Film
Clockwise
I really wish I can say more than “I am developing a non-musical ensemble comedy about California’s Proposition 8.”
Often, people will ask me, “What are you working on next?” to which I respond with “an ensemble comedy about Prop 8.”
“Oh, cool! A musical about Prop 8!”
“No, that’s been done. This is a non-musical.”
It’s always around that point when they lose interest, which is why I make sure to say “non-musical”, now. I know I probably shot myself in the foot by doing two musicals in a row, but I think that Clockwise is going to kick ass, but I’m keeping my mouth shut for a while. In the meantime, here are a bunch of videos to whet your appetite.
Colma: The Musical
“After writing a concept album called “Colma: The Musical” as a birthday present for his childhood friend, he reunited with film school classmate Richard Wong, who had just finished working on the television show, Arrested Development and was looking for a script to direct. When Wong listened to a track from Mendoza’s concept album, he asked Mendoza how long it would take to turn it into a script. After seven days, a first draft was born, Mendoza flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco and the plans were set in motion. After 18 days of shooting and several months of editing, a feature film was made for a budget of roughly $15,000. The film, called “an itty-bitty movie with a great big heart” by The New York Times went on to win three Special Jury Prizes on the film festival circuit and was acquired by Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate Entertainment.”
It was exciting to experience a number of things during the distribution process of Colma: The Musical.
1) Hearing the Moviefone guy say “You have selected Colma: The Musical – RATED R!”
2) Seeing the trailer for Colma playing in 35mm before another film.
3) Getting the DVD and seeing the Lionsgate logo before the film.
If you get a chance to see the DVD, listen to the commentary so you can hear me and Rich talking about the good old days when we were just shooting a simple script I wrote about friends parting ways. There’s a glum tone to the commentary whenever we broach that topic.
Or, if you have any questions, ask me here. 
Option 3
OPTION 3, A dream-logic thriller by Richard Wong
I wrote an early draft of the script for director Richard Wong and the Center for Asian American Media before he shot this in 2007. The film premiered in 2008 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and won me and Rich a Techincal Achievement Award at the VC Los Angeles Asian Film Festival.
I also edited and scored the film, paying homage to Ennio Morricone, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Angelo Badalamenti and 16-bit video games and wrote the musical number performed by Preston Conner. The studio version, which plays over the end credits, can be heard here:
ELYSIUM (EMILY, I’M IN YOUR WAKE) – Performed by H.P. Mendoza
GREAT HYMN OF THANKSGIVING / CONVERSATION STORM
Great Hymn of Thanksgiving takes place at a dinner table, where the sounds of conversation have been replaced by fragments of news reports from Iraq, scraps from the Army prayer manual, invented Arab folk tales, and a recurring State of Emergency pointing everywhere and leading nowhere. The sounds of the table itself struggle to bring this “conversation” into a confrontation with material reality.
The piece is a trio between the functions of music, noise, and semantic meaning, wherein each function can mingle with the others, lose itself in reveries (under fields of motive force that assert themselves with varying degrees of insistence), or, when necessary, take a solo.
Conversation Storm sees three friends from three sides of the political spectrum unwillingly argue their way through a “ticking time bomb” scenario, dissecting, revising, and even brutalizing their own positions in the process — but time has either stopped or entered an ugly loop, and as the friends assign and reassign roles, the scenario begins to dissolve the boundaries between real and hypothetical, past and future, day and night.
In 2007, Mendoza was working for the San Francisco Fringe Festival and was able to see a performance of The Nonsense Company’s Great Hymn of Thanksgiving/Conversation Storm and was determined to meet the troupe. In 2008, Mendoza gave his voice to Great Hymn playwright Rick Burkhardt for his award-winning composition “Calf”, performed by the ensemble Ascolta and decided to ask Burkhardt if he would be interested in making a film version of Great Hymn of Thanksgiving/Conversation Storm, called “a delicious two-course evening” by Time Out New York.
The film is currently in post-production and is due for festival submissions in 2010.
A Lower Power
Movie Poster
I recently finished scoring the latest film from Robert O’Geen and Tim Bland, A Lower Power, a sex comedy shot in San Francisco. The film stars Matthew Lotto, Terri J. Freedman (Night Fliers) and Gigi Guizado (Colma: The Musical).
When writer Tim Bland made his early cameo appearance in my film, Fruit Fly, he asked me if I would be willing to write a song or two for his new film. After post-production on Fruit Fly finished, I ended up not only writing “one or two songs”, but an entire score.
Here is one of the songs I wrote and performed for the film:
HURT (YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE)
Blossom
I wrote a new piece called “Autumn” that will be used in Julia Kwan’s new short film, Blossom that will be screened as part of the Olympics in 2010.
Here is a piece of the song:
AUTUMN (pt. 3)
PIA
A science fiction film written and directed by Tanuj Chopra (Punching at the Sun).
Originally, I was only supposed to star in this film as a bigot cop but after the shoot, Tanuj decided to hire me as the sound designer, as well.
Here are two clips of the same scene: one with sound design, the other without.
PIA SCENE – WITH SOUND DESIGN
PIA SCENE – NO SOUND DESIGN
The Chinatown Project
The MOCA Chinatown Project
Directed by Richard Wong
“Lonely, Alone” written by H.P. Mendoza
Starring Jo Mei
Abuela
ABUELA
A film written and directed by Paul Kolsanoff.
After shooting Fruit Fly, I acted as co-director on the shoot of Abuela as well as composer.
The film is still in post-production and will be in festival submissions in 2010.
Here is one of the tracks I composed for Abuela.
PICTURES
SFIAAFF 25
The trailer for the 25th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (dang, that’s a mouthful…)
Directed by Richard Wong
Music and Lyrics by H.P. Mendoza
ersatzdesign
ersatzdesign.com
ersatzdesign is
Mark Del Lima, Jef Cunningham, Keiko Chaffee and H.P. Mendoza
ersatzdesign has been the design company behind high profile ad campaigns, national educational campaigns and next generation video-games.
ersatzdesign is branching out into different territory, now, with film–feature and short, narrative, documentary and experimental.
ersatzfilm has been formed with Fruit Fly being its first project.
under construction.
ABOUT / CONTACT
ABOUT H.P. MENDOZA/CONTACT
H.P. Mendoza
Films
* 2006 – Colma: The Musical – screenwriter, lyricist, composer, actor
* 2007 – Option 3 – screenwriter, lyricist, composer, editor
* 2008 – Abuela – co-director, composer
* 2008 – Fruit Fly – director, screenwriter, lyricist, composer, editor, actor
* 2008 – Great Hymn of Thanksgiving/Conversation Storm – co-director, cinematographer, editor
* 2009 – A Lower Power – composer
* 2009 – PIA – actor, sound designer
* 2009 – Blossom – composer
* 2009 – Victor Yang – sound editor
* 2010 – Clockwise (IN DEVELOPMENT) – director, screenwriter
Television
* 2009 – LALA (TV) – director, composer, editor (8 episodes)
Theater
* 2004 – Magic At – co-writer
* 2007 – The Necessity of Hank – cinematographer
* 2008 – I’m Yours! (or Deranged by Love) – lyricist, composer, musical director
Discography
* 2003 – Family (limited release)
* 2004 – Everything is Pop
* 2006 – Nomad
* 2007 – Colma: The Musical (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
* 2007 – Whiskey and Wine (limited release 2CD set)
* 2008 – Fruit Fly (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
* 2009 – Elsewhere
* 2010 – Melodica
H.P. Mendoza on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.P._Mendoza
H.P. Mendoza on IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2208558/
H.P. Mendoza can be contacted via e-mail at hp@hpmendoza.com
H. P. Mendoza (born March 13, 1977, San Francisco, California) is a Filipino American writer-director, and singer-songwriter based in San Francisco best known as the screenwriter and composer for the film Colma: The Musical, directed by Richard Wong. In 2006, he was listed as one of the Top 15 Creative Talents of 2006 by UCLA Asia Pacific Arts. His most recent work, Fruit Fly, premiered on March 15, 2009 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and is the winner of their Best Narrative Feature Audience Award. Fruit Fly is his directorial debut.
