How to make a successful Filipino Romantic Film
April 3rd 2008 00:31
Growing up on Filipino romantic flicks, I noticed the producers seem to have a certain formula they stick to, which seems to go on for a decade. In the 80s and early 90s, the romance flicks were laced with fantasy. It wasn’t rare for the boy and girl to meet and fall in-love among a bottle of genies, a mysterious jacket, a magical ring or book. Then the girl was always poor, uncultured, couldn’t speak English to save her life (English speech was a sign in the Philippines that a person is rich and ‘social’) and lived in a ‘squatter’ area. The man, meanwhile, was tall, handsome, rich, speaks English very well as he would have likely ‘grown up in the States’.
In recent years, I’ve noticed that this formula has been revised or tweaked with other elements being added. So, if you want a guaranteed box-office romance hit, just pay attention to the following tips -
1. Choose actors that have previously worked together on a small screen and whose tandem already has a huge fan base. Even better if the actors are a real-life couple.
2. Have the guy play a rich playboy and the girl a poor, hardworking Uni student/part-time worker. Spend the first ten minutes (which is basically the intro of the movie) cutting scenes between the daily lives of the boy and girl. Show the boy flirting with a girl at a club, waking up late the next day with the said girl next to him, then driving off in a hot car with a fussy servant calling after him. Have the girl walking from Uni or work through crowded, cluttered streets, waving hello then coming home to a small cluttered house where she then performs the role of a dutiful, obedient daughter by bringing dinner. Include a background music that sounds like music you’d hear in an elevator that would make you insanely mad if you were stuck in it.
3. Throw in secondary characters like an alcoholic father/mother and a dead parent for the rich boy and an ailing mother/blind father/dead parent with a supportive younger sister or a scantily dressed, flamboyant best friend for the girl.
4. The first meeting between the boy and girl should hate at first sight. The girl will think the boy is a frivolous playboy while the boy thinks the girl is pretty but uptight.
5. Show the boy and girl getting to know each other and eventually falling in-love through a montage of short clips with an upbeat song in the background. Cue in a scene of the two chasing each other on the beach, in the rain, around a tree, in a hut…you get the drift.
6. Include a short cheesy dance routine somewhere which all the characters can repeat at the end of the movie as the credits roll. And which you hope will become the next Macarena on the dance floor.
7. Always have a third party. This third party should be rich, good-looking, financially successful because of rich parents (both alive, mind you) and speak English with that exaggeratedly American drawl. Make this third party a dick or a bitch but in the end, give them a complete turnaround by showing a heartfelt scene in which he/she willingly lets the hero/heroine go – with a huge flow of tears, of course, from both sides.
8. When the boy and girl come to their big conflict, show their separate ways of trying to move on again, a montage of short clips. Fill this montage with plenty of crying scenes – especially from the girl. Make them walk aimlessly around a park, garden, hotel – anywhere just as long as they eventually burst into uncontrollable sobs. Don’t forget to include the worried faces of their loved ones and that soppy music in the background.
9. 75 minutes into the film when the boy and girl have a huge opportunity to resolve their differences, DON’T MAKE THEM. Come up with some inane reason why they can’t get together at that time. Just as long as they don’t get together – yet.
10. Then fast forward at least a year later where the boy and girl meet again and somehow, the differences they didn’t manage to resolve in the first 75 minutes of the movie get resolved in less than 3 minutes. Spend the last two minutes on credits, showing the boy and girl, now married of course, chasing each other on the beach, in the rain, around a tree, in a hut…or repeating that cheesy routine with the rest of the cast of characters – plus the movie crew.
In recent years, I’ve noticed that this formula has been revised or tweaked with other elements being added. So, if you want a guaranteed box-office romance hit, just pay attention to the following tips -
My Best Friend's Girlfriend - most recent box-office romance flick
1. Choose actors that have previously worked together on a small screen and whose tandem already has a huge fan base. Even better if the actors are a real-life couple.
2. Have the guy play a rich playboy and the girl a poor, hardworking Uni student/part-time worker. Spend the first ten minutes (which is basically the intro of the movie) cutting scenes between the daily lives of the boy and girl. Show the boy flirting with a girl at a club, waking up late the next day with the said girl next to him, then driving off in a hot car with a fussy servant calling after him. Have the girl walking from Uni or work through crowded, cluttered streets, waving hello then coming home to a small cluttered house where she then performs the role of a dutiful, obedient daughter by bringing dinner. Include a background music that sounds like music you’d hear in an elevator that would make you insanely mad if you were stuck in it.
3. Throw in secondary characters like an alcoholic father/mother and a dead parent for the rich boy and an ailing mother/blind father/dead parent with a supportive younger sister or a scantily dressed, flamboyant best friend for the girl.
4. The first meeting between the boy and girl should hate at first sight. The girl will think the boy is a frivolous playboy while the boy thinks the girl is pretty but uptight.
5. Show the boy and girl getting to know each other and eventually falling in-love through a montage of short clips with an upbeat song in the background. Cue in a scene of the two chasing each other on the beach, in the rain, around a tree, in a hut…you get the drift.
6. Include a short cheesy dance routine somewhere which all the characters can repeat at the end of the movie as the credits roll. And which you hope will become the next Macarena on the dance floor.
7. Always have a third party. This third party should be rich, good-looking, financially successful because of rich parents (both alive, mind you) and speak English with that exaggeratedly American drawl. Make this third party a dick or a bitch but in the end, give them a complete turnaround by showing a heartfelt scene in which he/she willingly lets the hero/heroine go – with a huge flow of tears, of course, from both sides.
8. When the boy and girl come to their big conflict, show their separate ways of trying to move on again, a montage of short clips. Fill this montage with plenty of crying scenes – especially from the girl. Make them walk aimlessly around a park, garden, hotel – anywhere just as long as they eventually burst into uncontrollable sobs. Don’t forget to include the worried faces of their loved ones and that soppy music in the background.
9. 75 minutes into the film when the boy and girl have a huge opportunity to resolve their differences, DON’T MAKE THEM. Come up with some inane reason why they can’t get together at that time. Just as long as they don’t get together – yet.
10. Then fast forward at least a year later where the boy and girl meet again and somehow, the differences they didn’t manage to resolve in the first 75 minutes of the movie get resolved in less than 3 minutes. Spend the last two minutes on credits, showing the boy and girl, now married of course, chasing each other on the beach, in the rain, around a tree, in a hut…or repeating that cheesy routine with the rest of the cast of characters – plus the movie crew.
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Comment by Lara M
Love Speaks
Food Slate
I watch a lot of foreign films, but must say have never tried a Filipino one -- need to check-out the next time.
Is this your new blog??
Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Check this out...
Comment by Aimzster
Health and Beauty
Reality TV
The Jeepney Stop
First Time Mum
James, one of these days, when I have time (and I'm not too lazy) I will shoot one of these romantic comedies and win a filipino-version of an Academy award. You watch.
Comment by Neems
Koala Lounge
Truth Whisperer
Neems xx
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Aimzster
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Comment by What's Your Story?
What's Your Story?
Big Day Plunge
Comment by What's Your Story?
What's Your Story?
Big Day Plunge
I thought about the last Fiipino romantic film I saw -- One More Chance (Bea Alonzo, John Lloyd Cruz). It fits the elements you cited in here. Haha!
Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Sounds like a lot of US rom-coms too, plus or minus a few cliches.
Great post!
Mich
Comment by Aimzster
Health and Beauty
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First Time Mum
Mich, heheh...it does, doesn't it? But at least in US rom-coms, they involve sex. This one doesn't. They only kiss probably twice in the movie, if at all!