BIG

and speaking of a BIG year, i started the year with the BIGGEST GIG of all...... as the assistant costume designer for The Bourne Legacy filming in Manila!!!

4 weeks of filming, in different locations in Manila, working with BIG stars and BIG hollywood designers and artists is an experience i will never forget.

unfortunately, i can't post any photos from the filming yet, but here's a souvenir photo with the costume crew i worked with - taken in our wardrobe truck :)  WOOT!

i think i'll be on a high from this all year! :) 

a very long engagement

another great work by jean pierre jeunet, director of amelie

is this movie i just saw...

absolutely loved it... it had the quirkiness of amelie, but it had just a li'l more depth and complexity to it.

you would have loved the set design as well -- the color scheme and look is different, but it has that surreal and dream-like feel like amelie does.

here's the trailer...

speaking of great set designs, i've been catching some episodes of this on hbo.

absolutely love the set and costume design... not since mad men have a seen such great effort in the details. you'll love it.

the introduction even has a magritte feel to it.

try to catch it :)

aaand i'm back....

spent the last month in the jungle, recreating a crash site in costa rica (yes, this is where that plane from palawan ended up!)....







and re-telling one man's journey and survival in the amazon...











the experience has been somewhat surreal, in a good way - working on a film set for a month, full of creative energies, in the middle of a jungle, away from the realities of outside world, with a great group of people who have become good friends :)

cinematography

hey sis! how's the shoot going?

(confession: i haven't been posting anything since a part of me didn't want to put anything over my li'l tribute to miguel... but life does go on and here i am... but before we go about our random musings, indulge me with one last post that sorta-kinda-has something-to-do with mvf3)

a while back, i watched this film:

yup, it's that film produced & directed by tom ford.

and yup, it does show like a movie that would be produced and directed by him...

where everyone is impeccably dressed,

and every shot looks like an armani ad...

and characters are more like models...

architecture (especially the main character's house) is just as crisp...

and sets are, if not oozing with mid-century modern design, have that flambo flair that goes with fake lashes and big hair...

each shot is so pretty to look at, it's almost like watching a music vid...

all this, plus a great story, great acting, and everything in between makes up for one really good (and quite gay) film...

and so here, cinematography has never been quite as contrived (and fun to watch)... i wonder what miguel would say.

the film, coincidentally (or not), is about grief...

(before we move on... i just want to add onto that last tribute i wrote... and here goes.

on how to honor his life...

5. to create friendships, and not just make friends

-- as one friend poignantly explained to us (through tears) last saturday, miguel is just one of those few guys who not only had a ton of friends, but truly had a ton of friendships. this is so true. so on that note, i will really try to go out of my otherwise cold ways, and create friendships of my own, in honor of silly miguel.)

oh, here's the trailer:

*inspired*

speaking of inspired sets, i finally finished the period "short film" i had been working on the past months! here are some stills i took from the set....

"kwan tong, china" shot somewhere in rizal. i had to cover the entire existing yero house facade with wood!


shot outside el hogar in binondo... we actually just put sandbags and fake barbed wire barricades on the street and dressed some american and japanese soldiers...



my favorite set has to be the shoe store on gandara st. in binondo which went from the 1930's through the war and all the way til after the war. i love how the "wallpaper" (stenciled wall with a pattern inspired by lust caution!) turned out. (this was actually built and shot inside an abandoned building).






we also built some "apartments" in an empty house. the walls are actually covered in cartolina so we can paint it to look like green wood panels :) and we added some styrofoam circles on the grills to make it look more like the 50's :) the ceiling fan is fake too - made of styrofoam and plywood!



this was set-up in another area of the house to look like a 60's apartment in davao...notice the old electric fan? we used to have one of those when we were kids :)


and lastly, onto the present day scenes... recognize the room? :) yes its twinpopbro's old room that i painted lilac and purple - there's my white night table and shelf (from the old ishq store!), and the red club chair (from starbucks!). we made a headboard with plywood and foam and hung mom's orchid manansala (ssshhh!). harhar :)


:D!

and as if i'm not "chinese-d" out, i'm off to shanghai in a few hours!!! see ya soon!

everything is illuminated

managed to sneak in another one yesterday...

(this is what i get for babysitting the sick twinpophub)

wow, wow, wow.

what a read -- to think it was the first novel of a 25-yr-old.

it's kinda surreal, funny, sad, happy, historic, dreamy.... can't explain. never read anything like it.

they've managed to translate it into a movie. here's the trailer. now i wanna watch it.

yun lang :)

rec

of course leave it to twinpopbro to send this. it's this year's zombie movie REC from spain. part blairwitch, part 28 days later. here's the trailer of QUARANTINE, the american version of the movie..

and here's the reaction of the audience -- too funny!

nick & norah

finally took a break from the twilight series to read a book given to me twinpopgay.

this has got to be one of my fave books of the year.  short, sweet, cleverly written, heartwarmingly accepting of all things (and persons) different, funny, and set in the cool parts of nyc.  makes you want to be young and cool, and in new york.

and i totally get why they've made it into a movie, but i can't imagine how the movie can be anywhere near as good as the book.

good casting using michael cera -- love him -- although imagined nick to be a tad cuter.

watch the trailer here.

can't wait!!!

zenk yoo!

hey sis! 

thanks for recommending twilight in this post.  (and for lending the book!)

you weren't the first (and last) to recommend the book.  

a super smart bookworm told me that

1. the series is incredible

2. i should read each book slowly to savor it

my thought:  how can a kiddie high school vampire book have that effect? and on her?

then i read it.... (i'm only halfway)... wow! kilig to the bones!

my gosh, now i get it.  you really feel butterflies in your tummy and relive those teeny bopper days!

when i'm reading it, i imagine the guy to be nate of gossip girl.

and the girl to be juno of juno.

these are the actors who're gonna play the lovebirds...

she's prettier than i had imagined.  dat's hollywood.  (i like my casting better).

yun lang.