REEL
What were you doing when you learned Birdshot would be the Philippine entry to the Oscars?
I was on Facebook and Twitter when I saw someone tweet about it. I kept refreshing, and I saw the news slowly spread online. I would’ ve fallen in shock, but fortunately I was already lying in bed.
How does it feel to represent the Philippines with your art outside the country?
It feels great, especially after the long journey we’ ve been through to complete Birdshot. We( the entire cast and crew of Birdshot) all made sacrifices and we were all patient with the process. Knowing that our film is well received here and abroad and being the representative of Philippine Cinema for the Academy Awards is just a dream come true, everything after that is just a big bonus.
Coming off the heels of your first film, what lessons did you carry forward onto Birdshot? Has your approach to filmmaking( or storytelling in general) changed?
Rekorder was a micro budget feature that was produced through Cinemalaya and private investors. With limited resources, I had to find a way to cleverly combine form and substance to reduce costs. The film was about piracy, voyeurism, apathy and the bastardization of cinema, the perfect treatment was to utilize portable digital and video formats to tell the story, it was also a very cost-effective way of shooting a first feature.
For my second film, Birdshot, I wanted to try something different, the classical, more conventional approach to the filmmaking process. I was patient with the project and I aimed for a well-crafted film— it took us two years to complete the film through international financing and pitching. Without a local grant, festival deadline, or time constraints, we were able to polish the film and push the technical standards and production value— we released the film when we felt like it was truly ready. The story focuses on a parable-like narrative that required a more traditional sense of film language. I was very clean, precise, and meticulous with every detail— fitting for a tale of tragedy and beauty, violence and grace— the objective was to create a spectacle.
For Neomanila, I wanted to finish the film in a much timely manner since the subject matter is very current. I was able to win a grant from QCinema and I partnered up with Waning Crescent Arts and TBA( who also co-financed Birdshot). We were able to finish faster with less resources, I felt that as a filmmaker I’ ve developed better decision making skills under pressure. I took a grittier approach for Neomanila, using handheld shots to replace tripod shots or controlled motion shots like in my previous films, but I still maintained my trademark aesthetic, giving importance to film language and deliberate shot sequencing. For my fourth film, which is a horror film, I plan to be even more technical with my approach. I will need to work carefully on the storyboard, ensuring that the scares and tension are amplified by my visual storytelling, composition and camera movement.
Let’ s talk about the making of Birdshot. What lessons did you learn shooting your sophomore film?
I learned that to properly make a film with a dynamic cinematic feel to it, I would need at least 20 shooting days. I learned that sound is very important in conveying emotion and creating spectacle, in fact we spent a month just polishing the sound. I learned that when shooting exterior shots for a“ western” themed film, your greatest enemy is the movement of the sun. I learned that it will take you at least two years if you plan to go through the international financing route, in fact we were very lucky that we won a significant amount of funding in our first submission attempt, it usually takes longer than that to complete financing. I learned that the best way to make big and well-crafted films and to sustain your filmmaking career is to partner up with a studio that trusts your vision— that is every filmmaker’ s dream. I am very lucky that my next films are backed by studios.
There’ s an old Hollywood saying about never working with children or animals, but you managed to accomplish both brilliantly in Birdshot. Can you tell us about the challenges you faced in directing someone who wasn’ t just young but a newcomer as well?
Work with the best. I worked with the best young actress we could find. We got her from a pool of more than a hundred aspirants. I also worked with the best trained dog we could find.
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