Highway 54 revisited: The making of ‘20/20’

Day one. Caloocan City. It was Good Friday, 2011. I got out of my car still groggy and struck by how bright it was. It was probably five in the morning. The production assistant led me across the rotonda like a blind man.

Looking around, one thing struck me immediately—it looked like a normal day. There were cars, jeepneys, and buses on the road. People were walking on the streets as if hurrying to work.

But this did not compute. There was no work. A national holiday still meant no work in these parts, right? It was the day when people were supposed to be at home watching “Jesus of Nazareth” or enjoying a little R&R somewhere in the province far, far away from the city.

It was the reason why the production chose this day and Black Saturday to shoot a music video inspired by last-man-on-earth classics like “The Omega Man” and “28 Days Later.” If this busy morning was any indication of the day ahead, the whole concept would be jeopardized.

Time to walk EDSA

I immediately aired my concerns to the entire crew when I reached the foot of Bonifacio Monument where the first setup of the day was. “Ang daming tao,” I said wearily, as if I was in a bad dream. Jason Tan, the director, simply nodded in assent and continued setting up the shot. He has obviously surveyed the situation way before me and was probably thinking of solutions right that moment, if he hadn’t already found one.

Jason is a music video veteran, funny in conversation but dead serious and deadly behind the camera. He had a knack for arresting, lyrical imagery, and the high premium he puts on originality made him an easy pick to helm the most ambitious thing we had all done so far. (Watch Jason’s other works here.)

After the fairly simple first shot (me assembling the surreal looking tripod and camera loaned to us by artist Gabriel Barredo) it was time to walk EDSA.

‘Suddenly, a bus came roaring toward me’

The day’s schedule would cover almost the whole span of the 24 kilometer avenue from Monumento to Gil Puyat. We had a couple of men from the MMDA and PNP to help with traffic, and at this early stage all they could do was redirect the flow of vehicles to the lane I wasn’t on. We managed to get some interesting shots around the Muñoz area but most of them were useless. There were simply too many cars and people.

It was 9 a.m. when we reached Location 3 at the SM North EDSA intersection. The traffic was noticeably lighter than on normal days, but for a Good Friday it was still surprising. “It’s like Tuesday,” our producer Erwin Romulo exclaimed. And the spacious road meant the cars were now going faster than usual.

I was waiting for Jason to yell action, standing in what I assumed to be the safe zone within the invisible line that the PNP’s parked motorcycles provided when suddenly a bus came roaring toward me.

I do not have cat-like reflexes, but at that moment my dormant survival genes sprang to life and I managed to get out of the maniac driver’s way. Apparently he was playing Road Warrior with another bus. Even though I almost got my ticket punched, the footage was never used. There were just too many cars.

‘A completely deserted EDSA behind me’

Location 3 was the undulating overpass at GMA/Timog. Here the whole production finally hit its stride. Jason made me stand in the middle of the road lip-synching to the song that only I could hear in my earphones while the cops held the cars at bay. After the take, I ran to watch the playback on Jason’s obscenely expensive SLR. I saw myself standing uncomfortably in the middle of the road, and a completely deserted EDSA behind me. The dream was coming true.

We trudged on. At Cubao underpass Jason started directing me. “Look up. Look Down. Keep singing. Start Walking. Keep walking.” Sometimes I feel like some actor in a music video.

Ortigas overpass was pretty hairy. False starts, miscommunication, errant vehicles were the norm. But it didn’t matter one bit. We were almost done with day one.

‘I believed Buendia Ave. would be my street someday’

Gil Puyat Avenue, a.k.a. Buendia, has a rather amusing significance to me because I was brought up to believe that it would be my street someday. As to whether my parents were joking or if they themselves actually believed this is still shrouded in mystery.

At the last setup, Jason gave me water in a plastic bag and told me to drink it on cam. Now this was the only time I told him, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Thankfully, he agreed.
Watch 20/20 video here.

With the film in the can so to speak, we all headed home. The Makati skyline glistened in the golden light of dusk. Inside the cocoon of the car I was already thinking of the next day. Walking alone in EDSA was fun. But a whole band playing right smack in the middle of Guadalupe? Now that would be something.

Watch 20/20 video here.

Continued Next Week: Day Two of the Making of 20/20

Ely Buendia has written for The Manila Bulletin and Esquire. He is the frontman of the rock band Pupil and co-author of “Against the Light: A Pupil Tour Diary” available now. His blog posts appear on OMG! Y! Rocks every week.

Vote for Pupil and “20/20” in the upcoming MYX Music awards here. 

Read more of Ely’s blog posts:
A ballad for the birds
The Sounds Family

Read more from other Y! Rocks bloggers:
General Luna is a rock band. Seriously. By Francis Reyes
Three more music bloggers join OMG!