MANILA - Music video director Raffy Francisco is still high from his victory on “HP Space,” a Singapore-based Asian reality series, where he landed in the final three.
Never mind that the $50,000 grand prize went to Singaporean art director David Tang — who accumulated more points than Raffy and Chinese student Lora Lee — it was still a dream come true. Raffy was offered work as second director of “Bubblegum Crisis,” a live action film feature to be produced by Fox Studios this year in Sydney.
High-profile
This chance to work on the cult anime franchise based on Japanese director Katsuhito Akiyama’s classic original video animation is part of the prize for the grand winner. Topnotcher David got a full-pay job as print art director of the $30-million production, but Raffy got the higher-profile job, obviously.
“It’s not everyday that you get an opportunity to direct a Hollywood movie,” the 37-year-old told the Inquirer. “Doing second-unit directorial work is definitely a good start. I’m going to learn working in legit film sets. This is a multimillion-dollar live-action remake of an ’80s anime cult classic. I will be worlds away from some of my earlier sets, which were literally held together by duct tape and paper clips.”
“HP Space,” an eight one-hour episode series aired on Star World last November and December, had Asian artists from different fields facing different challenges each week.
The show received 2,500 applications from all over Asia, which were short-listed to around 60 and eventually, trimmed further down to the best 16. Another Filipino contender, Hong Kong Disney theater artist Adrienne Vergara, made it to the final six.
“‘HP Space’ was awesome. It opened my world to new possibilities,” says Raffy, who has directed over 50 music videos for different local artists, among them Gary Valenciano, Piolo Pascual, Lani Misalucha, Vina Morales, True Faith and Christian Bautista. “I had the privilege of working with some of the most creative people in Asia. I also met new contacts—the producers, mentors and judges. It was fun to be a reality show celeb, get your 15 minutes of fame and be recognized on the streets of Singapore and have the occasional picture taken with total strangers who follow the show.”
Delicate balance
Looking back, Raffy said he believed he fared well in the challenges, enough to be included in the finals. “It’s a delicate balance of getting your thoughts heard and synergizing with the talents within your group,” he said of the collaborative work. “You’re co-equals in the challenges. The ‘Marketing Challenge’ was my favorite. I pulled years of my marketing experience to put sensibility behind the task we did — making a laptop float in front of a busy mall.”
For two months, Raffy was thrilled to have the whole of Asia as his stage. Except for a couple of challenges which were right up his alley, the tasks were all out of his comfort zone. He said he just had to play hard, let ideas flow and execute them the best way possible.
Tailor-made
But the ‘HP Space’ final challenge appeared to have been tailor-made for him — the production of a music video, an expertise which helped him secure his spot in the top three. His interpretation of Malaysian rock band Bunkface’s “Prom Queen” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mE2PjLzly60) was described by the judges as the most polished.
The lessons he learned from “HP Space”? “There is always a twist. Show your true colors. Do what you do because you love doing it. Bringing out the best from your group. Have a clear vision of where to go and use creativity to achieve it.”
Busy year
Raffy is now closer to his next dream — to create his own Hollywood movie on top of a slew of other films.
“I want to work on at least a couple of full-length films this year,” says Raffy, who is also busy working on commercials and music videos. “I have to make up for lost time. I have a couple of stories that are up for studio option and I just submitted a script for indie funding. This year is going to be busy. The true ‘HP Space’ journey has just started.”
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