Filming in the Philippines
by Pat Garrett.
I got my first film directing break on a short, low budget,
spoof musical three years ago via a posting on a film
website by a producer based in Ireland. Coming from a
background as a choreographer working in film, theatre,
television and commercials, a musical was an obvious first
step. The film was shot in Ireland and I forged a very good
relationship with the producer. After I had directed two
more short films in the UK, he offered me the opportunity to
direct a feature length romantic drama which he had
co-written with an Irish writer.
Originally the film was set in Ireland but the cost of
filming there was prohibitive and after investigating
Eastern Europe and Africa the decision was made to shoot in
the Philippines where our low budget would give us the best
value for money. The script was re-worked for a tropical
setting and a line producer in Manila was booked to sort out
locations, crew and auditions for some of the cast.
In August I flew out for a two day recce with my DoP and
after 27 hours of travelling I met my 1st AD, art director
and production manager. As we couldn’t afford to have the
art director for the shoot, it was crucial that he
understood exactly what was needed so that he could instruct
his assistants who would be with me for the whole shoot.
We visited the beautiful isolated ranch which would be our
location and also saw the hotel on the edge of the South
China Sea where the whole crew and cast would stay for the 4
week shoot. A glorious location and a wonderful hotel that
would have cost very much more anywhere else. The following
day, I auditioned dozens of actors in a hotel in Manila, for
several small parts and the 2nd male lead. A somewhat
unusual feature of the auditions involved some of the
candidates turning up with friends and family who expected
to sit in and watch! This was normal procedure in the
Philippines and on several occasions, they would chat to
each other and make phone calls during their friend’s
audition! I quickly had to introduce UK audition procedure!
I flew back to the UK, my head full, to say nothing of the
exhaustion of 54 hours of travelling for 48 hours of work!
Six weeks of pre-production later I flew out to Manila with
my DoP, two lead actors, a Sony 730 HD camera, 40 HD tapes,
battery, charger and monitor (unfortunately, my producer was
unable to come out for the shoot). For anyone considering a
shoot in the Philippines, I’d advise hiring the camera etc
there! Getting through security and fighting to get the
equipment on the plane with us was a nightmare! In the
Philippines, they use NTSC so unless it is essential to
shoot on PAL, don’t do it!
After a day of preparations and adjustment to the time
difference, filming started. I was amazed at the size of
the crew and later found out that in the Philippines there
is no insurance for equipment but instead, for each item you
hire you have to employ a technician to go with it! This
meant that we had to limit the amount of equipment hired and
be very strict about what we needed each day. The crew all
spoke English at some level and were warm, friendly and hard
working. In the Philippines, crew are used to working as
many hours as there are in a day! I decided with my DoP
that we would work a maximum of 12 hours per day and the
appreciation for this was phenomenal. It meant that everyone
worked really intensely in gratitude for the rest time they
knew they would have.
September was supposedly the end of the rainy season but
this was the year it lasted longer than ever before! Almost
every day we lost hours as we sat around waiting for the
rain to stop. As the rain was followed by a cacaphony of
croaking frogs and crickets, to say nothing of the iguanas,
shooting was sometimes a little difficult! I took advantage
of the situation by using the time to rehearse with the
actors and we were often ahead of the game by working on
scenes that were shooting several days ahead. This proved
very useful and almost made me grateful for the weather
problems! Having said that, it felt really strange shooting
a night scene with rain machines after all the natural rain
that we experienced on an almost daily basis!
The ways of working in the Philippines are very different
from what we are used to in the UK or US and the first few
days of shooting were an intense learning curve for us all!
It was several days before call sheets became a daily event
and had the desired effect! Finishing one complicated
scene, I turned to my AD assuming that the props guys would
have everything ready to shoot the next scene on the
schedule, only to find that they had prepared nothing, not
realising that they needed to read the call sheet! We all
sat around for over an hour while a mad panic ensued as
people rushed in all directions trying to catch up! Having
said that, they learnt very fast and later in the shoot,
took great pride in showing me everything I needed to see
the night before and coming to me with appropriate
questions. On day three of shooting, we were well behind
schedule but by the end of the following week we were
slightly ahead… a wonderful feeling.
Eating a breakfast of fresh tropical fruit in the open air
dining room of the hotel, looking out at the South China
Sea, made for a great start to the day, before travelling to
the location to be greeted with ‘Morning Direk’ by my happy
smiling crew. I’ve never worked with such a lovely group of
people and by the time they really understood what was
necessary to ensure that we shot the film on budget and in
the 20 days allocated, it was an extraordinary and wonderful
experience which I would be very happy to repeat.
A few weeks ago, the first screening of a shortened version
of the film won the award for ‘Best Film Under 75 Minutes’
at the Swansea International Film Festival. A wonderful
reward for everyone’s hard work.
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Pat’s numerous high profile credits include choreographing
the film of ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’, ‘Muppet Christmas
Carol’ and ‘Muppet Treasure Island’. She has also worked
with the Royal National Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare
Company, and has directed theatre productions in London and
the US. Her short films have won awards and been screened
at numerous film festivals in the UK, Europe and the US.
Link to my winning the award at Swansea International Film
Festival – http://www.amritsa.com/sff/WTC.htm
E-mail Address – mailto:garrett.pat@gmail.com
Producer’s Website for two of my films – http://www.cookson.eu.com
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Copyright (c) 2007 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved
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