DIRECTOR'S NOTES


I really wanted to make a story about "change" and "growing up". Basically, "Better with you", tells us about 2 childhood friends who develop a relationship and they eventually become a “love team”.

But that soon changes happen as they grow up and enter the real world, they realize that they're not the same kids anymore who share the same interests. People change and people drift apart because of change. Are you willing to give up the girl you've known all your life, or will you stay with her and try to work things out?

We shot "Better with you" in one day, in my Grandfather's condo in Ortigas, we only had one location throughout the film, excluding the ending where I shot Aaron on another day in Alabang.

One of the memorable shots in the film was the club scene. it was shot in a small room, enough to fit about 6 people. We had so much fun shooting that scene, we were actually 7 in the room, we used 3 cameras and used the flash from the camera for the strobe lights effect, which looked really really cool in the video. After we finished shooting the club
scene, we had so much ridiculous photos of ourselves!

One of my favorite scenes was the fight scene in the hallway between Sarah (Kat Gonzalez) and Anton (Aaron Brosoto). I didn’t have any actual dialogue in the script for this part, so I told my actors to adlib everything, and to feel the character, which they did.


My D.O.P (Mik red) and I were blown away by their acting and creativity. Believe it or not, we only had two takes in this scene! Our inspiration for this shot was from the movie "irreversible" which had no cuts and was widescreen throughout the entire scene. I had a bit of a hard time with children, since i didn't know how to handle them. Plus the kids were brother and sister, which means they fought a lot during takes. Thank God Mik Red was there to help me out, he was pretty good with handling the children.

If you notice, on some of my shots, I am very fond of using high angle shots that make the audience feel like God, flying and drifting to each sequence seeing everything from the top. I fell a couple of times while taking these shots because I was standing on a not so stable stool, but it was all worth it since we had excellent shots.

All in all it was a fun productive shoot. thanks to all who helped out! Roja, Mik, Kat, Aaron, Bianca, Josh, Ienne, Jamo and the kids. wee!

Gino M. Santos

Director

View production stills of Better with You