FTP Workshop Days 5 & 6

Day 5 was the last day of script writing. During the first session, we had Joen Chionglo. He had written one of my favorite SC movies, Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita! He also worked with Direk Rahyan via the film La Funeraria Toti. If his surname sounds familiar, it is because he is the youngest brother of the Mel Chionglo.

According to Ricky Lee's scriptwriting manual called "Trip to Quiapo", Joen's exposure to films was because of his older siblings who love watching films. After studying and staying in the US for a while, he came back to the Philippines. It was direk Mel who told him that Ricky Lee was looking for new TV writers. From then on, he found his niche in writing. Incidentally, by the way, Ricky Lee visited us during our first script writing session! (See Acy's blog for picture/proof.)

Joen emphasized to us that every scene in our script should have something to say about the characters or their situations. They have to have sense. If they don't show anything significant, better take them out of the script. For example, if a character is shown sleeping, the scene should show some aspects of the character's life while he was doing such. Maybe a shot of his place where the audience could determine his life style or status. If it was only to show that he is sleeping, then aksaya lang siya ng film. Unless, narcoleptic 'yung karakter niya!

The second session was headed by the bubbly Joseph Balboa. I told my co-workshoppers that Joseph is a cross between Arnell Ignacio and Renz Verano. 'Wag sana niya ikagalit. Hehehe. His session was fun. Matindi tumira ng sarcastic jokes esp. during Maestro's attacks! (Maestro is one of our workshop mates. I can't elaborate on his story because you have to be there to get the joke.) Pero di naman nakakabastos.

Joseph was part of Encantadia's writing team. Today, he heads the creative team of Mars Ravelo's Captain Barbell. If the former received numerous praises for its writing and production, the latter, sad to say, was bombarded with negative reactions. It was pretty much a Smallville rip-off. Because of the reinvented story, nawala ang pagka-Pinoy ng kapitan. Sensya na po, sir Joseph, sa panglalait. :-)

Anyway, with Joseph, he gave importance to dialogues. They should fit the characters well and must be appropriate for their age. We also give unique and catchable names to our characters, not to mention well-fitting.

We ended the day with a writing exercise which turned more into an acting exercise. Most of us failed to show the speakers our written sequence treatment. However, it was fun!

Day 6 was musical scoring session headed by one of my favorite composers these days, Vince de Jesus! Nagulat pa siya when he called my name during an exercise. I was standing beside him while he was explaining what we are about to do. He looked at me and said, "Halimbawa, si Jheck... Ikaw ba si Jheck David?" I nodded at napatawa lang siya. I was supposed to tell him that I am enrolled in the workshop before his assigned day. It wasn't supposed to be his but there was a sudden change in his schedule that he had to make it earlier than expected.

We started with a "radio play". Sir Vince wanted us to create a story using only sounds and music. It was a fun activity. I have always wanted to do a radio play back in school and have wished that my students would do such whenever I asked them to do plays. Unfortunately, I didn't experience any of it since last Saturday.

What struck us the most is that, because of IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), we are not allowed to use for TV or film any copyrighted material even the ordinary ones like "Happy birthday" or "Twinkle twinkle little star". That is, unless, we would be paying for its usage which would cost a lot, of course! No wonder that we seldom hear the birthday song on TV or films these days.

We learned that music is an essential part of TV or film. Without it, movies would seemed lifeless.

Incidentally, because of Sir Vince's promotion of ZsaZsa Zaturnnah's third run, my workshop mates were encouraged to see it. S'yempre mega-promote din ako sa kanila n'un. We'll be seeing it on the 18th if plans push through.