Day 101 of filming

Sunday (yesterday) was supposed to be my one day off but I ended up working on a few projects. I woke up, walked to this little market with my roomie, Marie, came back to buy a sandwich from FTV Cafe and was suddenly whisked away by Pe-tah (Peter) to wardrobe and makeup. I was needed as a body double for the film even though I'm not done with my certification but my instructor was confident with my progress in the course. It was a little intimidating but exciting at the same time.

Today was a good day. It had poured the night before so we were hoping for good weather (rain makes the water too dark and murky to film). The water level has really risen from the last photo I put up of the beach by our lawn. Good thing those houses are on stilts!



I'd also like to clarify my role as a body double: I'm NOT doubling as a nude body. I'm mostly in this black cat suit with scuba gear or a swimsuit. They send me with a safety diver in case I have any problems and makes sure I don't drown. Most of the crew are local Filippinos and they all have a funny sense of humor. They've been trying to teach me some Cebuano (the local dialect) and I have a terrible time pronouncing them or even remembering them. All I know is that "Gwapo" is handsome and "Gwapa" is beautiful.






One of my favorite parts today was that I got to use this little water scooter for one of the shots. We decided to name it Banana Split. Unfortunately, this also meant I had exposed skin as opposed to the catsuit and so I got stung by a lot of jellies. I never knew to do this, but to prevent them you either coat yourself in oil or lotion. If you're already stung, rub vinegar on your skin and it goes away pretty quickly.



Being on set is really fun and interesting. Things I never thought about are thoroughly thought about while filming a movie. Things like, continuity with a scene and its props are keenly observed. We do the same scene several times until it's perfect and I thank every moment I'm in the water that we're doing it in tropical waters for its warmth. They do a lot of BTS (Behind-the-scenes) so hopefully I'll get footage and photos to show you all.



I've never loved my job as much as I do while I'm on set. One of the best parts is seeing the ocean floor. My safety diver knows how fascinated I am with seeing everything and lets me know what I can touch and gives me random items to observe. He showed me a sea snake today (it was slithering along the ocean floor, striped black and white) and put a couple brightly colored sea slugs on my hand. They were so soft and smooth! It's a lot of fun and I'm constantly fascinated. It's also very beautiful when I swim through schools of fish. The tiny silver ones make it look like the water is glittering around me.

Anyways, that was just a recap of a day on set and tomorrow will be similar. Today we got off super early at like 6:30PM! So that means we can be social and go eat dinner, yay.

I wish I could introduce each of the amazing individuals I've met here so far, but I figure that would be some sort of invasion of privacy, lol. I honestly do think that it takes a certain type of person to fly way out to the Philippines, alone, ambitious, and willing to work hard. Everyone is so different but get along so well! I've never worked in an environment where I actually loved all the people. Usually I just huddle in my corner and do my work, but instead, I find myself having the best time with these people.