tribute to the grads

monday afternoon, i was asked to edit the "tribute video" for the graduating batch, containing messages from teachers and other staff. the "tribute" was scheduled for thursday evening. i hesitated for a moment, and only because i didn't have an editing machine on hand. because i remember how, after helping with my students' productions, i missed it! i haven't used an editing machine in more than a year, but i was pretty confident i could do it. after all, i wanted to be a TVC editor for a while in college, but then realized i loved shooting too.
anyway, so my first question was: i don't mind, just find me an editing machine. well, tuesday came and after asking around, there was no editing machine that i could use. but after we went bowling, i received a message from my co-teacher, steph, who was in-charge of the "tribute" event, and she asked if i knew how to use the editing machine in the school's media lab. i had just skimmed through the manual previously, and i'd seen the "machine", but not been able to tinker with it. i told steph that in general, i knew how to edit, so i didn't see a problem with working with that machine.
the entire wednesday, i was trying to figure out how to get permission to use the machine, but the concerned people weren't around. finally, that afternoon, i was able to corner steph, and i was face-to-face with casablanca (that's the name of the editing machine) at 5 pm. however, i was only allowed to use it til 6 pm. it was not a very fun experience at first, since it was...to quote teddy, a student, "prehistoric". i couldn't find the timeline, and the platform wasn't even PC! so i was only able to capture the clips and arrange them in sequence. the entire time, at least, teddy, karlo, and sheila kept me entertained--so i wasn't so frustrated.
i resolved to come in early the next day to finish it up. as i had class at 11 am, i texted sir jimmy to at least guide me with the editing. we met around 9. but as it turns out, he's not that familiar with it either. although, it's true that 2 heads are better than 1! somehow, guided by his suggestions, i was able to finish it by 11:30, then sir jimmy rendered the 9-minute material while i had class. by 1 pm, it was done!
i have to confess, i'm my biggest critic. there were a lot of things i would have wanted to do with the material, but because of time constraints, i wasn't able to. so i made do with simple transitions, no chargen/titles; may "pitik" sa 1 shot, may mga audio that should have been muted but i couldn't figure out where to control it, and some parts had no score, because it would have drowned out the actual "message" of the teacher. but yehey! i loved that i was able to use musical score from "sassy girl chunyang" and "sassy girl" (canon!). that part was a delight. good thing i have my wonderful OSTs here!
i was only able to take a short breather, then had to help with food prep and decorations for the tribute. we came over from buying "emergency supplies" a little after 6, and the event hadn't started yet! we ended up starting a little before 7. i was a bit nervous before they showed the "tribute" video, esp since the hosts, teddy and sheila, announced more than once that i edited it. yikes! but after seeing it, joy and steph said that it was good. and of course, i didn't call their attention anymore to the little things that i knew i could have done better with a better machine and more time. but then again, at least i found out for myself how to use our "casablanca".
the event ended after 8. and we helped fix up. we would have wanted more people to have been there...but i guess the limited # of people and the atmosphere also helped make it more intimate.

me with jenna, steph, and joy (the awesome food prep girls!)

me with MCs-cum-hosts-cum-all-around entertainers sheila and teddy... all dressed up! (teddy called me "my queen", haha! we have a joke going now)

story about this pic: it was only supposed to be a pic of me, alvin, joy, and ethan. i asked a 3rd year student to take our pic, but as he was framing the picture, a whole bunch of people started slamming against us, trying to get into the picture as well. that "smile" means: "i am getting so squished now! argh!" and the only person i know among the throng is the tall guy, butch (who i call jr. haha!), who i just met early that night. after they all went their own way, alvin told me: "let's take a picture, the 2 of us lang talaga", so we did.