The Interview

As I always say, the best teacher isn't a human being. In fact, it's an abstract thing called experience. Last June 30, 2014, my group mates and I went to Mandaluyong City to interview and witness the action in producing an animation film by an expert animation company, Toon City. I can say that this experience is something always worth remembering. The fact that Toon City approved the interview is a blessing itself because the company is one of the most known companies by animation studios and productions. As students, this is a really big opportunity for us. So we went and gave all we got.

 

The Preparation

 Before having an interview with Toon City, and far before we sent the interview request letter, my group mates and I were very thrilled and excited as if going to a roller coaster ride. We imagined everything and saw it all come to its place from sending a request letter until the class presentation. But all of those weren't as easy as they appear. 

There were a lot of request letters sent to a variety of different multimedia arts companies before Toon City because none of them responds to our request. We tried contacting some using the landlines but sometimes, they don't answer and some doesn't even ring. We sent more than five request letters through the internet to multimedia arts company/group including Great Image, Holy Cow, Summit, Teamholix and more. But most of them didn't respond. We were running out of time and hope, when a respond came the night of June 29, 2014. It was Toon City responding to our request interview!! It was very unexpected because other companies respond after a few days or even weeks; Toon City responded in a matter of hours! My group mates and I were chatting through Facebook when our group leader announced that we have an interview with Toon City 10 A.M. at Mandaluyong City. I literally jumped off my seat and started shrieking. I couldn't hold my happiness, I told them. Because that same day, I bought my first DSLR - Canon EOS 700D. I thought to myself how blessed I am and thanked God for it.

Morning of Interview

Our call time is 7 AM at our school, LPU-Laguna for the purpose of letter approval. I was there 7:03 and saw one of my group mates there. Others, came late. :( But anyway, it's okay because who we were really waiting for is our professor, Ms. Ma. Anna Corina G. kagaoan to present our excuse letter saying that we will have our interview today. She then came and approved our letter and then we're off. 

For starters, I don't ride the bus often. I usually ride jeepneys and tricycles. It was my first time to go to somewhere far without my parents or any guardian. So it was a really thrilling and exciting trip for me. Added the fact that we were standing the whole trip. :D We rode from Makiling to Mandaluyong City for about two hours. The ride was smooth and no accidents happened. And the whole trip, I was chatting with my group mates about how we expect the interview to be, how we're going to edit the video cover afterwards, what will be our token of appreciation etc. All of us are excited! 

An Unexpected Trip

Soon, the bus dropped us at Robinson Mandaluyong City. It wasn't opened yet, so we waited until we can buy Krispy Creme to be our token of appreciation. Being new to the place, we were clueless where to go. So we asked a taxi driver to accompany us to Toon City, Pioneer Bldg. The driver didn't agree because he can only accommodate four passengers; we were five. Dejected, we looked for another way to go there. Luckily, there's another taxi that approached us and agreed to accommodate five passengers. So we rode and trusted the taxi driver that he knew where we were going. Unfortunately, he didn't. He dropped us at Pasig City, FAR from where we should be, which really pissed off all of us. It cost us 80php!! That's really disheartening and annoying at the same time!

 The Arrival

We went further and a tricycle driver helped us reach our destination. This time, for real. He was our savior that day because it's 20 minutes before 10 A.M. and we should be earlier. Arriving at what looked like a compound with lots of buildings around. Initially, you would not think that animations are being done there. It was a bit dirty at sides and no signs of animation. But we were psyched as we enter the building, and saw the big "Toon City" sign inside. It looks better on the inside and very different on how it looks outside. There's a big digital clock, a front desk and a row of different animation films on the wall. It was AWESOME.

First, we were asked by the guard to log on their log book, then, we were asked to wait for our interviewee, Mr. Rene De Guzman. Soon, employees began entering the building for their work, and they kept on noticing us, especially our clothes, basically because we were the only visitors that time. That time, we were wearing our school uniform. It's a 3/4 white polo topped with a grayish vest and slacks-like, grayish pants for the bottom. We can hear them saying "Astig ng uniform nila oh!", "Nice!." It was flattering but even if they didn't say that, I'm really proud of my school. :D

Meeting Mr. Rene De Guzman

We can see Mr. Rene De Guzman going back and forth from the workplace to his office. Basically, he's a very busy person. It made us realize how really lucky we were to be having an interview with him. After a few minutes, he called us to his office and in no time, we were ready to start the interview. I was one of the interviewers together with Riciel Monserata. I was really nervous that time and my heart was pounding really hard. Maybe because of his presence that expresses total professionalism. We chatted a little about who we were, our chosen program, what course this formal paper is in and a little about our experience going there. He seems so professional that adds to the tension I was feeling.

The Interview

The interview went like it was suppose to be, like a normal interview. We introduced ourselves, readied the cameras, and started the interview. As the interview went on, my tension got less and less. I was very thankful nothing bad happened and it was smooth. When it was done, we thanked him and gave him our token of appreciation. He thanked us and gave us a tour on the animation company. We weren't suppose to see the inside of the workplace but Mr. Rene let us took a peek of it. It was big and more than 30 employees were working at the same time. Mr. Rene said they are working at a project that time. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to take videos and pictures of their workplace. But it's okay, seeing it in person is awsome enough for us.

Aftermath

After the interview, I felt like I lost 100 kg of weight. I was really relieved that a big part of the formal interview is done. It was like dropping a 1 ton bag for good. But at the same time, we were really tired. Realizing that I'm the really heavy bag ready to fall down any second because of being really tired. Before going back to school to attended our 3:30P.M. class in Sociology, we ate at Chowking, SM. We arrived at school early so I had the chance to sleep for a few minutes and I took it. 

To sum it all up, this experience is something extraordinary. It made us learn things through experiencing. Things that doesn't only relate to animation but in life. Mr. Rene's words inspired me and my group mates about how anybody can be an animator. He expressed that with the right perseverance and attitude, anyone can achieve being anything we want to be. And that inspired us. Although what I really want to be is a photographer, not an animator, his words enlightened me. And I know, this experience will be one of those I won't forget in a long time.