 Magandang araw muli sa ating mga manonohod. Welcome to another episode of Cine Pinoy. Ito po ang inyong lingkod si Gigi Javier Alfonso at ngayong araw isantan niyang na cinematographer ang makakasamaan natin ngayon. Araw mula sa pagiging isang workshop participant ng Mowell Fund Film Institute doong 1980s, isan ngayong award-winning cinematographer ng mga batikang director ng pelikula katulad nila Diaz, Raymond Redd, Chris Martinez at marami pang iba. Isa sa pinaka tanyag niyang gawa ang gawadurian-winning cinematographer niya para sa pelikulang Norte hangganan ng kasaysayat 2014. Si Labdias po ang nangdirekt ni Ito na napalabas sa Cannes Film Festival, sya rin ang cinematographer ng pelikulang Ele sa Hiwagang Hapis 2016 ni Labdias na nagwagi ng Silver Bear sa Berlin Film Festival noong 2016. Mga kaibigan, ikiragagalag ko na makasama ngayong araw si Mr. Larry Manda. Hello Larry. Oh glad you're here. Salamat sa pagiging isang. Okay Larry, tell me. Gusto kung umpisa niyo to sa umpisa ng umpisa. Who is Larry Manda? Coming from you ha? Everybody knows Larry Manda but from you. Si Larry Manda ay tubong beacoll. Nagpumasok ako sa Minor Seminary for four years. Tapos hindi ko pinagpatuloy ang pagpare, iba yung calling ko eh. Tapos sinumbaw kang pumasok sa kolehiyo pero noong mga panahon na yun during 1980s. Medyo magulo yung panahon na yun eh. Actually magulo yung panahon na yun. Bakit mo na sabi yung magulo yung panahon na yun? Kuan yun eh. Patapos na yung martial law na yun 83. Tapos medyo sa province kasi dun yung bakbakan na yung panahon na yun eh. So ninais kung maglayag dito sa Manila. Tapos sinubukang kung pumasok sa asahan. Tapos meron ako nakitang TV plug na workshop sa Mawalfan. That was 1984. About total filmmaking workshop. So that was the start. So tell us about that workshop. Mahabang proseso kung panahon na pasok sa Mawalfan. Panahon niya ni Sir Freyess. Panahon niya Sir Freyess yun. Napasok ko sa Mawalfan through Rolfi Velasco. Nag-biga niya ako ng scholarship to study for that summer. That was 1984. At that time yung naman mahala si Sir Freyess. Tapos ang kenyang mga tiga pangasihwa noong si Nick Diocampo. Raymond Redd. And saka si Mack Alejandro. So sila yung parang facilitators at that time. Medyo sinuerti kami kasi nung panahon na yun ang karunang matiba yung. Meron pa datang Gurthy Institute at that time. And very involved yung naman mahala ng Gurthy Institute si Dr. Uvesh Malter. Very passionate siya sa cinema. So nagpapadala siya nung mga artist, cinematographers, editors from Germany. Saka mga kwantoy, mga working professional. So yung panahon na yun, andaming pinapadala yung Gurthy. So andaming workshops ang nung mga panahon na yun. Ikuwento mo yung pag sa Maulpan, di kao lahat. Di kao ang wang chershot, di kao ang didrik, et cetera. Tell us about the things that you experience when you had your workshop. Yung panahon namin si Idaya to ni Sir Freyess. At tingkatawag yan total filmmaking workshop. Wherein bahaw at estudyante, kailangan matutu kayo ng lahat ng elemento ng pagawa ng pelikulano. From inception script up to editing. Binibigang kami ng nung mga panahon na yun. Tinuturusahamin yung theory sa umaga, tapos ina-apply namin sa hapon. We have to come up with a three-miniter scene. Tapos lahat kami dun sa batch, magdidirect, magdidipi, magdidesign, magi-edit. At the end of the day, kri-critik namin yung mga gawa namin. Tapos, during the evening, manunod kami ng ibad-ibang pelikula, film appreciation. Tapos hanggang sa dinidiscas namin yun. So, yung isang araw namin dun, hitik na hitik yung informations na nakakukuhan namin. So, discurso, film discourse, but at the same time, technical. Iyon yung gawa namin, parang, kasi ang tawag namin nung sa Mo Wolfan, film gym. Film gym? Yes. Atyaka, di ba yung mga filmmakers nag-organize rin, meron ka mga kasamaan din na. Filmmakers who are new cinema coming out. Tell us about that. Si Ducino kaya yun? Yung kabach ko at the time, si Labdias, si... Pero sa isang generationo, yun generationo yun. Through time. Si Reggie Romana, is a very good cinematographer, Louis Carino. Iyam Laranas was part of the later latter batch, si Dindo Martinez. Actually, ang dami nilay. Dami nilay. Pero that made that time very fruitful. Maraming experimento. It was very fruitful. Siguro ang tingin ko rin din kasi nun mga panahon na yun kasi yung film discourse, it's very alive. And... ...dahil sa wala pang internet, wala pang masyadong distractions, talagang nakafocus ka dung sa... ...paano gumawa at saka yung evolution mo as a filmmaker. Nag-gusta kung pag-usapan natin. Ano sa yun ang cinema? Meron kang... ...di ba, may roots ka, oh magpapari ka, hindi ka napari. No, I'm just talking about the world view that comes into your cinema. Paan, anong pananong masamundo, in the role of cinema in your life and what do you cinema? Akan tingin ko, it's not just about the elements ng salob na cinema but it's more on engagement. I view everything as an engagement, even life. Kasi dung ko tinitingnan yung... ...not only as a cinematographer, not only as a filmmaker but yung totality ko as a person. So pinapaso ko yung dung sa gawa ko. So kung ano man yung process ko sa pag-engage ko sa buhay, yun din yung nilalagay ko sa cinema. So that's why for me to be an effective cinematographer, kailangan yung process of engagement should be articulated. Pero you were really on top of things like you were in charge of equipment etc. Kailangan kilalanin mo ang kadami-dami equipment. Of course some of them are right in the back of us. Kailangan ba talaga maintindihan ang bawat solok ng camera para maganda ang lumabas na imayin? Yes, partiyan ng isang cinematographer. Yung evolution ay kasi Murphys Lowe, so every 18 months palit ng palit yung camera. So it's paramount that you know the technology for you to be able to keep up. Kasi like ngayon yung digital transformation is so fast na bago magkabisa yung isang tool. Mayro naman bagong papalit. And not only that, sumasama ang evolution ng camera sa post production. So if you don't know yung integration ng post sa camera, somehow you will be lost along the way. For example, may specifications at Netflix that you have to observe. Like for example, kailangan may 4K ka, so what is 4K, ang bagong post, 4K, aces. Technical fix it, pero as a cinematographer you have to keep up. And during your mobile fund days, who are your mentors? You would consider as your mentors, aside from Sarah first there and all that. Hindi ko ma isan tabi si Sirfress kasi si Sirf, malawak yung panigin niya sa mga bagay-bagay. So I cannot, like Sirf is a big influence sa akin si Sirfress. Yeah, I guess. It's true. Yung mga panangan na yun siya yun. So okay, let me then go to being a cinematographer. Did you right away know that this would be your specific interest among all the, di ba? You direct and you, pero parang nakoncentrate sa cinematography. I started out as, well, when I was starting out sa industry, I, gusto ko mag-direct. But the thing is, catch-22, kailang mayroon ka mo ng film bago, maho ka mag-direct. So it took me a while, so sabi ko, tayo ka lahat chata dumadaan sa pintuan, siguro dupan ako sa bubong. Yun yung kawang ko at that time. So I think yung pinasa ko yung cinematography. But even before that, I started out as a film editor. So I was an editor for about three, four years. I made two features, Sakay and Bayani. All right, tell me about that experience. I was a co-cinematographer sa Sakay and co-editor. Yes, and co-editor. All right, all right. But Bayani, I was the editor of Bayani. Pero nag-direct kayo, di ba? I did several short features. Short films, all right, okay. So, parang na mas naging koan ako sa cinematography. Mas na, nine love god, nine love god sa cinematography. Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. Yung Bayani at Sakay. Tell us about that, that experience. Yung Bayani, that was the first feature film na din-direct ni Raymond. At that time, I was working as a film editor sa TV commercials. I was invited by Raymond to edit the film. It was shot on 16 and then I edited it on 16mm. And then we blew it up sa 35mm. Ang laki ng experience, ang laki na natutunang ko because I was able to experience the whole post-process ng, imagine, from 16mm to 35mm. And yung pagangat na yun na talaga natutunang ko yung buong proceso. And it was very helpful. So, di ba? Pagusapan natin ito. Love Diaz. Okay, Burger Boys. Evolution ng isang pamilyang Pilipino, 2004. And then Norte, hangganan ng Kasaysayan, 2014. Hele, Hiwagang Hapis, 2016. Panuhon ang Halimaw, 2018 yan. And ngayon, itong upcoming film, you have to tell us about this. Kapag wala na ang mga alon. Go ahead, Larry. Yung first film, ang unang talagang pili ko na nilabarente is Burger Boys. We shot it in Baguio way back, I think 1999. But nung ginawa niyo yung Baguio Conception, the second film, it was first shown. So that was considered this first film kasi yun yung unang pinapamastong. Rayman Bagat Singh and all that. Under Mother Lili. Yes, yes, yes. Yan yung sa Pito Pito, they came up with that. Kasi kasaman nila yan, in batch nila yan. So Jeffrey Hittory and so on. Actually, yung Burger Boys was part of the Pito Pito. We literally shot it for seven days in Baguio. Yung ibu-experience namin doon eh, talagang total independent. I mean, indie filmmaking talagang to the max. Kasi we're literally waiting for the equipment para, natyutsyut kasi yung ibang production na hantay namin eh, bago matapos, bago kong ay mag-shoot ay sa kami gagawa. But it was, dami ko natutunan doon eh, sa experience na yun eh. One, yung kung anong-anong instinct na gusto ng gawin dapat, yun yung... Yun yung gawin? So, gano din ba sa evolution ng isang pamilyang calipiro? Yung evolution, mas mahabang proseso kasi yun eh. Ah, chaka mahabari na koer doon eh. Yeah, I started... Well, inong pisahan nila Brent, isyut yung sa New York eh. Tapos, nung pagwina rito, ginontak niya ako para gagawin yung, but ang mga baka kasi nung proseso, so andami naging sinamatographer doon sa pili ko lang yun eh. I was, I only shot some portions for about a week. And then the rest iban ay yung mga pili. How about Norte? We shot it 2013. Yun yung, I think yung first major production niya using digital. Of course it was shot, nothing black and white. And then I introduced some element like very, very slow movement na pinasok naman niya sa film language niya. Actually, hindi napansin yung galaw niyan kasi habang nagsiyut kami, nagpapalagay ako nung metronome sa Dalí para halos, di mo maramdaman yung galaw niya. Ito sparkly also, I watched this film in a Japanese director, Tessy Gahara, yung gumamit nung very, very slow movement na Dalí. Nung binanggit ko kilabrento yun, parang no una may resistance yung pagalawin yung camera, no una may kulay na, tapos may galaw pa. So sabi ko sa kanya, not that wala kasing kailangan, wala nang ginagawa sa ibang film niya. Naramdamang ko lang kasing gamitin yung elementin ngayon dahil sa kuwento. Yung sinabi ko nga sa yun na instincte. Oh, you feel mo eh. Oh, kailangan kung gumalawin. So Halimao, what about Halimao? Halimao, we only used one lens for the film. Just one lens for the whole duration of the film. We used a very, very wide angle lens, about 10mm, pero tinabas ko yung sa post para hindi masyadong magkaroon ng distortion. Pag-gumamit ko ng wide angle na sisi kakaroon distort. So tinabas ko yung, in such a way na hindi mo halos maramdaman yung distortion on both sides. So you have wide angle lens. Pakatapos kung gusto mo pumasok, itatabas mo na lang. Parang ganoon niyo. Well, yung boom film, tinabas ko yung both sides. Interesting. That's what you call as, you know, trying it and seeing if it works. Seeing if it works, di ba? Kapag wala na ang mga alon, ito yung ano. Tell us about this. Kasi pa da ting. It's coming. Boomali kami sa film. We shot it on 16mm. Black and white. Celluloid. Back to celluloid. That's amazing. Celluloid. Sinot namin yan before pandemic. We shot it right after nung pagsabog ng pal. Tapos biglang nag-pandemic. So medyo humaba yung processo. And we had a hard time kasi yung processing pinadadala namin sa Japan, nag-sara. Eventually we shot the remaining film sa Portugal and then pre-noses somewhere in Eastern Europe yung negatibo. So it's a very long process but it's worth it sa film. Larry, I know you've gone through a lot for your cinematography. So I'd like to hear your advice for our young cinematographers. Aside from the technical things, you have to be abreast nung sa new technologies. Manood kiyo nang manood habang bata pa nila. Manood nang film na. And then more than the technical things, kahit alam mo na yan, yung asabi ko sa previously na you have to engage life. Kailangan hiyamong siyang pumasok sa iyo. Hiyamong siyang pumasok ng pumasok kasi yung yung gagamitin mo pag nags-shoot ka na. Lalo na pag dumating ka na dung sa punto na babali ka na sa basics, sa fundamentals, ang ahawakan mo kung anong nararamdaman mo nung sa habang binabasa mo yung script, yung pag-aangklahan mo. So lahat ng mga nasagap mo while you're engaging life, iyon yung magbibigay sa limuot dung sa hakuwan sa ginagawa mo yan. Wonderful advice. Pero ito, we always go to this part, ito yung fast talk. So mo bilisang ang sagot, Mike Silang. What is your favorite pastime or hobby during COVID-19, the pandemic? Lalakad lang ako. Okay, lalakad. Three words that personally describe your style in cinematography. Just be yourself. Yeah. Who's your favorite cinematographer, local? Kaipi. Okay, si Kaipi. Cinematography? Cinematographer. I am sorry, foreign brother. Sven Neikvist. Okay. And what is your favorite local movie? Your film, sa ganoon. Pagputin ang uwak, pag-itim ng tagak. Okay, so how about foreign film? Sorry? Foreign film. Conformist. Okay. Who's your favorite local director? Mike Deleon. It's a good director. Okay, foreign and then foreign director. Roman Polanski. Okay, Polanski. Who's your favorite local actor? Gronilasaro. Okay, actress. Actress. Bakit? Ano mo yan? Delicado ba o ano ba? Hindi naman. Well, Nora-onor. Nora-onor it is and favorite food. Adobo. Any restaurant, favorite restaurant? Krongtay. Okay. All right. What do you fear most? Of course. Death, of course. Do you have any pets? Oh, yeah. Okay, dog, cats. And genre, music, music like. Music? Yeah. Any Pink Floyd music. Okay. Thank you very much, Larry, for being here. Thank you. At maraming salamat sa lahat for staying with us. At dyan po, nagtatapos ang ating episode ngayong araw. Maraming-maraming salamat kay Mr. Larry Manda sa papaunlak niya sa ating invitation ngayong araw. Patulay po nating Tangkilikin ang Pilikulang Pilipino. Catch us again next time. At tvup.ph as we bring in another Pilipino film artist for a chat. I'm Gigi Javier Alfonso Ang gamulay sa muli. Ito ang seni pinoy.