Analyzing Paul Soriano's Film Career: A Case Study

This case study analyzes the career of Paul Soriano, a Filipino film director known for his work on themes such as mental health, homelessness, inclusivity, and cultural diversity. The study examines his research practices, highlighting his approach of drawing inspiration from societal observations and transforming ideas into reality. It explores his methods of funding, including commercial work and collaborations with production houses, as well as his use of personal contacts and self-sponsorship. The study also details how Soriano makes his films publicly available through film festivals, theaters, and online platforms like Netflix, and how he gains recognition through awards, critical acclaim, and platforms like TED Talks. The analysis also includes his learning approach, where each project serves as a learning opportunity and how he constantly aims at improving his craft.

Running head: RESEARCH PRACTICE
Research Practice
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Paul Soriano is a scriptwriter, award winning director of films and producer. At Los
Angeles in California, he was born to a family who was already interested in movies and were
associated with the world of film (IMDb, 2019). Later on, he started his career after shifting to
Philippines and kick started directing music videos, concerts and commercials which came into
Television. After that he shifted towards creating feature films of full length and short films. In
today’s date, Paul Soriano happens to be one of the top directors of television commercial in
Philippines. He has directed large number of television commercials for companies such as
Kraft, Unilever, Smart Communication, Unilab, Enchanted Kingdom, Honda, Globe Telecom,
Chevrolet, Pizza Hut and so on. Till now, he directed five movies that are feature films. Thelma
in 2011, A Journey Home in 2009, Dukot in 2016, Kid Kulafu in 2015 and Siargo in 2017. He
won many number of Best Director and Best Picture awards in the film festivals both in abroad
and Philippines.
He happens to be an experimental artist when it comes to films. He never sticks to any
one kind and experiments with his creativity. He mostly makes films on topics related to Mental
Health, Homelessness, Inclusivity and Cultural Diversity. The films related to mental health
showcases or portrays issues that a person suffers from. Through his movies, Paul Soriano
showed messages and probable measures that could be taken by the people actually suffering
from mental illness i real life. The homelessness theme of movies showcases or revolves around
the topic where the protagonist does not have home. He shows the struggles a homeless person
has to go through and how the difficulties tend to break down the morale of a human being
(Valera, 2015.) He also shows how to overcome them and how to hold on courage for going on.
Inclusivity in movies deals with all the requirements and need involved in a person’s personal
life. It showcases daily life and its object around which an individual revolves in society. The

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cultural diversity shows the different aspects of a culture and portrays the reality of culture in
reel. All these aspects in a movie more or less shows the life of an individual and the place where
the individual sustains. Movies exist to entertain as well as educate the people in society. When
the happenings of society are shown on screen by a creative mind, it holds a power to change or
at least questions the mind of its audience (Smithikrai, Longthong & Peijsel, 2015.)
In any sort of project, be it movie or any art forms, a proper research needs to be
conducted before transforming the dream or idea into reality. Director Paul Soriano happens to
be an independent filmmaker. He undergoes a procedure of research where he travels to places
and gets impacted by looking around the happenings in a society. He says that transforming the
dream into reality is the big deal. Everyone dreams but it is very important to transform that
dream into reality otherwise it just gets wasted. He practices and introduces ways through which
the dream can be transformed into reality (Zhou & Liu, 2018.) Imagination is a great tool and
more powerful than knowledge but only when it is executed otherwise the imagination is of no
purpose. He always insisted on taking the positive route when making a film. Philippines is
already engrossed into films that revolve around dark controversies but Soriano choses to do
fi8lms that provie4 an inspirational route to its viewers. His movies mostly revolve around
solidarity, family, forgiveness and upholding values that are related to morality.
The artist funds for his movies through the commercials he does for televisions. He has
been into the business of television commercials since a long time. He finds for sponsors who
can support the movie but when there is no sponsor available, he collaborates with a production
house that buys his script. In the business of movie making, funding plays an important role
because without that the imagination cannot be turned into reality. The movie requires a proper
set, lights, casts and a team of large number of people. Without proper funding there is no use of

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making a movie because it will be done with improper equipment and no proper dedication. The
artist tries to utilize his contacts when making movie so that the cast can be arranged. Apart from
that, he sponsors his own movies and gets all the necessary equipment required for shooting a
film starting from the set, outdoor location, production team, lights, and so on. There is more
investment on the post production part also because after the movie has been shot, it needs to get
edit to make it a proper presentation of the imagination that can be showcased to the audience.
The artist makes their work publicly available by sending it to several film festivals and
screening at other places. It is very important for a movie maker to send the films to festivals. In
film festivals many renowned personalities visit who look for talents and their films. Many turns
can happen from such events that might turn out to be beneficial for the film makers and the
entire crew involved in making the film. Other areas where the films of Soriano are available is I
the theatres globally. In a society of human beings, entertainment plays an important role in day
to day life.
Hence, movie theatres are a tool for entertainment and a platform for the makers of art.
When a movie reaches the theatre or cinema halls of a society then it tends to influence or impact
the number of people watching it. It can be many or less depending on the quality of the movie
but the movie of Soriano is available to the theatres with a definite purpose. The other places
where movies of Soriano are available are on the online platforms like Netflix. In 21st century
most of the audience choose to watch movies online at the comfort of their home. Due to the
digital shift, the movie makers are stressing more on the availability of their movies on online
platform. Soriano’s most movies are available on the online platforms more than any other
platform. The availability of movies in online platforms reaches to a huge number of audience.

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For an artist it is very important to get recognition for the work they do. It not only
motivates their esteem but also helps the artist in encouraging what they do. Art is never present
only for existence. It is supposed to stimulate thoughts in human mind. The viewers are supposed
to draw their emotions carefully when watching a movie. They might find a reflection of their
personal experiences when watching a movie. In this way, nit is very natural and powerful to
innovate and develop skills of critical thinking. Art and movies also teaches some qualities like
observing, responding and listening to perspectives multiple in numbers that is very important.
Soriano gained recognition for his by works by film festivals, theatres and online platforms. One
of the most influential recognition in his life was when Merlyn Sheep greeted him at a film
festival and appreciated one of his movies that were eight hours long (Lo & Pisano, 2016.)
He said that it is crazy of him to make a movie of this long hour and that is very good of
him because in art, there has to be craziness and authenticity in the artist. This encouraged
Soriano a lot and felt very motivated to receive that prestigious recognition or identity from a
super star like Sheep. Later on, Soriano received many awards for his feature length film,
pictures and award as a top producer. This recognition in a society or industry to be more precise
is very important for an artist as these things open or exposes them to more opportunities. More
than encouragement it gives various scopes for opportunities that help Soriano to expand more in
his area of interest and shaped his skills as a director.
It is very important for an artist or moviemaker to foster an analysis and appreciation for
his creation. This not only boosts but also motivates the movie maker to come up with more
ideas. As Soriano says every project of movie making is a learning opportunity for him where he
gets to learn something new every time. He always aims at making his next movie better than the
previous one (Braet, Spek & Pauwels, 2015.) He also tries to go through the mistakes from the

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previous projects and implements the learning from those mistakes in the new ones. He has been
invited into several ted talk as well where he spoke about transforming imaginations into reality.
When a person invited for ted talks, that person automatically gets a proper recognition and gets
looked upon for his experiences and skills that motivates others (Leff & Feudtner, 2017). Soriano
feels very overwhelmed when he got invited and he spoke about positivity and how imagination
can be used to change the lives of people. It has the ability to take people places that they
actually imagine of. The only key thing to remember is imagination is only powerful than
knowledge when it is executed otherwise the imagination itself has no values. He also advises to
be focused and committed towards the passion and not give up halfway when difficulties
overload (Corey, 2018) These are the time when a person should feel more motivated to pursue
and be committed towards their passion.

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References
Braet, O., Spek, S., & Pauwels, C. (2018). Crowdfunding Movies: A Business Model Analysis from
Strategic Management Studies. In Handbook of State Aid for Film (pp. 635-656). Springer, Cham.
Corey, G. (2018). The art of integrative counseling. John Wiley & Sons.
IMDb. (2019). Paul Soriano - IMDb. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
Leff, S. S., & Feudtner, C. (2017). Tackling bullying: Grounds for encouragement and sustained
focus. Pediatrics, 139(6), e20170504.
Lo, A., & Pisano, G. (2016). Lessons from Hollywood: A new approach to funding R&D. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 57(2), 47.
Smithikrai, C., Longthong, N., & Peijsel, C. (2015). Effect of using movies to enhance personal
responsibility of university students. Asian Social Science, 11(5), 1.
Valera, I. E. (2015). Perceived Status of the Filipino Film Industry: Implications for Media Education.
In International Conference in Language Learning and Teaching at HCT Men’s College UAE (Vol.
8, No. 1, pp. 85-89).
Zhou, M., & Liu, Y. (2018, January). Hybrid recommendation and parallelization of movies based on
spark. In 2017 4th International Conference on Machinery, Materials and Computer (MACMC
2017). Atlantis Press.
Harnessing the Power of Your Imagination | Paul Soriano | TEDxForbesPark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OThyMBQsZ0
Transforming Your Imaginations Into Reality | Paul Soriano |
TEDxBritishSchoolManila
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ev6KQyTV0Y

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#ChalkTalks: Paul Soriano Shares His Survival Tip For Aspiring Filmmakers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJLsOwA4Lg