Sunday, January 16, 2005
That No Budget Film
So the past week may have gone down the drain along with any signs of getting better on the next week BUT, I did manage to get my spirits up during the weekend. Nothing like a Vandal Scourge outing or more specifically, A FILMING!!! First ever, man. One for keeps haha.
You see, Berk and Gali had this film project which they are entering in the LFC contest (right guys?) Anyways, I got a message around wednesday and they asked me to come along as a 5th man. Now, I didn't really now what to expect cuz this was the first time I was going to work with Berk and Gali on something...
Well...
Since Toy Warz haha. Okay okay, so then, after nstp, they fetched me from KFC and surprisingly, JM was there also. Surprising cuz I didn't know he'd come along but t'was all good anyways. We got in the car then they briefed me on what was going to happen in th film. The main thing was, there was no script, no budget and only the four of us (who were in the car) going to get involved in the first day of filming. That didn't discourage us though because after all, this is Vandal Scourge's finest and most creative (*gloat* *gloat*) and we have become quite accustomed to winging it and improvising and have people believe it was well thought out. Yes, yes, a talent lost amongst other people.
The film was a horror film that they have deemed, "BILLS". The story is basically about 3 people who find these cursed rolls of bill and basically comes to a point where greed overcomes them and they kill themselves. Nice eh? Back in the car, they laid out the plan. I was going to play the stingy dude in jologs attire (?). They were relieved to see that I didn't need a costume anymore since I was already wearing something to fit my role, go figure. Next, I asked for a copy of the script to know what I was going to say. Thing is, there wasn't any. As Berk put it, we are a new breed of scriptwriters... urm... not really scriptwriters since we DON'T HAVE one so we are definitely a new breed of something... just...um... not... scriptwriters.
What commenced next was the determining of our fifth man who we were supposed to pick up yet in the middle of the discussion, we forgot one integral thing: We forgot the camera. Yes, weird eh? totally winging it this time hahaha. So we dropped the Starbucks scene and decided to just go straight into the scenes to be taken at Berk's house.
I swear, Berk has got to have one of the best houses I've ever been too. It's got secret passages, hidden rooms and skylights in the coolest places. Add that to a stock room of toys and tools and we got our movie set, WHICH we did intend to use to its fullest capacity. What followed were very funny incidents and ideas that basically lead up to it becoming a comedy film.
Out on the streets, Gali and I were flipping this roll of bills for the film. Odd you say? Tell that to the people who were passing by gawking at us. There was also that scene where we had JM ride a bike into a garage door. Actually, we had more outtakes than actual film so we wanted to make THAT into a documentary; The Makings of a No Budget Film. Basically, our main prop WAS the budget. I mean,1500 pesos was the main prop anyways but it "technically" was the budget. So I don't know what's going to happen. Berk and Gali will enter it in the contest and if it didn't win, we'll still keep it cuz after all, this was the FIRST collaborative film we have.
Next week, I hope we continue filming. I think we got more people this time and besides, Berk and Gali are really great in putting things together and I wouldn't want to see a wasted effort. So watch out for "BILL KILL: THE BRIBE" coming at you... after we... um... finish it
Riding the Lightning
7:42 PM
