 Magandang araw sa ating lahat, isang oras naman ng makabuluhan at kawili-wiling panayam ang ihandog namin sa inyong lahat ngayong araw. Kasama ang isang premyadong production designer at director sa pelikula. Nakatala sa kasaisayan ng modernong sining ang ilan sa mga pelikulang kinabilangan niya gaya ng itanong mga sabuan, Muroami, Jose Rizal, at Kubrador. Mga pelikula kung saan ginawaran siya ng parangal sa larangan ng disen yung pamproduksyon. Kasalakuyan din siyang nagtuturo sa Departamento ng Studio Arts dito sa College of Fine Arts, U.P. de Liban. Ikinararangal natin, makasama ngayong araw, si Professor Leo Abaya. Magandang araw Leo. Magandang araw mam. Thank you for being here. So, begin mo ako ng fast run-through of your history. What was your first film? As production designer? As production, bakit? Nag-artista ka ba anak? Actually, yes. Wonderful! Well, at least early in our people. A bit role, a bit role. As art director, the first production I was involved with was a film that was never finished. It was directed by Celso Ad Castillo, the title of the project was Diary of Vietnam Rose. I was the art director and then the production designer at that time was Dante Mendoza. So, what happened? They ran out of money. So, the production stopped. And then you worked again with Celso Ad, di ba? Yes, I worked again with Celso Ad. I was also art director in Dihim ng Kalapati. Pero natapos yun? Natapos po yun. So, how was the experience with Celso Ad Castillo? Celso Ad. Baptism by fire. But I learned a lot watching him. Watching him work. Watching or doing a film when there was really no script. Only notes and endless meetings. So, everything is in his mind? Yes, and it was both confusing and fascinating at the same time. But parang ano yun ni? Parang film production 101 for me. You've worked with a lot of good directors. Oh, yes. Carlitos. Carlitos yun rey na was the director of Mrs. Mo, Mrs. Ko. The first film where I shared credit as production designer. And that was the debut film of Carlitos in the Philippines anyway. And then I worked with, of course, Cittoronio. Yes. What film is this? Cittoronio. Ita nungusabuan. Oh, oh. Bakit kay tagal ang sandalit? Bakit? Kay tagal ang sandalit? Kay tagal ang sandalit. Yung dinabon ng view? Yes, yes. It was based on comics. Oh, oh. Ayano, ayun. Ah, chaka si Eddie Garcia. Eddie Garcia. And Jelly de Belen. No. Was it? No, that was the comeback film of Janice de Belen. Oh, I'm sorry. Janice de Belen. Yes, yes. That's true. And then I also worked with, of course, Marie Lu, for three films. Oh. And then, um, and Jeffrey Hitoryan. For Cobrador. For Cobrador. And then Bing Lao also. Oh. Well, tell me the significant things about these films. Let's take them, you know, isa-isa. Kasi iba-ibang situasyon na yung di ba? Yes. So, like working with Carlitos on his first film. Yeah, yeah. So parayon kayong- Oh no. That was the experience I had working with Carlitos was very different from- From- My experience from sales at Castillo. This is the North Pole and the South Pole. Ayusta ayos yung kay Carlitos? Kasi yung kay Carlitos was very- Well, the producer, the producer, well, the producer was- The Armida Sigyon Reina. Of course. So, um, it was done talagang ang standards niya is international standards, no? Um, long before Excel was there, long before all of these, um, uh, programs for production was there. I mean, she was very, very, um, much prepared and very, very well organized. Um, there was color coding in her. Oh, yeah. Yes. Um, just looking at her, this big folder, this trifold folder that she has when she opens it. Like that was kind of intimidating. But, um, that's, I think for me was very good because, uh, yung you're only always on your toes. And I always like- So, in expectations, so you don't? Yes, yes, very much. Dwa? Yeah, very much. And then, um- So, behave ka don't? I behave daman ako parati, mam. Ah, okay. Ano lang? Um, this time, um, uh, there was no room for, um, I guess for, for getting something because you're given enough time to prepare. The script is there. Uh, we had regular meetings. But what about innovations? I mean, you know, coming in with your suggestion or I- Meron na mam, mam. I use nalad. Uh, we had in fairness because the film, I started the film as our director of Charlie Arceo. Okay. And then, um, yung, the, the, the production design concept was pretty much already there. But of course, I was already part of, of it, no, as our director and then, you know, Charlie and I got to talk about it. And then halfway through the film, hindi niya matapos yung film, so I took over. Everything. Ah, yes, yes. I took over. Production designer. Yes, yes. Let's, let's go to that. Okay. Let me interrupt you at this point. Yung production design, di ba? Art director ka, et cetera. And there are many things under that. Yes. According ang, sa totoo lang, pag tinanggal mo ang production design ang pedikola. All you have are naked actors taken by the cinematographer, right? Ah, ah, ah, ah. Oh, kasi location, later, oh. Ah, mam. Set design. Ah, mam, mam. Mga props mo, lahat, lahat, kasama lahat yung. Ah, ah, ah. Oh, so pati, so-oh. Yes, ah, ah, ah. Okay, so tell me the difference between being an art director, being a production designer, and so on. Okay, yun. So, well, art director, you're basically there on the set to make sure that the concept, the design concept is executed well. All the things that are necessary are there when they're needed, di ba? No. So you're really the- The last person. The arm. You're the arm of the production designer. When you're in production design, you don't only think about that. You think about concepts. You make decisions on locations, on decor, in accordance to a concept. So kailangan, meron kang box do na. Oh, labas lahat yung scarf jya. Ah, yun. When you choose the objects of material culture to be used in the film, that is pre-chosen with an idea in mind. So let's say, given the idea, okay, we need scarves here. It's not just any scarve. Based on your design, you can only get this many scarves, this type of scarves, or these colors, because there is a design. Design philosophy. It's the art director who makes sure that they're applied well, but the choice, humaganda framework of the images, the choices, comes from the designer. Dapat nakasunduan na kayo na director jyan. Oh, naman. The vision for the film. Ang maganda nung kailangan, Karly is new what he wanted. Yes. So that was- Wala mo siya dung hulaan. Wala, wala. Parang, I need something. Intuitive. I need something. And then, hindi mo alam kung ano, and then when he said, when it arrives, and he said, ah, yeah, yeah, I think I need something like this. So, iba yung style. So, as production designer, working with Chito Ronyo, for example, ano ang madon? What I like about, what I remember working with Chito, he discusses with you concepts, design concepts, but he will not impose. Discuss until something nice comes up. And then, many said that difficult, they said, ah, si Chito, ani yan, hindi ganon, in my experience with him. It was a pleasure working with him. It was difficult because he demanded so much, but when you see it on screen, lahat ang pagod mo na wawala, because he really, ano eh, he doesn't, you see the function of his demands and the requirements and what it does to the material. So it's very gratifying. And then fun, Chito is actually fun to work with because he's very witty. And then, I remember we even make fun of the script. I mean, during waiting time. So, ganon, pleasant ang ano ko, tiring, but, ano is, I kind of suerte ako sa akong mga directors kasi, parang maganda yung ano ko, memories ko. Si Mike Rillon, makiling nakatrabaho rin, di ba? Oh, di ba? Bago si Mariludia Sabaya. Di ba ano siya, parang action film? Oh, yun yung, ano ko, Rillon ya. But what film did you work with? Him. Estu Janti Blues. This was the, This was the, it's really weird because he was assigned by Viva to do a juvenile film. It's a coming-of-age film, ang artista yun, yung mga batang artista. I think they used the, it was a hit. It was a song, Estu Janti Blues. It was a very popular song at that time. And then they made a story about about students. At that time, high school students. And then he was assigned, so I found it very weird. An action director doing a film na parang ganon, youth-oriented. And it's not about ano pangay, hindi pangay siya yung edgy. It was very mainstream, the Viva films. So Sa ano yung production design ang ganon, parang flash by on? Number one, he it turned out that he was very cool. I mean he was not the macho, director type. And then he just let me be okay, do what you want. Basta maganda yung ganon. So since it was a very commercial material, so I had to get my sources of inspiration from popular culture at that time. So ano yung late eight, nama ba yung nineties? Parang late eighties siya. Eighties, nineties. Basta nansang ganon yung git na. And then the culture at that time was very visual. It was alam mo at that time na graphics was used. So ginamit ko lahat yung to come up with a film that looked commercial. Because I guess na ano ako dun sa Viva film because that was my second Viva project. What was the first one? What was the first one? Missis mo, missis ko. Kasi meron this lang formulae, di ba? Yes ma'am. I got a memo because I did not follow. Correct. I did not follow the design formula. Correct. Because I followed Carlitos the director. Oh, baka ibayo na? I haven't seen the actual memo but Tita Meads told me na, oh, nakatanggap ako ng memo bakit ganon ang design, bakit wala masyadong kulay. Bakit wala masyadong bulaklak. Gana-gana. But I don't know how true that was. But it was something that she told me but sabi ko, no, I have to obey the director. Kasi may visual peg na ano yung commercial, ano yung magustuhan ng mga tao and then you have to deliver that. In Missis mo, the palette was very controlled. And the objects were very controlled. So easy on the flowers, easy on this, easy on that, easy on the pastels. We totally got away from that parang ano, from that brand, branding of Viva at that time. So this time, when I did Mr. Janti Blues, sinunod ko naman. Because anyway it was a commercial film. I also did that film because at that time sikat na sikat ang di ba ex ang mga singit. At that time, there were a lot of singing for those films. I did not want to get involved in that. So I just because the good scripts actually had those, not that I was being prudish. I was not comfortable. Because you would not know I don't have any control. Sometimes they would make, I mean you would make something serious and then the production would suddenly shoot something and then before you know it, marinig mo sa balita no na. Okay, maganda yung pelikula, pero manong sang siningit na ex-rated at the end. They used to do that, di ba? So I didn't want to get involved in productions that had a damega no practice. Then sexploitation et cetera. You didn't want to get involved in that. So I just did and let's go to Mariludi Asabaya with your Murami and Rizal. These were big films and people were always waiting for it at that time. I actually did not think that I would be involved in on Rizal because at that time I was very busy doing TV commercials, doing design for TV commercials. And then I got a call, especially doing TV commercials with Manolo Abaya who was also cinematographer and director at the same time. So we worked in many, many, many projects. And then I did not know that I would even be involved. I heard about Rizal being made and it was there were test shoots already done with Mike Galeon and JMA at that time. And then they were doing it for a year na testing Agamulak et cetera, et cetera. So that was really out of the picture. Suddenly it was you. Oh, and then one day I was where was I? Ah, I was with a supplier who did costumes for me I received a call from Greg DeGosman who was the production manager always of Marilu. And then as it would I would I be doing would I be interested to do a film on Rizal. And then I said ah, there's another film there's one being made by JMA baka not anymore. No, this is the one made by JMA so because what happened to the project of Mike Galeon so I mean oh well that's another story. The director now is the writer is Rikili et cetera et cetera. Of course finally one of my earliest mentor is Rikili finally got to work with the project with Rikili so I said so where is the meeting would you want to come to a meeting so that's when I got involved in it when I I didn't really say yes at the beginning but the fact that I went to the meeting palang yun na yun so you were pretty much involved ang ginagawa mo noon mga commercials So make some mga projects here you are getting into film again film again which will take up a lot of your time nabah hindi na yan pag anong ano and so the commitment would be doing this so were there problems? Ano mga challenges or no? Number one I asked for a leave of absence from UP from teaching so I had to take a leave from teaching because I knew the research itself would be parang not tough but would take some time because you know our records here so yun and then it took a lot of time to to ano put the research together the visual research together So you did research and then you started to sasyut din mayro ng by every frame you were cleaning it up because it would have to look a certain way during the production you would have we had almost how many months ang tagal noon every every week I think I remember every Friday we would go to the house of marilu and meet what what have you found out and then it was really a meeting of the key people in the staff each one having research doing research so that things that I found out that were not really in the department I shared with someone from from for the other department for the director's team so it was really a normal teamwork, right? oh ma'am pero ganun ka tagal yan oh ma'am months ma'am 10 or 8 months I think na yun ang yun lang yung result and then we had to reread which I like nolly and filly yun so basa ulit pero di ba even ko anong susutin ano yung mga botones oh ma'am hindi po ay din ang plastic yung ah hindi ma'am hindi ma'am somebody said we actually used knocker botones yes knocker botones di ba meron mga ganong mga usapan oh ma'am but there were certainly botones at that time somebody also said oh bakit hindi bakit hindi feather ang anong sabi ko hindi na may fountain pen at that time and many people did not know that there was already electricity at that time at least in Manila yun so little things na in fact so research is very important for production design yes but very very important yung consistency with the history and all that so any significant thing about production design for Jose Riza maybe you know we'd like to put that on record and try to important yung insights ano ma'am ah we were able to but this is not so much design as the value that you get in research because we were able kasi di ba meron mga books on on the trial itself the what do you call this the transcript of the trial result is there it's actually de la costa father from Ateneo it has a book entirely about it both in in Spanish and in the translation we have that but in the film it was 100 so we were able actually to to get photocopy of the transcript 100 may mga mga nakikita maganda din yung ano yung yung discurso kasi yung kohana sa kamain ni Jose Riza may Rosario ba ah yung mga issues That's territorial. Do you know it? Can say production design. We just made the design of the Rolls-Ar Americas that whether Marilo was going to do it or not, that's her responsibility. whether he must own it or he was like. We had nanomame remember because there were accounts that said that Jose Resal was wearing a white tie during his execution. There were also accounts that said that he was wearing a black tie so I had to prepare two ties. But the idea of shooting it two ways was out of the question because it would be very expensive kasi mahaba yung xe na yung sequence. So we used a white tie because if, for example, during post-production something comes up and really said that it's going to be a black tie it's easier to change it on color and post. So it has to be white because it's difficult to make black-white in post so better to make white. Decision, siguro if wearing all the historical stuff napitsanding that parang siguro ang significant para sa akin dunes a lot of the production design decisions were revolved around the capacity for post-production to actually change certain things because part of, I think, part of the contribution of the film was we were able to put up again edifices and built heritage just no longer existing now. So the second floor of the Fort Santiago does not exist anymore. These are the things that we only see in black and white pictures but because of the twin, at least from my own personal point of view I was able to parang rebuild it at least on cinema at how it actually looked like at that time. So there was a lot of post-production done there that was actually a result of research because the post-production guys would only respond to what I give them as a production designer. I think who may have a contribution I think na malakas doon except that people don't know it it's usually the performances and everything but insofar as the design is concerned because I'm one of the realized and I was a bit aghast actually when we made a production and then we listed the things and the places that were supposed to shoot and hold our, what do you call this? our scenes about, I think ngayon about 75, 70 to 75% we cannot do it on location because it's not existing anymore so and then it actually made me realize ano natin ang patrimoni natin ang how we, as a people don't value heritage as much as we should parang pinalabayaan na lang natin sila na na mawala well, in this film you were able now to reconstruct the bank so I think that's a big job so magandang contribution yun ang laki ng tarbaho talaga ng production design sa historical films well, serious historical films so ako sa akin maganda yan pero let's shift yung muroami is also such a big production design work where a lot of the shoots were in this big seafaring machine so paano yun did you construct that na putul-putul merong nakabukas talagang buhayon na yung project na muroami was daunting because kaya maliit lang yung kwento malaki yung because it involved the sea it involved nature it involved children you know how it is dun palang alam mong dun ting na yung project and then we would be using a boat out in the in the sea and we know that shooting in water is never never good we already knew that even in theory because there in Vietnam rose was too big maraming too big so I knew how it is to shoot in water yun also reading and I remember sinabi ni Steven Spielberg although he binawi niya yun after making jokes he said or he's not going to make a water movie at all never but of course kinaami study did it again but after Jaws ayon niya so yun ang ano mam yun ang dun ting noon and then yung the film kasi it's not medyo ano yung the term muroami would tell yun na parang social realism it's actually not it's a very allegorical film it's very stylized which the title doesn't because the original title of the film was not even muroami it was Aurora that's the name of the wife of Fredo that was the original title Aurora so anyhow di pa ako nakagawa na parang allegorical ang film so immediately what comes up it's symbols and then yung mga ganun ba yung mga iconic images so parang I found myself drawing yung parang ganun ba yung kasi parang Aurora pero let me yung concepto niya parang child laborer tapos Aurora because that is the term muroami connotes that kaya yun ang ginamit na and it was a serious film that had to say something about so people I think part of the reception of the film was the expectation that the material was going to be will tackle about child expectation only to find out na hindi naman talaga don pero nakafocus yun about power so mas philosophical ang treatment so I guess that was one of the reasons why there was mixed reception because of the expectation but having said that anong naman aware naman ako na ganun so hindi ko I did not strive for social realism in the design I've always adhered to know what is it it's allegorical, it's ganun so I had to stylize it a bit I think parang heightened reality so stylize it anong yung sagwan hindi sagwan talaga hindi mam parang ano mo exaggerate mo hi stylize to siya so medyo exaggerated bot for example one of the challenges of the bot was both technical and I guess artistic because on one hand we were going to shoot on the bot so the bot was also allocation and also a character so ang nangyari dun mam is we had to look for a bot that was number one it has to be safe it has to be worthy you cannot have a rickety bot because ibig mo sabihin di redo yung we had to look for a young bot it's called a young bot, is that a new bot you have to look for a young bot a young bot would be a bot between one year and 25 years and then we had to go around and and then we found this bot in Orani Bata'a Orani summer I forgot the town it's a northern summer it is near the street that separates the tip of summer it's a street that is between the tip of summer and the tip of Bicol because that's an important parang highway we bought the ship to Bohol and then it was new it was all white and then we number one, it had to be wood number one we had to be wood because it was stylized because the Moroami boats were not made of wood they were made of steel I saw the film of Lino Broca yung ginawan di Rodilacap but we didn't want that kasi hindi nga siya socially released so I wanted something more, alamang yung ganon so kahoy, number one number two, we had to choose a boat that could actually ganito kasi yung if you want, if you're shooting and then you want to return, you reverse a boat that has only one LEC can only go like this yun it cannot turn on its own axis but if you have two propellers it can actually do this we had to look for a boat that can do this kasi si Marilu was always particular about deficiency in the shooting and number two, flexible siya sa kanyang angles na anytime, ay, we're seeing an island we had to go like this so madali yung maneuvering we were lucky we found a boat and then we brought it to Bohol and then it was new, we had to strip all of the paint to make it look old correct, location siya tapos visually kailangan dubating yung symbol et cetera so it took a month and then there were many things that had to be thought of the boat actually became for me a piece of theatrical piece mas theater sa akin ang tingin do na kasi confined yung space mo yan so theatrical yung approach tapos I invented the mast when pwede naman wala ng mast pero gumawala ko ng mast only because it doubled as a crane for Roddy Lachap to put his moonlight on the evening kasi you cannot have kasi yung ang gulungak mahirap and then direct wanted steady come and all of that so you can't have all of this stands in the boat so it had to be clip up and then so for the reason we bought omg I think it was kung di ako nang kakamali it was a 16 inch diameter tube went all the way up and then we had to attach it to the boat we had to we had to consult the engineers if it would topple the boat etc so there was a lot of actually technical work that went into it that of course the viewers will not see or the critics will not see kayo kayo nalang yan very technical work in fact yan, dun ko talaga naramdaman how technical it is I had to read on the basics of yung boat design kasi I had to understand you read about it etc what about your training did you have some schooling for your production design tell me about that fine arts ka mam, actually it's in the reverse I took formal training in fine arts I was already designing it's the reverse so what made you go into the designing what was your background or training for you to get into designing when you haven't had your fine arts yet I mean where did you come from sa aka at ground my first my first foot in filmmaking was writing I really liked to write even if I was taking a business course I really liked to write and then there was this opportunity I was very very sad working in Meralco one day para hindi ka bagay kasi I had to pay the bills and then I was very young then there was this call Ricky Lee was supposed to hold this first workshop now it's already a legend in the script writing workshop I was very fortunate to have been accepted in that workshop based on a short story I made anyway yun ang una kung foot in yun and then at that time unlike now if you're an outsider if you're not the anak of someone who is in the movies it will be very difficult for you to come in very difficult and I could just imagine even for women ang hirap irap so I was thinking I'd really like to go to a film and then maybe this is one way but since it's writing I liked it and since it's Ricky Lee so yun yun ang una and then walang nangyari dun mam after the workshop because yun ang amam walang naman opportunity is masado again I had to pay the bills was Bing Lau Jeffrey Turian Pepin Anyunuevo who else ah the late Vincent Kua the cartoonist and the one who made comics one of the very first LGBT themed series comics sino pa ba so this was an opportunity to connect I'll pick that up and talk about your cubrador Bing Lau was there Jeffrey Turian you became the production designer tell us about that but no na yan no na ito we didn't know that we were going to work together well I think ano lang nag gelang together ang cubrador si actually yun before that Jeffrey made before cubrador I think Jeffrey made tako no no no the other one to hug yun and then um meron pang isa fail a patch of water yun pila balde pila balde yun yun manon si si pila balde because I was doing murami at the time so hindi ko na hindi ko na sa manon and then I remember manunuri I remember made win for that season anyway and then sabi ni Jeffrey sana magasamatay sa pelikula and then this opportunity cubrador came and then I like the idea na parang style of film and then the subject matter was parang unexplored before and then just of working with Bing Lau with Jeffrey Turian and with Boy Inigas and then Georgie was there pa so parang wain nata I mean parang nukuloko ako hindi ko kakonin yung so tingin mo yung scale na yan pagsinabi mo production design for a cubrador may shift yan you have such a big scale sa erisa so anong adjustment the challenge with cubrador is not so much the scale but yung choices nang lugar parang yung the squatter area of the film is actually four places four places parang because I was very particular sinabi ko Jeff parang the idea is this is hell and it's a maze and then it's dark and then when you get out of it maliwanag maluwag masikip because of the shooting style which means that the cinematographer will have to use wide lenses the tendency of wide lenses is to make small spaces look wide which means pero gusto mong our locations have to be very very narrow alleys so we have to look for certain places for that there are many many squatter areas here na actually ang luwag ng alleys nila so we have to look for those na talagang makited na parang it's just one meter wide for us to be able to have that kind of effect and then we had to choose interior locations that were big enough but kami na ang nagpaliit through design, through planning so it was not like as is where is that we went to these locations in the squatter areas no there was a lot of work done we also had to rig rain na ang haba-haba it was complicated ito yung ano you have to work well with your director of photography production design anong kukunan niya etc tell us about that okay, I was suerte ako sa cinematographers ko Dalai Charlie Peralta Pereira June Pereira I was able to work with Totonati Vidad of course Roddy Lakap and Boyinigas and yung the favorite of Selzo Adzi pidadangalan niyo yun Mithug and Romy Mithug cinematographers and Boyinigas cinematographers that I've worked with and I worked very closely with them giving them what's the palette what's the idea meetings and then they've made very good suggestions also that actually helped me in my work so I really worked closely with them sometimes to the point na medyo may tension but I think that's part of creative work of course maganda yung sinasabi mo maganda yung matagal ka rin so is there a maturity in production design sa ating film setting sa cinema natin what is it binabi ang banan potansya ano ba ang still ngayon may be not the filmmakers themselves but the general public and those are not really involved I would always remember even in they would always praise it's always like this the film sa ganyan the visual sa ganon the cinematography they always forget the production designer but you have to remember if there's no production design there's nothing to like that's true is it still in that point mo kong hindi pa rin nila masyadong role may be it's unfair to say na oh you have to recognize kasi it's recognized naman but I think we always may be it's part of the medium we're always sidestepped by by the cinematography because you have to remember the beginnings of production design is theater okay ang in-film cinematography belongs to film editing belongs to film right so it is it is a discipline that is intrinsic to the medium ang design kasi kasa mayon but it is also it has an older history in theater so I guess nangisip ko na lang anyway ano naman kayo sa theater masluba naman kayo and then this is intrinsically film so I guess the nature of the medium would actually be the reason why focus is really given to that in terms of evaluation in terms of critical evaluation of film in itself so it's partly because of the medium not because production design is unimportant we know that a lot of filmmakers would always be very very dependent and particular to production design and these are very good filmmakers scubrik niba bergman all of these great great event our younger what do you call this? our younger filmmakers, young Korean filmmaker for parasite but let me just so I get it that from what you're saying what is important is also to be working with the director who gives importance to the production design or else kaya sabi mo nga pinipili mo yung yung atanggap mo although minsan baka kailam sana pabayaan na lang ako no but ma'am always value na nandunan director because after all hindi naman production designer na nga upo sa editing I mean the film niba the film is really a director's medium I mean let's accept it let me ask you anong philosopher mo behind production design wow the general philosophy pinaka I don't know if I can call it a philosophy ang sakin lang ang paniniwala ko of course this is relative to the material no but generally design should be like it should support the story if it does not support the story and but design should not be just decoration it actually should push the story it should illuminate character for me the most important function of design it's not to make pretty pictures when the pictures become too pretty I always am very suspicious so I when in my work I take out more than the things that I actually put if it doesn't help the story I remove it okay good great gusto ko lang malaman talaga yung what's driving your design and as an artist tiba what what would you stand for because beyond your going to film and doing production design doon sa art mo what I my first I tried to write well I think I can write but I first wrote and then I did production design because that was the only opening in terms of coming into the industry and then my experience my practice in design siguro if if anything it helped me become very how to say very sensitive I think yung sense of space ko is has been sharp and doing production design especially yung space looking at it from the perspective of actual space and the space on the two dimension kasi film is two dimensional but the source of film is three dimension and then it becomes two dimensional so therefore you see now either you want to make it deep yung cutting of space et cetera mas conscious ko sa ganon and then yung this kind of sensitivity I tried to to use in my paintings as well as installations yung I heard well I read somewhere ang mga sinusolution mo na ngayon I would be your new body what else history and remembering can you tell us something about that before I go to your film that you directed yung after also how many years doing what you call this being into the visual arts napansin ko na the recurring themes that I sa aking mga trabaho because I'm not number one I'm not an artist with a particular style no I don't have one style kasi I'm multimedia and unlike other artists but I'm not saying that's bad but other artists who paint only in a certain way my relationship with my practice is what a scholar would say I'm not a monogamist I'm a polygamist I love many styles maganda yun na gala lang explain mo na gusto yun yun mga hindi ba I'm not stuck with one way of painting or one style one way of saying it I adjusted to the theme that I am I'm tackling now yung inano ko mam yung what you call this yung practice ko revolve where I make artworks that revolve around these themes they occur again and again about the body I've always believed at the embodiment yung our consciousness are not separate from our bodies we take our consciousness with us so ibig sabihin if the body is the vessel for our consciousness then the body should be very important it is not just a medium vessel but the body itself how we perceive things how we we how we are affected by things even the way we are sitting down actually affects the kind of I think the manner the conduct of our conversation if it's like this if it were a table it would be very different mam so how we deploy our bodies it's actually very important so how does that connect now to history and remembering well apart from the fact when we're doing about consciousness everything we do our bodies operate on memory that's why we are able to climb up stairs that's why we are able to to do many things and it's all tied together yung yung the centrality of the body and yung consciousness in having the power to remember things to tell stories all of that nakakabit lat yan sa katawan natin and then sometimes even the sensual aspect of our body is sometimes um we do remember through our bodies through our senses and our sensuality except that it's suppressed by our Catholic background but we're not as in touch with our bodies as other cultures for example you know that so yung mam makakarugtong para sa akin pero sa bingan yung mam yung mam pagwala ka na na remember wala ka na remember but if you've done important things you have history with you even if you lose even if you lose your memory even if you lose your memory what you have done before that is now part of history becomes the memory of a community that's the shift of positioning right? from self to outside how they see you too wonderful i think that's important ano ay yung gagawa mo and you have this at the back of your head when you do your work ito na yung sinulat mo instant mommy this was in 2013 it was i thought it was quite an exciting film and tell us about that film ano yung na actually i went into it have serious it came to a point i should start i should write something that i'm able to finish and then the story is not even mine it was a story that was junked before because of this because of that many reasons in fact that the reason that it was junked i became more interested i like things that are discarded for one reason or another i'd like to siguro know why it was discarded to begin with so i got this story about this japa yuki i mean not sorry and i said how do i transform this to to make a character more empowered rather than being a victim so i just wrote that and then when it came to a point i think i have a script why don't i include it in sinimalaya so sinama ko siya sinamit ko, inayos ko and then actually it did not get it was not part of the first 10 that was chosen ang i was told i was part of the 15 the top 15 that was chosen and then i think several people were chosen in the first backed out so that's the reason i came in which is good but the problem is i was not really i don't think i was psyched up enough to make that film to make that film because the ano was too soon i received that call from melchonglo saying na, no you're already part of it because nag-backout si ganoon so we're including it in the 10 sinimalaya finalist so parang that took me aback ikao mag-didan kasi anong ka na mayanong ka so so yun yan pas-forward pas-forward yun so yun ganoon looking for producers but was it a good experience for you? it was a learning experience for me one of the lessons there is dapat mas patigas ang ulo ko you're too nice yes so iba yung shift from production design to a writer, director ibang kailangan anong metal ang kailangan mato and then i think it all boils down to that dapat naging mas again mas maging adamanta ko kasi mga gusto mong gawin insist on it there was i never make a film with very little time for shooting because basically as a person even as a creative individual medyo mabagala ko mag-trabaho mabagala ko mag-process some people are amazed at them kasi ang bilis-bilis nila but ako mabagala ko, mabagala ko mag-anong and then once you're pressured to do so many things say things that you forget or you could have done it this way but may mga ganong may mga ganong but it was relatively a well-received film mixed ang reviews nya ako sanayin ako sa review and then somebody's positive opinion yes, thank you somebody makes an opinion that's not positive well, that's your opinion this is life, i think i'm old enough to say it that way what is interesting for me was the reception most especially when it was screened outside because the film did get to be screened in in Dubai international film festival it was screened in the golden horse in Taipei in Hawaii I wasn't able to go to Hawaii and then it screened in Osaka at that I really treasure the feedback of the foreign audience and then you would be surprised that there are certain things that the takeaways in the film is very different from the takeaways at local so you'd see the difference and then um yung feedback dito I think the Filipino audience is may sophistication siya hindi ko, hindi natin masasabi na yung medyo sila no, I think the Filipino audience at least in independent cinema may sophistication sila a lot so okay lang I just wish that when I did instant mommy yung the allusions the metaphors that I tried to put in sana nakuwa yung nakuwa naman yung iba nakuwa naman yung iba ang ano ko is I'm not a fast worker I'm a bit slow in thinking over things so I'm not very sure if the 15 day shoot paradigm and 40 day preparation is good or sometimes I'm also thinking what if I try making a film written by someone else that's another idea so so this would be my I'll give you the space to say or to give suggestions or even insights et cetera and recommendations advice to our filmmakers young filmmakers and those who want to go to production design so pwede bang bagay mo ng payo am I that old but you you've done so much already panu bang I think either way whether you go into design or in anything that you want to embark on I think you you have to love what you're doing because the in design or even production or even filmmaking it's hard enough to make one the fact that the protocols are only limited to technicals the creativity there's so much room for exploration you can ever bank on or be comfortable with formula because it's a creative work which means given that you really have to love doing it if you want to use for example like some of filmmaking or production design because it's part of the entertainment business whether we like it or not di ba? and you just want to be popular baka gusto mo mag Instagram ka na lang di ba? if you want to be famous for doing a film maybe it's the wrong premise you just want to tell stories I mean really tell stories in a particular way because even design is an art generally di ba? it's really a way of telling stories so if you want to go into this discipline you cannot just be a decorator or you cannot just be a stylist or you cannot just be a like a painter if you like you have to be to train yourself you have to inform yourself about telling stories about narrative art both in a practical sense and even in a theoretical or philosophical sense you know what storytelling is about all the other things you learn about design about the formal aspects and everything nan janyan e but I think it's more central na how does this tell a story I think whether the story is story in a literary sense or story in terms of creating moving images because you don't have to have literary structure to be able to create visual stories alam natin yan even in theory di ba? so it's a way of putting things together to create to create I think either a feeling, an emotion a movement or even a thought if you like great thank you very much for that Leo eto naman parang ano to questions mabilis ang ansera para we just show business let's start this what's your favorite local movie late of late the latest whatever only one isa lang mam okay again again I'll say it again parang ito mabilisa favorite local movie ba deal foreign movie parasite wait parasite or shop lift shop lifters the japanese film shop lift toast between the two okay favorite local actor actress jaclynose favorite production designer ken adam favorite director Kubrick cinematographer local foreign local favorite director sa local okay na favorite director sa local ko I always look forward to his films cheeto may bomb piece pero sa format hirikot mo ako dito kasi gusto ko sabihin jeffrey kailigang ko si jeffrey so it won't mean anything okay cheeto ron niyo and sort of jeffrey so cinematographer cinematographer sinil dasa okay favorite food kalyos favorite restaurant dummy mommy get away location this little cove in which I'm not good to tell this little cove ang panglaw island in bohol pet, cat or dog dog any hobby meron bako wala na kung time for abyss mam parabi salamat thank you mga kaibiga sa sinig isang oras sa namal na usap ang filmikula ang nagdahan alamata ng ating visita ngayong araw si professor leo abaya sa pagpaponlap niya na makahuntahan namin dito sa tvup sa sinipinoy at salamat sa ating manunod sa patuloy na pagtangkilik sa ating programa sanay nakapagdagdag kami ng kaalaman at nakapagbigay ng inspiration sa inyo kaming muli sa susunod na paghating namin ng mga personalidad mula sa larangan ng filmikula dito sa tvup.ph ako si doctor grace aviera fonso hanggang sa muli, ito ang sinipinoy