Otaku auteur

Filmmaker Jason Tan takes his obsessions more seriously than he does himself. He’s essentially a big kid who happens to be one of the most promising new directors in the country today. His body of work bares this out: in his world, we meet golf-club wielding street fighters, precocious schoolgirls, bikini-clad underwater sirens, eidolons dressed up as flight attendants and, now, accident-prone kawaii girls. (Almost all of whom happen to uncannily resemble popular model and TV5 news-anchor Shawn Yao.)

His most recent project finds him collaborating with no less than Ely Buendia for the video of his latest single from his album with the late Francis Magalona called, ”In Love and War”. Jason feels this is probably one of the best things he’s ever worked on and was still giddy about it when we spoke to him.

YOUNG STAR: How closely did you work with Ely for this video?

Jason Tan: At first, it was surreal working with Ely. I looked up to him since I was in high school. Then suddenly I was given the chance to create something for him, with him. But he was very easy to work with, very understanding and agreeable. We collaborated mostly through e-mail (and) he gave me a free hand on the concept. During the shoot, he would ask for direction on some scenes. We would have a discussion, and then settle on the strongest option. After I had edited the first draft, he gave me some specific revisions, and then it was my turn to fine tune. I get jittery every time I’m about to finalize something. It makes me more critical.

What was the main concept and inspiration for the video?

The main concept and inspiration for the video was ”injured beauties.” I’d seen a series of pictures that depict beautiful women in bandages, braces or patched up. I built on that. I wanted to show women that were broken but still beautiful. Plus, having Ely as the doctor felt meant-to-be, especially for that concept.

There’s dancing in the video…

We decided on the dance part later on. I was consistently listening to the song as I was building up the scenes, and just kept seeing dancing people. I really felt that the song demanded it. It wanted a waltz! So I asked Ely if he’d do it, and thankfully he said it’d make E-heads fans happy because it would remind them of Huling El Bimbo.

How much did the song’s themes affect your treatment in the video?

It affected everything. The song is the base of the video. The first thing I did after I met Ely was read the lyrics of the song. I didn’t go far from it — I didn’t want to. I wanted a thread to tie them up together, even if was just a very thin one. I didn’t want the video to be out of sync with Ely’s music.

I’m not sure if everyone will see it but I hope it makes sense somehow.

How did you choose the women who’d appear in the video?

I asked a friend of ours, Norman Crisologo, who also works for Uno magazine to help out. He’s a good friend and he did a great job. We were one girl short, so he introduced us to Alexandra Keuls, who they featured because of her love of cosplay in an issue early this year. This is my second time to work with Tricia Gosingtian. I wanted to work with her more after I shot a video of her for Manila Design Week last month. I knew she would look stunning with bandages covering her eyes. She has this charm that comes across as being fragile, and I wanted to magnify that. She is great to work with because in her work as a photographer she understands the whole production process. Plus she’s fun to hang out with. And Shawn Yao is my lucky charm. Yes. She is. For five years now. 

How did you start working with Shawn?

Since I started directing, she’s been my talent. It started with this video I wrote, produced and directed for the YStyle anniversary about five years ago. From then on we worked on a number of other projects including plugs for MYX, music videos and commercials. We developed a mutual trust over time.

I tend to work around concepts that involve strong, intelligent and sexy women. She perfectly embodies that. I guess it shows how much I love the character Princess Mononoke, and how I worship Sensei Miyazaki. Before this, Shawn and I worked on a video for Uno, where she’s also an editor.

Back to Ely, did he have any restrictions to what he would do in the video?

The only restriction Ely gave me was to not let him sing and act at the same time. But he took that back when we started discussing what to do. He never told me why he did. I just assume he liked the concept. He just told me he’d make an exception for this one. I was so surprised! But along the way, we were able to shoot a great performance of him alone in that operating room. That took out singing and acting at the same time.

What would you advise someone about to make a music video?

Take time preparing and building your concepts. Have people you trust work with you. Keep it simple. Have a slim, tight team. Never, ever cut and paste!

* * *

The video of Ely Buendia and Francis Magalona’s Wasak Waltz is now airing on Channel V. Check out unomagazine.com.ph for more exclusives on the shoot. Also, check out Jason Tan’s Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/6shots79.