EXPOSING ANA: DIGITAL DIARIES

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BLOODSUCKER

RUNNING WITH THE IDEA

*From my last post

In Mythica Obscura, different versions of the aswang were featured—namely, the Antique, Mandarangkal, and Anananggal. If I remember correctly, Sir Karl had some personal criticisms about naming the creature Anananggal, but I was compelled by it, the reason is because it sounded like a girl’s name. It just needed a signifier to capture that I was blending the manananggal as an influencer— thus, the underscore before “-nanggal” came about.

Once I had settled with the idea, I created a storyboard with two to three images per setting. I placed the character in locations that were known to be frequented by influencers or Instagram models.

I envisioned a “day in the life” sequence— where ana_nanggal quits her day job, attends a casting call, goes home, hits the gym— which were modeled after the format of lifestyle vlogs.

My intent was to approach the series as a parody with serious undertones. I leaned into conceptual photography—not just mimicking how an aswang might pose, but carefully directing each shot to convey narrative and symbolism that highlight issues within influencer culture.

By the time I had to shoot these new batch of images, I reached out to Shy, Bea, and Yuan again to continue this project. I was worried about their tight and respective schedules, though they were still willing to lend their support again. 

I still kept the element of the aswang looking terrifying yet glamorous, that it became inspired by the illustrations made by Gilda Cordero-Fernando in The Aswang Inquiry, where she based their looks on supermodels. I refined the design further, working not just on the face but the body as well. I also took inspiration from Junji Ito’s macabre illustrations, as Sir Karl once mentioned how he visualized aswangs in a similar style. I wanted to exaggerate some elements, like making her hair a bit messier, darker contour, drawing veins on her face and her arms, and fully incorporating SFX makeup. 

When we tried this new design for the first time, Bea accidentally forgot the SFX scar wax we used from the first initial images in the bar. It would also be our first time using it on Shy. We had to improvise, and we discovered that DIY scar wax—made from just baby powder, Vaseline, and a small container—was actually more effective than the one we bought online.

After the revised image* I did, I decided to fully incorporate seperating my subject’s body in my images. To create the effect of ana_nanggal’s halved body, I took three shots from the same angle: one of the empty setting, one with Shy standing normally, and one with her hugging herself to easily edit out her legs. I layered the images in Photoshop, using inverted layer masks and painting in only the parts I wanted visible.

Each image was meant to be criticism in influencer culture. For instance, the image where she’s surrounded by parcels with her hair taped to the wall is supposed to reflect overconsumption. The casting call scene critiques how influencers often over-edit their photos to the point of being unrecognizable in real life.

During my midpoint review, they were pleased with the concept. However, visually and the sequencing, was not coming through clearly. While some images capture the influencer persona— when I had ana_nanggal hold a phone in some of the images, some didn’t convey that. I was also told the visual consistency was lacking, which I admit was true since I became more hyperfocused on delivering the idea, that lighting, technicality-wise, ended up being an afterthought. Most importantly, they still wanted more of my perspective— how was I able to capture the life of ana_nanggal? Do I happen to be an influencer as well or be her stalker?

The challenge now was how I was going to visually push and elevate the execution of the concept.