Katrina ”hopia” Legaspi as the voice of “Anna” the vegetarian manananggal  

We were one of the first people who was able to watch Dayo at the big screen. The premier night was held at SM Megamall’s Cinema 10 and was attended also by some members of the cast who rendered their voices to the film such as Peque Gallaga, Nash Aguas and Hopia.

I have been curious about this film ever since we were invited to the studios of Cutting Edge Productions to witness how the animation was being done a few months ago. I appreciated the film more while I was watching the finish product though the studio tour already burst my bubble .

This animation film indeed is a Filipino digital animation breakthrough because this is the first time digital technology was used in all aspects of the film. In addition, all animation was done here in the Philippines and by Filipinos. According to some animators that I was able to talk to during the studio tour, the Filipino animation films before were actually outsourced internationally because of budget constraints. The whole film itself actually costed Php 1.7 Million.

The story of Dayo actually is based on a Disney formula. Probably the story writers thought that this would need to be commercially successful. I would understand that since due to market forces, they would have to since the movie is expensive and would need to at least break even from the expenses incurred. The movie of couse has sponsors and there were product placements all over. Bubuy even brought one of the sponsors’ product in Elementalia. Haha. This is how the massive film industry works with capitalism, they have to work with capitalism to achieve something. In their case, they wanted to break free from the ‘old school’ animation. Rationalization my dear and I won’t dig in deeper into that.

The movie is not a “thinking” movie, it’s actually a “moral lesson” type of movie. It’s actually a movie that would amaze your aesthetic pleasures. What would you expect? Kids are the target audience here. For me, it’s not really bad to have a ‘non-thinking’ movie. Well, we need it sometimes to get away from all the pressures in the adult world. Movies are really meant to transport your mind into a ‘make believe’ place and Dayo, I believe was successful in that aspect. You would be able to see the difference when the lead character Buboy, goes to Elementalia. I was not able to appreciate the fact that the landscapes or backgrounds are just static when the characters are the only ones in 3d. It was ok, probably it was due to budget and time constraints.

As a whole, the movie was great. Adults will also appreciate it and that’s also important since kids will be dragging their parents or guardians to the movie. Another good thing about the movie is that it’s distinctly Filipino because it shows common Filipino culture. From the icons, objects, the jokes, the locations, mythology, etc. everything was common to us. This is probably the reason MTRCB gave them a rated A. So watch this movie starting December 25 (Metro Manila Film Festival entry) and I assure you kids will surely like this movie

Congratulations to all the people involved in this movie!

* Special thanks to poyt for the invite

(Dayo official teaser trailer)

I got excited because I have never been to an animation studio ever in my life and that’s why I really prepped up to be early for the studio tour in Cutting Edge Studios at Greenbelt Mansion, Makati. The studio tour is for the promotion of Dayo, the first Filipino all-digital animated film. The place was filled with toys, which they really need to keep their imagination “child-like” .

It is a story of a boy named Bubuy whose grandparents were abducted by bad creatures from Elementalia. Bubuy then meets this vegetarian “manananggal” named Anna who brought her to Elementalia, an enigmatic land home of the lower Philippine mythological characters. Lower mythological characters, meaning they are the ones who are considered in the “lower” stratum of hierarchy in Philippine mythology such as “Nuno sa Punso”, “Kapre”, “Tiyanak” and many more. The only way Bubuy can save his grandparents was to collect the ingredients for the magic potion that “Nuno sa Punso” asked him to look for. The saga continues as Bubuy faces the different challenges in Elementalia. The story itself is just simple, easy to grasp. The movie isn’t just for kids, it’s also for adults. The writers made sure that the adults will be able to relate to the jokes so that they wouldn’t feel that they’re being dragged by the kids they accompany into something that they wouldn’t want to watch. Another interesting thing here is that while we were watching some scenes in the movie, it actually captured the Filipino identity. Filipinos can easily identify their “Filipinohood” on the locations and object that were actually utilized on the film most especially on Bubuy’s house. The movie itself isn’t a “stranger” to us, though the presence of the elementals are there.

Dayo wasn’t the first animated film to be done digitally, it was actually Adarna however at that time they combined the traditional animation with digital animation. As for Dayo, the digitalization starts from storytelling to editing. Of course human ability is still needed for drawing of the characters but the equipments they use are cintiq screen tablets wherein artists can use pressure sensitive pens to draw. They were so cool! Ehem, those are the actual equipments that Disney or Pixar animators use while they’re doing their animation. Everything here was Filipino made and done inside the Cutting Edge Studios. No work was outsourced outside the Philippines ( well they have to outsource work on their satellite offices in other regions of the Philippines). This is one of the issues that Filipino digital artists faces; that they are never credited on the art they do since most of the animation that is being done here are just for foreign purposes.

Also one thing to wait for is the soundtrack. The official theme song is “Lipad”. There are 2 versions of it, one is being aired now in NU 107 ( which is the rock version) and as for the film version, it’s Lea Salonga who sang it accompanied with Filharmonika, Gerard Salonga’s orchestra.

Did you know that the film actually started to be done 2 years ago? Starting from the conceptualization until the post production, it took them about 2 years to finish this project. The estimated cost of making this film is about $1 M, a very risky venture but I’m sure that Filipino audiences will be able to appreciate it. The film is due to be done by October or November and of course to be shown in the upcoming 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival on December. This will be the only animation entry in the film festival and this is something that everybody can watch out for. Popular Filipino actors and actresses will be voicing the major characters in the film such as Michael V., Laurice Guillen, Pokwang, Noel Trinidad, Peque Gallaga. Nash Aguas will be voicing Bubuy and Katrina “Hopia” Legaspi will be voicing Anna, the vegetarian mananaggal.

You can visit their official website at www.dayothemovie.com