The Creative Guild of the Philippines reopens its RAW School with a new series of lectures. The first session, held last October 22 at welovepost, featured Cannes Filmfest Best Director Brillante Mendoza as guest lecturer.
Formerly a production designer, Mendoza shared how the world of advertising and of his films differs.
Compared to producing ads, which involved meticulously plotted storyboards and detailed preparation, Mendoza shoots his film with only a script at hand and a concept in mind.
Once he instructs the actors and positioned them in the scene, he rolls the camera. The one important rule on his set is “only the director cuts the scene.”
To an amazed audience of young creatives, he revealed behind-the-scene stories from his films. Once he instructed his actors separately and put them together in a scene, with the actors not knowing what the others would do. He let them act and respond according to their characters.
The spontaneity allowed him to capture raw emotions, even the actors’ fatigue and exhaustion.
Another example was from his award-winning film “Kinatay”. In the scene where a man climbed a billboard post to commit suicide, Mendoza plotted the situation, but only a few know his plan. The rest were curious by-standers. Even the MMDA and the police rushed to the scene.
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Asked on how he develops his story, Mendoza eagerly responds, “My stories are inspired by real-life experiences and facts.”
He immerses himself with the people and their environment, until they are comfortable enough to share their stories to him.
Raw School is a program of The Creative Guild of the Philippines to train young creatives to be globally competitive. Ompong Remigio, executive director of Campaigns & Grey leads this year’s sessions, and is currently completing the lessons in the curriculum.
