A graduate of De La Salle University, Che Bello is a core group member of Tuldok Animation Studios.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (Major in Visual Communication), Jeff Capili is the director of the 40-minute animated film "Pasintabi" produced by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT).
They are both animators for Tuldok Animation's animated short films "Libingan" (produced by the NCCA) and "Pasintabi."
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Day 2 and 3 Shoots Storyboarding
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Abstract of the Film
“PERA-PERAHANG LATA” (Penny from the Tin Can) is a short film about the plight of a factory worker during the Christmas season.
“The Christmas season is a time of gift-giving and Christmas decors. And the film takes place at this supposedly happy season. Happy… mainly if you look into the margin up the poverty line… For Nilo, the idealism of a youthful man is slowly being succumbed by disillusionment. And this film traces the plight of this man who is trying to make up for his guilt, but he ends up seeing another tragedy from it.”
“Pera-Perahang Lata” explores the many facets of a struggling life in a world that is full of unpredictable moments – where some things are really beyond one’s control. And this film exposes both the rich culture of the able Filipinos and the struggle of lower-middle to lower-class Filipinos in the Manila commune set during the Pinoy Christmas season – amidst the exciting tradition of gift-giving, caroling, and the “Simbang Gabi.”
The tin can is the film’s binding factor. More than just costing the main character his living and another person’s death, the utilizing of the tin can on asking for alms and the children transforming them into musical instruments for their Christmas carols, the it represents a very frequent element that Filipinos use everyday.
The setting is during the Christmas season where the needy, middle class, and rich people come together sharing gifts, giving and receiving alms, adorning their homes, offices, and other establishments with Christmas decors, and attending the “Simbang Gabi.” The various city streets really live up to the season.
Life is a collaboration of journeys – with every person met along the way – there is a totally new effect to the person’s path, and to the other people he comes across with.
While journeying around everyday, come to think of it… If you tend to become more observant and more critical about the things you see, hear, and experience, you’ll get certain realizations, or even more questions about life and the society. And that’s how this film came to be.
PR for the film Pera-perahang Lata
PR for the film Pera-perahang Lata (2008)
After the success of her first two short films “Aninag” (New York International Independent Film and Video Festival 2005, Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival 2006, New York Filipino Film Festival 2005, UNESCO Audio-Visual E-Platform, 3rd Place at Viva’s PBO Digitales Film Competition 2006) and “Karsel” (Kodak Film Award 2003 and Best Production Thesis 2003 of the UP Film Institute, International Women’s Film Festival 2006 and Nominee for the Gawad Urian Best Short Film 2003), writer-director Rianne Hill Soriano saw an opportunity to make a third film with “Pera-perahang Lata,” a film that explores the journey of a young factory worker during the Christmas season.
She worked on the screenplay of “Pera-perahang Lata,” initially for almost a month, then kept it in her “baul of concepts,” made final revisions three years after, and pitched the project to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) last April 2007 after resigning from her day job and going back to freelance work as a production artist.
The cast is led by a talented newcomer for an independent film production, singer-actor Von Arroyo, making his film debut. The challenge of the casting process was to find a believable and realistic character around which the events of the story evolve. To play the main character ‘Nilo,’ Rianne looked for someone who could not just deliver well with his acting skills, but also carry the film with a certain look and way of thinking reflecting his moves, words, and expressions.
The setting is during the Christmas season where the needy, middle class, and rich people come together sharing gifts, giving and receiving alms, adorning their homes, offices and other establishments with Christmas decors, and attending the “Simbang Gabi.” The film’s look is a combination of: the dark and gritty; and the light and Yuletide. The realistic treatment mainly shows the dark alleys, tall buildings, and different kinds of people travailing public places. The film intends to bring a fresh perspective for a film with a common theme and story. The treatment upped the ante on the bits of drama, comedy, action, and suspense elements.
The film has many firsts: the writer-director’s first time to have a look at the world through a man’s eyes with male characters on major roles (her first film had a feminist theme and her second film, a children’s film, mostly had female characters as well); her first time to shoot a film pegged on realism (her previous films were generally dark, surreal, expressionist, and had tinges of magic realism); and her first time to assemble such a larger sphere of key players both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
Rianne worked in a very free style way as she believes of bringing out the best of the film by having many brilliant and creative minds at work. With film being a collaborative medium, she lives up to the idea that all the people working in the filmmaking process are filmmakers – from the producer to the utilityman – as they all play significant roles in making things work effectively to finally come up with a film.
She was fortunate enough to bring back some members of her production team from her first and second films. This new film was shot primarily in Marikina City, and some scenes in Antipolo City and Pasig City as well, under the photographic aegis of cinematographer Wowie Hao and the knack for excellent visual design of production designer Joy Puntawe. Completing the major members of the production staff include: production manager Gavin Herrera, art director Armi Cacanindin, assistant director Karla Pambid, musical scorer/sound engineer Philip Arvin Jarilla, field sound recordist Mark Locsin, and casting by Gigi Pirote.
The film stars Von Arroyo, Arnold Reyes, Paul Sy, Judith Soriao, Dante Balois, Jocel Vergel de Dios, Loida Petalio, Henrex Alduezo, Gio Respall, Dido dela Paz, Marnie Lapus, Ces Aldaba, Karl Moro, Rommel Buenaventura, Ellen Estrada, and a number of other talented character actors and actresses in film, TV, and theater.
The film is produced by the NCCA and Colorwheel Media Studios. The production was blessed by the support of major production houses including Unitel Pictures for camera equipment, FILMEX for lighting equipment, Engine Room for offline editing requirements, Outpost Digital Frontier for online editing requirements, Optima for colorgrading requirements, and Hit Productions for sound production requirements. The city government of Marikina, Marikina Riverbanks, St. Francis Xavier Parish Church, Streetpark Productions and Brass Knuckles also gave support for the production.
The film is set to premiere on the first quarter of 2009. You can also visit HYPERLINK "http://www.peraperahanglata.blogspot.com" www.peraperahanglata.blogspot.com for more information about the film.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thank you NCCA, Unitel, Filmex, Engine Room, Optima, Marikina City government, and Marikina Riverbanks
Thank you so much for making this film possible:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Day 1 Shoot Storyboarding
Both graduates of De La Salle University and both being animators, Ramon del Prado and Dave Navarro made the storyboard for the "Pera-perahang Lata."
Ramon is a core group member of Tuldok Animation Studios and taking up his MFA at the School of Visual Arts. He also directed award-winning short animated films including "Egg," "I Am the Superhero," "Putek," "Dok," and "Libingan."
Dave currently works as a sound engineer and voice talent at Hit Productions.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Pera-perahang Lata Workshop for Day 1 Shoot
Workshop, getting-to-know, and bonding moments for the staff and cast (many secrets were revealed wehehe!)
Von Arroyo as Nilo
Judith Soriao as Gary's mom
Dante Balois as Gary's dad
Jocel Vergel de Dios as Gary's sister
Venue: Boardroom of the Avignon Tower, dela Costa St. Makati City
You also see my AD Karla Pambid and my casting coordinator Gigi Pirote (both very talented actresses I have worked with before) facing each other at the lower right side. Bor Ocampo is there too... bit playing as a lover with his girlfriend in the film Ayeen Pineda (who took all these pix as well hehe!)
Pera-perahang Lata Voice Recording of Nilo's Mom and Sister Characters
Gigi Pirote as Nilo's mom
Noemi Oineza as Nilo's little sister
Sound engineer: Philip Arvin Jarilla
Special thanks to:
Hit Productions
Dennis Cham, Senior Partner and Technical Director
Brian Cua, Senior Partner and Creative Director
Salomon Malca, Senior Partner and CFO
Vic Icasas, President and Managing partner
Eric Adorable, Director of Audio Engineering
Leticia Sarmiento, Traffic Manager
Vener Ariston, Transfer Technician
Dave Navarro, Audio Engineer
RJ Mortega, Audio Engineer
Philip Arvin Jarilla, Audio Engineer
Auditions for the Film
The dates Aug. 17 and 18, 2007 were stormy days... Good to know many came to the auditions still :D
Locations for Day 1 Shoot (Nilo's and Gary's Apartments, Wake Sequence)
Monday, September 3, 2007
A Day After Pera-perahang Lata Day 1 Shoot
I have never updated much of this blog since I signed the MOA for my film grant. Well, after signing it last Aug. 2, 2007 at the NCCA, I had to focus on the pre-prod since I needed to shoot on Sept. 2 - yeah, exactly 1 month after. For the record, this is the shortest pre-prod I'm doin as a filmmaker. Really tough. I had exactly one month to do loc scouting, oculars, marketing, conducting auditions, workshops, pre-prod meetings, doing my pegs, making the storyboard, securing permits, and all other pre-prod stuff (all while documenting all the works as much as I could).
Today is Sept. 3, 2007. Day after my shoot. 6:50 p. m. I haven't had enough sleep and rest yet. I had class the entire day. Filmmaker yesterday, teacher today. :D Funny, one of my students brought that thing medical people use to measure blood pressure. haha! mine is 80/70. yeah. stress. I need to sleep first to recover. But hey, I'm home now. But I'm not yet sleepy. Had to work on stuff din. Ahehe! Anyway, since Day 1 is now accomplished, I can probably update this a bit with some pics or videos of the pre-prod and the Day 1 shoot of the film. I just have to get back on my work stuff and find time to get back to blogging then. =p
Yesterday was a blast. Another tough day. But when you love what you do, no matter how hard things become at certain aspects of it, you know you'll get through. Thanks to all who made this film possible! Day 2 shoot on December!!!
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