Chapter 1: Third Year, Third Term

S.Y. 2024-2025, 3rd Trimester

My schedule for June and July 2025 was packed with almost endless productions that are either graded or paid:

1. A short meet-cute I directed for a first-year subject, DF133P (Fundamentals of Film Direction) entitled “Rendezvous” (Personal rating ko sa mga kagroup: 1/5 STARS)
2. Our finals for a second-year subject that I wasn’t supposed to mix with Directing, DF115P (Production Processes) entitled “Totoy Matibay” where I practiced being a Production Designer as well as a Co-Writer (Personal rating ko sa mga kagroup: 5/5 STARS)
3. Our finals for DF133P entitled “Feel It” where I practiced being the Production Designer again and the Wardrobe Supervisor at the same time (Personal rating ko sa mga kagroup: 3/5 STARS)
4. Lastly, our finals for another second-year subject, DF196 (Gender and Cinema) entitled “TBD” (“To Be Determined“) where I experienced being the Assistant Director for the first time, as well as the Offline Editor (Personal rating ko sa mga kagroup: 2/5 STARS)
5. An advocacy thesis film, “Behind The Lens“, where I was able to contribute my skills with written words (wow??) as a Subtitlist
6. Another thesis film, “Hide & Seek“, a cine-dance that also added to my experience as a Script Continuity Supervisor
7. And lastly, “Tubong Barako“, a documentary from the first two to defend their thesis from our batch, where I lent my skills as Marketing Head and Subtitlist. I was able to provide the subtitles within just two days, including their screening and defense preparation time (morning of July 10). As the Marketing Head, however, I will continue for as long as the documentary lives in the film fests until its last break from social media.

Financially, my graded productions cost a lot. Personally, I think I learned just as much, especially when it comes to communicating with people and regulating my own emotions. You get to observe a lot of how people think just by the way they work when they’re in power. With the right films (where there’s less set drama than necessary), working in this field can be very fulfilling, and being exhausted doing what you want to do is much better than feeling nothing when doing otherwise.

EXTRA: Excited for my Own Thesis Film

Just recently, I’ve decided that the concept I’ve been pitching since frosh year can be developed into a musical thesis film. With the right amount of pre-production time and the right people by my side, I think it is very doable, although I have more than a year to prepare while waiting for Thesis 1 to 3 to show up in my portal. #hopeful :))