Libingan Movie Poster

The Cast of "Libingan"

"ANNA"

Character designed and Animated by: Ramon del Prado

Voiced by: Rachelle Tesoro

"RAMBO"

Character designed by: Ramon del Prado

Voiced by: Che Bello

Animated by: Jeffrey Capili

"BINOY"

Character designed by: Mikey Javier

Voiced by: Roan Belle Ng

Animated by: Ramon del Prado

"TENYONG"

Character designed by: Carmen del Prado

Voiced by: Mai Saporsantos

Animated by: Jeffrey Capili

"SAM"

Character designed by: Mikey Javier

Voiced by: Pocholo Gonzales

Animated by: Kenji Dormitorio

"MOM"

Character designed by: Ramon del Prado

Voiced by: Sharon Francisco

Animated by: Jun Mediavillo and Ramon del Prado

Please click on the characters to see bigger resolution.

GoodNewsPilipinas: Tuldok Animators empower Pinoy artists

Dreaming to make the world realize the artistic and creative talents of Pinoys, a group of four Lasallians formed the Tuldok Animation Studios Inc. Not only as a tool for outsourcing talents, the group believes that Pinoys have the ability to create original and captivating stories.

Tuldok is composed of writers, artists, animators, voice actors, and other talented people aimed at creating original Filipino animated short film. Although this is not the first group of Filipino artists and graphic animators, Tuldok is one of the few groups involved in producing all original content. It is now registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a non-stock, non-profit organization.

Purpose driven animation

Coming from diverse backgrounds, the proponents of Tuldok are Benedict Carandang, Ramon del Prado, Toffer Liu, and Ayeen Pineda. All are graduates of De La Salle University – Manila and former members of The La Sallian, the school’s official student publication. They conceived forming the group in October 2005.

Each of them has his own specialization: Ramon is good in animation, Ayeen in voice acting, Toffer in software and information technology, and Ben in management. Combining their strengths became the pillar of Tuldok. From then, the group invited friends and artists who share the same dream of creating an all-original Filipino animated short film.

Despite the lack of funds, the group is still capable of creating animated stories with their available resources: digital technology and generous writers who are willing to participate for the love of it.

“Filipino artists, by and large, are a creative bunch and are very individualistic by nature. By producing an all original content as one big group, we would like to inspire them that by being united, by collaborating and by sharing our individual talents, we are able to create something bigger than ourselves that we can all be proud of," Benedict marked the challenge.

Launching pad of animators

The country is known as an outsourcing powerhouse in the field of animation. “US, Japanese, and European studios already have contacts here for quite some time now affirming the talent of the Filipino,” Ramon said.

In fact, Pinoys already worked on animated cartoons like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, X-Men, Dexter’s Lab, Power Puff Girls, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, Disney’s Tarzan, among others. Benedict furthered: “Filipino’s ability to tell stories visually has also been exemplified by the recognition of several independent films in several international film festivals.”

But Benedict said the country is only recognized as an outsourcing hub – the grunt work behind animated stories abroad. “It is recognition of our skills as artists to copy someone else’s style but not for our creativity in producing our own animated stories,” he added.

Some attempts have been made before to create original animation, but these Filipinos remain few and rare. Benedict explained: “Financing has been the main reason behind the lack of support from big companies. Animation’s high initial costs due to equipment have scared away mainstream companies who have chosen to stick to safe and formulaic content.”

Good news. "The advent of digital technology has been able to significantly lower the costs of producing an animation to the point that anybody with a good personal computer can produce one. Animation may only be a medium to tell stories, but it is a very powerful one," Benedict added. Tuldok is maximizing the digital technology to create their animations. Basically, they use Macromedia Flash 8 and Adobe Photoshop.

Libingan: the first project

The first and only project that Tuldok has undertaken is the 20-minute shortfilm "Libingan". The National Commission for the Cultural Arts (NCCA) granted the project with a monetary fund. Many projects are expected to follow.

The proponents encourage anybody to visit the trailer of Libingan at http://www.tuldokanimation.com/ and their production blog at http://www.tuldokanimation.blogspot.com/. Tuldok will be officially launched on July 17, 2007 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

This article is written by Paul Darwynn Garilao last June 7, 2007 and you can check it out at the website of GoodNewsPilipinas as well: http://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/docs/tech_milestones/archived/tuldok.html

the month of April

Ahhh April had just dropped by, she smiled and zipped away as quickly as she came. oh well, at least we've got the trailer out and we've got a kickass website to show it in! check it out at
www.tuldokanimation.com
in all its bandwidth stealing, buffering, non connection-resetting-by-peer glory!!!


as of this blog we've got 1300+ hits already in the two weeks it has been out, not bad huh? considering we just appeared from nowhere! kudos goes to the following amazing people:

• Jeff Capili- the man behind the animation of the Teaser, he animated everything you see there! psycho!
• Pepe Manikan- this guy did the original soundtrack to the trailer. yup you heard it right, its original! why settle for anything else???
• Jun Mediavillo- he did some of the prelim Backgrounds used in the trailer!
• Lito de Lara- for the spooky background you see on the website!
• Bella Guevarra- did the colors for some backgrounds and the background used in the Transit newspaper article!

there are a lot more artists from where that 1 minuter came from! youll be seeing the full list of brave souls soon...

of course that doesn't mean that its time to sit back and relax, that's just the trailer of what's to come!

...well back to my little cave to finish the scene compilations, email the animators and background artists their tasks, corrections, suggestions, and oh yeah, eat something every now and then!


i must admit i don't blog. but this is actually kind of theraputic for the madness that is...


...ANIMATION! woohoo! lah dee dah...


but I'm an animator... right mind? yeah right!

K-Zone feature on "Libingan"

You can read this feature at K-Zone's Blog at http://www.kzone.com.ph/blog/?p=449

Storyboards of "Libingan"

Storyboarding

Here's how we did the storyboards... :)

The master at work! and meanwhile...

and at the end of the day, it all comes down to one thing...

no not that... its one step closer to finishing this baybeh!

Delays? what delays?

Now delays are nothing new to an animation production, it is in fact the nature of animation to have delays. Animated film production wouldn't be animated film production without delays! ahoohoohoo... anyhoo... things still seem to be on track, so here's looking to mid 2007 guys! :)

Animatics are done! everyone's happy, now to dissect each scene as to how many animators and bg artists we will need per scene... ahhh... dissecting...

good bye world! see you in a few days!

-Ramon

signing papers

21 Feb 2007

Just a meeting to sign Tuldok Animation's
official registration papers...

Calling Animators, BG Artists, Colorists!

Hello everyone,

I'm part of a group we formed called Tuldok.

The Philippines is known as an outsourcing powerhouse in the world today, especially in the field of animation. US, Japanese and European studios already have contacts here for quite some time now affirming the talent of the Filipino.

However, our talents are only being used to produce their stories, and not ours, with little or even no credit to the artists involved.

Tuldok was formed with a vision in mind, to create an all Filipino animated film, or a collection of short stories, showcasing not only the technical proficiency of us Filipinos, but our creative abilities as well.

Tuldok is a group of me and my friends, hoping to be able to create animated shorts to show to our countrymen and to the world. If you share the same dream as us, then this is an open invitation to flash animators. We are in need of your skills in realizing this dream. We are currently in the production stage for a 15 minute animated short film that revolves around Philippine Folklore.

We are now looking for Flash Animators, and Background Artsists & CG Colorists (Photoshop) who could help us make these dreams a reality.

• Flash animators with experience in character illustration is great, and even better if you have tried Character animation as well, of course since we will be a team, we will be working as a team.
• Background artists who can create forests, indoor scenes, and/or color them as well would be great.
  

If you are interested send us a sample of your work (jpg, gif, swf) or a link to your stuff to
tuldok.animation@gmail.com

set your subject to:
I'm a FLASH ANIMATOR!!! I CAN HELP!
or
I'm a CG ARTIST!!! PICK ME!

Should you be accepted, let's meet up and discuss the project.

There will be compensation for each scene/BG you will be doing, (it isnt studio rate, again this is an indie production, but there will be food and other freebies, aside from your compensation, so don't worry, we're trying to keep everyone involved happy!) plus you will be working with a team of talented people whom you can share or get new ideas and techniques with (if you wish).

Yes, the Filipino can, we always could. Let's just remind & show the whole world, and our countrymen about it.

We are hoping others share in our dream.

Ramon del Prado
Animator/Director: Project "Kapre"
http://www.ramondelprado.com/

Jan GA for 2007

Ben set them straight.

Doing soooo much...

We're a little behind on our production timetable...and we need...

- more background artists, flash animators and colorists
- a tuldok animation website
- a final venue for voice recording
- a final script

Although we've done a lot (and I mean a lot--voice auditions, script discussions, background design meetings, online chats, planning, BIR registration, name reservations at DTI, etc.) it seems we still have a mountain of stuff to do. But I'm not worried...the delay is still not alarming. That is unless Ramon, our animator-director, says it is. Until then, I have resolved not to resort to panic--be calm and collected. I will just continue to believe that everything is manageable. And that hopefully by sending out another call for animators, we'll be able to find more people who share in our dream.

-ayeen
Member, Tuldok Core Group

What is Tuldok?

What is Tuldok?

Tuldok is the Filipino word for dot, speck, or a point. It is the most basic part of a drawing from which all kinds of lines, shapes, patterns are created.Tuldok is a non profit organization whose dream is to make the world realize the artistic and creative talent of the Filipino people. Combining our expertise in storytelling, art, animation, voice acting, and music together with our rich culture, it has become our dream that the Filipino artist is recognized in the international community not just an outsourcing tool but as an untapped resource for creative and unique content as well.

Philippine Animation SceneFilipinos worked on animated hits like Finding Nemo*, The Incredibles*, X-men*, Dexter’s Lab*, Power Puff Girls*, Cow and Chicken*, Johnny Bravo* and Disney’s Tarzan*, to name a few.Filipino’s ability to tell stories visually has also been exemplified by the recognition of several independent films in several international film festivals.However, our country is recognized only as an outsourcing hub: the grunt work behind animated stories from abroad; it is recognition of our skills as artists to copy someone else’s style but not for our creativity in producing our own animated stories.Some attempts have been made before, but they remain few and rare.Financing has been the main reason behind the lack of support from big companies. Animation’s high initial costs due to equipment have scared away mainstream companies who have chosen to stick to safe and formulaic content.
*Properties of their respective studios

Mission & Vision

Tuldok was formed with a vision in mind: To make the world recognize Filipino talent. Not only as a mechanical tool just for outsourcing but the ability to create original and captivating stories.The advent of digital technology has been able to significantly lower the costs of producing an animation to the point that anybody with a good personal computer can produce one. Animation may only be a medium to tell stories, but it is a very powerful one. Combining our exemplary visual skills, the magic of animation, with our rich culture and you have a formula that will surely catch the attention and gain recognition and respect from the rest of the world.In spite of the lack of funds, we are still capable of creating animated stories with the resources we currently have: digital technology and generous writers and artists who are willing to participate for the love of it.

Responsibilities

Interested artists, writers, composers and voice actors who join this project will be granted:

• Technical Assistance/Guidance and Training
• Compilation of the Final Product
• Use of project for their own portfolio

The Final Project:

• Exposure to different Art and Film Festivals locally and internationally
• Marketing of the Final Project, should any profit be made, revenues will be shared as agreed upon

This is a dream, but we are all working in making this dream a reality. If you feel you can contribute in the creative or creation process or other ways, feel free to contact any of the Tuldok members.

Thank you for your support.

Tuldok Project Details

Tuldok Project Details

4 Animated Shorts, approximately 10-15 minutes per story.
Complete and independent stories, they must be able to stand on their own.
No sequels needed to finish the story.

Surface Theme: Filipino Folklore, mythical creatures/beliefs will be the main elements throughout each story, interacting with humans and our world, stories about struggle, existence, purpose, ambitions, etc…

The stories would be original, and not be direct animated versions of existing folktales; the mythical creatures/beliefs of those folktales and added original characters will drive each story.

Underlying Theme: Identity, divided into three aspects of identity and our existence which the animated stories would be about:

Story 1: Past – Loss of Innocence, Loss of identity, Loss of something great.
Where did we come from?
Contrary to history books, Pre Spanish Philippines has been quite advanced and civilized, with a rich culture already present. This culture, this identity, has been lost after hundreds of years of colonization by several superpowers over the years, resulting in a loss and even a dislike of our ancestor’s ways. This was the death of our Identity then.

Story 2: Present – Rediscovering one’s identity
Who am I?
Current trends are more of acceptance and rediscovery of our roots, colonial mentality still exists but what is important is that there is a growing curiosity, appreciation, and respect for where we come from. We are slowly finding who we are again, or if not, slowly defining our own new and unique identity.

Story 3: Future – What to do with our existence: Will or Fate? (tentative theme)
Where are we going? What’s next? No one knows. Do we leave it to fate, or is it up to our will?
This is the closing story to the collection. Our culture will surely continue to grow, in a good way or a bad way, time will decide, or this story may make its own predictions. Other questions would then be where we are all going? Has our future been written already? Or are we in charge of our own existence?

The folklore aspect of these stories are actually symbolical of the Filipino culture, apart from being interesting on its own, their existence in each story would actually be a metaphor on how the Filipino culture has been discovered, lost, rediscovered, and changed over eras in our history.

The purpose of using well known Filipino folklore characters is that these stories are designed to be commentary on the various phases of Filipino Identity throughout its existence. Being mythical creatures, they are already distinct from the human audience’s view, giving them the power to give commentary on our human society, more specifically the Filipino society and its culture’s trends, yet their character would also be human, allowing the audience to relate with them.

Contact: tuldok.animation@gmail.com