Jamming at the Kidlat Awards on Boracay

Biba Cabuquit a copywriter at DM9 JaymeSyfu tells of the 26 hours of stress and over thinking that took place at the Young Creatives competition at the recent Kidlat Awards festival held in Boracay and run by The Philippines Creative Guild.

The theme song for our Kidlat Young Creatives experience was Bob Marley’s “Jamming.”

In the 26 hours given to us to come up with an award-winning idea, shoot and edit it, my partner Dee and I (pictured left) must have heard that song approximately 112 times.

Not only did it alternately soothe and rattle our already frayed nerves, but by the 9th hour, the song began to relate to our ordeal. It was as if Bob was jamming with us on the night of March 5.

“Ain’t no rules, ain’t no vow, we can do it anyhow

I and I will see you through”

The brief was deceptively simple: Save the white sands of Boracay Island.

There were no set perimeters; submit a 30-seconder TV commercial to discourage tourists from bringing home the powdery white sand.

“We’re jamming, jamming…”

Dee and I brainstorm for a few hours and between bouts of self-doubt and pats on the back, we settle on what we think is a brilliant idea that may bring us fame, fortune and France. Or at the very least, some bragging rights.

“True love that now exist is the love I can’t resist

So jam by my side”

Our story was very subtly titled, “Sex on the Beach.” It revolved on a couple having a go on the shore, with the girl turning out to be a tranny. The lead guy rushes on a plane back home, ending at the shower where he scrubs himself from filth and gallons upon gallons of sand. He is sobbing, feeling violated amidst the mountain load of sand he extracted from ever crevice of his clay body. Yes, we decided to go all-out and execute all this in claymation.

“Every day we pay the price with a little sacrifice

Jamming ‘til the jam is through.

The next few hours had us making little clay people, rolling around in the muck in the middle of the night, fighting off overly zealous onlookers (a few actually thought Dee and I were having our own little sex on the beach episode).

We were cursing ourselves by midnight on why we had to do it with clay, especially when the nipples and legs kept coming off, why it had to be a torturous process of stop-motion and why we were not accountants in the first place.

“No bullet can stop us now, we neither beg nor will we bow

We all defend the right, jah, jah, children must unite”

We plod on, telling ourselves this will soon be over. Of course, just to make things a little more exciting, there were a couple of power shortages, a gazillion technical mishaps and few panic attacks.

With 9 minutes to spare, Dee and I make a run for it. We barge our way through a throng of people, until we find Leigh, the judge who was calmly accepting entries.

“Yeah, we’re jamming, jamming”

We made it! Frantic jumping and hugging ensue until our legs conk out on us.

“Holy mount Zion

And rules all Creation”

Come awarding, we couldn’t help but call on all the angels and saints we knew in our former lives as Catholic schoolgirls. We didn’t hear our agency called and, not to be melodramatic about it, but we were crushed.

“Jam’s about my pride and truth I cannot hide

Too keep you satisfied”

The adults that we are, Dee and I pout and make our usual faces. Our boss, Eugene, begins to explain how the supers couldn’t be read so the judges were left with the indelible visual of a hanging clay penis. Oh well. We tell ourselves we’re mighty proud of that clay penis.

“We’re jamming, jamming

I’m jammed, I hope you’re jamming too”

Our agency makes a decent showing at the awards night with 1 Gold, 3 Bronzes and 6 finalists. I manage to snag a bronze for a radio ad and receive the trophy from Stefan Sagmeister himself! Not too shabby!

Dee and I aren’t on our way to Cannes or Pattaya, but we did have a memorable romp at the beach with the inspiring and infuriating Mr. Marley…

“We’re jamming, jamming