Another first for Lea Salonga
Everyone knows who Lea Salonga is. If not, they have probably spent the last decade or so in a deep, dark hole in the middle of nowhere.
But just for the record – Lea Salonga is the first Filipina to ever star in a West End and Broadway production [Miss Saigon of course] and the first Filipina to ever win international theater accolades including the most prestigious award in British theatre, the Laurence Olivier Award, the Antoinette Perry or the Tony Awards for Excellence in Theatre, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Awards and the Theatre World Award.
Lea was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway.
All these firsts make Lea a veritable First Lady in the world of theatre – and I do mean world!
Now this theater Titan, adds another first to her list. She is singing the theme song, “Lipad,” of the upcoming Filipino animated feature “Dayo sa Mundo ng Elementalia.” Though Lea has been the singing voice in animated films before - Princess Jasmine and Mulan in Disney’s Aladdin and Mulan respectively – this is the first time she is singing for a Filipino animated production.
It’s rather fitting really because “Dayo” is also a first in itself! This breakthrough full-length, fully digital animated film feature is the first of its kind in Philippine cinematic history.
“Dayo” is about a boy named Bubuy who goes to save his grandparents who have been abducted by enchanted beings and are being held prisoner in mystical land called Elementalia. He is aided and abetted by other fantastical and mythical creatures from Philippine mythology in his quest.
When asked why she agreed to sing the film’s theme song, Lea replies, “I had a feeling this was going to be something pretty important… given the technology it employs in order to make the film… given that the story is about facing your fears and conquering obstacles and doing something great for somebody that you love and making your own dreams come true… there’s adventure in it, there’s comedy in it … Why wouldn’t I be part of something like this?”
Why not indeed? And the fact that it is an all-Filipino, all-original production is a plus for Lea. “It feels great to do something for a Filipino company, singing a Filipino song for a Filipino fully animated film. Its something that I can say, ‘This came from my country and I’m proud of this show’ … so to be part of something like this is very special.”
The theme song, “Lipad,” composed by Jessie Lasaten and Temi Abad, Jr. and recorded with the FILharmoniKA, conducted by Gerard Salonga, has a very special message as well.
“The song Lipad, when looked at and listened to on its most basic level, is a song of inspiration,” enthuses Lea. “The main character is encouraged to overcome his fears for a greater good. However, on a deeper level, it's a song of inspiration to everyone that hears the song: to our animators and artists to fly high and reach their dreams, to our people to dream big and achieve their goals, and to anyone that has any fear that they perhaps might be unable to make their lives better, to ‘dream it, and make it happen.’ ‘Basta't kaya mong isipin, kaya mong gawin’ is one line from the song, and I believe that anyone can make their dreams comes true, starting with a wish.”
And that’s a message Lea is well qualified to impart. After all, she is someone who has had many of her dreams come true and still continues to fly high!
“Lipad” composer Lasaten agrees wholeheartedly that Lea is the ideal choice to interpret his composition. “Lea's rendition is just how we've imagined it would be for the first flying scene of Bubuy and Anna. It's perfect and inspiring!”
And why not – after all, Lea is FIRST!
“Dayo sa Mundo ng Elementalia” is co-presented by Frootees, Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdog and Mister Donut. The film is also supported by Ascorbic Acid Ceelin, Crispy Fry Breading Mix, Enervon Bright Brand, Timezone, FUJI YKL, Inquirer.net, Yehey.com, ClicktheCity.com, Animation Council of the Philippines, Toon Boom, Wacom, Woodpecker Studio and New Media.
Even though Dayo is produced by a budding production company, Cutting Edge, it will include some of the most brilliant Filipino actors like Laurice Guillen, Peque Gallaga, Nova Villa, Noel Trinidad, Pokwang and Michael V. You might not agree that Pokwang is a brilliant voice actor though - just wait until you see her as a manananggal on the movie!
If you want to catch these actors in the flesh to promote Dayo, you can refer to this schedule:
December 1 - Mall Tour: Roots of Nature, Market, Market, 3PM,
December 6-7 - Mall Tour: Pokwang, SM North Edsa
December 11 - Voices Press Conference: The whole cast, Ratsky's QC
December 12 - Mall Tour: Glorietta
December 13-14 - Mall Tour: SM Megamall
December 18 - Mall Tour: SM Cebu
December 20-21 - Mall Tour: Mall of Asia
As Dayo the movie is nearing its completion, an additional room has been added to the Cutting Edge Production office to accommodate a team of artists to give the film that 3d feel. The 3d team is from Cutting Edge's sister company, Woodpecker. These artists barely sleep, only dozing off between taking breaks and rendering.
Everything is supposed to be finished a week from now so the material can be brought to Technicolor in Thailand to make sure the final product is at par with international standards. The production team will spend a week in Thailand to get everything done before the Metro Manila Film Festival.
If you're expecting floats going around Manila for the MMFF 2008, you will be disappointed. The MMFF Execom is repackaging the whole event so it can be more appealing on television. No news yet on how they're pulling it off but hopefully it's going to be big.
The full trailer is already up with more clips from characters dubbed by Michael V. and Pokwang.
Watch out for more updates on the MMFF and Dayo movie by subscribing to this blog's feeds.
The next big thing in the Philippine animation industry is about to happen this December as “Dayo” competes with seven other films in the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), which opens on Christmas day.
It wasn't easy for Cutting Edge Productions, the local animators behind "Dayo," to enter the festival. When they submitted the script by Temi Abad and Eric Cabahug for consideration, the committee didn't immediately accept it. But the team didn't give up and insisted on presenting the project until they convinced the committee that they can do it. The primary consideration was time constraint and meeting the deadline especially for first time producers. Remarkably, "Dayo" made it to the final 8 out of the 19 hopefuls.
"Dayo" is a heartwarming story of overcoming one's fear and triumphing over adversity. It centers on the 11-year-old Bubuy (voiced by Nash Aguas) who is out to save his abducted grandparents in the land of Elementalia, a magical and mystical world that houses many of the Philippines' mythical creatures and other enchanted elements. Along the way, Bubuy meets Anna Manananggirl (voiced by Katrina Legaspi), a teen manananggal (a winged creature that can separate her torso from her lower body) who befriends and helps Bubuy in his quest to rescue his grandparents.
The creative team of "Dayo" consulted published literature on local mythology. The main reference is the book Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology by Maximo Ramos.
“Dayo” aims to reintroduce the other side of mythical creatures like the tikbalang, kapre, manananggal, and aswang by giving a new dimension to these usual reviled creatures. "They are normally presented as predators or portrayed as villains," explains director Robert Quilao. "We created a new twist to these characters by transforming the scary manananggal into the friendly manananggol (defender) who acts as the guardian of Elementalia."
Quilao also shares that every step of the project has been a challenge for the team, "but the storyboarding stage was perhaps the toughest because it involved setting the mood and look of the whole animation." Working on the story and writing the script also took time. A three-day story conference was held in Tagaytay just to brainstorm on the story, while it took the team three to four months to finish the
script.
The team already had talents in mind when they were working on the characters except for the lead roles of Bubuy and Anna which they held auditions for. For example, they already had Pokwang in mind for the manananggal yaya of Anna, hence the character sketch is loosely based on her. The team also thought of how it would be like to have Pokwang exchange lines with news anchor Mike Enriquez. So there's a character whose voice only sounds like Enriquez since the team is not able to get the real one to voice for the role. The team disclaims though that if other animated characters may appear to have similarities with real life people, those are unintentional.
The film also features voices of Michael V, Noel Trinidad, Nova Villa, Johnny Delgado, Peque Gallaga and Laurice Guillen.
Since the project is fully-digital, it's easy to animate the storyboard (also known as animatics). No storyboard could even be seen plastered on the office walls or workstations of Cutting Edge. While the drawing is done traditionally by hand, it's executed directly onto the computer screen or PC tablet, hence, Quilao labels the project as "tradigital" animation.
"Dayo" is a hybrid product of combining 2D and 3D animation, powered by Toon Boom using Macintosh and Linux platforms. 2D animation is used for the characters while 3D animation is used for the backgrounds especially for the big scenes.
Currently, the film is 75% done and is expected to be completed by November in time for the MMFF. By then, the film will have spent just almost two years to make, a period shorter than the usual 3 years for a traditional full-length animation to finish. The team is done with the rough animation and is now on the "digital ink and paint" stage. Over 500 artists nationwide are pulled together to work on this project. Although it's rather difficult and expensive to produce an animation project, "it's the only content we can sell abroad," justifies Jessie Lasaten, executive producer of "Dayo" and chief executive officer of Cutting Edge. "The world is our market. The idea is to recover half of the investment in the local market, and half of it worldwide. But if we're lucky, we can recover the whole investment locally." Lasaten reveals that Cutting Edge has spent around 1.3 million US dollars to produce "Dayo."
Also part of Cutting Edge's objectives is producing world-class projects. Hence, everything from the content to the production process of "Dayo" is world-class. For example, multi-awarded composer and arranger Lasaten will do the musical score and record it with a live orchestra with the help of the FILharmoniKA, conducted by Gerard Salonga, while internationally-renowned performer Lea Salonga will sing the movie's theme song Lipad (Fly).
In certain aspects where other full-length Filipino animated features failed, "Dayo" hopes to succeed. What makes "Dayo" unique is the Filipino feel that the whole animated feature has—the characters, environment and even the jokes. It is rich in folklore and abounds in Filipino values that are reflective of Philippine culture. While there are some fight sequences included in the film, "Dayo" is generally nonviolent and child-friendly.
The film starts its school tour on November. The team is seeking support of the Department of Education in promoting Filipino history, arts and culture.
Originally conceptualized as a research and development project, "Dayo" is a proof that the Filipinos can do a grand project like this. Cutting Edge also expects "Dayo" to trigger the hopes and dreams of other studios. They can now start working on the contents that they have long conceptualized.
Soon after "Dayo," the industry can anticipate for another full-length Filipino-themed animated feature from Cutting Edge. For more info, visit the official movie web site at www.dayomovie.com