2008 Filed under: Arkeofilms, Kano | Tags: Arkeofilms, Kano Leave a comment »Jay Abello, my Kano cinematographer (who by the way, iz da bomb), asked me the usual: “what are you doing now?” Standard answer standard answer from me, but what struck me was his observation. “Grabe! It never ends. When we’re dreaming of this movie we want to make we can’t wait to get it done. And then when we’re doing it, we can’t wait to can it. And then when it’s canned, you can’t wait to do the next one.
Yup. The world is cruel.
I am now in: I can’t wait to see a freaking first cut.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
p.s. I am so happy for my brrrrrrrilliant friend abi for her promotion. Although I am a little sad that she might be busy to write movies because career beckons, but well, that’s just me being selfish.
