what i've been up to - in the realm of film
it's a little too late to backtrack to what i've been up to since i stopped writing in my online journal (last december?), so i'll just start with today, which isn't a bad place to start, right?
i'm on leave today but i'm at the office (that's me, internet junkie). just came from a whole-day medical mission at the church. that was good. my first time to join an activity like that. i was assigned to the reception table. even though there were kids screaming while their teeth were being extracted, and i saw all sorts of cysts on different parts of the body, i was glad that at least i was there to help ease these people's suffering. i mean, usually i just see these people on the streets and i feel helpless and do nothing about it. so at least i'm doing something.
last night i stayed up till midnight editing my first "short film". it was actually footage of my officemate who didn't know she was being recorded. it amused me how she carried on this whole converstaion (with me, but i just smiled back at her the whole time to keep from ruining the sound) with a complete theme. everything just fit. so i tried my hand at editing last night.
this progression comes from a week-long filmmaking workshop that started last thursday and ended last tuesday. it was part of the .MOV International Digital Film Festival here in Cebu, and i happened to get in for free for serendipitous reasons. two days before the strat of the festival, i was walking towards the office to return the guitar, and i bumped into a friend who didn't even have my number. he was on his way to a meeting with the otganizers of the festival and asked if i wanted to volunteer so i could watch the films for free. i was set to go on field and to bukidnon that week so couldn't see the films, but joined, anyway, just to see what was there. in exchange for a newspaper article, i had free access to everything in the festival.
but i was supposed to go to bukidnon for kaamulan saturday and sunday. didn't want to cancel it since i'd vowed a year ago that i'd be going there this year. i was on the boat, waiting for it to depart (i was about to get left behind, having come from the opening of Babayeng Buhat in ayala, but it turned out the boat had mechanical problems so the trip was delayed). but after about 3 or 4 phone calls with different people, i decided to get down from the boat. that was almost midnight; the trip to malaybalay would have taken 14 hours in all, and the streetdancing/ performances would end by noon. so i decided i'll just try again next year and got to attend all the days of the workshop.
i took my first-ever footage on saturday (i have to confess, i used to be afraid of the video cam and i was never that interested to try to understand it). thankfully, a co-WILA member also joined the workshop later on, and she had a camera, so she let me do the shooting. i took the workshop as a gift from God, because just the week before i was telling myself that i should enroll in the next film workshop that would come my way, no matter what the cost. and i got one for free!
this whole interest in filmmaking, by the way, only grew out of the last film festival i attended, Sine ug Katilingban. i took a day off from work just to watch Maryo J. de los Reyes' MAgnifico and Ditsi Carolino's Riles, plus some short films. in the theater, i bumped into my editor, who asked if i could interview ditsi carolino, whose Minsan Lang Sila Bata i really admire. so i said yes. and that was probably the first interview i really looked forward to, where the questions flowed so naturally
i decided after that that i wanted her life (talking to communities on the field and travelling to different countries for film festivals. she also started with photography working for an NGO in davao, although she's cebuano), and that i really want to do documentaries. that, after all, is also a natural offshhot of my desire to write/shoot/research for national geographic.
that was in feb. and now i've just finished a film workshop, which was something like an intro to digital video--what effects the camera can do, etc. nothing too technical. basically just to make the point that your creativity is the limit in making digital films. i think i still need to attend a documentary filmmaking workshop. and then eventually buy my own DV cam. right now i'm using the office camera hehe. at least i get to be familiar with how the equipment works. art is everywhere, after all, but skill and familiarity with the medium have to be developed with practice.
suddenly this whole new way of seeing and communicating has been opened up to me. i used to resist filmmaking, i guess, in the same way that i'm still resisting writing fiction (vs. poetry). i have these creative snippets, but i'm afraid i'll get to the end and realize i don't really have a story to tell. but with documentary filmmaking, it's really just being there to capture the story as it unfolds. that's also my approach to poetry and essay now, anyway, although of course, a lot of creative will is needed in revising, and even more so in video editing.
so i haven't even mastered photoshop or HMTL (and CSS) yet, and already i've shifted to video editing software =P oh well. i hope i'll find the time and inclination to return to each one later on in my life.
so that's it for today. getting hungry. i'll end here now.
i'm on leave today but i'm at the office (that's me, internet junkie). just came from a whole-day medical mission at the church. that was good. my first time to join an activity like that. i was assigned to the reception table. even though there were kids screaming while their teeth were being extracted, and i saw all sorts of cysts on different parts of the body, i was glad that at least i was there to help ease these people's suffering. i mean, usually i just see these people on the streets and i feel helpless and do nothing about it. so at least i'm doing something.
last night i stayed up till midnight editing my first "short film". it was actually footage of my officemate who didn't know she was being recorded. it amused me how she carried on this whole converstaion (with me, but i just smiled back at her the whole time to keep from ruining the sound) with a complete theme. everything just fit. so i tried my hand at editing last night.
this progression comes from a week-long filmmaking workshop that started last thursday and ended last tuesday. it was part of the .MOV International Digital Film Festival here in Cebu, and i happened to get in for free for serendipitous reasons. two days before the strat of the festival, i was walking towards the office to return the guitar, and i bumped into a friend who didn't even have my number. he was on his way to a meeting with the otganizers of the festival and asked if i wanted to volunteer so i could watch the films for free. i was set to go on field and to bukidnon that week so couldn't see the films, but joined, anyway, just to see what was there. in exchange for a newspaper article, i had free access to everything in the festival.
but i was supposed to go to bukidnon for kaamulan saturday and sunday. didn't want to cancel it since i'd vowed a year ago that i'd be going there this year. i was on the boat, waiting for it to depart (i was about to get left behind, having come from the opening of Babayeng Buhat in ayala, but it turned out the boat had mechanical problems so the trip was delayed). but after about 3 or 4 phone calls with different people, i decided to get down from the boat. that was almost midnight; the trip to malaybalay would have taken 14 hours in all, and the streetdancing/ performances would end by noon. so i decided i'll just try again next year and got to attend all the days of the workshop.
i took my first-ever footage on saturday (i have to confess, i used to be afraid of the video cam and i was never that interested to try to understand it). thankfully, a co-WILA member also joined the workshop later on, and she had a camera, so she let me do the shooting. i took the workshop as a gift from God, because just the week before i was telling myself that i should enroll in the next film workshop that would come my way, no matter what the cost. and i got one for free!
this whole interest in filmmaking, by the way, only grew out of the last film festival i attended, Sine ug Katilingban. i took a day off from work just to watch Maryo J. de los Reyes' MAgnifico and Ditsi Carolino's Riles, plus some short films. in the theater, i bumped into my editor, who asked if i could interview ditsi carolino, whose Minsan Lang Sila Bata i really admire. so i said yes. and that was probably the first interview i really looked forward to, where the questions flowed so naturally
i decided after that that i wanted her life (talking to communities on the field and travelling to different countries for film festivals. she also started with photography working for an NGO in davao, although she's cebuano), and that i really want to do documentaries. that, after all, is also a natural offshhot of my desire to write/shoot/research for national geographic.
that was in feb. and now i've just finished a film workshop, which was something like an intro to digital video--what effects the camera can do, etc. nothing too technical. basically just to make the point that your creativity is the limit in making digital films. i think i still need to attend a documentary filmmaking workshop. and then eventually buy my own DV cam. right now i'm using the office camera hehe. at least i get to be familiar with how the equipment works. art is everywhere, after all, but skill and familiarity with the medium have to be developed with practice.
suddenly this whole new way of seeing and communicating has been opened up to me. i used to resist filmmaking, i guess, in the same way that i'm still resisting writing fiction (vs. poetry). i have these creative snippets, but i'm afraid i'll get to the end and realize i don't really have a story to tell. but with documentary filmmaking, it's really just being there to capture the story as it unfolds. that's also my approach to poetry and essay now, anyway, although of course, a lot of creative will is needed in revising, and even more so in video editing.
so i haven't even mastered photoshop or HMTL (and CSS) yet, and already i've shifted to video editing software =P oh well. i hope i'll find the time and inclination to return to each one later on in my life.
so that's it for today. getting hungry. i'll end here now.
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