but i know i have to write about the windang-acious happenings of the past seven days here. cause in the future i might realize that those seven days were actually the most exciting days of my life. hmm. wag pa sana. prayin' for more exciting, happy times ahead.
on optimist mode tayo ngayon? hehe. here goes my whirlwind week...
November 12, Sunday. the horror film for r3gal was wrapped by 8am. six shooting days of living the vampire's life, done! we were working all afternoon and night and would be dead asleep all day. that day was The Last but strangely it didn't feel like the typical Last Day for me. no celebratory mood that would usually prevail over the entire staff and crew. kahit ako, na kadalasang tinatablan ng Last Day High, parang...wala lang.
that doesn't mean i didn't enjoy doing this project, though. siguro may mga project lang talaga na mas special kesa sa iba.
after wrapup i went straight home, took a catnap, hastily packed my bags for a remaining-3-day shoot outtatown for another feature film. at 1 in the afternoon i was on my way to Baguio. sadly i had to forego attending the one-night-only screening of our short film at the Cin3m@nila because the staff needed to leave manila before dark. oh well. work is work, dangit.
we arrived in baguio around 10 in the evening. the air was crisp and cold and carried the scent of night blossoms and pines. a balm for the senses. i've always loved shooting in baguio. two years ago was the first time i had a shoot there and it was one of the most fulfilling, memorable moments in my young film laborer's history.
and so i was back--lacking in sleep, somekinda exhausted, but psyched up to make this adventure equally memorable as the one i had in 2004.
November 13, Monday. we were staying in a chalet-type of house in the outskirts of the city and the view from the backyard was simply beautiful.
i was glad to see a couple of familiar faces in the team. our makeup artist from the Cebu project, and our schedule master (now a production designer!) from the Fil-Am indie project. the world is gettin a-smaller!
Day One of Three. one director, one associate director, no assistant director, and a floor production assistant that was almost always missing (duh). so i ended up juggling three jobs. lugi ako kung tutuusin but i didn't mind. i liked doing the AD's job. i liked being in charge (mwahaha!). syempre hindi ko magagawa yon kung may official AD. Day One and i was already training myself for the next step up the industry ladder.
one of the locations where we shot a bulk of scenes was a bar in the city. seeing all these young people milling about the bar, ready to go about town on their gimik night, bigla kong na-miss gumimik. it had been months!
after one steamy sex scene at the backseat of a car (hay! this one merits a separate entry), we were wrapped for the day. si associate direk, who was my immediate superior, was asking if i wanted to be his AD for his debut film. yipee! op kors direk! excited ako sa possibility pero syempre cool lang kunyari ("Ok po," in all casual bravura). nagpaka-pretensyosa para hindi naman masyadong tawaran ang beauty ko pagdating sa talent fee negotiations. hahaha!
honestly, though, i would've done these things for peanuts if there was absolutely no cash to be dispensed. pero syempre sana may cash. haha! lord, sana matuloy yung debut film ni direk! sana sana!
November 14, Tuesday. Day Two of Three. shooting in the mountains. the bloodiest of all days. having to deal with tantrums of artistas (hehe, buti na lang kebs ako sa mga drama-dramahang ganyan), the lack of two-way radios on the set (para kaming mga tarzan don na nagsisigawan from one bundok to another), the rapidly setting sun, and other production deficiencies (indie daw ito e! kaya excusable daw! haha). despite everything we managed to finish a bulk of the schedule. it was on this day, after shooting a blow-job scene on the mountainside, that i stumbled upon a major realization. but that's another story. ;-)
when we packed up at midnight, it as freezing cold. yosi and each other were our only sources of warmth (imagine, kahit kape wala! kasi ang indie prod daw, indie nagpapakape, hehe). thank god i brought enough stacks of my menthols from manila, cause i wouldn't have liked resorting to the alternative option just to keep me warm (gwrrrl!?!). nag-iisa lang akong girl sa staff (na halos puros lalake) kaya initially intimidating ang setup, but i eventually felt at home with everyone. at behaved ako althroughout, kahit na uber-hunky pa ang mga artista namin, hahaha!
November 15, Wednesday. Day Three of Three. schedule was tight. i enjoyed this day the most. we were shuttling from one location to another, from the caves to a university in the city to a cemetary near the Benguet border. the nastiest of all the sex scenes was shot on this day. arghh. na-donselya na ang mga mata ko, grabe talaga! we raced across baguio to catch magic hour (sunset) at the cemetary location, which looked absolutely HEAVENLY at sunset.
we wrapped the day--and the movie--by 8 in the evening. thank yous abound, but this group wasn't a senti team. was feeling senti, though, for reasons that i didn't like. hay nako. tigilan na. at least someone blew me a kiss when i least expected it. haha, pechay!
at 10 in the evening i was on my way back to manila. i had more or less seven hours to prepare for another shoot.
November 16, Thursday. went home to change into fresh clothes then i was back on the road, this time to Dasmarinas, Cavite. we were going to shoot the spiels for the pilot episode of our tv show. i was out of it, unbelievably drained, but i had to hack this day. throughout the three-day shoot in baguio this project had been at the back of my mind. i was going to be director, and yet inuuna ko pa yung ibang projects. the hectic schedule in baguio had made it impossible for me to submit the remaining 75% of the script. and now, i was going to come to the cavite shoot sleepless and exhausted.
of all days, the heavens had chosen that day for a rainy afternoon. we were stalled for two hours. at the end of the day, we didn't finish eveything in the schedule. i felt horrible. i knew my creative partner was pissed at me, and he had reason to.
guilt, guilt. the worst feeling in the world.
on my way home, still blaming myself for the unfulfilled shooting schedule for the day, a text message came from the line producer of the Baguio indie film project: saffron, thank you so much for your dedication and support. hope to work with you again soon. it came just at the right time, pero gusto ko ring matawa sa discrepancy na napansin ko sa sarili ko. kasi sobrang obvious kung ano yung projects na ginagawa ko for sheer passion at yung projects na ginagawa ko for money. kung pera ang sukatan, mas madaling mag-prioritize ng mga bagay-bagay. pero mas masarap magtrabaho kung mahal mo yung ginagawa mo, kung nakikita mo ang sarili mo na nasa working environment pa rin na yon twenty, thirty years from now.
unfair. sa creative partner ko, who's brimming with plans for the future of the show, whose passion for what he's doing can probably top my passion for making films. unfair talaga, na hindi ko ibigay ang dapat kong ibigay. even if i don't see myself still being in the show two, three years from now.
who knows. di natin masabi. masaya naman, kaso merong mas masayang gawin. pero yun nga, the Law of Alchemy. you gotta give some to get some. especially if you've already been given. you have to fulfill your part of the bargain.
November 17, Friday. met with two of our actors from the Baguio project for a fashion show-cum-bikini-competition racket that was going to happen the next day. nakakaloka ang timeframe, kinabukasan na ang show, nung gabi ko pa lang na yon nalaman ang mga detalye. eventually naisip ko na lang na bahala na si Batman. at si Lord. at least the location would be in Subic. I love Subic. reminds me of those Kilig Reality Show Days. tsaka malapit sa dagat. I love the dagat! haha.
November 18, Saturday. it was a day of first times, and thankfully, it ended well. uber-ngarag ako on the way home. ngarag pero masaya. and uber, uber-thankful. cause a prayer has been granted. hindi na july ang favorite whirlwind month ko for 2006. november na!
hehe. wouldn't want to speak too soon, though. may nine days pang natitira. lord sana masaya lahat. :-)
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