The Echo System
Every artist’s dream is simply to share his work to the rest of the world. A painter wants to be seen. A musician wants to be heard. A filmmaker, well, wants to be seen and heard at the same time. This is why every aspiring or even professional filmmaker alike tries so hard to show everyone in the globe his/her film. There is no greater fulfillment than to share to the rest of the world the vision and message of a filmmaker. In the Philippines, where absolutely everyone in the film industry sells their souls just to be glimpsed upon by international movie audience, two young filmmakers bravely devised a system that would eventually help a Filipino film make noise, nay a very loud noise in Hollywood and Europe only using 1/24th of a budget any movie studio would spend for promotion.
Master filmmaker Yam Laranas directed a horror flick called Sigaw that premiered during Metro Manila Film Fest 2004. It made a respectable run during its local showing and won several awards. However, this turned out to be only the prologue of a fairy tale true Hollywood story. Sigaw was an early entry to this year’s Screamfest LA International Horror Film Festival to be held in Hollywood, California on October 2005. This is the single biggest genre festival in North America where the best Asian Horror classics like The Ring and A Tale of Two Sisters premiered then eventually purchased by major American studios. In this regard, Sigaw now known as The Echo needed major marketing strategy to have its presence felt in the said festival. However, due to the movie industry crisis, the mother studio of The Echo could not afford to spend millions to market the movie internationally.
This was the reason why master filmmaker Yam Laranas tapped once again his long time collaborator webmaster Chuck Gutierrez, a padawan filmmaker himself, to devise a marketing strategy to create a buzz only in Hollywood. Since their early days working on the websites on such films Radyo and Hibla, they always try to do something new and original to attract movie fans. With The Echo project, Gutierrez suggested a totally unheard of idea. Gutierrez boldy toyed with the idea of making a website done completely with video and sound. This would literally give its visitors the experience and vibe of the film in an instant. Laranas approved the idea without knowing that Gutierrez had absolutely no idea how to achieved this proposal. There has been no website in the history that showcased a full video interface without any loading time and media player to be downloaded.
Streaming video files require either Real, WMP or Quicktime players. Each stream would at least be 3 MB for a 1 minute video clip. Macromedia Flash compressed video and sound in a staggering way that it would require anyone to download a 5 MB file before he/she sees the site content. That would be at least 6 minutes of download time with a DSL connection. Gutierrez at this point of the development decided to direct an 8 minute film and show it on the internet using what would later be know as The Echo System.
Gutierrez finished Dagan, a Cebuano horror film. He devised a compression technique that would make it small enough without sacrificing the video and audio quality of the movie. He then, used plug-ins already native with internet browsers such as Explorer, Safari and Firefox so that people would not have to download any additional programs to see his film online. Without any major equipment, Gutierrez successfully premiered a film online with no loading time or any additional media player. Gutierrez based his theory on developing The Echo system using the discipline of Euclidian Geometry that is “only use what is given and you can solve any problem”. Laranas gave his seal of approval for the system and the rest would be history. The Echo website then premiered with one common reaction from its viewers, total astonishment. Gutierrez produced a full video website that was only 300 KB in size.
The second phase of the system is promoting the movie to the world through its website. Gutierrez searched for genre and fan based websites that cater to horror film lovers. He personally invites webmasters, film critics and bloggers alike to visit the site. They would in turn inquire for DVD screeners so that they could review the movie. Laranas and Gutierrez would send them DVD’s through express mail. This cycle would repeat over and over for months. The result would be something that has not been done by any film from any movie studio in the Philippines, an over flowing demand for The Echo by both film critics and moviegoers. Beside the Screamfest LA International Film Festival, The Echo will have its European premiere at the CineAsia Film Festival at Cologne, Germany this December. Other invites from festivals like in Brussels, Vancouver and Dublin have also been received. Plus, talks with major American studios are on-going for distribution and remake agreements. Plus filmmaker Laranas has been signed by one of the most important talent agencies in the world, the International Creative Management.
Gutierrez is very candid in saying that his website is not the best website ever made just like what Laranas said that The Echo is not the best Filipino movie. The legacy of the Echo system is that it enabled two artists share their works to the rest of the world, successfully. Moreover, the two artists enabled the world to look at Philippine cinema once again.
Chuck Gutierrez is currently taking up his masters in film at the University of the Philippines. He has a BS in Information Technology from the University of Asia and the Pacific. He took up Digital Production at the Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco, California. His thesis, LOVE, premiered at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival last November 2004. He is also currently applying to be the best boy for Yam Laranas next movie.
