Update and Cargo Collective

Hey Everyone,

I know some of you have been following me and probably have wondered why I haven't been posting on my blog. I just wanted to give you all a heads up that since being at VFS I have been wicked busy and trying to build a respectable portfolio.  

I am entering my 3rd Term now and it is suppose to be quite a challenging one.

I won't be able to post as often as I'd like so I'd like to direct you all to my cargo collective site where I have been posting some work I have produced at VFS:

www.cargocollective.com/jullianablaza

In addition, VFS wants us to get into the habit of blogging and started us out with a wordpress blog. I have been trying to write in it from time-to-time, but because I've been busy, it has been difficult to keep up with it.

The site address is quite long and even I tend to forget the address: 

http://dd20jullian.myvfs.ca/blog/

I promise you all that by the end of the year I WILL have my own website where everything will be consolidated and you'll only have to go to one place. But for those following me, thank you for continuing to do so and these are just some sites to follow me while I am at VFS.

Some Photoshop pieces.

Here are some pieces I did during the first 2 months of my time at VFS. Photoshop was brand new to me, so there was definitely a scramble to learn this powerful tool quickly. 

"Product of the Philippines" © 2011 Movie Poster

My latest photoshop endeavor. After a term of photoshop and tutelage under the fantastic and master of PS, Vancouver's 2011 Artist of the Year, Myron Campbell.

Product of the Philippines documentary poster © 2011

Gary Sylvester Profile

A communication design project where we had to create a visual profile of one of our classmates. I did one of Gary Sylvester - a talented artist and designer with a love of the great outdoors.

I did this with about 2 weeks of Photoshop experience - Trying to learn quickly!

Gary Sylvester Profile by Jullian Ablaza © 2011

Buffalo Bill Poster (faux movie poster)

Our final projects for Photoshop 1 - create a movie poster using 10-15 assets provided by our instructor, Myron Campbell. A great exercise in learning to work non-destructively, organized and compositing different images into one cohesive collage.

Theme was western film a la Coen Brothers True Grit.

Buffalo Bill Final Project for Photoshop 1 © Jullian A. 2011

Faux Shark Website - Interface Design 1

We had to redesign a failing website that informs people about the dangers of shark hunting and create an interface that would attract more viewers...

I was very new to photoshop at this point and went through a myriad of changes. Looking back, I see where this interface is lacking in terms of calls to action and hierarchy.

This was for Interface Design... a touch class run by the very knowledgeable Miles Nurse (the dude's a genius).   

Interface Design 1 - Shark Website Landing Page © Jullian Ablaza 2011

Planet Profile - Saturn

One of our early assignments in Photoshop 1 - we had to create our interpretation of any of the planets. I chose to do Saturn, which is Cronus (Kronos) the Greek Titan overlord who fathered Zeus. His story is interesting as he commits infanticide by gobbling up his children, except for Zeus. He was tricked by his wife (and sister) Rhea (I guess that makes him incestuous as well) into eating a stone instead of little baby Zeus.

It's probably the first full piece I've ever done in Photoshop. Not a bad start, but still got loads to learn!

Saturn Project © Jullian A. 2011

VFS Term 1 - Process

One term down, five to go.... 


This has, without a doubt, been the most challenging and stressful two months of my life... and it's just the beginning.


More than being the most challenging and stressful two months, it has also been the most fulfilling thus far.  I have never felt more alive and more pushed to reach my potential than I have been in this first term at Vancouver Film School.


For those of you who do not know, I started a one-year intensive Digital Design program at Vancouver Film School where I hope to become a motion graphics designer.  


I came to VFS to learn the technical aspects of becoming a designer which meant learning various programs that I had hardly every touched like photoshop and illustrator to the more complex after effects and Cinema 4D.  I knew where my weaknesses lay and it was definitely in my lack of experience with these software.


What I did not expect was how they were training us to become more than just technically savvy designers, but to be thinkers and innovators.


In this term, we took on various team projects that were unlike any other any of us had ever seen before.  We learned how to analyze the simplest human interactions to learn how to innovate experiences with the hopes of changing human behavior in our User Experience class.


At first we were not sure how this all fit into the puzzle of design and then quickly realized that this was a valuable step in innovating design because our ultimate goal, as designers, is to make interactions with this technological world intuitive and seamless.


I could go on for hours about how much I learned from User Experience, but I want to go on and talk about process.


Process... What is this simple word? We all know what it means... We all know its importance... but we don't all use it and we all overlook it. 


If there is one thing that I have now prioritized in any piece of my work, it is PROCESS and keeping track of my workflow.


We learned to breakdown our projects step-by-step... sound obvious? Well, executing it is not.  From brainstorming to story boards to choices to production - every step is critical.


This term was about using process to get closer to our vision. 


One thing I noticed about my work prior to VFS was that I was producing decent work, but I was not reaching the ultimate vision that I had in my head.  I remember talking to someone about this and saying that the more I work and learn, the closer I am to nailing the vision in my head - but I have yet to hit the exact mark.  For some reason, what I visualized looked SIMILAR but was never EXACTLY what I had envisioned.  Yes, some turned out really good and others... not so good, but I did not know WHY I wasn't quite hitting the mark.


Until I learned to take advantage of PROCESS.


This year I hope to hit my mark with all my projects at VFS.  Prior to VFS, I did a decent job of writing shot lists and planning, but it wasn't enough - it wasn't the complete Process Package.


I know it has been a while since I posted something, but I will try my best to post the process of my future work here at VFS.


I know this was a rather wordy post, but there was a lot to say after these 2 months.  I could go on for hours, but I think I'll leave this post as is.

Amai Kuda's "All My Fine Shoes" & More

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!

"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.

Kwesi Immanuel "Battles Won" Music Video

I just finished shooting and editing this music video called "Battles Won."  The artist's name is Kwesi Emmanuel; an independent Folk/Reggae style musician based in Toronto.  He is a very talented and soulful musician who I had the pleasure of collaborating with. 

This was an ultra low-budget shoot that took some planning and praying that we could even pull off.  We kept it simple and tried to focus on execution.  

Our initial concept for this video would have cost too much and we did not have the budget to execute it, so we just wanted to try something more experimental.

We basically shot the entire music video at 60 fps and reversed it. Sound simple enough?  Well... The song is meant to be sung in-sync.  That meant we had to speed up the song to 250% to compensate for the ramp in frame rate from 24 fps-60 fps.

I guess you're all thinking that's pretty easy too... well, now you have to reverse it. I'll let you all think on that for a minute and what that meant the artist had to accomplish...

I hope you all enjoy it!

Kwesi Immanuel "Battles Won" Music Video from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.

Directed by Jullian Ablaza
Cinematography by James Hellyer
Art Direction Jess Finch
Production Assistant Yolande Ammon

"Ko Ping" by the Subnodes

Here is a music video I shot almost exactly a year ago with the very talented Gigi Nimako as the lead and music by the Subnodes (Ekow "Deuce" Nimako & Derrick Pierre) - a very talented alternative hip-hop duo based out of Toronto.

The approach to this music video was almost more of a film narrative. I had never shot a music video before but I wanted more than just the typical cookie cutter video formula: Band rocking out with their instruments plus the occasional female eye candy.

We chose to go with a more subtle approach where the duo would appear in different parts of the music video and play several different characters.  This film was also an official selection at the Reel World Film Festival here in Toronto last summer (Summer 2010).

Though the budget was very low, I do not think this kept the message from coming across. 

I am shooting another very low budget and very guerrilla style music video soon. So keep an eye out for that!


Ko Ping Music Video from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.