I have been quite fortunate that my last two months have been riddled with projects and jobs. Besides editing the documentary "Product of the Philippines," I have had a chance to shoot a couple of music videos for two VERY talented artists.
The one I present here is by Amai Kuda called "All My Fine Shoes." It's a very catchy song with significant undertones. One thing I realized about the artists I have been working with is that I find their music quite unique and artistic. I have been fortunate to attract that kind of talent and I hope to continue in that path.
The reason I say this is that they are very open to collaborating on a creative idea that does not necessarily fit the usual mold of what a music video (these days) is supposed to look like.
Limited by budget and time, it forced us to think about what we could do creatively to come up with a visually stimulating music video.
This music video was really fun to make and when you see it, I'm sure you'll know why. We tried to create some theatrics despite our budget give the audience something a little different.
Here is the other music video by Kwesi Immanuel. This one had absolutely no budget and was a real challenge to time and cut together but a great experiment!
Kwesi Immanuel "Battles Won" Music Video from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.
Lastly... My first music video with the Subnodes which was shot in Fall 2009.
Ko Ping Music Video from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.
I hope you are all enjoying some of the stuff I have been working on as I enjoy sharing them with you all!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
"Producto Ng Pilipinas" (Product of the Philippines) & Trailers
**I know I have not put a post up in quite some time, the reason being I've been working on a lot of projects while still finishing up my documentary. I knew that I wanted this post to be more about the process of shooting the documentary as well as having the trailers done **
It has almost been a year in the making. I know for some films, particularly documentaries, a year does not seem that long, but to me it has definitely been a journey. Although planning the documentary started December (2009)/January of this year (2010), the seed was planted almost five years ago while I was still at Boston University.
I remember coming home one summer and my father introducing this brand new, home-made peanut butter to me. My brothers and I thought it was delicious and definitely unique from the Kraft and Skippy brands we're used to. My father told me a little bit about the person behind the peanut butter and I thought it would make for an interesting documentary. (Funny thing is, I never ever thought I would shoot a documentary. I thought I would stick to commercials, fictional narratives and music videos).
The process of putting this film together had its smooth points and then had its turbulence... So, all-in-all, it was what I expected. As with every project, short-form or long-form, there are speed bumps and the only thing you can really do is try to minimize these speed bumps through preparation.
Once my project was pretty much green-lit (flight to Manila, crew and interviews booked), I put together an extensive production package including a 35 day schedule, a shot list, a budget and tentative script....
One thing I immediately realized during this shoot was how important it was to be flexible. Unlike short films, music video and commercial work that I was used to, documentaries are difficult to control. I had prepared a lot of shots which did not eventually happen because of the circumstances of being on a documentary shoot (run-and-gun style). So you have to be adaptable to the situations.
This, however, did not mean I was not able to translate my vision. I opted to simplify my shots and try to make my shots as cinematic as possible. One thing I did NOT want to lose out on was the potential cinematic aspects of making this film. We took a lot of wide-angle shots (I fell in love with the Sigma 10-20mm).
Post-production was a whole other can of worms. Just when we thought the toughest bit was over, I ran into some significant problems in post-production that could really not be helped...
At one point, one of my 4 2TB hard drives (yes, I was running 4 hard drives, daisy chained... real indie...) crashed on me. I literarily felt my heart drop... Though we had backed up all the raw footage, the transcoded* Canon 7D footage was on that hard drive.... And transcoding all that footage took me almost 3 weeks.
(Note: Transcoded: "turning Canon raw h.264 codec into an 'editable' codec - e.g. Apple ProRes 422).
Fortunate for me, it was a software corruption and not a hardware malfunction. I recovered my hard drive and transfered the data to another hard drive. I was back to work, though I lost two weeks of editing time. I was sweating bullets... Losing that much information really puts you in a hole.
One thing I realized about this process is that you are at the mercy of your technology. My hard drives are not bad at all! However, it doesn't take much to cause a problem in them... So BACK EVERYTHING UP! It's expensive... and I was broke for about a month but it will be worth it. Sacrifices for the sake of the film.
One of the coolest things about working on a project like this is you can see your work develop and your style and technique improve. As the editor of my own work, I learned to think more as an editor while directing. And this is another facet of filmmaking that I was beginning to tap into: being able to think ahead.
As a filmmaker, you have to be able to think a few steps ahead WHILE shooting. It's easier said than done because on-set or on-location, you are constantly bombarded by other responsibilities like picking your shots, talking to your crew and your talent. You have to learn to see the bigger picture as you are shooting a tiny piece of it. I am no expert at this by any means, but I think the fact that I started to realize this is crucial to my growth as an artist and filmmaker.
I know this was really long winded, but I haven't written in a while and I had a lot to talk about after finally seeing my film through to fruition. I've started sending the film out to film festivals world wide (about 20 now by my count), and I hope to get into a few of them.
Ultimately, I want the world to appreciate the story of Ehje and enjoy my work. I worry sometimes, like I'm sure many other filmmakers do, that it will not be appreciated, but I suppose you just have to have faith in your work and the efforts you've put in and hope for the best!
"Producto Ng Pilipinas" ("Product of the Philippines)
Trailer #1
Producto Ng Pilipinas (Product of the Philippines) Trailer 1 from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.
Trailer #2
Producto Ng Pilipinas (Product of the Philippines) Trailer 2 from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.
It has almost been a year in the making. I know for some films, particularly documentaries, a year does not seem that long, but to me it has definitely been a journey. Although planning the documentary started December (2009)/January of this year (2010), the seed was planted almost five years ago while I was still at Boston University.
I remember coming home one summer and my father introducing this brand new, home-made peanut butter to me. My brothers and I thought it was delicious and definitely unique from the Kraft and Skippy brands we're used to. My father told me a little bit about the person behind the peanut butter and I thought it would make for an interesting documentary. (Funny thing is, I never ever thought I would shoot a documentary. I thought I would stick to commercials, fictional narratives and music videos).
The process of putting this film together had its smooth points and then had its turbulence... So, all-in-all, it was what I expected. As with every project, short-form or long-form, there are speed bumps and the only thing you can really do is try to minimize these speed bumps through preparation.
Once my project was pretty much green-lit (flight to Manila, crew and interviews booked), I put together an extensive production package including a 35 day schedule, a shot list, a budget and tentative script....
One thing I immediately realized during this shoot was how important it was to be flexible. Unlike short films, music video and commercial work that I was used to, documentaries are difficult to control. I had prepared a lot of shots which did not eventually happen because of the circumstances of being on a documentary shoot (run-and-gun style). So you have to be adaptable to the situations.
This, however, did not mean I was not able to translate my vision. I opted to simplify my shots and try to make my shots as cinematic as possible. One thing I did NOT want to lose out on was the potential cinematic aspects of making this film. We took a lot of wide-angle shots (I fell in love with the Sigma 10-20mm).
Post-production was a whole other can of worms. Just when we thought the toughest bit was over, I ran into some significant problems in post-production that could really not be helped...
At one point, one of my 4 2TB hard drives (yes, I was running 4 hard drives, daisy chained... real indie...) crashed on me. I literarily felt my heart drop... Though we had backed up all the raw footage, the transcoded* Canon 7D footage was on that hard drive.... And transcoding all that footage took me almost 3 weeks.
(Note: Transcoded: "turning Canon raw h.264 codec into an 'editable' codec - e.g. Apple ProRes 422).
Fortunate for me, it was a software corruption and not a hardware malfunction. I recovered my hard drive and transfered the data to another hard drive. I was back to work, though I lost two weeks of editing time. I was sweating bullets... Losing that much information really puts you in a hole.
One thing I realized about this process is that you are at the mercy of your technology. My hard drives are not bad at all! However, it doesn't take much to cause a problem in them... So BACK EVERYTHING UP! It's expensive... and I was broke for about a month but it will be worth it. Sacrifices for the sake of the film.
One of the coolest things about working on a project like this is you can see your work develop and your style and technique improve. As the editor of my own work, I learned to think more as an editor while directing. And this is another facet of filmmaking that I was beginning to tap into: being able to think ahead.
As a filmmaker, you have to be able to think a few steps ahead WHILE shooting. It's easier said than done because on-set or on-location, you are constantly bombarded by other responsibilities like picking your shots, talking to your crew and your talent. You have to learn to see the bigger picture as you are shooting a tiny piece of it. I am no expert at this by any means, but I think the fact that I started to realize this is crucial to my growth as an artist and filmmaker.
I know this was really long winded, but I haven't written in a while and I had a lot to talk about after finally seeing my film through to fruition. I've started sending the film out to film festivals world wide (about 20 now by my count), and I hope to get into a few of them.
Ultimately, I want the world to appreciate the story of Ehje and enjoy my work. I worry sometimes, like I'm sure many other filmmakers do, that it will not be appreciated, but I suppose you just have to have faith in your work and the efforts you've put in and hope for the best!
"Producto Ng Pilipinas" ("Product of the Philippines)
Trailer #1
Producto Ng Pilipinas (Product of the Philippines) Trailer 1 from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.
Trailer #2
Producto Ng Pilipinas (Product of the Philippines) Trailer 2 from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.
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