Baby A shoot day 9. Accidents

(While waiting for my editor to come back from Cannes, I’ll be posting entries about how it was like to shoot Baby Angelo)

Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6 / Day 7 / Day 8

Call sheet: “Bong and Lisa 1″
23 April / No. of sequences: 7/ No. of actors: 2 / Call-time: 7 am / Estimated pack-up: 2 am / Actual pack-up: 4:00 am

photos c/o Sam Kioumarsy and Shobe Uy

Well the long days are finally taking its toll, a few of the staff are sick, especially Alma; as a result we had to cut down on sequences. Still we plod on.

A polecat lands on Cristina’s head. It was a cause of mild panic. Thankfully she’s okay. Above is her MRI. Looks clear to me. Though the doctor (in perfect doctorly wisdom) told her that symptoms may take until ten years to show up.

Again, I’ve had it with these motherf*ckin cramped, hot sets. Thank God it wasn’t raining, I keep saying I’d take heat over rain ruining our shoot any day. Pero sometimes it’s intolerable. And the smell. Burning lights, sweaty people.

The Fun Couple of the Year.

Today we’re doing another of our stories, this time our lead pair, Bong (Jojit Lorenzo) and Lisa (Katherine Luna). We only have the two of them for today, which makes for a very intense shoot. It reminded me a lot of my first short, Mansyon, how their scenes went: a lot of things unsaid, words that hang in the air like dust.

Packed up not quite finished today, had to throw (“tapon”) scenes for the next shooting day.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo.

Katherine Luna as Lisa

Katherine’s breakout performance in Mario O’Hara’s Babae sa Breakwater won her critical acclaim, and I’m grateful she took this role. Lisa’s a festering woman full of blame and regret, and Katherine gave her that humanity that escapes many film contrabidas. Katherine is just so damn present. I’m not sure she’s even completely aware of how strong she is. She is also a goofball, nice to have along on-set.

Cris Gabuya as Gaffer, and the rest of the Boys.

I think the Boys are the real heroes of any production. Cheers guys.

The above collage is proof of why I should never be a layout artist.

Baby A shoot day 8. Brothers

(While waiting for my editor to come back from Cannes, I’ll be posting entries about how it was like to shoot Baby Angelo)

Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6 / Day 7

Call sheet: “MD and Raven″
21 April / No. of sequences: 8/ No. of actors: 5 / Call-time: 11 am / Estimated pack-up: 3 am / Actual pack-up: 4:00 am

photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy and Shobe Uy

Going into another back-to-back shooting day, and this time dealing with another sub-story: brothers MD and Raven.

Coming from a late pack-up the night before, everyone’s again, pretty tired. And the size of the location is really getting to me. Apartments are cramped, hallways are cramped, we’re practically spilling out onto the ground below. Lights and equipment won’t fit, necessitating scaffolding that’s just f*cking painful on my wallet. Sometimes I have to fight the urge to kick the walls just to get them out of the way.

So today, we’re mostly dealing with brothers MD and Raven. One of the scenes is set outside of the main location, and today we also shoot the scene were finally Ike speaks.

Pearl and Cedrick. Get a room already!

Camwhoring via Archie, Sig and Pearl.

Today was also Ces’ last day. It was also Alcris’ last day, which was even sadder cause we didn’t even feel his presence enough. Strange feeling to have the actors having their last days with us. It feels like we still have an eternity to go. Hayy.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

Archie Alemania as MD
A hundred guys would normally fit in the role of MD, a likeable, good- looking tough guy but seeing Archie do it, I believe now that he’s the only guy who’ll do the character justice. I only know Archie from his TV show but Monster saw him in Ato Bautista’s Pagkamulat and was convinced Archie will be the perfect MD. She was right. The guy is a surprise. He brings something to the role that no one has ever seen before. And, he’s a great guy to hang around with. Such a pro too.

Alcris Galura as Raven

Alcris is one of those indie stars. He won best actor in Batad and was in Endo, one of my favorite independent movies ever. Unlike the other indie “stars” though, the guy is a chameleon. He disappears into the role. For Baby Angelo he had to play a doting gay brother, and he just threw himself into the role, not dropping character even during breaks. I love this guy. Plus, gaan pa kasama sa set. You need that when it’s 4 am.

The Art Department
(top to bottom) Cristina Honrado (PD), Shobe Uy (art director), and the boys: Addy, Kiko and Edwin.
Cristina is also an interior designer. She won Gold for her work in the Quentin Tarantino Cinemanila ad. Shobe works part-time for direk Laurice. Cristina and Shobe are also gorgeous– look at them. I love this entire department. Kakaawa nga cause they’re the most tired. They’ve come to call themselves the “art death”. First one in to set-up, last ones out to egress. They camped out at the location for almost an entire month. I owe these guys big time. Cheers guys.

Baby A shoot day 7. After the break.

(While my producer Monster is holding me on a project embargo until I finish the film, I’ll be posting entries about how it was like to shoot Baby Angelo)

Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6

Call sheet: “Mr. Chiu″
20 April / No. of sequences: 12/ No. of actors: 3 / Call-time: 9 am / Estimated pack-up: 2 am / Actual pack-up: 3:00 am

photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy

Had two days break. Much, much needed. If only to regularize sleeping habits. During the break, reviewed some of the scenes. Pleased, generally.

Today we start one of the other stories: Mr. Chiu, the rickety, grumpy old Chinese man who lives in GH. Playing Mr. Chiu is Dante Balois, a veteran stage actor, whose presence on screen is undeniable. And, the guy’s pretty funny.

Mr. Chiu day is pretty intimate, with only three actors. I liked shooting it.

Cristina (PD) and the labada. The wash hanging off the hallways was a nice touch that was unique to this apartment out of all the apartments that we scouted. Every new scene required us to replace all the wash every so often, and with a limited costume budget that wasn’t a lot.

A real (less grumpy) Mr Chiu lives in our location.

I love actors, I love talking to them, I love their process. With my past shorts and with Baby A, I’ve learned how to speak to different kinds of actors. You have the actors who you need to sit down with and talk. You tell them who the character is in your head, they tell you who they have in mind, you reach an agreement. They ask you questions, you hope you can give a passable answer. This is the part I enjoy, building the characters with them. For them to give any truth to their performance they have to feel their characters are true to them. There are those who only do what’s required—which isn’t a bad thing—and you only need to tell them how angry, how sad, how happy. Laugh here. Smile there. There are actors who need validation, fine, I could understand that. There are actors that you need to work on. Then of course there are the moron actors who you want to hurl an HMI at. Thankfully none of those types are in this film.

The major hurdle I have with actors is the language barrier; that is, my inability to talk clearly. I mumble and eat my words. Whenever I give direction I would hear the staff and actors whisper, ano daw? Bombi Plata, my AD before told me that sometimes he just relies on context clues when I start mumbling. I also have a nasty habit: when excited, I start off five different sentences at the same time. Most of them thankfully seem to understand me whenever I do that.

Sample:
Me: Jojit, ganto, parang lagyan mo ng, tapos diba hindi naman talaga ito pinag-uusapan niyo, pero (arms flailing), heartbroken ka diba, tapos sa next scene—kuha mo?
Jojit: Oo, oo gets ko.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

Dante Balois as Mr. Chiu
Dante is a PETA veteran and has been acting since I was born. He was supposed to be cast as Melody’s father in Big Time except that he didn’t know how to drive. Good for us anyway, because as Mr. Chiu, he brings a gravity, sensitivity that blows me away.

Monster Jimenez as Producer
What the hell will I do without Monster?!?

Paolo Sanz and Arnel Mercado as Utility Boys
Arnel has been with us at Arkeo since the very beginning. He’s a driver slash utility slash messenger. Paolo was brought in by Sig, not only is he a utility guy but he’s also a talent. And, an activist. People tend to underestimate the utility guys but let me tell you, when you’re dehydrated in the middle of the day or falling asleep in the middle of the night, you will love them.

Baby A shoot day 6. I Hate Baklas

(While my producer Monster is holding me on a project embargo until I finish the film, I’ll be posting entries about how it was like to shoot Baby Angelo)

Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5

Call sheet: “de Guzman day 2″
17 April / No. of sequences: 10 / No. of actors: thousands / Call-time: 9 am / Estimated pack-up: 2 am / Actual pack-up: 4:00 am

photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy and Shobe Uy

I hate baklas. Not the sexual orientation. Baklas is when you have to move locations on the same shooting day. Today there were two baklas: from from the de Guzman house to the dumpster set to the apartment. Though the sets weren’t more than twenty feet away from each other, each baklas took 1-2 hours. This tires the Boys who had to lug the equipment around, and for the staff and cast, it meant staring into space. Or catching a nap. Or messing around. Likely, the latter.

Hence the exhaustion. Fatigue was beginning to set in for the team at this point, especially for the art department and the Boys. Our hours were way too long and most of us were starting to lose energy. “Late calltime” has come to mean 9 am instead of 8 am. “Early pack-up” is now 3 am instead of 12 midnight. Thank God a two-day break is coming soon.

Chilling during baklas. (L-R) Arnel (utility), Sadako, Satomi (intern), Addy (art dept), Popo (PM), Cristina (PD).

Wasn’t able to attend this morning’s shoot because of Tito Gozen’s cremation. Today’s highlight was a performance from Ces that blew my socks off. Also did a hellish sequence that took 5 hours… an eternity in indie production

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

Mark Gil as Mr. Noel

Mark aka Ralph gave the best Pinoy performance I’ve seen in my life, as Sid Lucero in Batch ’81. Said movie is also my all-time favorite Pinoy movie. And so I gushed to him, wala nang hiya. Having Ralph in the film is a thrill, especially since the only reason he agreed is because he believes in independent cinema. He’s a great guy, fun to talk to, and gives so much weight to the screen. It’s also his last day today, which was strange; it feels like we just started.

Sam Kioumarsy as Still Photographer

Sam is the guy who took all these great photographs I’ve been posting, so let’s give him credit. He did stills for the GK movie I did last year. He’s quite talented, I’m surprised he hasn’t been getting more work. So to all you readers, HIRE HIM. Sam is a humble kid with a quick eye. Unfortunately he kept getting kicked out of the cramped sets.

Eric Malaya as Location Manager

Here as Mang Badong, a minor recurring character that had to get cut midway into production because of the absence of a real facade for Genevieve Homes. Eric works at Unitel and worked for us for a ridiculously low price without even knowing who the hell we are. He found us many great locations but unfortunately we were only able to afford the ones we used. He’s a miracle worker.

Baby A shoot day 5. The Perils of P2

(While my producer Monster is holding me on a project embargo until I finish the film, I’ll be posting entries about how it was like to shoot Baby Angelo)

Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4

Call sheet: “de Guzman day 1″
15 April / No. of sequences: 7 / No. of actors: thousands / Call-time: 7am / Estimated pack-up: 10 pm / Actual pack-up: 4:30 am

photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy

Finally, we’re getting into the stories. Baby Angelo is several small stories woven into each other, and today we’re beginning one of the chapters: the De Guzman family.

the De Guzmans. Mrs. Nora (Ces Quesada), Ike (Cedrick Lamberte) and Mr. Noel (Mark Gil).

The de Guzman set was across the street from our main location, a house which sits on a GODDAMNED MAJOR ROAD. If thundering jeeps with bomb-the-bass sounds weren’t ruining our takes, it was the videoke down the street. I fantasize about having demolitions experts wire the road and bomb jeepneys out of existence.

The house was also very cramped and very, very hot. This was to be a pattern for the rest of our interiors.

The De Guzman scenes have the biggest scenes in the film, above. It’s difficult for me to do big scenes with the limited time we have. You just let the scene play out, find a way to cover it justly, and cross your fingers. Hours later than you expect to finish, unfortunately.

Me and Katherine Luna (“Lisa”). Katherine is from another world. She has complete control over her face and when she acts, she is very present. More on her later.

Minor panic happened tonight. We used Panasonic P2 cameras for the film and it was strange for me not to have actual tapes or rolls in your hand when you’re done. It’s just data. Data that we backed up twice in costly hard drives. To make sure we don’t accidentally delete a day’s work, we had worked out a system of check and balance, which really just consists of people yelling at each other if the card can be deleted or not. Midnight, just as we were about to roll the next scene, we lost track of where an entire bin of footage was. Ten minutes ticked by as we looked for the footage that took us a whole day to shoot. Right before I was about to burn the house down, we found it.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo.

Pearl Tañada as Second Assistant Director.

2nd AD and continuity supervisor, slash casting coordinator, slash head production assistant for during pre-production. And also, vocal coach and music supervisor for the 1F Girls. That’s a lot of job titles for your first film. Pearl is quite the find, let me tell you. Also she has a lovely voice (she’s a coloratura soprano!) and the day after Tito Gozen died I would ask her to sing Ikaw for me during breaks. There’s something about a beautiful voice singing a perfect song in the middle of a quiet night that takes your breath away.

Mailes Kanapi as Pearl the White Satin Lady

Mailes is a hugely talented theater actor who plays Pearl the White Satin Lady (it’s actually written out like that in the script), a minor recurring character. She has great presence. Also, she gives you something new each take. She’s also my kind of actress– big talent with just the right blend of loony to give it that extra kick.

Baby Angelo day 151. Rough cut

Bleagh.

Baby A shoot day 4. Not there

Call sheet: “Police Station and Hallways”
13 April / No. of sequences: 10 / No. of actors: 8 / Call-time: 1pm / Estimated pack-up: 2 am / Actual pack-up: 4:30 am

Me getting the call from Tracy

Sad day today. Tracy’s dad, Tito Gozen, died today of complications from surgery. Got the call as we were setting up the first sequence and promptly left after leaving specific instructions for the rest of the day. I left Sig (AD) and Monster (producer) to direct. Thankfully Sig is a director herself, and Monster had an accurate enough grasp of the film’s sensibility to guide the shoot. For the rest of the day, I mourned.

The complicated set-up for seq. 22A: crushed Coke cans and cigarette butts on a stairwell.

Though accommodating, the location was just way too cramped for us. Case in point.

Trying to figure out the next sequence.

Addy (art dept) strangles Popo for yet another later-than-predicted pack-up time.

The next day I heard that, while shooting a key brownout scene, they knocked on doors at 3 am and the staff and crew were yelling from across the halls. At 3 am. I love the people at this location.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo.

Sigrid Bernardo as Assistant Director, in a Kerygma pose.
Scheduling’s a bitch, just ask Sig. Especially with the far-flung location and eight major characters, with just 13 days to shoot. But Sig is a master. She is also a director and an actor, which makes it perfect. Out of anyone I felt that Sig was my
partner, the only other person awake at the end of the shoot, madly pressing the production forward. She provides energy, entertainment to the production, and is maddeningly OC, just the way I like it. Thanks Sig.

Ces Quesada as Mrs. Nora
I love her. Intelligent, talented, funny as hell. Baby Angelo is only her third indie, after Pepot Artista and Ploning (though big-budgeted); so the team and I were very grateful that she took the role. I couldn’t help but feel intimidated by veteran actors, but during our lunch prior to the shoot (with Ralph) she showed such sensitivity to the character that I felt immediately at ease. During the shoot she was such a trooper, despite the horrible hours we put her through she didn’t complain even a peep. It was tough, but her performance I thought was spot-on. What a class act.

Baby A shoot day 3. Feeling the Heat

(While my producer Monster is holding me on a project embargo until I finish the film, I’ll be posting entries about how it was like to shoot Baby Angelo)

Call sheet: “Garden day”
12 April / No. of sequences: 11 / No. of actors: 13 / Call-time: 5:30 am / Estimated pack-up: 12mn / Actual pack-up: 12 mn

Our first “big” day, with seven of our major characters appearing. Today we’re doing most of the garden scenes.

The summer heat has become unbearable, frankly. Like a tightwad producer the sun beats down on us constantly. The place is also very dusty. Wet Ones for the ladies and extra shirts for the guys have become a necessity.

Meanwhile the Powers That Be at Cinemalaya are hounding us for the requirements. Footage for their “comments” daw, and please give it early so we can incorporate changes. Pffsh. As much as I respect every individual on the committee, as a matter of fact I owe them a lot, my reaction to “incorporate changes” is “bite me”.

First appearance of the 1-F Girls. They’re the girls in the corner unit that no one seems to understand. They’re my favorite characters in the movie.
(L-R) Rapunzel Hernandez (“Laica”), KC Hollman (“Lanie”), Lara Tarranco (“Gemma”), Diana Malahay (“Apple”), Bebs Hollman (“Everlyn”)

The garden set-up. I love the wash hanging from the halls.

Mark Gil/Ralph’s first day. He plays Noel, Mrs. Nora’s husband. He’s a great guy. Reminds me so much of the other Eigenmenn with whom I’m good friends with. More Eigenmenn appear later on in the film.

Katherine Luna’s (“Lisa”) first day. In the script she’s supposed to be frumpy and sallow. Oops.

Lupa, Dante Balois’ (“Mr. Chiu”) faithful companion, clearly not in the mood for a photo.

Shobe (art director) aping Bude (“Raffy”), whose only role is to be asleep.

AHHH! Walang continuity yung ilaw!!! (L-R) Me, Sig, Jojit and Pearl (continuity)

The garden at night. Pack-up time: 12 mn. It’s a miracle!

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

Alma dela Peña as Director of Photography
Alma is precise, meticulous, and damn talented. We’ve come along way from that first project we did five years ago, an AVP for Microsoft, with a staff and crew of eight. I think that we’ve grown together, naks. Any director is lucky to have a DOP that fits and I’d like to think that Alma and I are a love match. Alma also did my shorts: Mansyon, the GK movie, and Ang Ibang Mga Pamilya; as well as countless other corporate projects. What I love about her work is that each shot is luscious and evocative. The actors only have to move to make the shot work.

Coco Tiongson as Lalaine
Lalaine is one of the recurring minor characters in the movie, glued to her phone and perenially sad. Coco is a friend of Margie’s, one of my partners, and is a dermatologist. Yep. During the shoot she even gave Popo an injection to reduce the huge keloidic scar on his chest (which Jake the art director calls Popo’s built-in lapel mic).

Baby A shoot day 2. Walang magpapanic! Walang magpapanic!

(While my producer Monster is holding me on a project embargo until I finish the film, I’ll be posting entries about how it was like to shoot Baby Angelo)

Anong chismis? Anong chismis?

Call sheet: “Brownout day”
10 April / No. of sequences: 5, and one big one / No. of actors: 16 / Call-time: 6:30 am / Estimated pack-up: 2 am / Actual pack-up: 2 am

More filler scenes today, as Sig wisely scheduled the heavier scenes later in the shooting period to give us time to warm up. So far so good; only one scene was planned for tonight, the big brownout scene.

Today was Ces Quesada’s first day. She plays Mrs. Nora (don’t forget the Mrs!) the uptight association president of the apartment complex. What an actress.

The big scene for the day was the brownout, where more than a dozen characters were milling about. We set it up at 6pm, began grinding at 8pm, and ended at 2 am. This required Raffy the security guard (played by Bude, our office messenger, who surprsingly had good screen presence) to say his line “walang magpapanic! Walang magpapanic!” over and over for six hours, embedding it into our brains, like LSS that won’t quit. It became the staff catchphrase every time we ran into crunchtime.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

My love for my staff, crew and actors is large and thorough. I’ll be talking about them throughout these entries. Today I will profess my love for Popo and Jojit.

Popo Diaz as Production Manager
Popo first came to us two years ago as this quiet, wallflower researcher where he spent days downloading photos from the internet. Now he’s practically the spine of Arkeo. I love Popo. He’s smart, responsible, trustworthy (he was a long-running SK chairman!), not to mention– hilarious. I love this guy! He deserves everything good that comes his way.

Jojit Lorenzo as Bong
During scriptwriting, people had a hard time getting the character of Bong. At first he was functional; a tour guide of Genevieve Homes. Bong is a character close to my heart: a man-child who had to grow up very fast, earnest, but with a limited idea of what his life could be. And the women in his life—all that pressure they put on him. In Jojit I found the perfect Bong. He had me at hello kumbaga. He got the character right away, and with every scene we shot with Jojit I was very moved, in part because I was seeing the Bong in my mind right there in the flesh, but mostly because is just that good. Jojit is funny, charming, and a little awkward, like Bong himself.

Day 129. Back to Cinemalaya

Received a text from Vicky Isiderio today to check my mail. It’s been two weeks since the promised announcement of the finalists of the short film category in Cinemalaya, so at this point I had sort of given up. The email informed me that Ang Ibang Mga Pamilya was selected for competition. Woo hoo.

Honestly I didn’t expect any of the two films to get in, on account of the fact that I’m already competing in the full-length category. So, yehey.

Unfortunately Lakad ni Sammy wasn’t selected, and I’m a bit surprised, I thought that Lakad was more suited to Cinemalaya tastes and if they would select one, Lakad would be it.

We’re arranging a screening for both films. Watch this space and our website www.arkeofilms.com for announcements.