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This article was originally published in the July 2017 issue of Rogue Magazine.

Chito Roño’s go-to cinematographer is staging his first exhibit of photographs from the movie set at the CCP. As he sheds light on the making of the images, Rogue reflects on the impact of his work.

BY PHILBERT DY

For over 25 years, Neil Daza has been shooting some of the most memorable sequences in Filipino cinema. And he’s been doing it at all levels of the industry. He is Chito Roño’s preferred cinematographer, working with him in 2000’s Laro sa Baga, and then joining him on Spirit Warriors. On mainstream TV, he had a key role on the smash hit Be Careful with My Heart, shooting the popular television series in high definition format. He’s also a mainstay in the independent movie scene, his veteran eye bringing a sense of polish to several low-budget features that made a splash in the early days of digital filmmaking.

An exhibit of his behind-the-scenes photos runs in the Cultural Center of the Philippines from the entire month of August to the second week of September, and the images tell a story of an artist who explores all corners of his craft, never getting comfortable with just doing one thing.

DEKADA ’70 (2002, CHITO ROÑO)

Dekada ’70 (2002)

Dekada ’70 was the fifth straight film that Daza had worked on with director Chito Roño. It’s striking when you list them all down and see just how different they were from each other. Laro sa Baga was a sexy coming-of-age film. Spirit Warriors was a fantasy adventure. La Vida Rosa was a romantic crime film. Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure was a huge adventure production, best remembered for its heavy use of visual effects. At this point, Daza hadn’t really shot that many films yet, but he was already proving to be one of the most versatile cinematographers of the industry. In Dekada ’70, Daza muted the colors of this prestige drama, the interiors capturing the spirit of the times—political turmoil invading this typical Filipino home.

NEIL DAZA: Dekada ‘70‘s story connects on a very personal level. I grew up during martial law and it was my own experiences which became the motivation in lighting the film. It was also a minimalist approach. I didn’t want any fancy lighting or camera work that would distract the audience from the political drama happening on screen.

SEROKS (2006, ED LEJANO)

Seroks (2006)

In 2006, digitial filmmaking was just on the rise. Both Cinemalaya and Cinema One Originals had just started, and no one was really sure if this whole independent film thing was going to work out. It’s really amazing to think how much cameras have improved in the last 10 years. The digital movies back then were generally grainy, low-contrast pieces of work, few able to transcend the limitations of the technology. But Daza took on the challenge of shooting film noir with the cameras of the time, and the results are nothing short of miraculous. The movie looks good, even by today’s standards, Daza’s neon-soaked compositions really bringing the film’s world to life.

ND: While doing research for Bayaning 3rd World in 1998 (I shot for 11 days with Mike de Leon for this movie), we watched a lot of 1940s and 50s black-and-white noir films. So when Ed Lejano told me he wanted a noir-ish look for Seroks, I just went back to that noir-feel research and made it more modern by using color and camera movement in the narrative.

Bayaning Third World (1998)

LAST FULL SHOW AND GOD ONLY KNOWS (2005 and 2008, respectively; MARK V. REYES)

God Only Knows (2008)

Daza worked on these short films with Mark V. Reyes, a Filipino filmmaker based in the US. Both these shorts explore the underbelly of Filipino life, so the visuals are a striking contrast to Daza’s mainstream work. By this time, he had already shot Feng Shui, and he had just come off a Diether Ocampo romcom, both films created with a certain level of gloss. But Daza seemed to have no problem finding the odd beauty in a rundown theater where illicit things happen, or a motel where a mother makes a very terrible choice.

ND: These two films were shot during the transition from film to digital. Last Full Show was shot on 35mm film and went to the bleached bypass process in the lab, giving the film the desaturated colors and really rich glossy blacks. God Only Knows’s visual treatment dictated that we shoot the film on digital format so we could just “linger” and “observe” Angel Aquino’s character.

SAMPAGUITA, NATIONAL FLOWER (2010, FRANCIS XAVIER PASION)

Sampaguita, National Flower (2010)

At the time, Sampaguita, National Flower was touted as one of the first Filipino films to be shot completely on a digital SLR. Daza, who at this point was a revered veteran of the industry, was still exploring his art, learning to use new tools.

Daza would take advantage of the light weight of the cameras and their ability to shoot in low light to capture scenes of street kids running around at night, with nothing but the street lamps to light the scenes. Daza would later work again with the late Francis Pasion on Bwaya, refining visual and narrative sensibilities in a more rural setting.

ND: I shot Sampaguita like a documentary. I actually felt the film was more of a documentary than a feature film.

BADIL (2013, CHITO ROÑO)

Badil (2013)

Badil was shot on a low budget as part of a now-defunct Film Development Council of the Philippines project that gave grants to the “masters” of Filipino cinema. This was actually the second time Daza and Roño produced a film with money sourced from the government. The first was 2010’s Emir, a musical extravanganza party shot in the Middle East that had the express support of the Office of the President. Again, Daza seems comfortable working at either end of the budget spectrum, but it’s when he encounters limitations that his talent really shines. Between the two, Badil has more personality, its restrained, desaturated images of a small-town election creating indelible impressions on everyone who saw them.

ND: We didn’t have budget for lights so we made our own practical lights from ordinary bulbs. Which was fine since I wanted Badil to be dark. Just like living in a remote island where three to four brownouts happen in a day and power is out by 8 p.m. and the people are awake and are used to moving around in the dark.

http://rogue.ph/pinoy-movieland-eyes-neil-daza/

These notes were written out of boredom in between scene setups on the set. The first post in my Facebook page was three years ago. It started out as thoughts on cinematography and later on became random observations of people making movies and the system’s imperfection all from the point of view of a cinematographer.

 

# 1 : There is no secret in the art of cinematography.

# 2 : Everybody on the set looks at the cinematographer as the technical authority. So, study and know your stuff. Or at least act like you know what you’re doing.

# 3 : First thing to do on the set : Check the camera and the toilet if both are working.

# 4 : If the shot is out of focus, it is 99% the cinematographer’s fault and 1% goes either to the focus puller or the uncalibrated lens or the actors who didn’t hit their mark.

# 5 : It’s ‘picture vehicle’ not ‘feature vehicle’.

# 6 : Be a cinematography student forever.

# 7 : Learn the word ‘compromise’ early on because sometimes it is necessary. Then, know the difference between a compromise and a sell out.

# 8 : If you’re going to do a high-risk shot, please insist for an insurance. Whether the production will give you the insurance or not, is another matter.

# 9 : It’s ‘gaffer’ not ‘gapper’. It’s ‘tungsten’ not ‘tangten’. It’s ‘hot set’ not ‘hot sit’. Thank you very much.

#10 : Accept the reality that not everyone on the set understands that what you’re doing is a personal expression, according to the aesthetic principles of what is beautiful or what we commonly call as art.

#11 : Do not underestimate the importance of an apple box.

#12 : There is a limit as to how fast we can setup the lights. Pushing that limit means compromising certain safety issues concerning the crew, actors and everyone on the set.

#13 : You know you’re in an exciting job when you’re about to shoot a love scene and the AD says, “everybody out of the set except the cinematographer”.

#14 : Cinematographers are in a position to create changes in the system and make it a better working environment.

#15 : Press the record button before ‘Action!’ and don’t sleep during the take.

#16 : Digital cinematography should free us creatively without losing substance.

#17 : Good cinematography is not always connected to the brand of camera you are using.

#18 : My basic cinematographer’s survival kit : light meter, contrast viewer, compass (to determine sunrise/sunset position), 3 day AccuWeather forecast, laptop, dslr, extra clothes (at least for one night), sunblock, toothbrush, cap/hat, wipes, sunglasses, hand sanitizer, mosquito repellant, windbreaker, water canteen and the most important, 2 rolls of toilet paper.

#19 : Master the technical aspect so you can light not just with your eyes but also with your heart.

#20 : What we do between “Action!” and “Cut!” : Take a deep breath, compose the shot, frame the actors with the right headroom, make sure we don’t over shoot, check and re-check if the shot is in focus, watch out for the nasty boom mic, using the other eye, check if the actor hit his mark, listen to the actor’s dialogue as a cue for camera movement, cue the dolly operator, wait for the cut, and all the while thinking of the next shot. It’s a 30 second cinematic challenge with a lot of adrenaline rush.

#21 If movie-making is a battleground then every filmmaker should read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

#22 : Shooting a horror movie is always difficult. You’re trying to scare the audience and you need a lot of time to set that up in terms of camera movement and lighting design. Death scenes in horror films are the hardest but also the funniest to shoot.

#23 : Although the technical side of filmmaking is a cinematographer’s responsibility and primarily his concern, it still is a must for a director to know the basics of cinematography. This is, after all, a technical medium.

#24 : It is an industry that hardly follows work ethics, guidelines or any form of standardization and is driven by profit. You basically struggle on your own, try to create your own voice and do something artful along the way. Love the craft and the people who share the same passion in making good films. Create allies to change the system because change will not come from the top, it will come from below.

#25 : There is only one plane of focus (PoF) which is parallel to the camera sensor and lies within the depth of field. There is no ‘slightly’ focused shot. It’s either you’re focused or you didn’t hit the mark.

#26 : Growing up watching cartoons, old movies and reading Marvel comic books brought me to the conclusion that these three formats started my love affair with imagery. It’s always a wonderful feeling to go into the process of creating an image, and at the same time, be reminded of my childhood.

#27 : A focus puller, given the amount of responsibility he has over the image, is one of the most underrated and underpaid staff on the set. The best acting, direction or cinematography can’t save an out of focus shot.

#28 : I’m here to tell a story through my lighting. When I put my actors in the dark, that’s intentional. This is not a hair commercial.

#29 : It’s ‘follow spot’ not ‘palo spot’, ‘pre lighting’ not ‘free lighting’, ‘scaffolding’ not ‘scap holding’.

#30 : Next time a producer tells me to cut down on my light requirements, I’m going to quote Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro – “Cinematography is motion, we need a journey and to arrive at another point. We don’t create a beautiful frame, but a beautiful film. That’s why I say ‘writing with light.”

#31 : There’s no romcom lighting formula. The same way that there’s no horror lighting formula.

#32 : Color grading is the final step in the long and arduous creative process a cinematographer undertakes in making a film. It is at this point where the cinematographer, like a painter, puts his signature on the finished artwork.

#33 : The general audience generally has a vague idea what a cinematographer does.

#34 : There are days when those elementary and high school subjects you hated so much become useful while lighting a set and operating a camera because the work demands us to understand mathematics, physics, design and sociology.

#35 : In every fim, a cinematographer will encounter limitations. He just has to work around it. I always welcome limitations. I think that’s when you start to be really creative.

#36 : I will shoot a thesis film with heart over a big budget yet pretentious film.

I remember, when I used to shoot on film, I always had that feeling of uncertainty whether I was getting the right exposure or not. I think that is the magic of film, you do not have an idea how the image is going to look like until you have processed the negative and have viewed the rushes in that small cold dark projection room.

That is exactly how I felt while shooting SIGNAL ROCK. There’s uncertainty, that familiar feeling of walking on unfamiliar ground. Signal Rock, just like Badil (2013), is a passion project of director Chito Rono, but more ambitious than the first one. We were, however, working on a modest budget and after reading the script, I already knew the film was going to be logistically and technically more challenging given its requirements and location.

The story is set in Biri Island, a 5th class municipality in Northern Samar facing the Pacific Ocean in the east and San Bernardino Strait to the west, accessible by boat from the mainland. By plane, you can take the Manila-Calbayog flight, then take another 2-hour land travel to the town of Lavezares where the jump off point for the one-hour boat ride to Biri is stationed. If you travel by bus, you take the back- breaking 14-hour ride from Cubao to Matnog, Sorsogon and then cross the sea via ferry boat that carries your bus, to Allen, Samar for two hours. From Allen to Lavezares is another 30 minutes by land. Going to Biri is definitely not easy, more so shooting a movie.

Early on, it was very clear that the location would dictate my technical need. I had done two films there before and there’s no way I was going to bring a 25-lb camera at Biri rock formation what with 10 sequences to finish in a day and wake up again the next morning at 5. We had set a 15-day straight shoot so I needed to work fast with minimal lighting setup especially for night scenes. I chose to shoot with a Sony a7sii with Carl Zeiss prime lenses for mobility and for budget reason, combining it with an Osmo camera for the long moving takes.

 

Signal Rock’s cinematography was functional. I was always adjusting to what was available in front of me and how nature would present itself that day. We adjusted our shoots based on the schedule of water sea level since we needed to walk for two kilometers on knee deep water to get to the rock formation. My gaffer and I were continuously tracking the sun to get the right sunlight direction for the scenes. It was instinctive filmmaking. It felt like being back in film school where I used to shoot short films with just one light. My lighting package was three 60s ARRI Skypanel which I used for the background during night and also as a strong soft key light for day interiors. I also had four battery-operated LiteMat LEDs to enhance close-up shots. The rest were augmented by around 10 pieces of ordinary 100 watts bulb lights mounted on white Japanese lanterns from Divisoria and then rigged on long 15-ft bamboo poles. These poles were then placed strategically depending on the shot which created an overall soft ambience light during night scenes. I had two 5 KVA portable generators moving around the set. I was also pushing the camera’s ISO to its limit.

Intentionally putting characters in shadows, avoiding fill lights and sometimes letting background go really dark, I used darkness to feel isolation and remoteness. Biri is underlit at night just like any remote municipality in the country. I wanted to recreate that feeling of talking to a person lighted by a low wattage bulb. There’s faint illumination but quite enough.

In situations like these, you basically trust your instinct and experience and hope that something good will come out of it. Looking back, shooting in Biri the first time turned out to be my own dry run for making Signal Rock, only this time on a larger scale.

Signal Rock is the Philippines’ entry for the Oscar’s best foreign language film next year.

Oscars 2019: Here Are the 87 Movies Competing for Best Foreign Language Film