Blending Australian Cooking into Filipino Classics
The series ‘Compliment to the Chef’ as a concept is something that the team of Araw One has been sitting on since the start of their operations about a year ago.
The members wanted to produce a feature series that was more F&B-centric, and would showcase different restaurants across the Metro.
As this is an internal effort, and the series is still at its early stages to have any external sponsors, it is intended to be more of a passion project for the team rather than something that brings in revenue. It is an outlet for the team’s creative aspirations and itch— and more importantly, an opportunity for the team to build lasting connections and work directly with different entrepreneurs, business owners, and establishments.
Its production was mobilized and kickstarted after the team was able to come into contact with some of the members over at Hooroo which is a relatively new Filipino-Australian restaurant in BGC. Araw One’s director initially pitched the idea to the sister of the restaurant’s owner, who was also doubling as a marketing associate in assisting her sister and the restaurant gain some traction and reach. Though the vision wasn’t entirely clear to them during the initial call, they graciously agreed to meet with the rest of Araw One’s team for a formal pitching and visit to the restaurant.
That first meeting came mostly with the team of Araw One presenting a draft of what the schedule, call-sheet, and shotlist would look like to film a feature episode of Hooroo. Most of the effort was put into helping the team of Hooroo understand how shoot day would go, what preparations were needed, what the output would look like, and what expectations there were from both parties. It was established then as well that the team at Hooroo wanted to time the release of the episode right before Valentine's Day to help promote an exclusive menu set that they had developed and were offering specifically for the occasion.
This meant that the campaign and its turn-over were more time-sensitive than what Araw One’s team had initially gauged— but nonetheless, the members were all the more eager to be able to create promotion in exchange for the opportunity to have the restaurant as the very first feature for ‘Compliments to the Chef’. And as this was the launch and premiere of the series, there was a lot for the team to navigate especially in pre-production. There was a need to navigate how to be able to construct a call-sheet that would keep the team on track, while being flexible enough for the series’ nature and essence to not be lost. As much as this was a feature episode, so many aspects of it were documentary in that it should capture unrehearsed genuine and authentic moments on camera.
Establishing structures for how this series could be sustainable only comes with experience, and if it hadn’t been for this leap of faith and initial project with Hooroo, it wouldn’t have been possible for the team of Araw One to produce succeeding episodes to ‘Compliments to the Chef’.
This shoot was able to effectively set precedents for any similar projects that came after it. It exposed how team dynamics affect and influence how shoots progress, and what roles each of the members fall into when on set. There was a new-found trust between the team and the capacities that are possessed by the members. But more importantly, there was a new partnership created and formed through this.
