The project was awarded over a year ago; and yesterday, the pilot finally aired on ETC. From auditions to the runway shows, it was a long road for our team; but I’m so thankful to have experienced shooting Project Runway Philippines Season 4. It was a far cry from advertising and shooting commercials; yet it was still fun in its own way. Aside from the drama and challenges posed to the designers on cam, a different kind of drama also unfolded behind the scenes… Believe me. Still, we are way past that and everyone’s just really proud and happy with what we’ve put up.
In celebration of the premiere of Project Runway Philippines Season 4, I’m sharing some behind the scenes photos from the first few days of shooting (aka shooting the pilot). Be sure to check out the captions for some interesting info about the show.
day before shoot: tech rehearsals are underway. the huge projection had to work properly so we really surprise the designers once they officially start the competition.
day before shoot: mannequins are laid out so we could frame the scenes properly.
day before shoot: director Pancho Esguerra during tech rehearsals
day 1: shooting the designers around Greensun for their intros. (with Joy Chicano)
day 1: shooting the designers around Greensun for their intros. (with Romel Tumulak)
day 1: shooting the designers around Greensun for their intros. (with Jinggay Serag)
day 1: shooting the designers around Greensun for their intros. (with Enzo Habulan)
day 1: the 15 finalists just moments before they start the competition.
day 1: mentor Jojie Lloren introduces the challenge.
day 1: mentor Jojie Lloren introduces the challenge.
day 1: clothes are off the mannequins… the competition begins…
day 1: getting ready for the designers to come in…
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: work work work
day 1: the work room beckons…
day 1: the sewing room
day 1: runway construction on its final stages
day 3: final rehearsals before the runway.
day 3: final rehearsals before the runway.
day 3: the show’s about to start!
day 3: the wonderful staff/crew of PRP4
day 3: the final 15 designers
day 3: some of the nicest people I’ve had the privilege of meeting… host (Tweetie de Leon-Gonzalez), mentor (Jojie Lloren) and judges (Rajo Laurel, Apples Aberin and guest Francis Libiran) are all smiles for the new season.
Don’t miss the all new #sewlegit season of Project Runway Philippines. New episodes air every Sunday at 8pm on ETC, with primetime replays every Monday at 7PM and every Wednesday at 10PM. Other schedules: Mondays at 12nn, Tuesdays at 7am, Tuesdays at 2pm, Thursdays at 10am, Saturdays at 1pm. No excuse missing it! Make sure to use the hashtags #prponetc #sewlegit #veryveryfashion
Please watch and support the next big names in Philippine fashion.
I’m riddled with guilt; because I haven’t posted a single entry this year… and it’s already JULY! The first six months of 2014 just whizzed by; and I’ve either been too busy or too tired to even think about writing. It’s a happy problem, though, so I’m really thankful.
Still, better late than never. Now that I’ve finally pushed myself to write an entry, I’m going to kick off my blog this 2014 with a quick roundup of some projects I’ve been busy with for the first half of the year (different clients and different directors, FYI). This way, you’ll catch a glimpse of the crazy first half of my year (and hopefully understand my long hiatus from posting).
“ARTWORK”
This was an AVP shot on location in Pinto Gallery in Antipolo. We set up and shot features for three different photographers in a single location, which was a real challenge. But we did it!
Client: Canon Philippines | Agency: Publicis JimenezBasic
Director: Mark Mendoza | DOP: Sol Galang | Assistant Director: Randolph Longjas | Production Designer: Zaldy Manalang
Production House: Straight Shooters | Post Production: Engine Room
“GAME”
This was shot in a house in Balete Drive, I kid you not. The house is pretty creepy; but the cheerful and happy nature of this board more than made up for it. The kids were great!
Client: Nestlé Philippines | Agency: Publicis Manila
Director: Pancho Esguerra | DOP: Monchie Redoble | Choreographer: Ickay Eusebio | Production Designer: Rious Caliso
Production House: Straight Shooters | Post Production: Engine Room/Optima Digital
“SELFIE”
The prep time for this board was a bit insane; but I’m glad we pulled it off. This was shot in one day in the Ortigas Center area and the beautiful campus of STI Ortigas-Cainta. Our DOP used a special handheld camera rig (called Brushless Gimbal) that allowed us to execute the smooth movement of from one angle to the other. It looks pretty good!
Client: STI
Director: Chris Martinez | DOP: Gary Gardoce | Assistant Director: Melvin Lee | Production Designer: Nina Torres
Production House: Straight Shooters | Post Production: Engine Room
“SIMPLICITY”
This was my first time working with a Taiwanese director. This spot was shot in 2 days in 2 schools: DLSU-Dasma and PUP. In a nutshell, the shoots were really quick and relatively painless… just the kind of projects I like.
Client: Johnson & Johnson Philippines | Agency: BBDO Guerrero
Director: Maureen Li | DOP: Ta-Pu Chen | Assistant Director: Pao Han Fang/Randolph Longjas | Production Designer: Adelina Leung
Production House: Straight Shooters | Post Production: Riot
“STAR”
This is the first of many materials for this project. Still waiting for the others to be approved… Anyway, all TVCs were shot in the span of a weekend (Friday to Sunday); and we had a lot of fun doing them.
Client: Unilab | Agency: Publicis JimenezBasic
Director/DOP: Yam Laranas | Assistant Director: Christine Blando/Manman Angsico | Production Designer: Rious Caliso
Production House: Straight Shooters | Post Production: Engine Room/Optima Digital
“SHOP & WIN”
This project was briefed and prepped in the span of exactly four days, two days of which included Saturday and Sunday. Insane, right? How we were able to pull it off is still a bit of a blur; but despite the challenges of prepping and shooting in a mall during mall hours, I think we did a good job.
Client: SM Supermalls/SMDC | Agency: BBDO Guerrero
Director/DOP: Jorg Schifferer | Assistant Director: James Sales | Production Designer: Marlon Baisac
Production House: Straight Shooters | Post Production: Engine Room
“SELFIE”
Yup. Another selfie-related project. This was also a commercial that had less than a week of preparation. The main challenge for us was maximizing one location to look like many different vignettes. How long was the shoot? One day. What location? Somewhere in QC. I think the team really pulled it off, don’t you think?
Client: Unilab | Agency: McCann WorldGroup
Director/DOP: Yam Laranas | Assistant Director: Melvin Lee | Production Designer: Butch Garcia
Production House: Straight Shooters | Post Production: Giantsponge Digital
It’s been a while since I shared some behind the scenes scoop on a project I was part of. Let me remedy that by covering two projects in one entry. Both were shot last February; and both were directed (and lighted) by Yam Laranas.
“Embrace” is a Biogesic for Kids TVC featuring John Lloyd Cruz. The commercial is pretty straightforward and simple; so setting the whole thing up wasn’t hard. The only challenge was keeping the little boy talent focused and alert until 8pm (which was the time we packed up). We shot this in one day in a studio set-up. Production designer: Butch Garcia. Production House: Unitel/Straight Shooters. Post House: Riot Inc..
These aren’t much; but here are some photos from the shoot.
our pretty set
Direk Yam coaches our talent
learn to fly. with AD Rallye Zapanta
“Sally” is an introductory TVC for Jollibee Ultimate Burger Steak. Compared to “Embrace,” this was a bit more challenging to mount because of its Darna nature. Darna projects are coined as such because we have to make like superheroes and finish everything as soon as possible. This project took us a little over a week from briefing to final presentation of material. That covers meetings, shooting and editing. Needless to say, I was very stressed that particular week. Still, the material turned out great and quality wasn’t sacrificed. I love the food shots in particular. Those took a lot of work and a lot of time to capture!
We had exactly 3 days to prep, with another two days to shoot the material. The first day was shot in Jollibee Lakefront (Sucat). This covered all the in-store scenes and food shots. The second day was done in two different locations (one in The Fort and the other at the Regus offices in Zuelling Building), covering the different vignettes of people ogling at the picture of the meal.
And here it is… The BIG project I’ve been talking about for the past few months. It’s finally and officially OUT. Best of all, I can now claim to be PART OF IT!
The song is entitled “Jump In.” This music video was shot over the course of four days — One day for each of the vignettes and one long day for the dancing and singing parts. We shot in picturesque locations and shot with international stars apl.de.ap and Jessica Sanchez. This huge project was a challenge to take on; and hopefully, audiences saw the “bigness” in the finish product. After all, putting it together took a lot of physical and mental energy, endless moments of stress and sleepless nights. Whew!
And don’t forget to watch “I Do Bidoo Bidoo” opening August 29 in cinemas nationwide!
Music Video Credits: “Doo Bidoo”
Words and Music by Danny Javier
Original Performance by APO Hiking Society
Performed by Ogie Alcasid
For the movie I DO BIDOO BIDOO
Produced by Studio 5 and Unitel Productions
Director: Pancho Esguerra and Greg Garcia
DOP: Anne Monzon
Production Designer: Trinka Lat
Post Production: Engine Room
Graphics: Blue Rain Multimedia
As a bonus, here are some behind the scenes photos from our shoot.
It’s always hard executing a sports-related board. You need to get in good action shots while telling a story; and to tell the story with kids? That’s even more difficult.
“Luwas” posed this challenge, among others. We had to set up the whole thing as if we were in an international event. There were local and foreign kids, cast of hundreds including foreign extras, a remote location, unpredictable weather… and birds! I will not share all the cheating we did to come up with the finish product; but a combination of different locations, post production and tons of patience, here is a commercial we are truly proud of. This board is for Nestlé Philippines brand Milo. “It’s directed by Franco Marinelli, with director of photography Odie Flores and production designer Adelina Leung. Production house: Straight Shooters Media, Inc. Post house: Engine Room and Optima Digital.
This is an advocacy we shot for Gabriela Philippines’ awareness campaign centered on E-VAW or Electronic Violence Against Women. Through music and imagery, this commercial centers on the woman and her plight following a violation of her privacy, her body and her spirit through the posting of scandal videos. It’s called “Hits.”
The director is Paul Alexei, with director of photography Odie Flores and production designer Butch Garcia. Production house: Straight Shooters Media, Inc. Post production: WeLovePost.
Join the fight against scandal videos. Visit www.ivowtofightvaw.com for more information.
Early this month, I went on an unplanned trip to Hong Kong for project “Lucky.” It was one of the rare times that we get to do post production abroad. In this case, we did it in PixelBox HK. I was part of the team who spent a couple of days there to finish the material from grading (color correction) to final online (final release material).
This is officially my first time to handle a project with foreign post component; and it was a good learning experience for me. I met new people and got to know what goes on when we are the ones who fly out to do post production in another country.
I’ve been to Hong Kong a number of years ago; but Disneyland wasn’t built yet. I still wasn’t able to go there this time because I’m in Hong Kong to work. We had to focus on the job at hand, which was to finish the commercial. Still, we had free time to do some roaming; and I mostly spent it either shopping or eating!
We spent most of our time in the Causeway Bay side of Hong Kong; because our hotel and the post production house is there. We stayed at Lanson Place Hotel, which was in Leighton Road.
It is a fairly new hotel, which has a very modern design and nice, plush amenities. It’s in a very good location; because we rarely needed to take a taxi or MTR to get to where we want to go. Most shopping malls and restaurants are within walking distance, which is really… really great.
the library near the reception desk & waiting area near conciergethe room which served as my home for almost a weeki gotta show the bathroom, right?
The room is not massive; but it is big enough. The beds are comfortable. The bathroom is nice. They have great housekeeping services, good service. There’s really fast Internet; but you have to pay extra.
As mentioned, our place of work was PixelBox HK. It’s a post production house located in One Hysan Avenue. Similar to local production houses, it has a lobby/receiving area and several suites for editing.
PixelBox Headquarters (do you see the awesome Nespresso machine?)inside the online and grading suites
Like I mentioned, our free time was spent either eating or shopping. Since we spent a couple of days there, I couldn’t possibly post every single shop and restaurant that we went to. For the purpose of sharing, here are some glimpses of the stuff I ate and the places I went to… at least the ones I got to take pictures of.
West Villa. first night in HK. first xiao long bao.El Cid. late night meal -- a pint of Hoegaarden. shrimp and paella. yummy!Peking Garden. peking duck and... other food. 🙂Din Tai Fung. more xiao long bao.Din Tai Fung. pork chop rice and drunken chicken.IKEA. i loved going around this place... though I didn't exactly buy anything.Times Square. here, i ended up buying two pairs of shows from Onitsuka Tiger. #shoeaddictLan Kwai Fong. we went around this place after a full meal at Peking Garden.
I really enjoyed my trip. It was mostly for work; but I had a bit of fun on the side… shopping, dining and roaming the streets. To top it off, the weather was chilly… a big contrast from our current hot weather in Manila.
foggy morning view from the hotel room
I hope to have more opportunities to do post work abroad in the future. This was certainly a great experience.
Life Behind The Scenes 