[ Curious ]

Kick-ass Special Effects Production by Filipinos

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief September 2, 2008 · 1 min read

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If you been watching some of the recent Pinoy TV shows and movies, you’d notice that most of the special effects aren’t that good, even decent. So this comes as a huge surprise to see something like this (see video after the jump).

Power Unleashed is a 4minute film for Roadrunner Network to showcase their special effects capabilities. Directed by Sid Maderazo, visual effects by FX Guru Dave Yu and the Roadrunner FX team.

See high-quality version here.

What’s curious though is that the entire cast in the short film aren’t Filipinos at all (at least that ones with faces you can see).

Still props to the team that made this.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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51 Comments

XTIAN · 14 years ago

i believe nauna nagawa yung power unleashed kesa sa prototype… baka ang power unleashed ang nakopya hehe madami masyado pareho eh….

Marc Jacinto · 17 years ago

ung concept nung short film is parang ung kwento ng prototype…i ever alam nyo ung larong un…ung lalake sa film ehh parang c Alex Mercer sa prototype…pero all in all..angaz nung film…onting polish nlng… pwede nang ilaban yan sa mga hollywood films…ata…^_^

Ricky · 18 years ago

What I want to see is what the Star Cinema/Road Runner entry for the Metro Manila Film Fest will be like this year. But may hula ako na it will nowhere be as good as this one.
Kung ganoon, eh para saan ba talaga tong video na to?

JD · 18 years ago

nice effects – some suggestions though…

hmm they should add effects on the protagonist such as blazing eyes or flaming hands.

in the huge explosion part, its better to add a shock wave throwing off the choppers out of the sky.

the story isn’t clear

Open-MindedSkeptic · 18 years ago

Nice but nothing original. However it’s a good starting point to further enhance the technical aspect of the local entertainment industry.

makr · 18 years ago

impressive work!

pero kakayanin ba ng networks ang presyo ng production na ganyan?
if this 4min clip was done in 8 months & w/ a budget like that, i seriously doubt the networks would even consider it… but maybe the advertisers would…

Ricky · 18 years ago

This video was made in 8 months with 20-30 full time people working on it with a budget of 8million, sana lang gumanda siya no. After this short film, name another project that road runner made with the same caliber. Nada.
Madali pagandahin ang self serving na video, pero kung may real world project involved na, with real deadlines and real budgets, dun mo makikita ang totoong galing ng special effects house.

chinoytan · 18 years ago

(oo ___ ) ASTEEEEEGGGG!!!

sUPPOrt Filipino made special effects movies…

Jan Alvin · 18 years ago

If roadrunner can do it. Why couldn’t the big filming companies here can’t? They mostly put their budget on the actors not on the film itself. In America, they even use low-paid actors but the film is outstanding.

Sa tingin ko, masyadong kumakapit ang isip ng mga tao sa mga artistang walang kwenta namang gumanap at mahal pa ang bayad. (sino ang matapang dito ang matapang na magbabanggit ng mga alang kwentang actors and actresses dito sa pinas) bang, bang, bang… boom, boom, boom

At karamihan ng mga actors ngayon ay puro drama ang hilig. Takot ba silang masugatan sa action movies??

Gwapito.com · 18 years ago

Mainstream productions like Regal or Viva cant do awesome special effects because majority of the money is spent on paying overpaid actors.

As a result the crew are underpaid and the movie itself looks cheap.

benny · 18 years ago

the video is very good. World class. It has no story because the point is just to highlight the firm’s fx capabilities. So it is ok considering their objective. If it is going to be shown as part of a movie though, then it needs a little more tweaking and more creativity from a film maker. But technically, it is highly excellent!

Webmaster · 18 years ago

Hi nicely done at first Glance you will bot believe that filipino did the movie flick but it amazing that we din his one and coming from Roadrunner never the less another industry miles stone for them. I believe that most of the projects done by roadrunner are really world-class and award winning.
this can is another will an addition for their portfoliio.

“great job you guys, keep it up!”

http://www.corel-lifestyle.blogspot.com

BrianB · 18 years ago

Bt needs more finesse overall. They should study how stuff actually moves before plnning to simulate them graphically.

BrianB · 18 years ago

Abe, have you any idea how much this 4 minutes cost?

Linux Gates · 18 years ago

Superb! ang galing ng effects… hope that ABS-CBN will hire road runner to re-do their effects in DYOSA (teleserye).

ira · 18 years ago

uhmm.. yea i was at the relaunch of roadrunner when they showed this. this was suppose to be their relaunching video. The thing is, the stuff u see on TV sucks because of budget and time constraints. it’s not that filipino effects house cant do it. tv stations give sfx shops a day to make the special effects of a tv series that’s going to be shown in the evening. kahit anong galeng mo, di aabot un kase ung effects heavy stuff such as this takes hours, days and even weeks to render.

sid had the luxury of time and wala mashadong budget constraints kase kelangan nila magpasikat to get more ad agencies and directors to use roadrunner ulet (kase for the longest time sila ung pinakalaos na post prod shop). but yea, this is really nice and dapat makita niyo rin ang the making nito. kase sobrang astig. the problem nga lang now is, do the clients have the money and time to create something like this?

spiderye · 18 years ago

I think the girl in the 2nd scene is the young Anne Curtis in the TV show Dyosa.

Dennis Rito · 18 years ago

i’ve seen this video clip in the recent asap conference and indeed its amazing to know filipinos do this kind of work- a work that can compete with the world. i felt like i was in a cinema, where the walls and floors swells and vibrates because of the surround sound.

the clip though has no story, but just a plain clip which purpose is to demonstrate the companies’ capability in post prod. the characters look more like brazillian models rather than filipino.

snyggast · 18 years ago

a bit O.A. but great effects. framing and angles however needs improvement. that’s why even cartoon production hire pro directors.

pao · 18 years ago

astig ah! anlupet nun, ngaun lng ako nkakita ng gnun effects na gawa ng pinoy, daapt lumawak ang ganyang systema naten.. mabuhay!

emenyueru · 18 years ago

filipino yung batang babae

emenyueru · 18 years ago

The little girl is a filipina, ive seen her in goin bulilit and princess sarah in channel 2. I dont know about the others

koolitz · 18 years ago

ganda sana kung mga mukha puro pinoy looking haha

Ron · 18 years ago

Impressive!
Though I don’t really get the story.
What’s the relation between the group of swats and a naked woman surrounded with snakes?
Anyway, I also think that’s very kick-ass!
Way to go, Filipinos!