Mission: Animation - Manila Bulletin Youth & Campus Oct. 23, 2008


Tuldok, the Filipino word for dot, speck, or a point.

Also the most basic part of a drawing from which all kinds of lines, shapes, patterns emanate.

It could also mean the end, or the starting point of something.

But for the people behind Tuldok Animation Studios Inc., it is the realization of a dream.

Dreaming to show the world the artistic and creative talents of Filipinos, a group of four Lasallians – Ramon del Prado, Toffer Liu, Ayeen Pineda and Benedict Carandang formed Tuldok in October 2005, which aims to promote the promising yet untapped animation film industry in the country.

"Almost 25 years na ang animation in the Philippines pero puro outsourcing lang," says Benedict Carandang, who was recently awarded by the British Council of the Philippines as the International Young Screen Entrepreneur 2008.

Tuldok believes that Filipinos, being natural storytellers, have the ability to create original and captivating stories, and not only as outsourcing of talents, who are usually left uncredited and unrecognized.

"Hindi tayo na-credit kasi binayaran ka, the credit goes to the company like for example Pixar, Disney or Dreamworks. At saka hanggang ngayon wala tayong original content. Meron tayo pero it’s not a big industry. People are not patronizing it," he adds.

Although Tuldok is not the first group of Filipino animators, it is one of the few groups involved in producing an all-original content. It focuses on local folklore with the main goal of nurturing the identity of Filipino culture.

FOR THE LOVE OF TOONS

The four friends, who were all staff members of the college paper "The Lasallian," pooled in their talents together – Ramon for animation and directing (who is in New York for a Fulbright scholarship in the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan), Ayeen for voice acting, Toffer for software and information technology, and Ben for finance and management, and put up the non-stock, non-profit organization.

Then, they invited friends and artists who share the same dream of creating all-original Filipino animated films.

"Ang solution ng Tuldok, we’re government subsidized habang dine-develop namin yung franchise or following sa Tuldok, and at the same time our artists sacrifice part of their time and labor," says Ben.

The group is divided into nine teams: the core group (the Tuldok founders) as the main link to the animators, the background artists, the character designers, the music team, the voices team, post-production, support staff and promotions, and writers.

Despite the lack of funds, the group is still capable of creating animated stories with their available resources: digital technology and talents who are willing to participate for the love of it. Tuldok is maximizing the use of Macromedia Flash 8 and Adobe Photoshop to create their animations.

"We rarely meet each other. The core group is in the center of everything. We distribute the labor and ipapakita lang namin if we’ve already combined everything, kapag tapos na lahat. It’s a surprise for everyone. Although maliit lang yung ginawa nila but if you combine things, you can produce something big. Bayanihan talaga. Filipinos working together for a single cause," relates Ben.


Tuldok Members in Production Meeting

GUERILLA GROUP

Last year, Benedict and his colleagues produced Tuldok’s first film entitled "Libingan" (The Burial). The 20-minute 2-D animated short film was supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

It tells the story of a seven-year-old city girl named Anna who goes to the province with her mom and pet dog, Rambo, to meet her relatives. The visit is going well until Anna is bullied by three boys who accidentally toss her cellphone into the forest. Determined to recover her cellphone despite stories of kapres said to be residing there, Anna and Rambo traverse the spooky forest and prove that kapres do exist. But their startling discovery also debunks ancient misconceptions about these feared mythical creatures popular in the local folklore.

Benedict admits that creating animation is both labor and cost intensive. There have been some attempts made before to create original animation, but these Filipinos remain few and rare. Due to the lack of support and funding from big companies, they failed. Animation’s high initial costs have scared away many mainstream productions who just settled for "safe and formulaic content."

"We can’t just do outsourcing because foreigners are looking for original content. They’re going to Asia to look for stories and we have a lot of stories to tell, we just don’t have the money to show it to them," he shares.

The movie "Libingan" was done without the physical studio or office. It was mainly completed in different fast food chains and their own houses.

"Tuldok is a web-based group. We just meet in fast food chains, we collaborate, we bring our laptops, we go to Netopia. We’re like a guerilla group. What we’re trying to say is, you don’t need to have a studio to do animation. We Filipinos even if we have little resources, we can still create something we can call our own, given our talent and passion. We can do something and we can do quality films," he relates.

Most of the members have their own day jobs and only do Tuldok on the side, whenever they have free time or on weekends. "Maraming nag-inquire sa amin na gustong sumali. And we tell them upfront na there’s no money here. We have honoraria pero hindi sya malaki," he reveals.


Tuldok Members meeting in a fastfood chain

IT BEGINS WITH AN IDEA

Tuldok is now working on a new project, the 40-minute animated short film "Pasintabi," a co-production with the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) and NCCA.

Like "Libingan," "Pasintabi" will be distributed for free throughout the country, particularly in schools, with the help of Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI) aiming to encourage and spur the interest and involvement of young Filipinos in the animation industry, which eventually can provide jobs and develop hidden talents.

"We’re trying to bring back Philippine folklore to the mainstream kasi we’re being bombarded by Western. Nakakalimutan na sya and we have to go back to our roots," says Tuldok graphic artist Che Bello. "On our school tours we not only show the film for free, we also give them tips on both the production and business side. We want to teach them as well and introduce the animation industry sa mga kids pa lang," she continues.

The pre-production of "Libingan" took seven months while the production dragged on to about a year.

"From an idea you create your story outline, and then we make a proposal. Kapag na-approve yung grant saka tatakbo yung whole production. We do the script and from the script you audition the voice actors. Kapag nakapili ka na, you start the recording. We need traditional artists to draw the scenes and from there we pass it on to the flash animators who will trace the drawings done by the traditional artists. Kapag buo na sya, you start to add the music and the subtitling," she says.

For the new film "Pasintabi," Che reveals that Tuldok will now use 3-D animation for its background and incorporate it to the 2-D animated characters.

Tuldok believes that it is important to adopt culture and traditions in its films because that is how the Filipinos will be able to build their identity to the global market.

"Here in the Philippines you won’t see Filipinos na porke’t gawa ng Pinoy yan they’ll watch it. People are discerning now, they want quality. Ang napapanood mo Pixar, Dreamworks, tapos magpe-present ka sa kanila na medyo hindi high-quality. You have to keep pace with technology," explains Ben.

For the longest time, local animators have been looking for a chance to showcase their originality and creativity. Tuldok hopes to provide them the venue, and likewise, be known as a quality content producer for the Filipino’s talents and artistry in the global animation industry.

For more of Tuldok, log on to www.tuldokanimation.com or www.tuldokanimation.blogspot.com.

--Jaser A. Marasigan

You can also read the article at http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2008/10/23/YTCP20081023138716.html