Philippine Adventure # 7 - Filming more Salt, M.I.A, Mango Square

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Saturday afternoon we went and shot at a place called Mactan Oasis approximately ten minutes from Bigfoot for a couple more scenes. Kiss came and met up with us as well since she was my ‘supporting actress’ in this scene. We shot at this abandon building that I couldn’t quite figure out if it was still under construction, being reconstructed or taken down. It had this distinct feeling to it since it was so industrial yet sits along side a main road in this gated apartment complex. It’s a fabulous place to shoot for something raw and edgy. I started getting ideas in my head for a shoot, but quickly went back to my primary reason of being there, and that’s to play my character, Bailey. It was a great location as we were the only ones there on this Saturday afternoon shooting the film and hearing the birds singing around us, feeling the subtle breeze from the sea. Once we were done shooting, we headed back to Bigfoot thru the town that took forever to get through because of a massive flea market on the street. What took us 10 minutes before now took us nearly an hour to get through so we were relieved once we made it back to the facility.


Kiss drove us through the streets of Cebu to a place called Turtle’s Nest where we were to shoot a few more scenes. One point I’d like to make is here in the Philippines from my experience, the drivers here are 1) TERRIBLE or 2) alert, there’s no in between. Kiss I have to say is one of the VERY few female drivers I have ever rode with who is on point, alert, and ruthless. The people who know me, know the way I drive. She’s up there with skills, so I have to give her credit mobilizing us from location to the next and I’m partial to the ability of maneuvering in and out of city traffic. I felt far more relaxed in her car then in any taxi I have ridden, because of her exceptionally ruthless, behind the wheel ability. I sat in the back looking out the window as we were listening to M.I.A Bamboo Banger, watching the sun slowly fall behind the mountains as we arrived at Turtle’s Nest Café to meet Jon the photographer and use his place to shoot.


The scenes we had to perform were a bit more emotional as we had to do a ‘bed scene’ and another scene of me reacting to a letter that was written from one character to the other. The first scene we did was us in the bed, which was a bit awkward considering Sunny, and I have become very close but in a platonic way. I’m so in love with this guy because of who he is and his creativity, not to mention his dry personality though I manage to crack some jokes with him. He has a vision in his head, and makes it happen in the laziest way yet it still manages to get done. I just go along with what he tells me and although we clash often with our opinions, there’s an overwhelming respect we have for each other that I find myself enthralled with. We both felt funny about it, but considering we are artists, we knew we had to get it done to move onto the next scene. Plus, being nineteen years old having a half naked woman on top of you sweating profusely playing up the character, the way I look at it, you go big or you go home. I’m keen to help create a great short film for his final thesis, making it look convincing on film. Not to mention later that evening I had to cry so this shoot toyed with my emotions as an ‘actress.’ I don’t like to say I’m an actress, but I do find it easy to act, maybe due to performing as a dancer. It took me a while to break down, but I did manage to pull it off so we could finally finish the night and leave, as we were all exhausted from the day.


Saturday night I wasn’t planning on going out since we didn’t get back until late in the evening, so I laid down on my bed dozing off until Sunny came in to ask me if I wanted to go to TJ’s to drink and relax. Mind you it’s now 1 am so crossing into Sunday morning, I know I wanted to sleep but I also want to enjoy my time here, so I sucked it up, got dressed and we walked over to TJ’s. A few guys were staying at TJ’s who use to go to school here at Bigfoot whom came down for a wedding from Manila and to help Sunny with his thesis. A guy named Julian who is originally from El Paso Texas who is ridiculously beautiful, Johan who is from the Netherlands (yay for the Dutch) and a neighbor named Michael all were there and so was Tanduay. A few shots of that and you’re bouncing off walls. Sujay, Sunny’s from India who also studied here, was passed out up stairs and I’m amazed he didn’t even come down to partake in the debauchery we were creating. I really enjoyed that morning with the guys at a spur of the moment house party with 4-5 people. It was a party for us since most of us don’t drink very often but we knocked back a bottle of rum and coke steadily. Johan being from the Netherlands, drinks like a champion and of course because I’m Dutch, he was calling me out on my drinking ability or lack of. Sadly enough, most of it is a blur and when Sunny and I left at 6:30 am watching the sun come up, this is the part where you as the reader can stop and imagine the site of two drunken foreigners laughing and giggling talking a bunch of rubbish on a Sunday morning. You would think the streets would be dead to the world on a Sunday morning, embarrassing enough it was the complete opposite. Nothing like one of those stories you tell people that involves intoxication, foreigners, streets, locals, and everything else combined to make it a memorable experience.



Sunday afternoon we did a couple montages at Punta Engano for the film (slightly hung over as well) before we packed up and were to head to Tops for the evening with some quick stops along the way. The original plan was to go to the Taoist Temple in Beverly Hills for some shots, but by the time we got there, it was closed. So instead considering we had all night, we went to I.T Park, had some coffee to kill sometime waiting for a few others to meet up with us. Around 10 pm in the evening, we slowly made our way up the road to Tops for a grand finale scene I guess I can describe it. What better way to end a weekend like this then to shoot at the top of a mountain overlooking lights, being with your friends, and creating art. We did manage to have slight problem that actually was hysterical due to the weight in the back of the jeepney. A couple times, we weren’t sure if we were even going to make up the road as the jeepney kept bogging out (I’m laughing about this now looking back to that incident). The driver would rev the engine, give it gas, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried to get photos and footage of all of us getting out and pushing the jeepney up the hill with all our equipment in the back. Taxis’ were passing us by, other cars whizzing up the road watching us push the jeepney. We finally managed to get it up to Tops in the end, but what a mission.




Sunday night consisted of all of us shooting but no one was really rushing to get it all done considering we were there all night to capturing the morning shot. We sat listening to music, reading, talking, eating, drinking, and smoking. I packed a blanket and pillow for the night just in case I wanted to sleep since I had to clock into work after we finished up there. Thankfully it didn’t rain at all while we were there, so after a few hours of being around everyone, I put my pillow down, took my blanket, laid down and watched the stars star back at me. I spoke no language, I didn’t know the difference of being alone, isolated, liberated, or relaxed. I did feel alive, I felt content; I felt as if nothing else meant a single thing to me except the simplicity of that very moment when I closed my eyes and drifted away on my raft floating in sea of dreams. I couldn’t fall deep into sleep as the floor wasn’t the best place for comfort, but it did me well and I could still hear everyone’s voices around me in the distance. By this time in the early morning, it was just us who were there, and some of the crew took naps, while others played music and killed time doing whatever it is they occupied themselves with until the final scene was to be put into action seeing the sun wake the early morning of a new week.


Once we finished the scene with Kiss and I, it was a wrap with the crew and we had to all head back to Bigfoot to go back to school, clock in and even work. Kiss left before us in her car and we all piled into the jeepney to make our trek all the way back to Bigfoot when the rain started to come down. Our drive back wasn’t bad as it was still relatively early and instead of going into the city, we were going the opposite direction as most. When we arrived at Bigfoot, I went to my room while the rest of the guys dropped off the equipment at sound stage 1. Sunny and I talked about eating pancakes in the morning at Fashion Café since we were up so early and just got done with shooting. I must commend Sunny for his creative thinking, his location scouting, visualizing the scenes in his head while managing to direct. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I know he’s thankful for me being pretty easy to work with, and even though I seem to have a free-spirited attitude when it comes to everyday life. Never under estimate me I say, I’ll always pull through when it comes to what is expected of me if I’m allowed the freedom to be me, a free bird.

Monday afternoon I had a meeting with a couple interns for a shoot we planned to do in the city at Mango Square. Last week a small group of us scouted out a location to do a guerilla style shoot in a place that is known to be dodgy but the whole area was filled with endless possibilities to really capturing killer photos. We planned to shoot Tuesday evening and the concept was neon lights, cute dresses, simple and fun. Guerilla style is just going to shoot and hope for the best with no set up. It was a brief meeting and then the rest of the day I sat looking at my computer trying to sort out the minor problems I was having with it. Recently, my computer has been giving me attitude and the keys will change on me making it difficult to complete a sentence. Today it seems to be ok, but it was a royal pain in the arse earlier this week. I went to eat at La Luna with Sunny and Sujay, which is one of my favorite spots to eat before going to sleep shortly after.



Tuesday evening was the night of the Mango shoot, it started to rain outside so Merrile, the stylist Lisa and I were all wondering if we were going to shoot or if there was a plan B. John who was producing the shoot said we were going so at 7 pm we all piled into three cabs along with others who were coming to act as security for us. I think we mobbed into Mango Square 14 people deep, and then our luck struck, the rain came down. What was supposed to be a planned shoot with lights, locations, people, Lisa designed a couple of dresses for us but it turned out to be a bit of a mess. It wasn’t that it was awful, it was just slightly unorganized and Merrile and I had no direction of what we were doing. It lasted longer then expected, and unfortunately we weren’t feeling the shoot because as a model, sure it seems easy to stand there and get your photo taken, but we need direction and an idea of what expressions to give. We did one shot where Merrile and I were walking down the street arms linked together, acting sultry and seductive into the camera. Well, there was a puddle in front of us that we didn’t notice, so in the heat of the moment as we gave that ‘look’ of seduction, Merrile trips in the puddle and nearly falls to the ground. Luckily I felt her falling and managed to hold her up so she doesn’t do a full face-plant into the huge pothole. Now that’s an expression for everyone, two models eating concrete along side a busy street in short dresses, classic. After that shoot was over, I changed into another set of clothes, said bye bye, grabbed a cab and went to meet up with TJ, Julian, and Johan at a place called Formo for some drinks.

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