Satdown with Bill Gardner and listened to his discussion of what the CRAZY Filmmaker Program is as well as his history here in Bigfoot Entertainment and its academic arm, International Academy of Film and Television (IAFT).
The program essentially as I see it, targets the edgier side of creativity. Most of the time filmmakers and everyone involved are trapped into conventions and niches of what works and what viewers generally accept. And yet time and time again, audiences have grown smarter. They’ve become very capable of predicting how the story turns out, how the characters develop.
We are in an age of predictable entertainment.
I assume the CRAZY Filmmaker program addresses this on many fronts. Currently, IAFT has a one-year immersion program but the newly offered program requires a two-year immersion – that’s hardcore. Touching on the crafts of creating Fashion Television shoots, TVCs and even public service announcements. And to cap off the program, as mentioned by Bill, the students would be involved in a feature film production within Bigfoot.
I have nothing but an optimist’s outlook on the possibilities of such a program. To create a slew of new-age filmmakers bending conventions, going against the status quo’s of superheroes and CGI enriched feature films.
Mind you, I’m not in total disagreement of such an approach in filmmaking, neither do I desire to disparage the efforts of our modern day film artists – but don’t you just want something new?
Movies and TV shows have become stale throughout the years. Has creativity died with innovation? Suddenly Hollywood realized there’s more money to be made on action flicks and linear storylines drowned with ennui.
Perhaps this CRAZY filmmaker program that Michael Gleissner conceptualized could be the new primordial creative boom the global film industry’s been waiting for – too far fetched you say? It could be CRAZY enough to work.
To commemorate the program's edginess and creative openness, posted the vid that made me go gaga for everything CRAZY.
Covering male models is just a journalistic/literary ordeal for me. These men have perfect physiques and women just stick to them like fridge magnets. It makes me insecure and degraded whenever I’m in their presence, as if my viability to be noticed by the opposite sex vanishes into oblivion.
When a man looks at James (a straight one that is), one can’t help but wish he had the same physique and exude the same sexy model like aura. I for one envy the guy, compared to him, my body’s physique’s an epic fail. In fact at this very moment, I’m laying out the blueprints to photoshop my face over his and post it on Facebook (desperate times call for desperate measures).
He’s a Physical Education teacher by day and a top-notch model by night, how convenient can that get?
Ladies, for your amusement, posted some of his pics.
It’s a sunny and shimmering Thursday morning in Cebu and couldn’t help but ponder on a new paradigm, could it be that Thursday’s the new Friday?
Friday (subjectively speaking) is the best day of the week as it ushers in the weekend and the inevitable blissful events that are attached to it. And when Thursday arrives, the anticipation for Friday sets in (to be specific, beyond 1pm of Thursday), the ennui that has plagued anyone through the week should mellow down as each passing hour goes by.
At the end of the day you and your colleagues await the arrival of ‘the’ day of the week when the transition from work to vacation occurs -- this IS the climax, this IS the nirvana everyone looks forward to.
And to welcome this newly declared Friday, recently interviewed a talented editor from Bigfoot’s Post Production offices.
Trox Salazar shows us the viscera of editing within the chief’s fortress as he works on a vid for Bigfoot’s very own Starbucks-inspired (more like a straight out rip off), ‘Bigbucks’.
On location with Michal Garcia to cover a shoot that Bigfoot’s various production teams normally do on a daily basis. The vid features raw (in this case, really raw) behind the scene footage of an educational material for would-be photographers under Bigfoot's academic arm, International Academy of Film and Television or more widely known as IAFT.
Itook the liberty to indulge myself in investigative journalism and squeezed myself into Bigfoot’s jumbolicious (doesn’t sound right does it?) studio. Always wondered what’s going on the innards of that structure.
I was left impressed with the size and scale of ‘almost’ everything in it. The ‘Eye Sore Award’ had to go the green painted plane (troubling as it may seem, it clearly resembled a beheaded monolithic duck).
Being around models, gives that paralyzing aftermath on my spine, beautifully sculptured beings that walk amongst little men like me. However, behind that spine-tingling paralysis these goddesses lay upon me, they’re just average deities going through life’s journey, having their ambitions and aspirations in pursuit of happiness (whatever it may be) tucked behind those perfect 8 figures.
Recently sat down with Isabelle Du, a model, actress, and a body double for Bebe Pham (Deep Gold Leading Actress). Hailing from San Jose California at a fresh age of 23, having a Vietnamese, Chinese and French decent (err, she lost me at ‘Vietnamese’), this stunning beaut gives many a new angle of how breathtaking Euro-Asian Barbie Dolls can be. (But hey, don’t take my word for it; beauty’s a subjective devil).
Isabelle, as most models, is well traveled. She modeled in Thailand for 2 months before beginning shoot for Deep Gold and to add to her diverse portfolio, she did covers for EastWest Magazine, Audrey Magazine, and BN. As well as TV appearances for the Tyra Banks Show and Spike TV’s Manswers (which I initially spelled as Manseers, go figure. In fact, Isabelle was cute enough to write down the title for me).
Posted some Isabelle’s pics for your viewing pleasure (notice, no orgasmic modifier, let’s keep it clean people).
Filming of Deep Gold came to a screeching halt only after a day of resumed filming. According to Bec Piket, associate producer, production stopped due to some “set fine tunings” and issues regarding body doubles.
Guess the challenge of finishing and producing the film is a movie in itself – somebody’s got to capitalize the drama attached to these types of productions; the delays, conflicts and clashes, reality TV personified!
XOXO, you know you… oh s***, wrong blog! Darn it.
UPDATE: It seems production resumed, although on a minor scale as production awaits their maestro to return.
The next entry to Bigfoot’s lineup of feature films, “Deep Gold”, is currently in the final phase of production according to the official press release.
(But get this: the last update was eons ago back in March.)
Directed and produced by the chief himself – a story about a Cebuana freediver named Amy who goes looking for her papi as he and a truckload of gold enigmatically goes missing en route to Central Bank in Manila.
(Deliver gold to Manila you say? Gold vanishing into thin air? Bet they reached stateside, perhaps a few steps short of Central Bank. It’s Manila after all -- ruled by warlords and kingpins. Government funds poof away here on a daily basis, nothing new, case closed. -- Next!)
But on a more serious note: so what caused the disappearance of such a valuable package, and the people delivering it? That’s where the Cebuana chick comes in – to unravel the mystery (say in a low, whispered voice) behind the strange disappearance of her boyfriend and the gazillion worth of gold. As she gets caught in a web of conspiracy and intrigue along the way, she uncovers a plot bigger than what she could’ve ever expected (pretty exciting stuff).Based on what I’ve seen, with regard to behind the scene footages, it’s promising on many fronts.
Brand spankin’ fresh in the PR and Marketing team, the virgin days has gone by swiftly. Introduced to some interesting people from various departments and teams make me feel optimistic bout working here, plus the fact that Cebuano’s always have this warm smile, irrelevant whether it’s sincere or not, either way, it has the same effect, your mere existence being recognized in a jovial and gleeful manner, who’d resent that? My first official job as a writer feels like a bliss, getting paid for what you love doing, fantastic -- this is the way to live. Besides the conventional complaints of waking up early and doing a 9 to 5, or in Bigfoot’s case, 9 to 7 job, what else’s there to complain about?
Being a contractual has it perks such as non auto-deductions on compensation, but alas, this can’t go on forever, health benefits and paid leaves would be of necessity later on, as one grows older, body can’t take that much punishment as it used to. So a permanent job with benefits is the way to go kids.
Blogging experiences, observations, opinions within the premises, perhaps even the mundane could be transformed into exciting literary pieces. But that’s the thing; I wouldn’t have to settle for the mundane since there’s just a lot productions/projects going on in and around Bigfoot.
In anyone’s life there comes a time where you’d have to crawl your way out of your comfortable shell, for whatever reason it may be, desire for independence or perhaps the age old nightmare of being disowned. I fervently pushed for the former.
On a wet and humid afternoon, wearing nothing but a bacon gartered underwear in front of a radiating and irritatingly blinding monitor at home in Manila, Bigfoot gives me a ring. Exchanges went on for about month, negotiating minor details on lodging issues and compensation. Somehow, I just couldn’t resist the temptation of working in a high-end, fancy office with blonds randomly sprouting from corners. Oh, plus the fact that Fashion TV is affiliated with Bigfoot, and how can anyone forget those midnight shows on FTV? H.O.T.
Bigfoot's lobby
the lobby from another angle
Being the nerd-stricken, phlegm-swallowing boy that I am, signed the contract and took the next flight to Cebu. And here I am, typing on as a passionate (yes, hail to self-promotion) copywriter serving Michael Gleissner and his army of filmmakers.
Note to self, never believe pictures – they’re the new age devils. I feel like Adam & Eve squished into one atrocious walking mammal. White sand beach? What beach?!
A shot of the main Bigfoot building
A pristine and concrete open area between the main building and Casablanca apartments? More like a complex terrain of quasi hills and a fraction of the rain forest.
We can’t have everything can we, and even with all the superficial gripes and rants the Bigfoot premises rightly deserves, this is an adventure and experience that’s worth a peek.
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