For All Moms: The Best Job in the World is the Hardest One – P&G 2012 London Olympics TVC

Mother’s Day for many countries is about a month away on May 13 with the exception of the U.K. which celebrated Mother’s Day way earlier in March.  London happens to be the upcoming site for the 2012 Olympic Games and as of yesterday there were a 100 days left before the commencement of the games on July 27, 2012.

“The Best Job in the World is the Hardest One” – P&G 2012 London Olympics TVC

Agency:Wieden + Kennedy Portland, Client: P&G/Olympics, Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Production Company: Anonymous Content, Creative Director: Danielle Flagg, Creative Director: Karl Lieberman, Copywriter: Kevin Jones, Art Director: Ollie Watson  BREAK DATE: April 17, 2012

You can prepare to surprise, touch, or move your own mother as early as now.  Watch P&G’s 2012 London Olympics TVC spot below.

The reason why I’m announcing Mother’s Day this early is because on top of viewing this moving TV Commercial by P&G London which was released the other day, celebrating the Moms behind the Olympics I want everyone to take the time to thank and love our Moms this coming Mother’s Day. I can relate because my brother’s an athlete and he aspires to play football internationally one day, he’s been playing football since he was 4 years old and non-stop since he was 9, he’ll be 16 this year.

He now plays for the Kaya Elite, the youth club of Kaya FC in the UFL League which includes players like Aly Borromeo, Nate Burkey, Anton Del Rosario, Jason Sabio, Lexton Moy and more…

 

Live Tattoo TVC 30s Campaign – Latest aired makeup job

The LiveTattoo.ph 30s TVC is finally on the air, 2.5 days, 6 hours of sleep, around 15-20 support talents.  I understand that in the post production process lots of the faces I made up didn’t make it into the frame, except for one stretch in particular Ellore’s clip, but I’m cool with that.  That’s all across the board and it’s part of my job.  The set was AWESOME!  What a feat and of course dense little me tried to warn Syke, visual FX shoot supervisor “You guys are going to be cleaning up a lot of cables…” when it happened to deliberately be a SteamPunky theme with golden wiring to embellish the set”DUH”, knock-knock Julia lol.  In digital post production, which was what I used to do, you learn to accept the final outcome of the work as approved by the brand and in the end it is being part of an excellent whole that matters to me.  The Live Tattoo 30s TVC is embedded at the bottom.  The lead talents for the TVC made up by Jigs Mayuga are Saab Magalona, Coach Rio, and Danica Magpantay.

This is Ellore, am glad they got her for a close-up even just for a moment.  I’m sure she didn’t expect it.  We became good friends on set as we talked into the wee hours of the morning with Syke.I did blur her eyebags a bit in this shot for this still…it wasn’t as bad because it was already edited but to do the photo justice I’m just disclosing that I did.  All these support talents had barely a few hours worth of sleep for 2 days, but sometimes that’s just how we roll, folks.

 

I’m just extremely proud to say I worked on this fabulous commercial with the team that did it.  A big shout out of thanks to the Harrison Communications team: Pau Pamatmat, Grace Consolacion, Paolo Fabregas, and Mark Pahati, Provill Productions, Eddie Mar Cabiltes my hairstylist, Mara Reyes our wardrobe stylist, AssistDirek ManMan, Direk Adrian Calumpang, the Tattoo clients, Underground Logic digital post production for the edit and effects, and in particular Syke Dolero, my former officemate from UGL who kept me in high spirits at the crack of dawn.

Globe GoPlay Prepaid feat. Sarah G., Gerald, Vice Ganda – Just Aired, Another TVC Makeup job

Meet Rain, one of the support dancers I made up for another TVC shoot that just aired, Globe Prepaid GoPlay.  I had lots of laughs with her and since I had hardly any time to take any other photos here’s one of her.  She’s an awesome dancer…and I mean like a super-skilled awesome dancer, and I think her half hot pink hairdo rocks.  The makeup challenge in this shoot is that everywhere they danced it was screaming hot and I mean HOT.

The 3 lead celebrities in the TVC were Sarah G, Gerald, and Vice Ganda! It was a non-stop dance fest, imagine take after take for lots of the dancers including some members of the Philippine All Stars dance crew, that means A LOT OF SWEAT, I had to enlist my hairstylist EddieMar Cabiltesto help me out in keeping them fresh.  By the way, a lot of the time the makeup for support talents isn’t noticeable on camera, but there’ll be lots of behind the scenes videos coming up very soon where you’ll get to see more of the dance crew Rain auditioned to be a part of for this Globe TVC directed by Adrian Calumpang.  Included in the dance crew as well is utterly ripped Ryan Janus Thomas from PBB Unlimited (a taekwando and dance expert) who you can see in this off-beat BTS video by my shoot supervising friend, Syke, it’s hilarious.  This is an unlisted video, so it can’t be searched on YouTube, you can only view it where I make it available, like here.

Pardon the sound we were just using a tablet to take the video, but the joke in it was I retouched the girls lying down and Syke (cameraman and my former officemate at UGL)  said I was being all “Kevyn Aucoin” like.  Little Lynn one of the dancers said it was like doing funeral makeup and I said in that case it was a group casket, they cracked up.  Here’s a photo of the one who was taking the video, Syke, he’s the funny guy on the right next to one of Provill’s exec producers, Franny.

Later, later on Rain happily says “Of corpse not!!” over and over to various comments by Syke LOL.  As a team all of us worked for 2.5 days and came up with this 30 second ad, there are still some more TVC campaign installments coming up soon and watch out for more upcoming behind the scenes handheld by Direk Adrian Calumpang mismo.

“Easter” isn’t about the Eggs – Some fond memories and my thoughts on it

I’ve not begun typing in order to condemn the use of rabbits, eggs, ducklings, or chicks this Easter Sunday.  In my book they’re acceptable for fun as long as they defer and not overtake the true celebration of Easter rather than become a distraction, besides, I love chicks, I had a yellow chick named Jack once.  I have a fond memory of Resurrection Sunday in my mind right now.  There was a time when I was about 4 or 5 years old and we spent Holy Week with my mother’s clan at a relative’s beach resthouse in Tali Beach, Batangas.  At the crack of dawn on Easter morning I woke up alone on my mattress after a few days already at the beach to the sound of either my mom or aunt’s voice wide awake outside shouting “Hallelujah, Jesus is Alive!!” even before the rooster crowed I believe.  That erased what would’ve been the common urge in mind to greet people “Happy Easter”.  We also had a Grand Easter egg hunt that day made of beautifully painted real chicken eggs done by a lot of us, no plastic eggs and they were hidden in hard to find places around the beach house.  We used white crayons on the eggs first to make our designs or patterns, then when the eggs were dipped in dye the patterns in crayon would resist the dye and you had a subtractive design. Here’s a photo of one similar summer but I think this wasn’t the same trip that formed the memory, this was around 1 or 2 years later but also in Tali, in another friend’s house.  Uh, that’s me on the left edge of the photo and beside me is my first (as in first) cousin Paolo, Tito Gary’s eldest son, Tita Donna and Tito Anthony are behind us.

 

We still made use of the eggs as part of the fun but we always had the Word and the Gospel preached or shared among us first by either my dad, Tito Gary, or one of the other uncles.  The root word Easter ironically is not of Christian origin even, Easter comes from the name of Eostre “This mythical figure is said to have been the goddess of the sunrise and the spring. She is the Teutonic goddess of the dawn. The direction of the sunrise, East, is named for her. In Norse mythology, the name is spelled Eostare. Another considered the Norse/Saxon goddess of spring is Ostara. Eastre is believed to be an ancient word for spring.” Of course although it may be someone else’s form of tradition I don’t fully believe in the root of Easter because of that mythical figure.  I’d rather believe in Resurrection Sunday which holds true power for me because of God’s changing, saving grace in my life.  I found a video unlike most “Easter” videos.  It contains some clips from the Nativity then mostly the Passion, not the violent parts, but the parts with Mary and Jesus in it, which I love.  The song being sung is Perfect Love by Darlene Zschech of Hillsong, it’s inspired to be Mary’s loving, motherly song about her Son’s beauty and sacrifice.  I pray God blesses and touches you personally tomorrow, Happy Resurrection Sunday!  Here is the video that nearly moved me to tears even without much of the violence.

Wedding Makeup by Julia, Sorongon-Yap Nuptials – Products, Photos, plus Pat and Mike’s On-Site Video

I love it when friends ask me to help them out on their big day.  It gives me added value to know they want me there, and not just there, right smack in the bride’s face, too, haha!  I’ve known Patricia since the Young Adults camp hosted by New Life Christian Center when I was about 21 I think.  She was the first person to hug me even though I was new, and make me feel welcome and I was more than honored when I was asked to do her makeup on her wedding day.

Watch Mike and Pat’s touching On-Site Wedding Video here and by the way this isn’t a listed YouTube video, if you search for it you won’t find it, so you can only watch it here!  Good job by the NicePrintPhoto guys, who also by the way did Ogie and Regine’s On-Site Wedding Video.  Watch the embedded video of Mike and Pat below!

 

Photos and Video Supplier: www.niceprintphoto.com

Read more to see some behind the scenes shots, some of  the products I used on Patricia, and the full post.

Smart Tri-Net 30 – Watch My First TVC MakeUp Job that Aired!

Here it is.  Oh my gosh, thank you, Lord, I’m finally on a roll! I did the makeup in this project for all 3 talents, yup, guy included.

MAKEUP: Julia Arenas, HAIR: Mike Cruz, DIRECTOR: Sid Maderazo, PROD HOUSE: 88 Storey Productions

I’d like to proudly present my first TVC makeup job that aired.  It’s actually my 2nd job but it aired before the first shoot which is still being finished in post production probably!  Watch the Smart Tri-Net 30 TV Commercial here. Thank you to 88 Storey Productions and Director Sid Maderazo for giving me this opportunity.  Good job to all of us .

Adele Graces Vogue’s March 2012 Cover – Eyeliner Check, Massive

UPDATED: With Behind the Scenes Video for the Cover Shoot by Vogue

Who else could it have been for Vogue’s spiffy new March cover, really? Tell me…

I love how Adele has positioned herself as someone beautiful without having to be stereotypically slim.  Her makeup is always spot on and she’s an absolute beauty to behold and listen to each time I see her, which is only a few times but they’ve made a hasty impression on me.  I’ll admit I wasn’t one of her earlier followers, but when I started to notice how utterly original she was, she made a fan out of me.

 

IMAGE SOURCES:

• thefashionfiend.com
• thedailystab.com

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossoms, A Film of Beauty Amidst Tragedy – Upcoming Tohoko Earthquake Anniversary

On March 11, 2012 it will have been one year since Japan wept as one because of the destructive tsunami that followed the 9.0 Tohoko Earthquake.  It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded to hit Japan.  Miyagi, Sendai was the only place in Japan I went to as a student ambassador, I lived with them, I had a Miyagi shirt with me and we caught fish in nets along the same coast if I’m not mistaken that nearly swallowed the entire city.  It gripped my heart to see these people suffer while knowing also that I am part of them since I have a Japanese great grandmother.

“Even when a flower falls, we love it.  That is the heart of a Japanese person.”

UK Film Director, Lucy Walker put out a tender short film in the few months that followed the disaster, she instead chose to craft a film that focused on highlighting Japan’s resilient beauty amidst tragedy. Mom was trying to share this with me via email and I kept receiving it while on the go in my phone inbox but overlooking it.  I know now why she kept urging me to watch it. Pull your tissue box near you and watch this short but relevant and hopeful film which I embedded below, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossoms.  The film is now a 2012 Academy Award nominee for Documentary (short subject).

 

Lisa Eldridge’s Work Appropriate Makeup Tutorial on Oriental Skin

Finally, Lisa Eldridge, my favorite Pro UK makeup artist, does a tutorial for work appropriate makeup on a model with oriental skin who isn’t overtly pale.

It’s Lisa’s reinvention of the conventional work look which I highly appreciate.  Instead of aiming for a stereotypical, flat, matte look she lifts it by aiming for a look that’s fresh, light, and semi-dewy.  Watch the polished work makeup tutorial here.

 

Bobbi Brown Neons and Nudes Spring 2012

It’s the talk of the town where Bobbi Brown makeup fans are concerned. News of  Bobbi Brown’s new Spring 2012 collection, Neons and Nudes, is making waves.

Let’s make the wave bigger with a video on the Neons and Nudes collection by the brand’s channel shall we?