Month: January 2009

Portfolio

Noelle De Guzman

Last year, every time I went to an audition, casting, or go-see I would feel very insecure about my “amateur” status. I had no existing body of work to bring up when asked, “previous experience?” I had very little in the way of actual TV appearances and no experience at all in modeling work.

After much procrastinating (by me) and prodding (by my mentor Jourdan S. and my peers), I finally scheduled a pictorial for a series of photos I would use as my portfolio. Whether I put these in a black book or on a comp card, having photos of professional quality shows that I’m serious about this line of work.

Thanks to my photographer (and school friend from way back) Abraham Magbanua, and my makeup artist Coy Echas. These photos were taken at Studio 33, Topaz Bldg., Kamias.

Headshot

soulja girl
Goddess
Stylish

Thanks also to Aaron Ebio who dropped by and took this photo:

Twilight

I’m loving these photos! Next up: different angles, maybe a location shoot, God willing. Ü

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Reminiscing: The Windmills of Bangui

Noelle De Guzman

Last year during my trip to Laoag, we stumbled upon the windmill farm in Bangui as we were on our way to the Cape Bojeador lighthouse.

We drove up to a man standing by on the highway, and asked him how to get to those windmills in the distance. He told us to take a little dirt road and take several turns so we would emerge on the coastline. After a few dead ends driving through the dense thicket of bushes and trees the dirt road took us past, we broke through the foliage onto a desolate spit of beach sand. To either side of us, towering monoliths of steel with blades perched atop each of them stood like silent guardians.

the windmills of Bangui

Standing in the midst of these, I felt really small. It was as if I’d gotten warped into an alien world where the inhabitants were giants, and we were Lilliputians. And the fact that we were on a beach with gigantic propeller blades spinning overhead gave me a very strong Lost vibe. Any minute I expected maybe a plane to crash, or some disheveled survivors emerging to greet us.

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The wind came strongly in from the sea, but it staggered me that it was blowing strong enough to cause tons of steel to move. The windmill blades were squealing and groaning, straining against the wind to catch every last gust of power. A small knot formed in my stomach as the thought entered my head, “Could these things possibly fall off? And could we avoid being crushed?”

fascinated and scared

Watching the windmills was both mesmerizing and terrifying. My intellect knew that these were harmless, simply harnessing wind power to light half the province of Ilocos Norte. But the animal part of me was awestruck — probably akin to the experience of isolated tribes encountering the modern city.

The windmill farm of Bangui is so picturesque that it’s been featured on local album covers, magazines, and the occasional ad campaign by a clothing company. It’s surreal, this juxtaposition of manmade and natural. There’s really nothing quite like this place anywhere else in the Philippines, and I’m glad we took the side trip to see it.

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Midnight DJ: Demon Cellphone Number OBB

Noelle De Guzman

I pointed a digicam at the TV just because I want to show off. Ü I still can’t believe my name’s in the credits as a guest.

http://images.multiply.com/multiply/multv.swf

“Demon Cellphone Number”
Writer: Joaqui Tupas

Synopsis:
Four friends try out an urban legend that requires you to call a special cellphone number – the devil’s number. As one of them dies, they realize the truth and seriousness of this legend and Denise, the victim’s girlfriend, seeks the help of the Midnight DJ team. The team led by Samboy agrees to help them but are met by obstacles and seemingly dead-end solutions.

One by one the three remaining friends die off. Time is running out. Will the Midnight DJ team come any closer to discovering the answer to free them from the curse?

Guests:

  • Carla Humphries as Denise
  • Guji Lorenzana as Paul
  • Liza Ranillo as Aling Maria
  • Krissie de Leon as Theresa
  • Noelle de Guzman as Michelle
  • Reinier Lucien Laino as Eric

Watch the full episode on Pinoy
Channel TV.

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Midnight DJ: Demon Cellphone Number

Noelle De Guzman

“Demon Cellphone Number”
Writer: Joaqui Tupas

Synopsis:
Four friends try out an urban legend that requires you to call a special cellphone number – the devil’s number. As one of them dies, they realize the truth and seriousness of this legend and Denise, the victim’s girlfriend, seeks the help of the Midnight DJ team. The team led by Samboy agrees to help them but are met by obstacles and seemingly dead-end solutions.

One by one the three remaining friends die off. Time is running out. Will the Midnight DJ team come any closer to discovering the answer to free them from the curse?

Guests:

  • Carla Humphries as Denise
  • Guji Lorenzana as Paul
  • Liza Ranillo as Aling Maria
  • Krissie de Leon as Theresa
  • Noelle de Guzman as Michelle
  • Reinier Lucien Laino as Eric

Watch the full episode on Pinoy Channel TV.

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Catching Up

Noelle De Guzman

I love how full the last quarter of 2008 was for me, despite the fact that I wasn’t able to write about any of it here. There were two main things that kept me occupied then: Asia Momentum 2008, and B.I.T.A.W. acting workshop.

Asia Momentum 2008

Every year, delegates from Fitness First branches all over Asia converge in one country for three days of seminars and other activities. In 2008, Fitness First Philippines was the host (the last time this happened was in 2005) and assigned the group exercise department (that’s us!) to perform three production numbers. Rehearsals began in October for the shows that would run on November 21 and 22.

"Don't Stop the Music"

The end product impressed our bosses enough to ask us to perform one of our production numbers two more times: at the BodyCombat Main Event III and at the corporate Christmas Party. (Perhaps also to get their money’s worth, because they paid us quite a lot for the rehearsals we held.) It was a lot of hard work with many sacrifices along the way. During rehearsals and run-throughs, tempers flared, egos were singed, and friendships burned to the ground based on mutual misunderstandings and unwillingness to talk things out. The most important lesson I learned? People will talk about you behind your back, so put your best face forward in front of everyone — even those you consider your friends.

B.I.T.A.W. Improv Acting Workshop

Sometime in October, I was invited to an acting workshop by two of my friends from church. It was being run for free over 12 weeks, so I thought, “Why not?”

Turns out, it was a workshop where improvisational acting exercises and techniques would be used to help draw out creativity and spur learning among the participants.

B.I.T.A.W. presents Laugh Out Loud

Our “graduation ceremony” was a showcase at My Little Art Place.

When I say “draw out” and “spur”, I do mean to imply there was a certain level of pain and discomfort in the process (practically drawing blood and tears). I had to take a good look at myself, my goals in the television and film industry, and the work I was putting in to achieve those goals. The most important lessons I learned are Truth, and Union. Without truth in my acting process, the end product looks artificial, forced, and mechanical. Without union among my heart, mind, and soul when it comes to acting, I cannot give my all.

Between those two activities, I realized that when it comes to acting and performing, you’ve really got to give it all you have for anything you do to be worthwhile. At the same time, you can’t railroad anyone into doing the same thing; they’ve got to come to that realization by themselves.

I can’t wait for what this year will bring!

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Resurrection

Noelle De Guzman

And we’re back, finally! You might know the story from my Multiply post about it: I was very upset at having my domain name stolen from under me when it expired. Now that I’ve had a few months of hindsight, it’s not so bad not having a DOTcom (which is now being used to direct people to a search portal, ugh). All I wanted was someplace to put my writings which wouldn’t fit anywhere else, and as lovely as Multiply is, Blogspot is far more easily indexed by Google.

Ergo, I’m back by my own demand! I will be writing here more often instead of expending my lovely one-liners on my Facebook account’s status messages. This place gives me space to think, maybe write some things that may not interest those on my social networks — but the point is, I want to write. I need to write.

Re-link me, please? Ü

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