Cardboard Balita shows ‘truth shall prevail’ even in despair
How do you capture 30 years in five minutes?
This is the dilemma that those at Ideas X Machina (IXM) creative agency faced when tasked with coming up with a short independent film as part of The Philippine STAR’s 30th anniversary. Until one of them recalled an experience while volunteering in the relief efforts during the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda.
In the anecdote, the volunteer went to Tacloban City as part of a group tasked with providing counseling and therapy to traumatized residents. But while relief volunteers would usually bring food, water and other supplies to disaster survivors, the group brought copies of
The STAR instead. Reading the paper enabled the survivors to have a better sense of their situation and get in the know about that latest development in other Yolandaaffected areas where they may have relatives or friends.
The anecdote inspired IXM to develop the concept and story behind Cardboard Balita, a five- to ten-minute short film produced by The STAR.
In its Cardboard Balita, a similar group of volunteers organizes a makeshift newscast for Yolanda survivors using a mock TV set made of cardboard and reports from the newspaper. Volunteers act out the different segments of the newscast from the main headlines down to the details such as weather, sports, even entertainment. It concludes with survivors visibly amused and entertained by the makeshift, live action TV.
IXM CEO Third Domingo explains how Cardboard Balita captures the spirit of The
STAR’s 30 years of bringing relevant news and information as well as journalism with an advocacy to the public.
“In times of disaster and despair, while the basic essentials for survival are food, clothing, shelter; another important thing that people need is information — the truth. At a time when people have no access to news and information because of the lack of electricity and communications, it’s the printed news that serve as their source, not just of information but of hope and inspiration,” Domingo says.
And indeed, there is truth in what Domingo says. Reading the printed news when one has no other alternative source enables one to have a sense of awareness of his or her reality, and thus, strive to change it.
This is basically the premise that founded The STAR in the first place — to deliver journalism with an advocacy that would enable readers to act and change the status quo.
In it’s first headline on July 28, 1986, the paper featured the story of 23-year-old Stephen Salcedo, who was mauled to death by Marcos loyalists in Luneta Park for simply wearing a yellow shirt and flashing the Laban sign. Sympathizing with the plight of the young
man, The STAR published on its front- page photographs of the men who mauled Salcedo, leading to their arrest, conviction and incarceration. It also announced a fund drive for the benefit of Salcedo’s bereaved family.
Directing the short film is veteran film and TV commercial director Dindo Angeles, who didn’t have second thoughts in accepting the project despite its meager budget and tight schedule. Angeles, who has the musical film Sinta, as well as commercials for products like Close-Up, Knorr, Lucky Me, Pampers and San Miguel Beer under his belt, was even in an upbeat mood in between takes of Cardboard Balita.
RSVP Film Studios, which was famous for involvement in Francis Ford Coppola’s
Apocalypse Now, took care of production services. Given the film’s budget, they shot the film in an abandoned school compound in Cubao, which was transformed to look like an evacuation center in Tacloban City, and employed local extras to play the role of Yolanda survivors. With a shooting schedule of just two to three days, all stops had to be pulled in order to complete all the needed shots within the given time frame and resources.
While The STAR is not foreign to productions of this scale, given its experience in producing TV shows and commercials, this is the first time that it produced an independent film. And it seems like the only logical track, given that the company has already broke the ceiling in terms of the different media it had ventured into in recent years.
“The STAR might be a beginner in its foray to producing indie films, but it’s a fast-learning company. It’s an opportunity to explore the possibilities in terms of what the company can offer as content. And with an inspiring story such as Cardboard Balita, I believe the end product will go viral and will help set the tone for future indie films that the company will produce,” says STAR SVP for Sales and Marketing Lucien Dy Tioco.
Cardboard Balita premieres today in The STAR’ s Facebook ( facebook. com/ The PhilippineSTAR), Twitter (@ PhilippineS TAR) and YouTube ( youtube. com/ user/ PhilippineSTARph) accounts.