illustration
EDWARD JOSON
A
s a photographer and
director, Edber Mamisao
is used to working within
a certain limit imposed by
two parallel lines perpendicular to
each other, forming the rectangle
that used to impose on how he would
photograph a fashion model, shoot a
certain story, frame a scene to ensure
that actors would be in the shot.
His interactive VR/360 videos of
artist Chati Coronel’s work—seven
in all—are meditative to behold and
like Coronel’s paintings, which
work with layers of paint, alternately
obscuring and revealing, Mamisao
improves upon each video by
learning from the previous ones,
effectively putting on a layer of
his own on each successive video.
“What we’re doing about these series
of videos about this painter—who
also happens to be my wife—is that
the format of a documentary, with
VR, you used to have that frame,
the interviewer sets the tone, is an
active participant. But I thought,
what if I change things around?
What if I make a documentary where
the subject is the interviewer, 360
camera in the middle? So people
can choose where (to look)…at the
question being answered—or the
question being asked? But not just
that, how I worked with the space
is that we have motion graphics
that accentuate her answers.”
Working on 360 videos is the
new frontier, he affirms. “It’s just
something I’m really passionate
about right now, and I’ve been
developing this stuff on the side,
while I’m doing all the regular
commercial work.” To hear him
say it, and mentally do the math,
certainly affirms that he’s in it for
the artistic and technical challenge.
Using six GoPros in an array, the
post workflow is, in his words
“insane” or “a beast”—as one
minute of edited footage requires 18
hours of work on a fast computer.
The Martial Law 360 video,
commissioned by the EDSA People
Power (group/coalition) and some
supporters entailed quite a few
challenges: “This one was the most
large-scale and complex of the
bunch. First off, we had a cast of
just over a hundred people. Our
production designer made about 400
costumes. We shot in a warehouse
that was about 5,000 square
meters, that we filled completely
with 16 different sets. Basically,
it was like one continuous shot
throughout all the different sets.
“What’s unusual about this video
is that it breaks a lot of the 360 rules.
One is that the camera is actually
moving, going through all these sets.
It’s like we compressed time. It was
just me and a monopod, crouching
down, because it’s supposed to be
the body of the person (the viewer),
their POV, going through (the
exhibit). The storytelling is a little
bit different, because on eye level,
we have different re-enactments of
different milestones of Martial Law.
We re-enact the torture, the student
rallies…we show the re-enactments
at eye level. But of you look above,
on the ceiling, there’s actual footage
from Martial Law. So we got rights
to use this footage. And if you
look on the ground, you’ll see this
spoken word type song...we have
all the subtitles on the ground.”
He adds, humorously, that the
floor subtitles also serve another
purpose: to cover his feet, which
would otherwise be very visible
throughout the video, should the
viewer aim downwards. What
most people remark about this,
after a little time, is how this 360
video has a narrative, compared
to other videos that just have a
panoramic view of nature or of a
surrounding area. Directing this
narrative was certainly a challenge,
as it forced Mamisao to plan
more efficiently the movements/
blocking of his actors and the flow
of the visuals/story as he went
through the set as its cameraman.
Admitting frankly that
embarking on the project
scared him due to the technical
challenges, Edber mentions an
earlier advertising campaign that
used 360, but the stitching was
done awkwardly or hurriedly
at some point that when talents
would walk through the “seams”
where the cameras were joined (a
no-no when producing this sort of
work), they would be distorted, and
the unforgiving audience would
point out the flaws in the work (by
employing screengrabs posted
on the video’s YouTube page).
Edber’s work is now online,
viewable in its entirety, able to
inform Gen Z and those not
cognizant of the atrocities of that
era. “It was because of this project
that I learned the extent of what
really went on,” he admits, saying
he’d mostly grown up in Canada.
“The millennials…it’s not that they’re
forgetting…they just don’t know.”
“It’s a whole new level of awe
and wonder,” Edber smiles. In the
end, for him, it’s all about affecting
people’s lives, making a positive
dent in the world. He cites studies
where people, when exposed to
heroic narratives, often continue to
make positive, selfless choices. “It
could be a powerful building block,
a powerful narrative. After it ends, it
stays as a seed in people’s lives. We
have the power to plant these seeds
in the deep part of the medium.
It’s the height of inspiration.”
Link to the 360� video
July - August 2016 | adobo magazine
THE WORK
ADOBO EXHIBIT
109