What lies ahead...

Change of plans

Though we are steady with our dream to achieve something relevant this year, the pressure and opportunities keeps knocking in our doorstep. Sometimes, we have no clear idea and decision what course to take to reach our goal. For us, our goal is just simple as expressing our artistic perspective and leaving something significant for the Ilonggos. No, we are not trying to be pretentious or hypocrite, we know what we want and we know our gifts… so want to use it to inspire budding artists, young animators and those who have unexpressed passion similar to our craft. Some people thought we are too obsessed of promoting our group and our talent. I think they failed to look deeper in our heart and check the essence of our soul--we are artists and art is our passion to live life to the fullest.
Recently, we announced our plan to start the production of “LAPIS: Epic of the lost key”, a short animated trailer set as entry for ACPI Animation Festival this year. The BEQUEST will just remain the way it is, destined to be kept and set aside since it has already made its mark in the local Ilonggo history. But life is all about to change for us since changes keep surprising us most of the time. There was an offer from a good friend to recreate The BEQUEST into a full-length new version next year (that might be more than one hour) and change the main character Nino into Dagoy(?). I wish it was an easy task but lack of manpower hampered our plan since we are composed of not more than 15 members. Most full-length animated films made by international animation studios like Walt Disney or Pixar took them years (mostly 2-3 years if it is done in 2D or 3D format) to finish a single film unless it is an animated TV series. You see, Ilonggo animation is not as equipped and manpower-ready to become so ambitious of keeping the pace from other international animation industry or even the capital Manila flourishing animation. This year, two mega full-length Filipino animation movies will be launched such as APT productions’ “Urduja” that featured Regine Velasquez’ singing and dubbing voice(slated for nationwide theatre release on June 18) and Cutting Edge Production’s rumored to be first of the three-part trilogy “Dayo” (set for December 2008 release).
My groupmates are excited to make the LAPIS animated trailer while keeping our other part time jobs. Our lead animators Marx and Bryan along with Jaylord is currently busy finishing their special project for WVCST. Their employers (so to speak) are very much contented of the development and capabilities they have shown in their work. The thought of positivity in their project and the wait for their salary are also few other things that keeps them going. Amado and Dads have their own personal careers which keeps them steady but somehow never failed to contact the group if ever their presence is needed. Janelyn, Racil, Elson and Aladin are busy with studies and future plans. Brynh might be leaving soon to pursue his future plans and hopefully include us in his endeavor to go further in life. The rest of us are hanging on and look forward to keep the group alive. I guess everything about the group doesn’t deal much on business or how to make money right now…but it’s all about bonding, passion and keeping the friendship survive. Lately, one of our brilliant animation instructors from our 2D animation training last year approached us to pursue a new endeavor that might or possibly put the group in the spotlight. He convinced us to turn LAPIS into a full-length animation film feature instead of making it a short trailer if our project proposal for a government agency would be approved by August. We were given not more a week to prepare the documents and requirements needed for the proposal. The processing period of our proposal would start later this May until August. It is very strenuous to assemble all the requirements considering everybody is busy doing their won personal endeavors lately. If fate permits us to go beyond the borders of Iloilo and take the centerstage in Manila, then this would be a huge miracle and gift from God. He knows our passion and dream well than anybody else. He provided us with phenomenal talents, generous people who assisted us to reach our goal and a pathway to conquer our failures. We are proud of our fighting spirit more than anything else. We achieved and try to achieve everything we dream in the right way, fair game and remain grateful to those who understand our passion. We never ever resorted in hurting people (for no reason), putting down others or making up stories to pursue our goal. Our track record in the local media, supportive sponsors, successful projects and humble beginning speaks about the sincerity, integrity we invested in everything we do. These changes have made us decide to send The BEQUEST in the upcoming ACPI Animation Festival this year instead of LAPIS. We might be able to re-work the music, dubbing and add English sub-title to the animated short film. Marx and I even agreed to add 2-3 more animated scenes to make the film more exciting when it will be shown in Manila. We hope to start the editing soon before August in between our day jobs and special projects. A good friend of the group, Troy Camarista, SM City’s PR officer even agreed to lend his musical talents and use his personal recorded rap songs when he was a student to be used as The BEQUEST soundtrack. So we might expect an all-original soundtrack for the film soon. And yes, before I forget, he also wanted to launch a compilation book of his BLURB articles (his former lifestyle and pop culture magazine published in Iloilo City a few years ago) later this year coinciding with Kuris animation’s LAPIS mall launching (I guess you’ll know by now what mall we will launch the project, hehe). Now, another special project from WVCST is coming and the rest of us in the group are requested to lend their talent to make the plan work. We hope that destiny is on our side always to keep us soaring and dreaming for more.
We are not afraid to risk. We try to walk our talk.