From November to December 2009, viewers were able to watch a unique reality show that pitted 16 contestants from all over Asia. They were shortlisted from 2,000 entries submitted to Hewlett Packard's reality show called HP Space. Two of the contestants were music video director Rafael "Raffy" Francisco and former Hong Kong Disneyland performer Adrienne Vergara.
The two Filipinos competed against other highly-creative individuals from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, China, and Australia. Raffy was able to enter the Top Three of the said reality show but Adrienne did not make the cut.
HP Space aimed to bring out the creativity of the contestants through a series of challenges that included creating an art installation, creating an animated short film, designing a hotel room, and directing music videos, among others. The reality show was aired on Star World and Channel V in various Asian countries. The winner would be able to take home US$50,000 and get to work on the remake of the cult anime film Bubblegum Crisis, which would be shot in Australia.
CLICK HERE to read more about the finale of HP Space in Singapore.
Members of the international media, including PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal), were able to interview Raffy and Adrienne in Singapore after the taping of the HP Space finals.
Did Raffy ever see himself joining a reality show?
"Several months back, I wanted to launch a globally syndicated TV show," he admitted. "I would be the host and I would be doing the filmmaking as well. It would be like House Guest meets Lonely Planet, then I'd call it Pinoy Door to Door.
"I'll be traveling around the world and makikitira ako sa mga Pilipino kahit saan man sila. Kung seaman ka, makikitulog ako dun sa bunk mo. Kung mayaman ka katulad ni Nora Aunor... anong 'itsura ng bahay ni Nora Aunor ngayon?
"That's my dream... I want that to be my next reality. Travel the world and tell Filipino stories," he explained.
What are his immediate plans after joining HP Space?
"The producers have been kind to offer me a job as well on the Hollywood film Bubblegum Crisis. I'll be working as second unit director. It's a big production and it uses live action. It's like Charlie's Angels meets the Transformers."
When Raffy and Adrienne joined this contest, they knew that they were about to work with contestants of different nationalities. How did they deal with common preconceived notions about other races while taping this show in Singapore for two months?
Raffy pointed out, "I think we viewed ourselves beyond race here. Coz actually we viewed ourselves as creative individuals—that's the most important part. In this show, everyone was equal. There were 16 people trying to make it... trying to show our creativity regardless of age, appearance [laughs]. But it's more about attitude. In this show, we learned that attitude counts a lot. And people with the best working attitude made it the farthest, I guess."
For her part, Adrienne pointed out, "We kind of embraced these so-called clichés when it comes to race. We call [Korean] Uni kimchi and [Indians] curry. We make fun of accents of people but we enjoyed it a lot."
MUSIC VIDEO CHALLENGE. For the final challenge, the Top Three had to produce, direct, and edit a music video of a band's latest single. Contestants had only five days to produce their three-minute music videos. Once completed, the music video would be presented to the judges and an invited audience during a party at a leading Singapore nightclub called Zirca.
Even though he has been directing music videos for years, Raffy felt that this somehow became a drawback. He has directed over 50 music videos, the latest being Sarah Geronimo's "Right Here Waiting." They previously collaborated for the music videos of "A Very Special Love" and "You Changed My Life."
Raffy pointed out, "I think yung disadvantage ko coming into this thing is that I have set rules on what music videos should be like."
But he was flattered to know the reason why Sawan, one of his fellow contestants, opted to work with him instead of the other two finalists.
"Ang pinaka ka-close ko dito si Sawan yung Indian. We started off as roommates for two weeks and we became teammates for the anime challenge. We had to make one-minute anime in three days. Nagkagalit kami niyan kasi tamad siya. Pero during the journey, he changed a lot.
"Sobra akong na-touch nung time na pipili na sila kung kanino sasama, pinili niya ako. Naging crew siya sa team ko. So while others were doing it for money, Mira and Sawan went back to me because they wanted to collaborate with me. I think the biggest compliment came from Sawan coz he told me: 'You know why I want to work with you now? Because now I want to learn from you.'"
In the end, the judges chose the Singapore-based art director David Tang as the winner of HP Space.
PEP asked David to describe his fellow contender Raffy. He pointed out: "When I saw his audition video, I thought it was amazing! And when I met him, I thought he was going to go far. At times, when we worked together, we have different working methods. He likes to come up with something really crazy and refine it. I prefer to come up with something realistic then add to it. It was an interesting way to work."
The 16 finalists of HP Space were:
1. Lora Lee (21), Student, China (part of the Top Three)
2. Eric Zhang Hailin (22), Student, China
3. Sawan (23), Visual Artist, India
4. Rohit Ferreira (23), Freelance Photographer, India
5. Admira Pustika (26), Freelance Illustrator / Designer, Indonesia
6. Uni Lee (26), Motion Graphic Designer, Korea
7. Tan Chung Han (26), Teacher, Malaysia
8. Adrienne Vergara (25), Performer, Philippines
9. Rafael Francisco (37), Director, Philippines
10. David Tang (28), Art Director, Australia (currently living and working in Singapore)
11. Kaz Cai (28), Director / Producer, Singapore
12. Brandon Liu (26), Architect / Designer, Australia (currently living and working in Singapore)
13. Liu Ming-Chun (28), Music Video Director / Photographer, Taiwan
14. Note Pongsuang Kunprasop (31), Graphic Designer, Thailand
15. Daniel Tran (29), Entrepreneur, Australia (currently living and working in Vietnam)
16. Phan Huynh Trung (24), Animator / Graphic Designer, Vietnam
CLICK HERE to view photos taken on the set of HP Space in Singapore.