Jake Cuenca in El Brujo_Stellar Role

Last night, I edited one of the best sequences where Jake Cuenca played his role excellently in Seq 68. Alone in a bar, he is drinking to drown his depression, frustrations, loneliness which built up into anger…well, I edited up to that point only….because from that point on, he will morph into…. whatever Tikoy wants him to look like — as a Brujo. Hahaha!

His internalization was so good I kept the footage as long as it can be so that the audience would ride in whatever he is feeling. Not to be outdone is Gerald Anderson. It is “Tayong Dalawa” sans Kim Chiu.

Thinking forward, if the so-called “re-editors” of Manila Kingpin: Asiong Salonga 2011 cut this sequence, I am sure they will chop-chop or chop it shorter. It is because “cutter-editors” do not feel sequences or drama. Or, they will fade in and out, freeze the frames and what not. They are physical cutters.

I classify editors into two: the creative and cutter editors. I never belonged to the latter, that is why until now I am working with Tikoy because he lets me be. Afterall, his film is my film. We always work 101% for our film. Traditional producers may not like our ways or thinking but they should understand that creative artists have ideas which they should let go…and fly!

I remember walking out while I was in film school when a classmate then assigned as my director ordered me to cut his film like a mere cutter-editor — pointing at the footage and telling me where to cut. “Do it yourself,” I said. That is why when the few and new short film directors asked me to edit their film, I posed the condition of letting me free when I edit.

I am left with half of the materials that I have by now to still edit. Big scenes were edited first for us to determine whatever shots are lacking. They are left with a day more to shoot. Target playdate is July. Producer is AB S-CBN.

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