Half way thru my internship

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It’s been a week already since I was on Mindanao and already going into my fifth week here in Cebu for my internship. This past week was pretty relaxed to start off with, had a couple meetings with the Fashion TV department regarding shooting and also with concepts. We finally had a shoot last Thursday inside sound stage one with one of the fashion interns from India, and I also did a few scenes for a student here working on his director debut music video. So I guess I shall start back from Monday leading up to today which is again another Sunday evening, listening to Jennifer Rene’s “fall to pieces” by Jonas Steur on In Search of Sunrise 6 Ibiza. I do like to include some of the music I listen to when I write or type a blog because it allows people to envision what I’m doing when I’m doing it. Overly descriptive, outlandishly long in length, and half the time not even proof read before being published; but raw, genuine, insightful, and if I say it’s an adventure, you better believe it is.

Today is Monday and I started this blog last night before my kick back crew came over to hang with me in my dorm room (it’s a hotel room but feels like a dorm room) for a few hours. So I will continue today as I listen to music, look outside to view the clear skies and feel the humidity linger, not to mention nonchalantly watching the ants go about their normal routine on my wall in front of me. Last Monday was relatively mellow since I got back into Mactan early in the morning from Mindanao. I clocked in at 8am as I was suppose to do; then went into the gym to work out for an hour. I also went to the grocery store that evening to do a bit of shopping again to pick up a couple other things for my room and this time Sunny came along. When we were done at the store, he asked me if I wanted to ride a motorbike back to Bigfoot instead of getting a taxi so I said ‘yes, let’s do it.’ Sometimes in other countries getting around is a bit difficult and if you know you can get somewhere on a motorbike quicker not to mention be able to see a little bit more then you would in a taxi or bus, by all means, do it. After a quick ten minute ride on the back three people deep on a 125 cc bike, we made it back safely to the headquarters.


The following day I went to the gym again which was uneventful and nothing exciting. We received an email to have a meeting at the FTV office to confirm a shoot and call time for our shoot the Thursday of last week. Following that meeting, we also gathered in the dance studio for another meeting that early evening with other interns in which I only know half and maybe a fourth of them as friends not acquaintances. Mind you though every person I’ve met here has been pleasant and warm hailing from all over the world to work in editing, post-production, photography, teaching, producing, and shall I say, the list goes on. Despite knowing a decent amount of people here, I still keep to myself most of the time just to fly slightly under the radar to avoid any type of gossip. There is gossip here only because of the fact it isolated on Mactan, it’s a school as well as a company so of course it’s close quarters. It’s inevitable as there’s always going to be company gossip so I try to lay low and only show a strong presence at particular moments. Going back to the meeting though, it was about post-production and restructuring the company and of course, touching base on the recession.

Wednesday I wanted to check out the editor’s suite to see how they cut clips on Final Cut Pro and their current project which, is a trailer for the company showcasing some of the movies it’s produced. It’s such a precise job paralleling movie clips with music clips and matching the beats together with certain parts of the clips. Editors have to spend countless hours in a room with huge Mac desktops constantly working to get everything into a ‘final cut’. I didn’t stay too long as I was on my way to start my blog journey entry of Cagayan that afternoon so after a while in the suites, I left back to my room to start typing away. Since our shoot with one of the interns was the following day, I wanted to make sure I had some of the stuff I needed for the shoot, if any at all. Our make up artist couldn’t make it for the job, so we had to do up our faces ourselves, and luckily it wasn’t overly dramatic make up or else Merrile and I would of failed miserably. The third model Oi Ling was scheduled to do her shoot after us because we were doing two different concepts between the three of us. Merrile and I were working with Hemanth, the photographer from India on an Indian exotica theme, and Oi was doing a high fashion couture ‘deer in headlights’ theme. I know it does sound a bit funny, but it was a concept the second photographer wanted to shoot, so that evening I stayed in my room, made myself a gourmet salad consisting of lettuce, microwaveable chicken strips, Kraft singles and some mayonnaise for dinner along with an orange and yogurt. When you’re on a budget, it will have to make due.

Thursday morning rolled around and I headed to sound stage one to get ready for the shoot. IAFT students were there as well during the morning to try out the new Red camera what is commonly used in major filming in Hollywood. A couple interns from the school also came to the shoot to get some behind the scenes clips of us getting ready and shoot with Hemanth. Our outfits were ok, it was last minute and we managed to pull it off to get some shots for us, but also the photographer and also a couple of students playing lights. That’s one great thing here about Bigfoot and IAFT is that you have hands on models there for students to get an idea of how to shoot, great learning tool for sure. The shoot only took 3 hours total and luckily it wasn’t overwhelmingly hot in the sound stage that would of made us irritable either. Merrile and I performed out our modeling duties that morning with posing along with some Indian dance moves though we don’t know any. Oi Ling was after us with her concept that sounds ridiculous but I heard from Merrile it turned out quite well. Oi Ling is so tall as well that anything she puts on looks good on her. Overall it was a productive day for the whole department with shooting and executing projects for FTV Asia.


What can I say about the weekend? Ironically enough Friday was the 13th and Saturday was Valentines Day, two days back to back with specific meanings that couldn’t be any more farther away from each other then those. Sunny and I decided it was a good time to head to the Tao Temple here in Cebu that’s located in ‘Beverly Hills.’ Believe it or not, but there is another Beverly Hills in the world. From the temple I took a photo fo Cebu and if I didn’t know any different by seeing this photo for the first time, I would think I was in San Diego. Beverly Hills is a nice area situated in a small mountainside with nice homes along with a few temples, the Tao being one of them. Since I read and practice Taoism, I felt I had an obligation to see the temple and pay my respects. Sunny has been there many times so it was nice of him to take me there. When we were done there, we walked down the road and grabbed a ride from one of the scooter taxi’s to take us to I.T park for some lunch. Then, of course since there was a Starbucks there, I had to buy a mug to add to my growing collection of Starbucks around the world. Soon after that quick stop, it was back to Bigfoot from Cebu battling the bustling traffic in the crazy streets. I ended up falling asleep in the cab and apparently I was slightly snoring from what Sunny said, he should have just slapped me to shut me up. Since I fell asleep in the car, I figured I needed a nap to regain some energy for the night ahead, but sadly enough I didn’t manage to get some sleep so instead I stayed up.



We A few people were going out that evening to Vudu the club I like to go to. Sadly enough I can’t say I’ve been anywhere else, but Vudu is fun and I made friends with the one of the owners with dancing, not giving a rats *&^ who’s around, I was going to dance my little butt off as if my life depended on it. TJ is an exceptional freestyle dancer as well so he and I were feeding off each other’s vibe. Then of course, being the way we were, we would each do our 30 second solo showing one another up or improvising a dance number with whatever song came on. It’s such a joy ride being able to mesh with someone who enjoys dancing as much as yourself and can also go along with whatever move you’re doing. We ended up staying there for quite sometime before heading back to Mactan that early morning. The following night was basically the same thing except far more people on Saturday night and instead of me wearing jeans, tank top, shoes; I wore jeans, a NICE tank top and heels. Subtle difference and yes, that’s my style so don’t hate and only appreciate the low pro status I strut.



Sunday morning I was to wake up at 7am to do a music video for a friend of mine who attends the school. It was his very first music video for a few friends of his from Manila. Since a couple of us decided to stay out late due to having fun dancing and seeing a bunch of people at Vudu, I didn’t sleep at all Sunday morning and just chilled out watching the sun come up. TJ went back to get his stuff, the camera, and some hot cocoa and there’s nothing like a cup of hot cocoa early in the morning with no hours of sleep. Keep in mind this isn’t the first time I’ve gone all night, came back, to freshen up, drink a cup of coffee or cocoa this time, and do my gig. Paolo the director was shocked to see me fine in the morning, stone cold sober and just as chirpy as any other morning. I told him whenever I have a job to do; I always get it done and to never under estimate me when it comes to punctuality and performing. So after breakfast, we went to do our scenes in the city for a few hours before heading back to Bigfoot for a well-needed nap to wake up and finish the shoot later that evening.


I know when reading this blog you will notice it’s a daily recap of what I did during the week that isn’t much to read about. It wasn’t an action packed week nor was it anything too exciting either, just another chill week in the Philippines. Oh I did forget to mention earlier the guys who we shot the video for, are three guys from Manila, two Filipino guys and one African named Myke, Jimb and Alex. Alex is interesting because he’s nineteen, born in Madrid, speaks 4 languages, his parents are diplomats so he’s traveled quite a bit at his tender age of 19 years old, goes to college in Manila and speaks Tagolog. What I find fascinating about him is that he talks like he’s from Nor Cal bay area and has never even been to the states. What I mean in terms of talking is you would think he was born and raised in Nor Cal, that’s how superb he speaks along with ‘hella’, which originated from the only place known to it, Nor Cal. On Saturday night prior to us going out, we were all at TJ’s hanging out when the three of them started freestyle rapping battling each other. Every time one of them would throw out a line and call the other one out, of course we being the small crowd of six people would do the typical. ‘ooooooooohhhhhhh!!!’ The standard Step Up the movie line for those of you who understand what I mean. From TJ’s we all walked over to Bigfoot in a crowd of nine people, eight guys and myself, I felt like I was walking with the mafia.

So there you have it, a recap of my last week and now my fifth week here at Bigfoot. I got a couple of shoots lined up this week so I’m excited to get those underway. I hope you all had a pleasant Valentines Day.

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Photos

Gourmet salad
Consisting of microwavable chicken stick, Kraft singles, lettuce, and mayonnaise. lol

Comments

[Travis]

I Challenge You to a Dance-off
I found your blog through Passporters. Wow, you're definitely burning the candle at both ends, but at least you're having fun. It's cool that your work, travel and education are all meshed together. Btw, good point about Friday the 13th and Valentine's day being back to back, but with very different meanings. I hope that you didn't chase that gourmet salad down with the hot cocoa...lol. Anyways, I loved the details. I'll be back for 2nds!