Set your sights on Indio

January 10, 2013

Set your sights on Indio

I'm glad and proud to be part of my mother network's biggest and ambitious series for local TV--Indio. Although i have yet to literally contribute and see my piece of writing on the screen, still, i feel good about this project. The presscon and pilot preview was held yesterday in Megamall and boy oh boy, it truly was epic; another one for the books on TV historical fiction. Napaka-ganda, it made me wide eyed all through out the preview and i couldn't keep myself from smiling silently-- that smile of assurance that this is something good and shouldn't be just kept here for us to see. Well, it will be shown come January 14.

a TV premier ticket

Malaya/Simeon a.k.a. INDIO is a story of a man who lived during the early years of the Spanish Colonization. He was bestowed with supernatural powers from his mother, Ynaguiguinid, who happened to be a diwata (goddess) of war. We will follow his hard and fantastic journey towards achieving his fate as the savior of his fellow oppressed Filipinos from the Spaniards. Fantastic stories like these are also existent in actual Filipino epics like Biag ni Lam-Ang, The Tale of Bernardo Carpio and the epic poem of Hinilawod. So it's like watching a classic fantasy story inspired by Filipino myths and legends. Ain't that old school cool and cultural?

By the way, did you know that we have Filipino gods and goddesses like the Greeks and Romans do? They will be part of Indio's journey so watch out for that if only for their beauty (hello Solenn Heusaff, Rhian Ramos and Sam Pinto?) and fantastic costumes. They don't have complete stories like that one on Edith Hamilton's book but we do have them. Anyways, I don't have pics of artistas of the said show but the cast is heavy and the characters surpassing three periods in time. Apart from the cast, one main star of the show is the production design. We visited the set some months back and we were time warped to Spanish time.

Production staff doing their thang!

Pluma at Clapper

The arch leading to the Spanish settlement

This arch, the wall leading to it and the deco stone is not made of semento. It's actually made of styrofoam and paper mache. That's the magic of production design and their cost cutting measures! Props to Sir Rodell Cruz and his team for this wonderful use of paper. This is similar to all Spanish fixtures leading to some where-- note the UST Arch of the Centuries and the one on Fort Santiago.

Fort Santiago

closer look on the Arch in Fort Santiago

Now let's go back to the set of Indio. Let's go inside the arch.

Facade of the Church

That is just the facade of the church, any more than that is non existent. Haha. So wala talagang simabahan sa loob. Yung harap lang. Ang haggard namang gumawa ng simabahan from styro and paper mache. But that is also not made of stone. Oh the girl in denim top and shorts is our head writer and creator, Suzette Doctolero.

I think this is the facade of the house of the encomiendero, Juancho San Real. He is the main villain and will be wickedly played by Lucho Ayala (the young Juancho) and Michael De Mesa (the old one of course). Again, that is just the facade, you go in there and you see sari-sari store with CR from someone who lives there. The interior of that is in a studio somewhere in Bulacan.

And speaking of the interior, i took note of the flooring used inside Juancho San Real's house. Latticed tiles are so vintage eh? Those aren't real tiles, they were airbrushed right on the floor. Galing. Sana pala pina-airbrush ko yung kusina namin para tipid. haha.

Now this is the set for the god and godesses' lair. Dito tumatambay at nagto-tongits ang mga diwata. hehe. The blue back back drop is used for chrome key effects.

The guardia sibils who gamely posed

Enough of the Spanish sets. Here we have the Filipino native set/ community. I think this was also used in Amaya. And obviously, no styro or paper mache used here.