Poster

Poster design by Jojit Lorenzo. We really only hired him as our lead because of the free poster photography and design.

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Baby A shoot day 13. Last day!

While we’re languishing in the most rushed post-production ever, 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 / Day 9 / Day 10 / Day 11 / Day 12

Call sheet: “Bong and Apple”
1 May / No. of sequences: 6 / No. of actors: 7 / Call-time: 8 am / Estimated pack-up: 3 am / Actual pack-up: 7 am

Photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy

Last day! People’s spirits were lightening up as this day finally arrived. As usual, the day went by smoothly and lazily. Note to self: stop making movies with everything happening at night.

Can you spot the straight person?

Camwhoring was especially prevalent today, which I believe is some kind of therapy for stressed workers. Alma consequently did the whole day with goth makeup on.

The rains came in the evening, and it wasn’t the type of big storm that would leave in an hour. It was the steady, gentle type of rain that normally would be refreshing and wonderful, but I WAS PULLING MY F@CKING HAIR OUT because it was pushing back my shoot. For two. f*cking. hours. And we had four scenes to go. And these scenes happened to be the meat of my movie. POTA.

The first time…

…and the last time. Diana Malahay (“Apple”) and Jojit Lorenzo (“Bong”) strut their stuff today. That’s all I can say without spoiling the movie.

Chased the night again today and had to shoot our last two scenes covered in miles of black backing. People were dropping like flies. Pearl was too sick to move. At around 5 am it’s like I gave away free lines of coke because people started moving like they were on speed to get the shots before night. At 7 am, we wrapped principal photography of Baby Angelo. Yesssss.

Pero pucha, unbeatable feeling. I can’t wait to shoot again. Up ahead: post-production in a mindblowing two months. Lord help us.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

Diana Malahay as Apple
Diana was supposed to play Julie in my new short Ang Ibang Mga Pamilya, but she had so much impact on me I wanted to save her for a bigger film. Initially she was going to play Laica, but after her re-audition, and seeing her in Skin Deep, I had to cast her as Apple. Diana’s a smart, thinking actress. This is her fifth onscreen puta, and I told her to play the role a specific, different way. With very little effort, she nailed it.

Mitch Literal and Mercy Chiu as Makeup Artists

Our makeup artists were sponsored by CAS, a makeup school, who backed out after our last day. Odd. So now we’re crediting the more than a dozen makeup artists who helped out during our shoot. Multiple staff also includes 3 assistant cameramen, daily additions to the art dept, and more than a dozen interns. Of all the makeup artists these two are my favorites. Mitch especially was very attentive and alert, and she quickly became part of the gang. Some of the makeup artists they sent were clunkers, choosing to kiss ass to the artistas (if I was a wannabe makeup artist I’d kiss ass to the producer!) and vanishing on whims. But the rest, especially these two, have my gratitude. I’ll be hiring them over and over and over (with actual pay this time!)

Baby A day 12. Independent Day

While we’re languishing in the most rushed post-production ever, 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 / Day 9 / Day 10 / Day 11

Call sheet: “Independent Locations”
29 April / No. of sequences: 6 / No. of actors: 4 and extras / Call-time: 8 am / Estimated pack-up: 12 am / Actual pack-up: 9 am

Photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy

Isang araw na lang!! Everyone seems to be in higher spirits. Today’s an easy shoot, it’s all the scenes that don’t occur in the complex. All SIX of them. Four locations. One is in a mall, and it’s a relief to finally have an airconditioned location. Monster calls this day the Most Likely To End Up on the Cutting Room Floor Day.

It’s also Kat Luna’s last day, which is sad. Masaya kasama sa set. Her last scene was a bit unceremonious though as it was in a cab. Only Alma can fit inside, and when she was done, she took the cab all the way home. It was also Archie’s last day today, and all he had to do was walk.

Several visitors today: my barkada showed up for the last sequence (with Archie) and became extras. Gigi even got a speaking role. Everyone did a bang-up (though slightly hammy) job. Thanks guys! My nephew Paolo (at 17, he’s as tall as me) also makes a cameo appearance as a bored student.

Abi and I tuckerized a lot of our friends in this film. “Raven” is almost wholly based on our good friend and teammate Raven Morato. “MD” is one of Abi’s bosses and possesses the same likeability factor. “Noel” is a good buddy from disc, and I promised I won’t say here why the character is named after him. “Pearl the White Satin Lady” comes from Pearl the Continuity Lady. Incidentally White Satin also appears in my first short film, Mansyon. “Ike” is after one of our favorite DOP’s Ike Avellana. “Apple” was supposed to be named Nina after one of Abi’s ex-officemates, but I thought Nina sounds too slutty. The name, not the person. “Mrs. Khemlani” is named after my hot Indian friend Neenu.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

Cedrick Lamberte as Ike

I love this kid. I saw him in Pepot Artista and though Elijah did a good job, I thought Cedrick was the best one in the lot. Since then I’ve been trying to get him into the things I do. He has an unconventional look to him, and his performances are unforced, and entirely believable. I wish this kid well. In the film though he only gets a few lines, but he hovers throughout like a ghost.

Tracy Sarte as Co-Producer

Again… what would I do without her???? Pictured here with me and my nephew.

Edwin Velasco and co. as Caterer

Edwin is at the far left, accompanied by his boy Friday and our utility boys. Nothing lifts the spirits up like good food. The food is fantastic for its price. With dessert! Hire this guy!

Baby A shoot day 11. The Singing Ladies

While we’re languishing in the most rushed post-production ever, 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 / Day 9 / Day 10

Call sheet: “1-F Girls”
27 April / No. of sequences: 10 / No. of actors: 12 / Call-time: 9 am / Estimated pack-up: 3 am / Actual pack-up: 6 am

Photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy

Alma is really sick today and we spent the afternoon looking for people who’d pitch in, thankfully Ike Avellana (Big Time) said yes, along with Mario Cornejo as AD. Also today the rains began to start, one month before they’re supposed to. Al Gore is right. The rains ruined my day, causing us to be hours late, and as usual we had to chase the daylight.

The fun part of the day is shooting the 1F Girls. I love them. I have an image of them as untouchable, ethereal women. Tracy’s cousin Vanessa Liwanag is a movement/dance instructor and I had the Girls do an afternoon workshop with them. I want them to move like they were one being, finishing each other’s sentences, their forms constantly shifting, if you pull one of them off they’d spill like water on the ground. Unfortunately thanks to the rain they had to wait almost 15 hours for their turn.

I also squeezed in the shoot today my lucky prop- a red perfume bottle (above), which also starred in Mansyon, Big Time, and my new short Ang Ibang Mga Pamilya. See if you can spot it in the movie.

Also shot my favorite scene in the film. And I’m saying this right now, in case someone calls me out on it. It’s an homage (read: rip-off) to one of my favorite scenes in My So-Called Life. MSCL is a TV show from the nineties, definitely one of the best television shows to air ever. I’m hoping to capture some of that romance from that shot into this scene.

Jojit being interviewed by our ever-present behind-the-scenes crew. Thanks to BE Media for doing the BTS video.

Alma and Sig left at 3 or so, Ike and Mario took over. Once again, we ran out of night. Rap, one of the girls, had a flight at 9 am. Ike had to get home by 7 am because his car was banned. The last four sequences were shot in rapid succession and with my heart almost bursting out of my chest.

Today a few visitors came in to help out, who work for another Cinemalaya film. I knew one of them and approached to say hi. I was a little bothered by what they said, I asked O why are you here? And they said, tinitingnan lang yung kalaban. I blinked and completely didn’t get it until it was explained to me. Obviously they were just kidding, and I wasn’t offended at all, but it does lead me to this rant:

Cinemalaya has mutated into something else. I remember in the first year of Cinemalaya, it was all new and no one really knew what they were doing. We had no choice but to band together. We helped each other out. There was a lot of communication between the filmmakers (and this included the shorts). It was because of us sticking together that we were able to have the MOA be more fair to us. We lent and borrowed equipment, visited each other’s shoots, became extras. It was tougher then; “indie” wasn’t the tired cliche that it is now. It was exciting. Come festival time there was a real sense of community. The success of one (the monster hit Maximo Oliveros was from that batch) was the success of all.

Things are different now. I don’t even know the other guys. That can be my fault of course, but Cinemalaya now feels too much like a competition. What for? For 200,000 bucks? Ridiculous. I hope it’s not true but I heard that one of the Cinemalaya TPTBs told a finalist that this should be treated like a competition, we’re not even supposed to speak to each other. That’s foolish. Together we can protect movies like Angela: the Bading Assassin, Antiparang Basag, Anino sa Apuhap, and vault the highly underrated ones like In Da Red Korner to the public eye.

It’s because of many things: Cinemalaya TPTB’s being insanely hawk-like in their monitoring, actors and other talents charging more than they ever did for a small production, filmmakers becoming more savvy with PR, gunning for awards (awards are good for your film, for sure; but really, at the end of the day it’s the opinion of five people). So many things can happen to your movie outside of Cinemalaya. Maybe if we keep that in mind then we probably won’t feel like we have to one-up each other. Or tell each other jokingly that the other guy is the enemy.

End rant.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

The 1-F Girls

(Clockwise from bottom left): KC Hollman, Bebs Hollman, Lara Tarranco, Rapunzel Hernandez
Ah, my pretty ladies. All talented and very professional. And I have twins, how cool is that! I really worked on all the girls, hiring a movement instructor and teaching them four songs (and more to go during post). KC and Bebs are soon-to-be stars, Lara is a drama teacher which I highly respect, and Rap is a flight attendant whose heart is in acting.

The OJT Girls (and one guy)
De La Salle Cavite sent us around 12 OJTs over the summer and we worked them all to the bone for this movie. They finished their 200 hours in just five shooting days. It was great having them around, and I dunno if working on Baby Angelo traumatized them or inspired them. To all students reading this: At Arkeo you’d be thrown in the deep end in production, should you choose to OJT with us. If you like that, join us.

Denise Gonzales as Mrs. Khemlani
I have a huge crush on her. Look at her.

Baby A shoot day 10. The Lonely Road

(While we’re languishing in the most rushed post-production ever, 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 / Day 9

Call sheet: “Neighbors/Bong and Lisa day 2”
25 April / No. of sequences: 8, and one really long one / No. of actors: 9 / Call-time: 9 am / Estimated pack-up: 2 am / Actual pack-up: 4 am

photos courtesy of Sam Kioumarsy

We’re doing the neighbors in the morning and the rest of the Bong and Lisa stuff at night, including the dreaded five-page scene that we put off the other day.

Some of the neighbors who dropped by today. Including Ryan and Geoff, both good friends whose star quality I never fail to abuse. Both were also my teammates in frisbee. Upon coming to the set in faraway Caloocan, Ryan’s first words were “why are we here?”

And this his how Dodjie gets all the girls.

Our rooftop veranda. Overlooking the stunted rooftops of Caloocan.

The rest of the afternoon and well into the night we did Bong and Lisa again, and all those emotions boiling inside the tiny, tiny room was starting to stifle. Still, it’s exciting to watch these two go at it. Progressing from silence and subtext to cruel, cruel words.

Mario once warned me that directing is a lonely road. Sad but true. At the end of a very long day, after many such days, you’re on your own. The AD wants to get all the scenes done in the shortest time possible, the DOP only cares about the lighting, everyone wants to just go home. At 3 am, you’re the only one who cares about the movie. I felt that most today, at four in the morning, in the middle of a very difficult scene, with everyone deathly quiet in between takes. When your strength starts petering out, you gotta get it from your toes, your balls, somewhere. For a non-confrontational guy like me, it’s difficult to enforce what I want when I know the reason everyone is here is out of goodwill. A tough hide and a certain selfishness are definitely required.

Today I said, this is no fucking way to make a movie. No budget, dead hours? Nope. But how’s that, when the feeling of creation gives you an indescribable rush? And the people who have money won’t likely give it out to independent filmmakers (unless it’s gay soft porn)? I’m hoping things will turn around sharply, soon.

Who’s Who in Baby Angelo

Dodjie Mendoza and Francis as Sound Recordist and Boom.
Tough being in the sound department as you’re always the last one to be ready, and though everyone knows how important sound is, you can’t help but get ticked off if the take is good were it not for the TV blaring in the third floor / thundering tricycle / wailing child / snoring crewman; and it’s Dodjie’s job to break the news to us. And you know what people do to the messenger.

Abi Aquino as co-writer
Unfortunately, I’ve no production photo of her. I’ve always told her that I’m her number one fan. A writer but also an actor at heart, I’ve known her half my life. She’s precise, smart, and also whip-funny. She can also play some mean disc. She has a blog of her own but I can’t link to it because she’ll get fired.