Realeased last 2013 ‘Ekstra’ is a drama-comedy Cinemalaya Film entry directed

by Jeffrey Jeturian, Screenplay written by Jeffrey Jeturian, Antoinette Jadaone and Zig
Madamba. This film portrays the ventures and struggles of extras during a regular shoot
day of a soap opera aired in national television and addresses the oppressive
production system in the Philippines. These people are considered as ‘bit players.’
People who suffer from oppression, social labor issues, People who abused, over-
worked and marginalized. Seen in this movie is the idea of different stereotypes and a
form of hierarchy involved in the media industry. ‘Ekstra” shows concepts like Marxist
theory as it shows the abuse of power of higher position in the industry’s hierarchy and
how the people on the lower class suffer with their marginalized treatment. A socio-
realism based motion picture that present inequality, prejudice and abusement
overworked talents and staffs are experiencing in film/soap opera productions.
Mr. Jeturian did exceptional uncovering the unseen harsh reality behind the
entertainment industry, behind these soap operas most Filipinos enjoy where plenty of
people are degraded by the people of higher economic power or roles. One concept
that is primarily addressed in the film is the hierarchy or power tripping among the crew
and talents. They Expressed it in the film by incorporating series of events that builds
pressure to the people with higher power in the production especially the director. of
that leads to catastrophic consequences. As shown in the movie, there are many
instances where specific group experience unfortunate events whether it’s the
production team lacking supply like the unavailability to rent a horse for the shoot and
having only 2 cameras to use, the catering having insufficient food for the talents,
inconvenient timings, and bad weather. And when the time these inconvenient problems
arises the bit players are put to blame. In this film the management decided the whole
shoot would go and suppressed these people by giving them unjustifiable budget. This
addresses how capitalism works in the entertainment industry and ineffective
Philippines in films or soap operas maximize its production value, these events make
characters especially the director struggles on their shoot, got infuriated and turns the
blame to the crew and talents. Loida Malabanan, (Vilma Santos), the main character of
this story is a single mother who struggles in supporting her only child on her education
embarked on a taping day of soap opera only to be abused and marginalized by the
higher positions which are the oppressors and return with money barely covering for her
daughter’s tuition fee. These people are the directors and famous actors, assistant,
staffs, and others with higher positions. Bit players being downgraded are also stressed
in the film, there’s a scene where Loida (Vilma Santos) the Main Character argues that
no matter how small extras roles are, their contribution is as big for the shows.
Hierarchy is also presented at a particular scene were the director ride roughshod over
the assistant director, only for the assistant director to do the same thing to their
production staff and talents. Capitalism is a concept that I s also represented in
As for the elements of the film, Jeturian certainly made a good direction to the
film as for the necessary context and realism are encapsulated by the overall film. He
managed to stress an important issue in the film/entertainment industry. The sets are
accurate, and shots were executed very well. There are shots that I believe made a
strong impact as it emphasized Loida’s struggle both as a low-class citizen and a bit
player. One example is at the beginning of the film when they did this long single shot
as she starts her morning preparing a warm bath before she goes to the shoot and how
they do it again after the shoot when she goes home and eats the breakfast meal given
from the shoot. Colors were effectively used as well. Warm yellows and oranges were
used in a lot of scenes that uplifts the moods and expresses sickness when Loida
struggles from body pain and coughing. The portrayal of the character’s struggles and
sufferings allows the audience to sympathize and acknowledge inequality due to class
differences.
Overall, this film although they haven’t presented suggestions to resolve the
problem in the film, is still a call for action for future filmmakers or people aspiring to be
in the industry of entertainment. It discloses the people being a victim of alienation,
oppression, hegemony, and capitalism.