Dudz Clotario was bored, so this 29-year-old decided to make a movie. The subject? The Battle of Tirad Pass, the encounter that killed Gregorio del Pilar on Dec 2, 1899. The actors? Lego bricks. Coconuts Manila chats with the gregarious animator, who works for a BPO as its video and animator head, about Lego, animation, and history.
RELATED: Animator uses LEGO to dramatize ‘The Battle of Tirad Pass’
We wonder why nobody has thought of using toys to illustrate history? That’s brilliant.
The project started when I saw the Lego Story on YouTube last year. I thought, I can remake this with Lego bricks. That time I was learning different techniques in animation so I decided to learn stop motion of Lego figures. The Battle of Tirad Pass is actually the first time I’ve animated using Lego.
How were you doing stop motion videos before this?
I really use paper animation, ‘yun talaga yung focus ko but syempre you have to try different styles of animation, from motion graphics, hand-drawn, flash, etc. Trial and error lang talaga. And I like joining contests so you start with poster-making lang di ba? Tapos habang tumatagal, umaangat ka.
How long did it take you to do this?
All in all, including storyboards and reworking lego pieces, about five months. It started last September, after my meeting with Felta, who sponsored the Lego parts that I used.
What was the most time-consuming of the process?
Customizing the Lego bricks. But it was also the most enjoyable thing. It was fun to create the details of each soldier.
How long have you been doing animation?
Tagal na, college pa lang. I took up Fine Arts in UP. Actually, bata pa lang ako, yun na yung ginagawa ko. Yung sa notebook pages, diba? Bata pa lang ako, mahilig na talaga ako mag-drawing. Tapos natuto ako mag-animate. Lahat sinusubukan ko talaga. From paper animation, gumamit ako ng fruits and vegetables, lahat ng pwdeng i-animate, tina-try ko talaga.
Okay, where does history come in?
Si mama kasi, social studies teacher. Mahilig siya magkwento tapos laging mapupunta sa history yung kwentuhan namin. Tapos alam mo yung imagination mo, mapupunta sa kinu-kwento niya. Yun. Kaya nagkaruon ako ng fascination sa history.
Is it safe to say Tirad Pass is your favorite?
Yes, and also my mom used to always tell the story so nag-stick talaga sa utak ko. Fascinating din yung fact na si Del Pilar yung pinakabatang heneral. He was only 24 years old when the Battle of Tirad Pass happened.
The trailer, congratulations, has gone viral.
This project is just a fun way to tell our history. The animations are just 3-5 minutes, just snippers of what happened in history and how I imagined it.
What’s next? Will you be turning this into a longer feature?
Yes, I am planning to compile these animations, then maybe make them into a canned TV show. Filipinos have great talent in animation but national TV is still dominated by foreign cartoons. This is my trial to introduce our own Filipino content in a fun and educational way. I want to make a short animation movie out of Philippine history, including the ones that are not discussed in school text books.
Such as what?
There’s this Filipino soldier, sorry nakalimutan ko yung pangalan niya. Pero he’s a private first class and yung kwento, he was able to defend his post against the Japanese. Pag punta ng mga bossing niya, nakita nila isang wall of dead Japanese soldiers. Sabi lang niya, “may mga gusting tumakot sa kin e.” Hindi ko alam bakit wala sa mga textbook ito. Syempre puro magaganda yung ikukwento sa textbooks. Pagdating mo sa college, malalaman mo na kaya pala ang tataas ng grades ni Rizal, laging 100 kasi apat lang sila sa class. Mga ganun, ha ha!
That’s funny. Of everything and everyone in Philippine history, who do you think can act as a gateway drug to it?
Jose Rizal. Bakit palagay mo may Rizalistas?
