Pupil wins Best Music Video award in New York City

MANILA, Philippines – An animated music video featuring Filipino band Pupil won gold and was hailed as the Best Music Video in 2008 Promax/BDA Awards held in New York City. In the music video, Pupil performed Animax Asia’s theme song, "Set Me Apart," which celebrate youth and individuality. In a press statement, Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns Animax, said the music video’s anime-inspired visual style characterizes Animax channel. The music video featured Ely Buendia and bandmates Yan Yuzon, Dok Sergio, and Bogs Jugo as animated characters in the worlds representing science fiction, mystery, and action. "Set Me Apart," which premiered June 2007 on Animax across Asia, has garnered tens of thousands of hits online. World-class production Tracy Wong, Animax Asia director of creative services, directed the video, which was designed by Hue Visualab, a Malaysian broadcast design and animation studio. "Pupil is proud to be a part of a world class production," Buendia said in a text message coursed through manager Day Cabuhat. "My warmest congratulations to the talented director and animators who made the video a reality.There was never a more deserving team." "Working with Animax was a lovely experience," Sergio said. "And to win an award because of that experience is truly awesome. I’m just so grateful and honored to be part of it." In an e-mail message to GMANews.TV, Wong said she was also elated over the award, especially because "Set Me Apart" was the channel’s first-ever music video project. "I knew we had a good music video because everyone involved including Pupil and the design team at Hue Visualab put in their best efforts," Animax Asia's Wong said. "Although we were up against some of the best works from around the world, I had hopes for 'Set Me Apart' to be among the finalists. And for it to emerge top, I am indeed very honored." 'Be different' Animax set the direction for the channel’s theme song using the tagline "be different," along with lots of emotive language to embody energy and attitude. That's the idea that guided Buendia and the band in conceptualizing a rock song that would fit the channel. "The song had to suit explosive images of a high-octane fight sequence in anime shows, including Final Fantasy and Onimusha, charge up heroic characters in Full Metal Alchemist and Blood+, and still link with the romantic scenes in Paradise Kiss and Honey & Clover," Wong said. Many of the music videos on TV feature live action, she said. That's why Animax decided on an animated video so that it would stand out from the clutter. "Also, with trends that saw bands like Linkin Park and Daft Punk, as well as Avril Lavigne turn to anime/manga for inspiration, Animax went full throttle to pursue an anime-inspired visual style to characterize the music video for the channel," Wong said. "Many anime shows on Animax conjure up fantasy and challenge our imagination, and when Pupil heard we wanted these themes for 'Set Me Apart' Music video, they went wild." In the video, the band members morphed into animated characters - Yuzon as a cowboy, on a ranch with animals; Jugo playing his drums in the middle of an expressway with speeding cars; Sergio playing bass in the middle of the ocean; Buendia zooming up into space in a glass elevator. "The four appeared in carefully crafted scenes of fantasy and action before reuniting in live action to sing the chorus," Wong said. "Pupil was fantastic to work with on and off-set. Having done shoots for many of their other music videos, they were still cool about having to do a number of takes." All over Asia Wong said Hue Visualab worked closely with Animax through a month-long production process which involved seven designers and animators putting in some 400 hours of hard work. She said the live-action footage was shot separately in a chroma-key studio in Manila and was composited into the final video. Before making the video, Wong immersed herself in various anime-styled music videos for inspiration, including Linkin Park’s "Breaking the Habit" and Daft Punk’s "Interstella 555." She said a key challenge in making the video was it involved work in various locations across Asia. "The production shoot was carried out in Manila, post production in Malaysia, while I was in Singapore to lead and coordinate these efforts, including creative discussions and approval of various stages," Wong said. The work involved a lot of calls and emails. "In this Internet age, creative projects of such scale can take place without physically being there," Wong said. "It was a truly international project that brought out the best of South East Asian talent." Wong said Animax Asia is not stopping with the success of "Set Me Apart" as they are looking to animate their viewers’ original works with "My Friend is an Alien" drawing contest and is set to produce its biggest project in 2008 – LaMB, which will be the channel’s very first original anime production. LaMB is based on the award-winning script written by Filipino contestant Carmelo Juinio, who participated in the pan-Asia script writing competition in 2007. Promax/BDA is a professional association for promotions and marketing executives in electronic media worldwide. Its members include all major terrestrial, cable, and satellite television stations and associated media, including advertising and production companies. It promotes best practice in the expanding world of marketing and promotion in the electronic media. - GMANews.TV