Contemporary Filipino Films

Items: 10 Steps (Including Introduction)

Duration: 50 seconds

Introduction
5 seconds

Step Text
The cinema of the Philippines began with the introduction of the
first moving pictures to the country on January 1, 1897 at the Saln
de Pertierra in Manila.

Early filmmakers and producers in the country were mostly

wealthy enterprising foreigners and expatriates, but on September
12, 1919, a silent feature film broke the grounds for Filipino
filmmakers. Dalagang Bukid (Country Maiden), a movie based on

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a popular musical play, was the first movie made and shown by
Filipino filmmaker Jos Nepomuceno. Dubbed as the "Father of
Philippine Cinema", his work marked the start of cinema as an art
form in the Philippines.

Even with the problems currently facing motion pictures around

the world, movies are still considered as one of the popular forms
of entertainment among the Filipino people, directly employing
some 776,000 Filipinos and generating around 4 billion revenues
annually.

The Philippines was the last country to establish a national film

archive, when one opened in October 2011.

The Film Movements

5 seconds

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Step Text
Contemporary Filipino films are categorized by the film
movements which emerged as a result of the continuing
development of intellectual media.

These films are categorized as:

1. Independent
2. Experimental
3. New Wave

Independent
5 seconds

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Step Text
Indie is a modern cultural term that stems from the
word independent.

Originally, an indie film is a film production resulting in a

feature film that is produced mostly or completely
outside of the major film studio system, in addition to
being produced and distributed by independent
entertainment agencies.

Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their

content and style and the way in which the filmmakers'
personal artistic vision is realized. Usually, but not always,
independent films are made with considerably lower
budgets than major studio movies.

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Characteristics of Indie Films
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Step Text
After a few solid decades of independent media,
however, aesthetic patterns and themes have emerged
that make indie more of a style or genre label than a
hard definition. For example, indie films are usually (not
always):

Low budget, featuring actors that are not A-list

superstars.
Set in everyday reality, as opposed to the distant
future or past.

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 Artistic or personal in tone. Stories often reflect
outcasts or everyday people.
Music is often sourced from bands, instead of
original orchestral scoring.

Experimental
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Step Text
An experimental film is any film that experiments with
some aspect of the filmmaking process -- e.g., editing of
visuals and/or audio, filming techniques, and even the
mode of presentation.

The term describes a range of filmmaking styles that are

generally quite different from, and often opposed to, the

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practices of mainstream commercial and documentary
filmmaking.

Avant-garde is also used to describe this work. Today the

term "experimental cinema" prevails, because its
possible to make experimental films without the
presence of any avant-garde movement in the cultural
field.

As the word experimental suggests, this type of movie is

trying something new, different -- so different that, at
first, it will cause confusion, if not annoyance on the
viewer.

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Why Make Them?
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Step Text
So who makes them and why?

The goal is often to place the viewer in a more active and

more thoughtful relationship to the film.

Like any other art form, cinema can also be a therapeutic

activity. This is not to imply that those who make them
are ill or demented, not at all. However, some directors
are not concerned about what people may think or
commercial success - they make movies for themselves.

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Again, experimental films are not imprisoned by story
structure, character arc, or common sense.

Characteristics of Experimental Films

5 seconds

Step Text
While experimental covers a wide range of practice, an
experimental film is often characterized by:
the absence of linear narrative
the use of various abstracting techniques-out-of-
focus
painting or scratching on film
rapid editing

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 the use of asynchronous (non-diegetic) sound or even
the absence of any sound track
very low budgets, self-financed or financed through
small grants
with a minimal crew or often a crew of only one
person, the filmmaker

Some critics have argued that much experimental film is

no longer in fact "experimental" but has in fact become
a mainstream film genre. Many of its more typical
features-such as a non-narrative, impressionistic, or
poetic approaches to the film's construction-define what
is generally understood to be experimental.

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New Wave
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Step Text
New Wave refers to a new generation of young
filmmakers influencing the types of films produced, their
production and marketing, and the way major studios
approached film-making.

After the demise of the studio system and the rise of

television, the artistic quality of films and their
commercial success was diminished. This period, spanning
the mid-1970s and early 1990s, was a period of artistic
and commercial revival.

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Up to this day, the new wave of film-makers continue to
succeed, not only in the independent, but also in the
mainstream film industry.

Characteristics of New Wave Films

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Step Text
In New Wave films, the film director, rather than the
studio, took on a key authorial role.

The films made in this era are stylistically characterized in

that their narrative often strongly deviated from classical
norms. Though they largely continued to follow classical
norms, the films made in this period are characterized in

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that their narrative logic and subject matter were often
unconventional.

Other characteristics are summed up, as follows:

independent and limited filming budget
characters are anti-authoritarian
loose-structured and open-ended storyline
improvised plots and dialogues
jump-cut editing
long scene takes
real location shooting
natural lighting
direct and available sound
handheld camera

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Thank You
5 seconds

Step Text

Thank you for listening!

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