the pencil strikes back...

SCAN

Stardate: 2008

Cosmic location: Iloilo City, Philippines, Asia Continent, Earth 616, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy

Mission log: Kuris Animators as born gifted artistic souls with passion to inspire others

Transmission scan #1: For the past two years, Kuris as a group of amateur animators have been influential in inspiring other young breed of artists to believe in their gifts, use their cultural origin in expressing their art to expand their dreams.

Project registration: The Adventures of TASI, Kuris Universe, The BEQUEST: Origin of Dinagyang

Cosmic alteration: exactly 264 hours (11 earth days) before stardate 2009

Transmission scan #2: In the next few years, Kuris as a group of young gifted artists is set to continue their quest to prove themselves better by using their neurological aberrations translated as special skills in arts to inspire other artists in making their dreams a reality.

Project projection: Lapis: Quest for the Lost Key

…system hibernates in 5 seconds…

…transmission end…

…zzzzzzzzooom… (*%#*&@)!

we do it better together

STICK

Sometimes it’s not easy to fit everything in one place। It’s not even easy to expect everything to go well। What we are is a proof that everything that started from friendship could unify our passion for arts। Way back then, we didn’t think how good it is to spend more time with people whom we share the same interest। Artists are considered deep thinkers, instinctive, creative and sometimes moody. They go with the flow yet create something new or great with their instinct to be creative.
When we first met as a group a year ago, we were checking each other’s artistry before heading to serious chat which started with “hi” and “hello”. Months later, we enjoy sharing our perspective in arts together. From that time on, we understood that we were more than a class of 2D animation trainees but a group of friends trying to show people that we can break a pencil…to them we can animate our own imagination.
Then there came our projects and plans. For the past two years, we realized a lot of those plans from TASI to The BEQUEST. A lot of people in Iloilo recognized what we can do and the goals we want to achieve for the arts community. We were even proud of our Ilonggo cultural heritage that we insisted to infuse it with our animated projects. But the only thing that wasn’t fulfilled is a good job that was promised to us after the training. We were waiting for nothing and they remained deaf with our request. But we’re getting over it by not letting the odds pull us back. We keep moving and searching on what’s best for us.
Sometimes, an artist’s life isn’t all about artistic expressions… we even deal with financial stability and survival amid the fact we enjoy doing our passion. All artists throughout history had been struggling with the same battle. But sometimes when we get tired, we tend to think about our group and the bond we shared. We know we can always get back and bring out the best in us if we get to share our arts again.
For now, we’re just a text away from each other while doing some of our personal endeavors. I know that fate will be kind to us in the coming months because we have big hope, tall plans and good perspective how to share our arts to the Ilonggos. It’s not our ability to animate that makes us special, it’s our sensitivity to recognize that each of us have their own specialty. We won’t be as good as before if we lost one of us. So, we stick to the plan and be patient for as long as we can.

... days of X-mas

12

On the first day of X-mas my true love sent to me…nah, skip it. We’re tired singing the same old X-mas song, hehe. But there are many reasons why we should celebrate X-mas this year together even if we might be busy with our own stuff in life. We are still working together and looking forward to greet each other some of the best wishes since X-mas is here again… and another new year to prove ourselves again. So let me count the ways why we should celebrate X-mas in the Kuris Universe…
One: We officially became certified scholars and trainees for Professional 2D Animators Training program after passing the assessment last April 2007. Two: We had our first get-together party at Villa Beach as a group last May 2007. Three: As the second batch of trainees for the course, both the day and night class met and started to bond together forging a connection that was meant to excel as early as June 2007. Four: We showed “The Adventures of TASI”, our first animated group project at Iloilo IT week, Marymart Mall last September 2007. Five: We named our group “Kuris”, an Ilonggo word for “scribbled line” to represent our appreciation for our Ilonggo roots on the last week of September. Later, we called our group “Kuris Animation Unlimited”. Six: We had a brief brainstorming and planning to pursue a major project that would boost our group’s potential and Iloilo’s cultural festival on the first week of October 2007. Seven: We held our graduation at SM City Iloilo on October 19, 2007 showcasing some of our early works such as TASI and Kuris Universe, a compilation of our individually-made animated characters. Eight: After working for almost sixty-days for a major animated project, Kuris animators we’re invited for a series of live interviews via AM radio (RMN, January 23), Ratsada News Program (GMA TV-6, January 21) and Arangkada Morning Show (GMA TV-6, January 24) to promote The BEQUEST. Nine: “Dinagyamation”, an animation exhibit organized to promote The BEQUEST was opened for public viewing at SM City Iloilo from January 20 to 25, 2008. Ten: “The BEQUEST: Origin of Dinagyang” dubbed as the first Ilonggo animated short film was screened at SM Cinema 7 to almost 500 audience on January 25, 2008. Eleven: The BEQUEST had a weeklong public screening for students from different schools on February 2008 at WVCST Educational Center. Twelve: Kuris Animators showed the first official trailer of The BEQUEST at UPV on February 19 this year during the Animation and Comics Convention in Iloilo.
X-mas is here again, merry X-mas and have a funky New Year people… we hope there will be more great things to come through our little dream of making our passion alive.

pushing through...

ENERGY

Sometimes there things better left untold than be unleashed only to be mauled by people who lack some sense of reality. So I intend not to tell everything about us for now until some things are sure. We are just blessed that we constantly communicate to each other and exchange relevant thoughts about our passion. We enjoy texting and updating our friends what’s our plans for the future. Of course, we didn’t even forget to support each other and open better opportunities for the group. We are very optimistic, hopeful and patient to wait for the perfect timing where we can once again combine our artistic prowess. We try to be cool, enhance our skills and learn from each other. We try to respect each other’s opinion, decisions and perspective in whatever ways we can because we knew we can still be together at the end of the day. Being true to our team and dream is a no brainer for Kuris, we are grateful for everyone’s contribution to the expansion of the group.

Lately, it’s been an inspiring week when some of our members were declaring their initiative to open better opportunities for the group and some connections we can count on. Taking one step at a time is of course the best way we can achieve things successfully. Some of our members who are involved in their current projects are doing great and tried to learn a lot of stuff as much as they could. They knew that they could use their hard –earned “learnings” when the right time comes.

We try to breathe in positive thoughts and energy. It’s the best chance we have to fulfill our destiny as practitioners of arts and amateur advocators of animation.

ADD ONS: Mads, I know you could do it as long as you knew by heart how much we’ve been through to make something great with our talents. They would believe you…just learn to believe in yourself. We’re here to wait for your sign to catch the break.

Pinoy animation wonders

DAYO
Get yourself a box of popcorn, a cup of coke and bring your imaginations with your friends at the cinemas this Christmas Day for the Metro Manila Film Festival to witness “Dayo”, the most-awaited Pinoy animation. Yes, Pinoy can do it and can be world-class through this film, a great inspiration for young animators like us who are willing to share our cultural heritage to the world.
Read on and be fascinated with the magic of Pinoy animation…

Dayo (Wanderer) is a full-length animated film that combines paperless 2D and 3D technologies. Currently, the film is 75 percent done and is expected to be completed by November in time for the 34th Metro Manila Film Fest. By then, the film would have been completed in just two years, much shorter compared to the usual three years needed to complete a traditional full-length animation. The team is now done with the rough animation and is now on the "digital ink and paint" stage. Over 500 artists nationwide worked together to complete this project.This Pinoy animated film is a hybrid product of combining 2D and 3D animation, powered by Toon Boom using Macintosh and Linux platforms. 2D animation is used for the characters while 3D animation is used for the backgrounds especially for the big scenes.It wasn't easy for Cutting Edge Productions, the local animators behind Dayo, to enter the annual film festival. When they submitted the script by Temi Abad and Eric Cabahug for consideration, the committee didn't immediately accept it. But the team didn't give up and insisted on presenting the project until they convinced the committee that they could do it. The primary consideration was time constraint and meeting the deadline especially for first time producers. Remarkably, Dayo made it to the final 8 out of the 19 hopefuls.Dayo is a heartwarming story of overcoming one's fear and triumphing over adversity. The plot revolves around Bubuy (voiced by Nash Aguas) who is out to save his abducted grandparents in the land of Elementalia, a magical and mystical world that houses many of the Philippines' mythical creatures and other enchanted elements.The creative team of Dayo consulted published literature on local mythology. Their main reference is the book Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology written by Maximo Ramos.This movie aims to reintroduce the other side of mythical creatures like the tikbalang, kapre, manananggal, and aswang by giving a new dimension to these usual reviled creatures. "They are normally presented as predators or portrayed as villains," explains director Robert Quilao. "We created a new twist to these characters by transforming the scary manananggal into the friendly manananggol (defender) who acts as the guardian of Elementalia."Quilao also shares that every step of the project has been a challenge for the team, "but the storyboarding stage was perhaps the toughest because it involved setting the mood and look of the whole animation." Working on the story and writing the script also took time. A three-day story conference was held in Tagaytay just to brainstorm on the story, while it took the team three to four months to finish the script.The team already had talents in mind when they were working on the characters except for the lead roles of Bubuy and Anna, which they held auditions for. For instance, they already had Pokwang in mind for the manananggal yaya of Anna, hence the character sketch is loosely based on her. The team also thought of how it would be like to have Pokwang exchange lines with news anchor Mike Enriquez. However, they were unable to get the real anchor of GMA-7 to voice over the animated character so they got a voice talent who only sounds like Mike Enriquez.Since the project is fully digital, it's easy to animate the storyboard (also known as animatics). No storyboard could even be seen plastered on the office walls or workstations of Cutting Edge. While the drawing is done traditionally by hand, it's executed directly onto the computer screen or PC tablet, hence, Quilao labels the project as "tra-digital" animation.Although it's rather difficult and expensive to produce an animation project, "it's the only content we can sell abroad," justifies Jessie Lasaten, executive producer of Dayo and chief executive officer of Cutting Edge. "The world is our market. The idea is to recover half of the investment in the local market, and half of it worldwide. But if we're lucky, we can recover the whole investment locally." Lasaten reveals that Cutting Edge has spent around $1.3 million (around P58 million) to produce Dayo.SYNOPSIS. Dayo is about an 11-year old kid named Bubuy (voiced by Nash Aguas) who wants to save his beloved grandparents (voiced over by Nova Villa and Noel Trinidad). Along the way, Bubuy meets Anna Manananggirl (voiced by Katrina "Hopia" Legaspi), a teen manananggal (a winged creature that can separate her torso from her lower body) who befriends and helps Bubuy in his quest to rescue his grandparents.Together, they journey to Elementalia, a fantasy land filled with strange flora and fauna, and a host of popular creatures from Philippine mythology. They see massive waterfalls teeming with gravity-defying merfolk; an awe-inspiring crystal cave that houses a swarm of colorful alitubi; a grand old tree that's home to a motherly female kapre; and a majestic mountain guarded by a big pack of hungry aswangs.Johnny Delgado is tapped to be the father of Anna Manananggirl while his wife Laurice Guillen lends her voice to minor characters like a diwata or fairy. Director Peque Gallaga serves as the voice of the nuno sa punso. Bubble Gang mainstay Michael V plays a narcissistic tikbalang named Narsi. The teen manananggal has a Yaya Vicky (voiced over by comedienne Pokwang).Viewers can watch the animated film Dayo when it opens on Christmas Day, along with seven other entries of the MMFF. - Philippine Entertainment Portal

scratching your appetite

CLAWS
Hungry to catch up with Hugh Jackman’s X-men Origins: Wolverine?
Since we love mutantdoms and heroic proportions, we got the latest buzz on the X-men prequel flick from Marvel.com. They’ve got loads of surprises to keep superhero fanatics waiting for more.
Kuris Animators will surely dive into the Cinema on its showing date—May 9 this year. For now, enjoy the preview, hehe!

The X-Men's toughest mutant gets his very own movie next year, and we've got eight new images from "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" to whet your voracious appetite!Hugh Jackman continues to bring the intensity with his portrayal of the X-Men's resident Canucklehead, as he prepares to drop a bevy of pain bombs on some unsuspecting baddies and finds himself tied up in a very precarious situation!Also, get your first look at the Ragin' Cajun, Gambit, played by "Friday Night Lights" star Taylor Kitsch in the film!And don't forget Liev Schreiber, who brings Victor Creed—the man who will one day become Wolvie's arch nemesis, Sabretooth—to life। And from the looks of things, Creed and Logan aren't getting along the best in these photos..."X-Men Origins: Wolverine" hits theaters on May 1, 2009, but until then make sure to keep your eyes peeled for all the latest news, videos and images right here on Marvel।com, and check out the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" movie hub!

Keeps getting better

ANTICIPATING
Kuris turned one year last October 19 this year; it was our First Year Anniversary to be exact. What else can we ask for the team but to stay intact as a team and believing in each other. We knew we have the same burning passion since the first day we met each other as trainees for the short course scholarship on 2D animation last April 2007. From then on, everything has chance from the way we perceive our artistic vision. We learn to find direction and focus with our craft as artists. We learned a lot from discipline to risk, from having good time to getting serious when the odd gets tough. Fate has surely changed us.
On September 19 last year, we’ve shown to the public our very-first animated group project “The Adventures of TASI” as a tribute to the statue of WVCST, our training school who became a little boy for one day. There were mixed reactions after we showed it to everyone who were curious what amateur animators from Iloilo can do. But we accepted everything as a way to grow up and appreciate our talents further. The animation we did became the school’s official mascot, an honor in our part as uprising animators.
Then came our graduation day, October 19, 2007 at SM City Iloilo. The mall considered our event as the first-ever graduation held in that place which they willingly gave the venue for free. They believe in our event to promote and entice mallgoers. During that day, the group was struggling to meet the deadline and having a hard time preparing for everything. We were a bit late at the event but we carry on and everything went well. A lot of people came to see our graduation and appreciated our animated projects including a short animated Ad clip of SM featuring their old mascots Es and Em.
A few months after, Iloilo’s premiere mall catered the very-first animation event in the region, a five-day animation exhibit of Kuris Animators which was dubbed as “Dinagyamation” at the ground floor from January 20-25, 2008 and a special one-night screening of “The BEQUEST: Origin of Dinagyang” on January 25, 2008 at 7pm at SM Cinema 7. The BEQUEST was considered as the first Ilonggo animated short film with a fusion of 2D and 3D animation format and said to be the first-ever animation to directly promote as famous festival in the Philippines. Top sponsors of the event were Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation, Inc. (IDFI), City Government of Iloilo, SM City Iloilo, SM Cinema, Mang Inasal Philippines, Waffle Time, Invictus and many other private companies. Our media partners include GMA TV-6, RMN Radio and The Daily Guardian were responsible for promoting our team project.
A year later, we are still keeping our hopes alive. Some of our members are busy finishing a special project with our training school (Western Visayas College of Science and Technology) that would run until early next year. Others are preparing for our future projects and plans of the group. We try to communicate with each other to keep the bond. Hopefully this month, we could have a reunion in time for Christmas. Everyone in the group would love to see each other, to talk and celebrate what fate has bestowed us.

What’s in a box?

LIGHTBOX
Any animator in the older days can’t work without the lightbox. Since the beginning of animation industry in the world especially those times inspired by Walt Disney, the lightbox has been the animator’s bestfriend aside from pencil and paper. It was designed to give animators convenience in making their sequence-by-sequence animation. With its box-like shape, a white-round platform for drawing in the center and a light bulb inside, animators are able to draw with ease.
When we were given a chance to undergo hectic training in 2D animation (2D is two dimensional animation which is purely hand drawn and composited in the computer using animation programs) last year, we were introduced in using the lightbox for our sequential drawings. Through the lightbox, we were able to see the step by step movements of our characters and check the flaws of every drawing. As time goes by, we learned to be more dependent in the lightbox since we were able to anticipate our mistakes in animation even before we scanned our drawings and download it in the computer. Of course, it won’t work without the animation paper with holes that fits the peg bars (these are two metal holders that holds the animation papers in place in both ends) and pencil which serves as drawing material. As our group continued to learn more during the training, we learned that there are various shapes and sizes of light box used by animators throughout the history of animation. But whatever those shapes and sizes are, we knew that animators needed the lightbox to perfect their craft.
Sometimes, some of our members fall asleep while working in their lightbox if the required animated drawing needs a lot of time and revisions.there are times that our eyes get sore while being exposed to the bright light emitted by the bulb. Though the animator’s life seemed hard, we understand its consequences and the need for patience to finish our task. At the end of the day, it was also fun and enjoyable since we get to appreciate the importance of our task… we learned to love it more while at each other’s company even if we tend to get less sleep most of the time.
So if we pursue our future projects, we knew that we will again carry our lightbox anywhere we go again. With the innovation provided by technology, lightbox slowly became obsolete among animators since there are already advance computers wherein you can draw on the screen. Animation became paperless already and it provides further convenience. But for some outsourcing countries in animation like the Philippines, having these kind of computers would cost much. Thus, few animation studios could afford it. Most Pinoy animators are still using the lightbox to draw. And Kuris animators are no exception since we are just starting up.
But we don’t care whether we might be left behind with technology; we still love to draw using the lightbox। It provides us with the freehand to control our strokes and drawings personally. True talent and ingenuity comes out naturally whatever tools you are using to pursue your passion. And for as long as I could remember, the lightbox has been one of our bestfriends that we can freely express our extraordinary gift for animation.

Postscript: with the costly price of peg bars during our training, we were told to use masking tape to hold the animation papers and keep it in place while we draw। We still enjoy those times as we tried to make things better in our own little way। At least we fulfilled the first step of our dream when The BEQUEST was done in time for its screening.

Eventologists in the city of love

Invictus spacious office
Some of Invictus notable and sponsored events in Iloilo

INVICTUS

Promoting special events, concerts and parties has never been this great this past few years since Invictus change the social landscape of Metro-Iloilo. Consist of brilliant event specialists and dynamic team members, Invictus was conceived to give a unique boost and unique perspective on special events and concerts not only in Iloilo but throughout the region.
INVICTUS is a strategic communications, talent management, and events management consultancy firm.

INVICTUS is Latin for "invincible". It also means "unbeatable", "impregnable", "indomitable", "unyielding".

INVICTUS offers its services to you. At INVICTUS, we make sure that YOU and your projects are unbeatable.

INVICTUS is under the leadership of Jigger S. Latoza, Chair of the Board of Consultants and Chief Executive Officer, with the full support of his Associates.


Early this year, Kuris Animator’s first-ever animation event in the city dubbed as “Dinagynamation” from January 20-25 at SM City Iloilo and “The BEQUEST: Origin of Dinagyang” screening last January 25 at SM Cinema 7 was sponsored by Invictus. The dynamic team of Ilonggo event specialists were one of the generous sponsors who supported us in pursuing our dream and making sure that the Ilonggos would know the existence of local animators. We truly appreciate their effort to uplift not only dreams but provide us the confidence we need to boost our talents in animation. They knew we are capable of promoting our Ilonggo cultural heritage through The BEQUEST and other future projects the same way they wanted to bring local events to the next level.
With their strong track record, achievements on special and corporate events, Invictus continues to soar and gain trust from their long list of clients. For your events or public relations needs, contact INVICTUS CONSULTANTS. Unit 309, 3/F Sta Cruz Building, corner Ledesma-Fuentes Streets, Iloilo City. Hotlines:(033) 3010762, 0919-6177650 (SMART), 0927-6477356 (GLOBE), 0923-2209366 (SUN . You can also email them at consultants.invictus@gmail.com, or invictus.consultants@yahoo.com.ph.

If you want to be more hip, visit their friendster profile at http://profiles.friendster.com/invictusconsultants.
To Invictus Executive Director, Jigger Latoza and his dynamic team, we are truly grateful for your trust and support of our previous animation projects and events. Thank you for making our dreams a vivid reality.