“The Yellow Shawl III [1944]” Reconstructed for Tomorrow’s Play

In 2010, I made a short film that formed part of the UP Chamber Theatre’s performance of Francisco Arcellana’s “The Yellow Shawl.” Last week, or six years later, long-time friend, Dr. Belen Calingacion, former Chair of the UP Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts emailed me to ask for a copy since she lost it in the fire that gutted the UP Faculty Center.

I found the coverages of both performances she directed made in celebration of their 50th year: The Yellow Shawl and May Day Eve. Unfortunately, I did not find the original copy of the film, then about two minutes and 15 seconds long. It’s the character’s flashback about her mother.

Luckily, I found a DVD read-only copy of the film’s footage. Not all shots used in the original were there however. They were also uneditable in my computer. Up to now, I cannot recall, and still wondering why I have that copy since the original was shot using mini-DV camera. I still have the tapes, but I do not normally save exported clips. Anyway, I had to reformat it to MPEG 4 using another editing software program before I could finally re-edit and reconstruct the whole thing again. I was able to give the copy to Belen last Saturday.

The re-edited copy has become by the way a little longer – two seconds less than three minutes. The Yellow Shawl is one of the four plays slated to be shown tomorrow, starting at 5 pm., May 25. Venue is UP Palma Hall, 4th floor.

[Notes: When projected, the film unfortunately did not have the same impact as when used the first time in 2010. It wasn’t dim enough for the film to be properly viewed. The mic stand blocked the scene, and as the audience are seated too close to the performers, the area of vision was quite limited. Anyway, of all the performances, I liked Flowers of May and Wings of Madness. Congrats to my friend, Belen, the play director!! – June 2, 2016]