The Lupa Movie Premiere and the Sound of a Crowd Aghast

A few months ago, I worked on the sound design and musical score of an indie film directed by my friend Khavn dela Cruz. Tonight I finally saw the movie. It was premiered at the UP Film Institute. And this is my account of the proceedings: crowd laughing, crowd gasping, crowd wincing, band playing at end credits, crowd scared home by noize.

The premiere of the Lupa film (full title: “The Family That Eats Soil”) has just finished, and I am happily writing this in Mcdonalds Katipunan, on my beloved Palm Tungsten E while sipping the last bit of Royal Tru-Strawberry in the plastic cup that accompanied my quarter pounder. Finally ate! Was about to get a headache from hunger actually.

THE SOUND OF A CROWD AGHAST
So where was i? The premiere was a blast– finally got to see the film in its entirety (and i still cringe at some totally unnecessary scenes, but then again, i was not the director). And the other curious thing was hearing the audience react to the movie.

You work on something in isolation for so long, and you forget the kind of impact certain words and images can carry until you sit in a dimmed hall with a crowd and experience the movie with them.

I was sorta disappointed with the sound output– wasn’t sure if the hall actually had stereo sound, and in some scenes the music and sound effects were much too low in the mix– not enough oomph! Can’t have everything unfortunately.

Still, it was a blast to hear the music and see the visuals on a large screen. And the turnout was amazing! Of course it was, my sister told me it was a requirement for a whole kaboodle of classes in and around the U.P. area. So there’s an idea for ya– get the academe to fill up your movie premiere.

Meanwhile, director Khavn actually included about 5 minutes worth of abstract footage in between segments – to act as an intermission – and one of Khavn’s friends went up to the mic to deliver a few lines of absurdist poetry/popculture in order to amuse the audience.

CUE THE BAND
At the very end of the movie as the end credits were rolling and the theme song came on, Khavn’s band, the Brockas, took the stage in a raw assault of noise, and they did their own rendition of the theme song. Lovely. The point was to scare the audience and drive them out and homeward bound. It worked, except for a hardy few.

I saw one of my old choirmates, Jo, and had a delightful little chat recounting the past 7 years of non-communication. I even invited her to join my choir in Edsa Shrine only to find out she sings with another choir in the same church! Small small world.

It is 10 minutes to 11, and i will be heading home at the end of this paragraph. Because I have a 7 am funeral mass to sing for tomorrow– in Alabang!! So good night.