Young Critics Circle award for Best Achievement in Aural Orchestration in 2005. In 2006 Tarog began his directorial debut in a short film entitled Carpool, which he also wrote and edited. The following year he directed his first feature film, Confessional, a political thriller mockumentary shot in Cebu City; he starred in it assuming the name David Barril. The film was the first installment in what Tarog has dubbed the Camera trilogy, explaining: "It's three films wherein the protagonist in each movie has a camera, and it's about the contrast of life and truth in front of the camera and behind it. The stories of the movies are different from each other, they're not related, and they just have common plot elements." It garnered a total of five awards at the 24th Star Awards for Movies, two of which were given to TarogDigital Movie Director (shared with co-director Ruel Antipuesto) and Digital Original Movie Screenplay. In 2009 he directed the drama film Mangatyanan (also known as The Blood Trail), starring Irma Adlawan, and was the second installment in the Camera trilogy. The film was an entry to the 2009 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival where it won the Best Production Design award. 2010s In 2010, Tarog directed Senior Year, a coming-of-age romantic drama film which tells the story of ten high school students during their final year in a private school in Manila. The film was partly inspired by Tarog's experience as a music student at the UP Diliman. The same year he was tapped by Regal Entertainment to direct a segment in Shake, Rattle and Roll 12, the twelfth installment in the Shake, Rattle & Roll horror anthology franchise, which marked Tarog's transition to mainstream Philippine cinema; his segment is entitled "Punerarya". In 2011, Tarog directed Aswang, a remake of Peque Gallaga's 1992 horror film of the same name, which stars Lovi Poe, Paulo Avelino, and Albie Casiño among others. The same year he directed another segment in the Shake, Rattle and Roll franchise in its thirteenth sequel Shake, Rattle & Roll 13, entitled "Parola". The following year he served as composer in the fourteenth installment Shake, Rattle and Roll Fourteen: The Invasion, and returned to direct a segment in the fifteenth installment Shake, Rattle & Roll XV entitled "Ulam" the following year. In 2013, Tarog collaborated the second time with Lovi Poe in Sana Dati (also known as