In 3, 2, 1… Action!

I’m always the type of person who prefers to work behind-the-scenes rather than be part of the center of attention. As a Communication Arts student who specializes in Broadcast Journalism, I know that being in front of the camera is inevitable and I must learn how to outgrow my shyness while I am in front of the spotlight.

And that’s what happened during the last semester for our major subject, Introduction to Communication Theory. Instead of having the usual written or oral examination, our professor challenged us to come up with our own short films and music videos even though we barely have an experience in doing such.

Being grouped with some of my blockmates who I really wasn’t talking to much, at first I really got agitated and frightened. I don’t know anyone except for Kevin who decided to leave our group and just be grouped with others. I am also in every bit horrified because I was grouped with the experienced director who is known for his reputation of being a perfectionist in terms of filming, JM. What to expect? To be able to act and write a script for the group and act really as professionals while filming. 

Prelims and midterms came and to be honest, I was a bit sad because our group isn’t that really close to each other. We may have successfully produced magnificent outputs such as music videos and short films, but still our relationship as a group’s still not that good. 

Finals came. Our star in the group named Januar left the group and decided to join others, the Koreans for some reasons also left, but Junee, Macky, Jom, Jill, Dale, JM, Ate Lorena and I decided to stay in the group. We were really out of ideas on what our last entry will be like and I was pretty sure right then and there that most of my groupmates do not have the right amount of inspiration to think of something that will make the whole block, and of course, our professor wow since we think that they are expecting a lot from our group.

Being the lazy bum that I am, I volunteered our house as our location for the shoot so that I would spare myself from the long jeepney rides(my groupmates don’t know this, haha) that I have to endure if ever. The day came when all of them went to our place to shoot despite us not having even a storyboard or a plot yet.

What I like about our director, JM is that when we both sat down and thought of what to produce for our short film, he had a lot of ideas in mind and he was also considering the things that I’m suggesting as a writer which is kind of refreshing since everyone knows about the writer vs. director kind of thing in the world of media. And so after putting much thought for our plot, we finally had to shoot the film itself.

L-R: Macky, JM, Dale, Jomyka, Jill and Junee during our last lunch as a whole group for our final entry last semester. I will miss the burping contest that the group invented in every meal that we finish. Sorry for the crappy quality, I had to resize this photo since Tumblr won’t let me upload photos that are 5MB and over.

This is us trying to mimic the other group’s photo.. Guess we pulled it off thanks to my tripod who did not fail us. We made a lot of memories here in this place and by memories I mean in this room, our group got closer to each other which made me genuinely happy. 3 days of chilling here with these awesome people only makes me miss them more whenever I’m alone in my room. I won’t be needing company, in the company of these talented Comm. people. 

Hello there, Direk JM! This is him trying to establish a shot for a particular scene. Why so serious? Naah, he is really not that serious. He actually is a good and a suave type of director. And he’s good with cinematography as well. We are fond of calling each other Men.. even though I am a girl. He argued that he should call me as women instead, but it doesn’t sound good to me so I’d stick with Men. You guys shouldn’t miss our incoming hipster-and-not-so-mainstream collaboration. Because we like things the old-school way.

Meet Macky. He’s the star in our short film and he is quite openly gay and is proud about who he is. I like Macky as a person because he has the most innovative ideas and he knows how to be creative when he wants to be and he is not the typical-gay-primmadona-that-everyone-loves-to-hate type of person because he has a pure heart and he is really very classy. He does this very queer parrot sound shreek when he accidentally drops something or is nervous for a certain scene, which our group loves to constantly hear. Someday he aspires to change the face of the typical flow of Advertising. And I know that he will. 

The girl who looks like a bitch but isn’t even close to being one— that’s Junezel right there. When I first met her, I thought that she’s the typical girl who loves to gossip about everyone. Upon getting to know her, I thought that I got it all wrong. She is the sweetest and the chillest girl that I’ve ever met in our batch. She knows how to deal with people and she knows how to have fun anytime and anywhere. Do you know the feeling wherein you barely met a person then all of a sudden you felt that it’s alright to blabber all your secrets and deepest aspirations in life to that certain person? Again, that person is Junezel. She knows almost everything about me because I am absolutely sure that she is the right person to trust, since she also trusts me a whole lot. 

The obligatory mirror photo in my room with Junezel, Jill, Macky and JM. Again, these photos were taken on the last day of our shoot at my place and my groupmates literally didn’t want to get out of my room anymore and wanted to stay in forever. They even acted like we were still taking a lot of scenes for our film where in fact we’re already done with the shoot so as to show my Dad that we’re not yet done and to prolong their stay here in my room. Truly they are brilliant professional actors. “In 3, 2, 1… Action!” 

L-R: Macky, Junee, Jill, JM and me. This time I had to shoot JM’s final scene for our film. It took us a lot of persistence before he actually agreed to be in front of the camera. Not to sound biased but I will specifically miss these people because I’ve grown so much closer to them and I really enjoy their company because they are really artistically inclined. 

Our royal film family. From the brainstorming to the storyboard, from the storyboard down to the scriptwriting, from the scriptwring to the endless talks of the writer vs. the director, from the clashing thoughts to them meeting halfway on to the filming itself. I never thought that producing a film would be a hard task, making me only appreciate the arts even more. The viewers should realize that filming is not one easy task because a lot of creative juices are being extracted in able to produce a film that will really capture the attention of the audience. I’m in every way lucky and thankful to be able to be grouped with such talented individuals who also happen to be fun and exciting people which makes me only excited whenever we schedule shoots together. Despite all the experiences that we encountered, whether it be good or bad, I am just glad for one thing. And that’s the nourishing friendship that we were able to establish as a group. I’m certain that we won’t be able to work as a group anymore since some are Advertising major and others are Broadcast Journalism, but I’m also pretty sure that this won’t be the last time that we will be able to make a film together. 

Thank you for the unforgettable memories and experiences, creative and wonderful people. I already miss the sound of each of your voices here in my room. My room already misses each one of you. Come back soon, chill kids.