Voltes V: Legacy director Mark Reyes can safely say that his show is indeed one of GMA-7’s most expensive projects.
During a visit to the Camp Big Falcon set in April 2022, PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) asked Direk Mark about how huge the cost of producing the live-action adaptation of Voltes V was.
Direk Mark first says, “Honestly, Ms. Helen is the one to answer that because I have no idea.”
Ms. Helen is Helen Rose Sese, GMA-7’s assistant vice president for drama, who also acts as Voltes V: Legacy’s senior program manager.
Direk Mark continues, “But I know, if this is not the most expensive, it is one of the most expensive projects that GMA has done. Because I don’t know how much the franchise is, I know it’s expensive. You saw the set and the costumes, that’s very expensive and the CGI, I can tell you, it’s very, very expensive.
“So, three areas of ano... so, I really don’t know how much. I would like to know but I don’t know, and I’m still racking up, the bill is still going because I’m still shooting, and there are unforeseen... you know.”
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At the time of the interview, the Voltes V: Legacy team was still in the process of finishing the series with more sequences to tape.
But aside from the expensive set, actors’ talent fees, and the franchise, what added to the blow of production costs would be the pandemic restrictions. At the time, lock-in tapings in Manila were still being implemented.
“Can you imagine the lock-in? Ito na lang... normal taping days, pre-COVID, we shoot, we go home.
"During the COVID, everyone is locked up in a hotel, everyone had to go to RT-PCR. Can you imagine paying for how many people?
"And our hotel is one of the nice hotels, not because that GMA is flashy, it’s because we learned through the process.
"If your hotel is nice, they have the proper protocols, the right filtration system, no one gets sick. If you scrap the hotel, chances are, you get sick. So, because of that, thankfully, they didn’t scrimp. GMA is very generous when it comes to billeting us in nice hotels.”
Given the gargantuan tasks he had to face while doing Voltes V: Legacy, Direk Mark’s running joke at the time was: “After Voltes V, I just want to do a talk show or Sunday mass!”
But since he is a contract director of the network, his compromise was, “Sige, any afternoon soap, I’ll be happy with after Voltes V,” in exchange for the production challenges he faced in the making of Voltes V: Legacy.
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BUILDING THE SETS
Direk Mark also has interesting stories about building the two sets for Voltes V: Legacy.
First is Camp Big Falcon, the headquarters of the Voltes team. The second is the Boazanian Skullship, the home of the Boazanians.
He elaborates, “If you’re pulling off a robot, you want to believe a robot, you want to make them believe that they have the technology and the base for it, right? So, comes this monstrous set that you see, this is just one component. We have another one in Illumination Studio. ‘Tapos, the Boazanian Skullship. This morphs into other things that we have pa in Subic, in La Union, we have in Batangas, our locations. So, it’s really big.
“And then, for this particular one [Camp Big Falcon], actually, I designed this through Lego, that’s how I design things, e. And then, it was designed through ano, it was approved by Japan. But the idea was, the first floor lang ang gagawin and the rest is chroma na already. For some reason, when we got here, ’Oh my God, they built a second floor.’
“So, ang laki-laki nung set. Si Miss Darling nga, ‘Di ba dapat, first floor lang ito?’ Parang na-afford naman na ginawang ganun. Then, the conveyor seats, right, you saw that, di ba? Yun… yung how to pull it off. Then, we had to look for engineers whot could do that. Kasi, you can buy that off the rack, the gimbal [camera stabilizer]. It’s not here, it’s like the cockpit that they ride that is basically a structure, para kang amusement park,
“So, when we shoot, you saw it in the featurette, they were on that gimbal, and then it moves, so they have fun. I mean, I don’t know if they’ll have fun in all the sequences there.”
They have two production designers, a costume designer, and the post-production teams of GMA and RIOT to complete the set.
Direk Mark continues, “A lot were designed by the sets with the help of people of GMA, yung video graphic department. So, I just have an idea then after, they embellish it, then RIOT also. Then, we have a storyboard artist who would contribute also to the design, so it’s a lot of people, it’s not only just one person.
“To have a project like this, you need a lot of heads thinking for you or else, you know. At saka, ang hirap to make all the costumes, lock-in. Walang makapunta somewhere to get, and you can’t buy the materials sa Facebook Marketplace or Lazada because you have to see the materials and sourcing. Gapang talaga.”
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
If TV viewers are curious as to why production started in 2018 without casting and taping yet, it's because Direk Mark and the team had to prepare for the computer graphics, especially in developing the Voltes V robot and the beast fighters.
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He explains, “It’s not like, when you’re a computer geek or what, per hour, per ligament, they have to create that for it to move naturally. So, there’s engineering involved between the robot and the beast fighters. So, plates, ipinu-produce sa amin. Minsan, nakaka-bore na talaga, pero ganung katagal. It’s a painstaking process.
“Then, we have to match it. We have two groups: we have RIOT and GMA graphics, and GMA Graphics, they’re a lot of young people in GMA graphics, na I like it because they’re the type na ‘Direk, puwede yan!’ kasi dati if you’re familiar, pag may effects, black frame lang yan. Now, “no, move, go.”
Direk Mark is proud to say that GMA-7 did not shortchange the production in terms of budget.
He says, “Yeah, because nga, if you’re going to commit to something like this, it’s ridiculous to ano, hindi ka mag-gamble all the way. If you don’t gamble all the way or ano, sayang yung ginastos mo, in-invest mo. Kung titipirin mo 'tapos pangit ang produkto, di ba? Dapat you invest in something like this, see it through, because at the end of the day, this is one of the things that will not just be marketed not only in the Philippines. It’s already... Japan is waiting for it, different regions are waiting for it.”
For his part, Direk Mark didn't hold back on his vision for the show and made sure that he gave it his all.
“There’s no doing this shortcut, right? So nung i-go naman ni GMA, siyempre, they knew what was. Japan has expectations, we cannot fall short of what Japan expects, we’re very excited,” he says proudly.
But among everything else, what Direk Mark is proud of is the show is 100% Filipino-made.
He says, “I’m proud to say that it’s 100% Pinoy—directed, produced, designed. You know, all the CGI, the Pinoys doing Voltes V, it’s run by RIOT and GMA graphics but some Pinoys are all over the world.
“So, ganun, finan-out na, so yung magaling sa Dubai, or galing sa New Zealand, gumagawa din ng assets for production. So, global siya, pero all Pinoy.
“And I know that there are other entities that tried to buy the franchise of Voltes V, tayo lang ang pinayagan because of the pitch tape.”