Extras In Paradise: Thursday Feb 11th

As part of their education Jose, Erik, and Brian took it upon themselves to compile brief bio's and descriptions from the crew.

Anabel

Casting Coordinator/Bohol Production Assistant

Duties: Cast extras, coordinate extras

Boss; Vives, Assistant Director

How she got the job: Introduced by someone already in the company

What's next: Find another job. After many years in the business "Baryo" is possibly the last film job Anabel will take before moving to Canada to pursue caregiving

Jo-Will

Production Assistant/transportation coordinator

Duties: Manage the flow of people between set locations and Ladaga

Who's your boss: Under Rolly, the production manager's team

How he got the job: Interned with Rolly on his first job and has been on every film with him since.

On working in independent films: "We're freelancers so its more of a hobby. It's part-time, not necessarily a career. There's a period in the year when there are no movies made. You should not rely on it for a main income. After talking with people in independent film in any country including America this is how it is. The commonality is everyone involved in these projects loves filmmaking. You have to. The benefit is the freedom allowed in independent filmmaking - you can try experimental shots. That's what John Sayles is known for."

Marinette Lasanta

2nd 2nd Assistant Director

Duties: Work with 1st assistant director to get the cast ready after a change, make sure everyone is on time

Who's your boss: 1st assistant director

How she got the job: Used to work as 1st assistant director in TV/Film/live staging in the Philippines; 20 years work experience with Cocoy

Mary explaining a grayscale to Garrison soldier, Luke. Mary's camera is encased in a very rare and very expensive plastic and foam cover to muffle the shutter. With this system Mary can shoot stills while standing next to a boom.

Cooper Resabal

3rd Assistant Director/Production Coordinator

Cooper's duties: "Police Erik, coach the villagers and some of the characters"

Who's your boss? The 3rd Assistant Director reports to Cocoy, the 1st Assistant Director

How he got the job: Cooper trained as a director and scriptwriter. When John Sayles came to negotiate with local officials he helped out as he is a Toril native. Many of the scenes in the movie are shot in Cooper's childhood stomping ground.

What will you do next? Cooper has several projects lined up, the next in Thailand. Cooper also

Clarissa Delos Reyes:

Position: Second Camera or Camera B operator/Director of Photography’s Biatch

Duties: Basically shoot when you’re asked to

How she learned the trade: Clarissa is currently a graduate student at NYU as a directing major. “It takes courage, because directing is a man’s world, but I’m still into cinematography. I shot many short films which turned into paid work…I heard about this project from Mary (the stills photographer). My resume had a lot of camera experience…sometime later I got an email from the director of photography offering me the job.”

What makes a good camera operator: “Part of it is physical – to be able to execute the movies, smooth pans and tilts, you can’t shake. You also have to be able to listen to the director and figure out what they want. You can’t be afraid to ask what they want. Also a sense of good framing and knowing what’s going on in the script.

What she hopes Baryo will do for her career: It’s always good to have on a resume. It’s hard to say. This could be the last feature film I do, you never know. I learned a lot about directing, about how relationships work on set. I guess it doesn’t matter if it gets me a lot, whose to know what will come from this concretely, but If I move on to a new project I think I will better understand the intricacies. I’ve learned about how Sayles is very economical with shots.

How she got into film: As a kid I was always into film. My grandma used to bring home these beta max tapes, classics from America and everywhere. My parents let me watch anything I wanted. In grade school I would also bully everyone into letting me direct the classroom skits and whatnot. My aunt gave me a camera, and then I knew I wanted to do film. In college my my taste in film started to form…to be continued (Clarissa’s steady hand was needed urgently on set)

Camerawoman Clarissa Delos Reyes with her crew

Enrico: Meals on Location

Judy Karp

Sound Mixer

Duties: Record the sound and the sound effects when the camers is rolling

Who's your boss? Judy is relatively autonomous on the set, reporting only to the Mr. Sayles. She may find out from Mario if there were any issues

How she got the job: Has worked with John on 7 films.

What kind of system does she use? Mary uses a Sound Device 552 mixer with a Sound Device 740 T which records to a hard drive. Two booms catch sound in scenes with little motion, but one in which there is a lot of motion, for

instance if Chris Cooper yells a line while riding out of the Baryo, Judy uses remote mics which transmit to the 552 mixer.

How she prepares for a job: "As a sound mixer you should read the script first for content, to see if you like the story. Then forget the content and read it again to figure out how many characters are talking in what situations, what kind of background noise there might be...It's also important who the director is and who the camera people are. You are working with them constantly. Working with Ms. Lee (camera woman) is great because she and her crew have worked together for a really long time. That makes things smoother."

What she is doing after Baryo: Judy is working on another film in Albania

Where she got her start: Went to film school at Stanford, had no idea what to do after.

Biggest surprise about the industry: "The film industry is not collective. Each person collaborates, but on a set you have to work independently and trust that everyone else is doing their job.

How Judy got her first job with John: Had a friend that used to work with John, heard they needed a boom operator. On how people get jobs in the industry, "It all word of mouth, all conections. You never know where you're going to end up."

On working with John Sayles and Baryo, "John is the best to watch because he is so prepared all the time and knows exactly what he wants, and knows when he gets it. That's rare. John has it all in his mind ready to go. He makes it really easy for me to figure out where I'm supposed to be, for me to figure out the angles. John sees it all."

The local Filipino extras