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Mark Irwin, the Canadian cinematographer of American films like 'The Dead Zone' (1983), 'Youngblood' (1986), and 'The Fly' (1986), conducted his first cinematography seminar in the Philippines and participated in by GMA techno-creative personnel.

Seasoned Hollywood cinematographer Mark Irwin spent his five-day stay in the Philippines, training a set of GMA cameramen and other techno-creative personnel in a cinematography seminar held from November 14 to 18, 2022.

The week-long seminar was attended by GMA engineering, public affairs, entertainment, and post-production staff whom he described as "very up to the global standards."

Among the practical exercises that Mark demonstrated for the group is the advanced interview lighting which they actually applied for his interview with GMA News correspondent, Vonne Aquino.

Irwin shared: "There's a process. It's not 'here's how you do it, end of discussion.' You will be doing interviews on the street and in front of the church and then on the government building and on the waterfront, so nothing's the same, everything is different...

"I'm gonna apply that framework and creative input that understanding that this can go here, this will be more dramatic. You get the water shining in the background instead of up against the brick wall. Those kinds of things make all the difference," Irwin further explained to GMANetwork.com and select reporters present at the training site.

Irwin, who has been in the industry for 50 years, is a member of the Hollywood-based American Society of Cinematographers, and the Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC). He is the cinematographer of American films like The Dead Zone (1983), Youngblood (1986), and The Fly (1986) which were hailed as best cinematography by CSC.

GMA Network Head of Studio and Remote Operations Jeffry Evangelista takes pride in having the award-winning Canadian cinematographer as a mentor of the crew members of the network.

Evangelista said: “One of the things that I like about Mark Irwin is that he's not secretive and he's very much willing to share his knowledge. Even with his credentials, he's still open to suggestions and training people...

"There are also times when he encourages the participants to speak up and share their own insights on how they do things. Coming from the participants' inputs, that's where he would give suggestions on how to improve," Evangelista shared.

According to the Kapuso executive, the training is also part of their strategic planning of upgrading their facilities in remote drama tapings via GMA SAMD.

Evangelista explained: "From the usual camera we use, we upgraded to a digital cinema camera--that camera is also used in films, 'yung mga digital films--as part of the network's move in upgrading to state-of-the-art facility.

"This is the reason why we upgrade our three OBvans that we used for remote drama tapings. So eto 'yung mga entertainment dramas natin, afternoon drama, primetime drama so 'yun nag-upgrade tayo ng nine units of High Dynamic Digital Cinema Cameras.

"With that one, we're capable of 'yung mga high resolution capturing sa drama kaya makikita n'yo 'yung nag-iba 'yung look natin in terms of texture, resolution and the quality of the picture. Nag-iba coming from the usual cams na ginagamit natin for remote."

Evangelista added that this is also vital in the digitization of TV systems.

"Before naka-standard definition lang tayo and then nag-move ang GMA to higher definition which is the HD. So 'yun 'yung capturing natin ngayon so that's the reason kaya nakita n'yo 'yung difference ng video quality from before and with 2019 onwards," Evangelista ended.