I am incredibly proud to announce that the Bloomberg Investigates/Originals documentary, “Alice Guo: The Philippines Mayor With a Dark Secret,” has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding True Crime Coverage.
Serving as both the Director of Photography and Local Producer for the Philippines unit was one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my career.
The Visual Approach As DP, the goal was to capture the tension of the investigation. We wanted the visuals to feel cinematic but not overly produced. Using the Sony FX6 and FX3, we were able to move quickly between run-and-gun street scenes and high-stakes interviews, maintaining a look that was both gritty yet polished. Huge thanks to Colourist Mike Keelin who did a superb job grading the footage.
On the production side, navigating the logistics in Bamban and coordinating with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime (PAOCC) Task Force who led the investigation against Alice Guo was exciting. Especially as we managed to gain permission to film inside both Alice Guo’s Baofu Bamban Compund as well as the PAOCC office which in itself was previously a POGO and currently houses some of the victims. Thank you to Sir Winston Casio, spokesperson for PAOCC for taking us on a tour of the Baofu and also the PAOCC office. It’s a proud moment for our team at Exposure Media Production to see a story centred in the Philippines reach this level of international recognition.
Here are a few behind the scenes shots from the shoot and locations scouts.
A huge thank you to Vicky Feng, Robin Fall and the whole team at Bloomberg Originals and Bloomberg Investigates for their trust and collaboration.
It was a big team effort and a huge thank you to the whole team who worked on this project
Saxby Dizon: Camera/Gimbal and Drone Operator
John Louie Sevilla – Camera assistant/Operator
Ari Trofeo – Sound Engineer
Norman Tinitigan – Gaffer
Camille Elemia – Fixer/Translator
The documentary is freely available to watch here. So please do watch and let us know your thoughts
