'Pasintabi' presents the underworld in 3D

A 40-minute animation film that took three years to make, Pasintabi premiered last December to a very eager audience. Expectations were unsurprisingly high, since the film's trailer won Best Animation - Category F (TVC/OBB/demo reel) in last year's Animahenasyon, the annual Philippine Animation Festival held by the Animation Council of the Philippines.

Pasintabi is Tuldok Animation Studios' sophomore offering, following the success of the 20-minute Libingan, which participated in local and international film festivals. Director Jeff Capili says Pasintabi is a continuation of what Tuldok began with Libingan. "Sobrang rich ng culture natin sa folklore. But this time, nag-focus kami sa relationship ng two main characters using Philippine folklore as background," he says. In Libingan, seven year-old city girl Anna discovers that kapres do exist, and more than that, not everything people think about them is true. Pasintabi, on the other hand, tells the story of Reb, a 10 year-old boy who lives with his lolo in Albay. An albularyo, Reb's lolo is fond of telling tales of magic and mystery. Reb finds his lolo's stories interesting, but passess them off as fiction until he finds himself in the middle of what he assumed to be an imaginary world. "Sa mundong yun, doon niya natutunan kung paano i-appreciate 'yung taong nagpalaki at nagmamahal talaga sa kanya," explains Capili. The story isn't as cheesy as it sounds - Tuldok made several revisions on the script, combining humor with drama to make the film more entertaining. What really stands out though is the unusual animation process, which Tuldok developed for the production. "The challenge is to seamlessly blend the 3D environment with the 2D characters," said Capili. Another more basic challenge is that Tuldok has no official workspace. They began with 25 animators working on Pasintabi, mostly students and amateurs who would undergo training at coffeeshops and internet cafes. Still, they kept working until they completed the film three years later. At the end of the production, they were down to four animators, whose roles require the same skills of an actor - and more. "Kailangan kong i-internalize 'yung mood, 'yung feelings ng ina-animate ko. 'Pag malungkot 'yung scene, manonood muna ako ng eksena sa internet, 'pag medyo malungkot na 'yung pakiramdam ko, start na ako ng animation. so dapat flexible ka at hindi limited sa kung anong character ang ina-animate mo," said Sean Orlanda, one of Tuldok's digital animators. As for the voices, many eager talents auditioned, but only a few were chosen, given the film's few characters."We wanted to get the best voice overs for the roles. Maraming nagtatanong kung paano namin napili, at kung ano 'yung deciding factor na ginamit namin for the roles. Number one is the voice. Pero lingit sa karamihan, it's how you deliver it through your heart," said Capili. Tuldok received several auditions, many of them self-made videos that were posted on YouTube. It wasn't just the aspiring voice talents who were excited about the project. Even the editor Frank Albana was thrilled to work on Pasintabi. "Part of your role is helping the director realize his vision. But beyond that, it's bringing out something he didn't initially see. Some different aspect, some different perspective, and you can bring that out in editing. I was basically floored by the kind of images they created, these are wonderful visualizations that had such depth, I was very excited by that," says Albana. As for the music, scorer Pepe Manikan explained that they concentrated more on foley and ambient effects, to make it more dramatic and emotional. "We believe that a great animation is not just drawings that move. Those drawings must be able to move the audience as well," said Capili. Watching Pasintabi, it's easy to take the film for granted. If you aren't blown away by the visuals, the nunos' creepy voices will surely draw you in. But what really increases appreciation for Pasintabi is seeing the documentary of its creation, which lets the audience in behind the scenes. So much work from so many people went into the film, which when you come to think of it began with just one idea. Similar to Tuldok's name, which is Filipino for dot, speck, or a point, Pasintabi began with the most basic part of a story, from which a wonderful animated film was created. "Sobrang hirap, pero sobrang fulfilling din na natapos finally," said Capili. Already people are asking where they can catch Pasintabi, but nothing is scheduled so far. For updates, check Tuldok's website at http://www.tuldokanimation.com. - GMANews.TV