Peeping Around

***With tears flowing on my cheeks, I watch everyone. I watch you. I watch your every move. I know your stories. I feel your grief. I hear you cry for help. I know your next move.

While everyone was busy reposting and re-tweeting their call for help, some people decided to be the knight in shining 4×4 of the victims of typhoon Ondoy. Up in their muscular rides loaded with food, medicines, clothes, and what-have-you, some actually went out on the streets reliving the ancient spirit of Bayanihan that was started long ago by our great forefathers. But I’m neither one of them. I stayed home during the entire ordeal watching your every move. Analyzing everyone. With eyes and ears glued to every Bagyong Ondoy updates on TV, I knew what was going on. When the internet connection resurrected, I knew better. This post is gonna be a new one. They say a picture says a thousand words, and what can be more believable than pictures  to retell the story???

Ondoy Five Fast Facts:

• Typhoon Ondoy’s international name is Ketsana.
• It is the 15th tropical cyclone to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility, slammed into the eastern side of Luzon Island from the Pacific Ocean before noon Saturday (September 26, 2009) with maximum winds of 85 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 100 kph. (From WWF-Philippines)
• The 15th weather disturbance that hit the Philippines in 2009 dumped a total of 455 millimeters of rain in Quezon City alone in 24 hours, compared to the 250 millimeters of rain that Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans in Louisiana in the United States in 2005. (From Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• The volume of rain dumped byOndoy in barely six hours, was almost equal to the average monthly rainfall of Metro Manila – 392 millimeters. (From WWF-Philippines)
• The Philippine capital of Manila was battered by the heaviest rainfall (Ondoy) it has experienced in over 40 years. (From WWF-Philippines)

The Victims

One word: Heartbreaking

“Kalunos-lunos”

Metro Manila soaking wet

a friend’s house

stranded people

destroyed properties

dead body

The Help

Offline

Local actor Gerald Anderson on his very own rescue mission

ABS-CBN’s Sagip Kapamilya volunteers

That's me on the right while doing some repacking of goods in Marikina

Online

Hollywood support

helping via tagging

plastered everywhere on the net

Ahhh!!! The power of internet, need I say more?

In every show, there are always…

The Scene-Stealers

they say her account was hacked, though

our favorite presidential son allegedly buying some expensive liquor in Katipunan during typhoon Ondoy

The Orcom in everything

The Press Release

Soon after the tragedy, ABS-CBN’s corporate communication department issued a press release containing their vow to be of service to the Filipino people in times like this. ABS-CBN was quick in sending their deepest condolences to the victims of typhoon Ondoy and a public statement like is true to the KAPAMILYA promise of the station.

The Corporate Social Responsibility

Many corporations responded quickly to the situation by donating their products or even cash to the victims via the Sagip Kapamilya fundraising activity hosted by Tina Monzon Palma, Fr. Tito Caluag, and Kris Aquino during the morning of September 27. Most of the corporate donors were endorsed by Star Magic talents such as Kim Chiu for Payless, Gerald Anderson for Del Monte’s Fit ‘n Right, and KC Concepcion for Garnier. Unilab, Petit Monde, Bayo, San Miguel Corporation, Flawless, Puregold, SM Save More, Asia Brewery, Bench, Penshoppe, Jollibee, Folded and Hung, Avon, and many others also contributed (cash and in kind) to help our countrymen during this very difficult time.

While some people may think that these giant corporations donate for some selfish reasons, now is not the right time to question the intention. And for those who really want to help, even if there are no cameras  rolling, please still do your part. Ondoy victims still need your help.

In times like this, please help. Set aside your personal interests and ambitions.

And as for your help:

Click here.

They are waiting for YOU.

Be a knight.

Save a life.

P.S.

You might want to click here for some very helpful flood safety tips:

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/floods-safety-tips.html

Cheek-To-Cheek

To you who believed,

To you who laughed,

To you who spread the virus,

I THANK YOU.

This is gonna be a thank-you post for everyone who viewed, commented, and even reposted our group’s viral video. It would be very unjust to post a promotional blog then, just move on to the next project without even thanking the people who helped us garner an unbelievable number of hits. As of this writing, we already have 911 hits. I know it’s not much compared to the other videos online but, it exceeded our expectations and it’s more than enough. Just for that, we already feel blessed. Moreover, we have already stopped promoting the video and yet, the number of hits is still racking up the “charts”. YAY! Will Patrick and Ness become the next YouTube sensations? I certainly hope so.

Promoting a video is no easy task. For one, I was shy to promote it at first. I know I wasn’t looking my best in the video and anyone in my situation would understand. My hair was a complete mess then, though people were saying that it was looking okay. Then I realized that the group’s interest is more valuable than my own personal one so I ate up my dignity and shamelessly posted the link on all my social networking sites. Thank God for supportive friends for without them, the video would have been nothing. They are the reason our video was a success so thanks, guys!!! And let me seal our gratitude with lots and lots of kisses! Now, I want you to press your pimple-free cheek onto the monitor and feel my virtual kiss… MWAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!! (911x) That is for each and every one of you who viewed it.

Learnings from the experience:

• A fantastic video begets fantastic results.
• In times of promotions, a friend of a friend is a friend.
• The more is not always the merrier. The number of hits does not really determine the video’s success. A video is really successful if you were able to reach your target audience.

I promise that this post will be all about you. Yes, YOU. My friend. So I won’t lecture here… for now. And tomorrow, I shall (fingers crossed) pay my academic debts. I shall post an academic blog that will talk about online press release. That’s all for tonight. Goodnight and THANK YOU!!! Till my next video. :p

For His Eyes ALSO

This is how we spell cyber suicide! Hope you enjoyed watching our videoke-inspired viral video. And yes, we have a valid reason for committing cyber suicide. We have to get people’s attention! HAHAHA!  Anyway, the behind-the-scenes (BTS) boast as much drama (?) as the video above so I’m gonna be blabbing about the BTS for the rest of this blog post.

The Conceptualization

Of course, everything starts with gathering your team mates around to brainstorm till you feel like your brain’s gonna explode already, and then go home exhausted, frustrated, and unproductive. Sounds heart-breaking, right? Sometimes, you just can’t seem to get what you really want at an instant. Then you meet again, this time desperately seeking for the perfect concept that had long been elusive. Point is, conceptualization phase is the most crucial part of any production. You can’t get started sans a clear objective in mind! Do you want to entertain people? To persuade? to inform? Woah. Very Orcom. Another thing is that you have to consider your audience. Who will be your target audience? Then you have to research about these people’s likes and use it to get their approval. While doing our viral video, I realized the importance of being comfortable with your concept, with the script and all in order to be at ease during the shoot. Finally, it would be best to conduct a pre-production meeting prior to the shoot to prepare, iron out petty disagreements, finalize every detail in connection to the shoot (e.g. location, crew, actors, facilities, props, etc.).

As I’ve said, we did not arrive at our videoke concept at the blink of an eye. We had to wait until almost Thursday evening to finalize the concept. Here’s a rundown of the other concepts we considered:

• Toilet Etiquette (A series of Public Service Announcements)
• Spoof of Katrina Halili-Hayden Kho Sex Video (c/o Nash)
• Music Video of Masarap Magmahal and Bakla
• Music Video of Sinaktan Mo Ang Puso Ko

And after much deliberation, the Ikaw Na Nga Music Video won.

The Shoot

I was greeted by a heavy downpour when I woke up last Friday. I got worried since most of our scenes had to be done outdoors. We prayed for a miracle. Thank God, the weather got a tad calm during the afternoon of our shoot. Five per cent of the video was shot in Gab roofdeck and the 95 per cent was in Paco Park thus, the special credits to Paco and Gab.

It was drizzling when we were on our way to Paco Park. We paid an entrance fee of P5 which we promised ourselves to make sulit of it. We inspected the whole area first to find the perfect places the scenes were asking for and also for cinematography purposes. We were also lucky because there were only a few people around the area which made our shooting hassle-free. We were also happy because the security guards were cooperative. They behave every time the camera starts to roll. We started filming at around 9:30 in the morning and packed up at around two in the afternoon. Everything was hassle-free until…

The Editing

Yes. We had trouble come editing time because we couldn’t find a cooperative DVD ripper online. I was close to crying when we finally decided to use Adobe Premiere to transfer our video from the DVD to Mastina my laptop. Adobe Premiere has always been intimidating for me, but we had no choice then. The whole process of transferring the video ate almost half of our entire editing hours. But it was all worth it I guess. Edit, edit, edit, PUBLISH. Then come viewing time, you can just imagine our horror when Media Player played our video in black in white. Something’s wrong with my media player I guess because when we tried to watch it from our desktop, everything was as colorful as it should be. Our last resort was to copy the movie file to a flash disk and play it using some Good Samaritan’s laptop. Btw, thanks, boss!

The Lesson

I’m gonna end this post with the lessons I learned from this experience.

1. Start early. I know we love cramming and all but the earlier you start, the more sleep you get.
2. Always have a Plan B. If the rain didn’t stop that Friday afternoon, we wouldn’t really know what to do. So having a Plan B is always the best practice. It’s always best to be ready for some unexpected twists and turns.
3. Learn to Compromise. I hate compromises. It’s as good as losing. :p But when you’re in a group, you have no choice but to listen to what your mates have to say. It may be the silliest idea, but hey, if it works, you will also reap the benefits.
4. Plan, Plan, Plan!!! To avoid wasted effort and resources, it’s best to lay out the entire plan before jumping into the actualization part.
5. The Power of Coordination. Be sure that everyone is on the same page and be open to suggestions. Then before you actually carry out the plan, be sure that everyone is comfortable with it to ensure active participation from each and everyone in the group.

To my mates, cheers!!! We should have a team name, srsly.

To my fellow Orcom students, congrats!!! Let’s nail that podcast presentation!!!

Everyone did a great job! Fantabulous!!!