In the past 3 days, baby chungkin & I shot our first ever tvc & print commercial. And boy was it an eye-opening & interesting experience.

[background: advertiser needed a preggy lady as one of the main talents and somehow production felt the real deal was still better than having an actress pretend to be like one; so one call led to another, my post-natal massage lady (a friend of one of the production crew) asked if I was free & interested to try out. And since I didn't have a job nor commitments to attend to - I agreed to it, plus I was also curious to find out what it was about and would be like.] 

The main gist of the ad was to promote fairness in the workplace and to give everyone a chance (i.e.: not discriminate the pregnant, elderly, handicapped etc.) and I thought it was a pretty good message to be part of.

I had dearest mommy who volunteered to chaperone me on all 3 days (thank you mom!) while the very grateful husband was busy mugging for his upcoming exam. And turns out, she had a blast getting to know the various production people/crew on set as well!

It was also amusing when some of the talents asked if my belly was a ‘prop’ (a fake tummy) / and if I was donning it on throughout to really get into my role on separate occasions! While others would asked which agency I was from. Turns out that most of them were either freelance talents or managed by an agency and had some form of acting experience vs. clueless mama here.

I had a fantastic time, albeit feeling a little worn-out from the 2 days of filming especially on the first day when I didn’t quite know what to expect. I did manage to start getting the hang of it (and basically ensuring that I had ample rest on the night before) by the 2nd day, and was very well taken care of throughout – lots of sitting (they would even have someone bring in a chair for me to sit between takes), rest breaks in between and very well-fed…there was almost always food & drinks available. And getting first hand scoops/stories/experiences/accounts from the people I worked & chatted with was of great hilarity !!!

Never again will I look at tv shows & commercials in the same light. Filming/ shooting is definitely hard work and there’s just so much that goes into producing that mere 30 sec or 1 min commercial, let alone a tv series or a movie.

Kudos to the great production team I worked with and I can’t believe that chungkin’s already famous in-utero! HAH!

Here’s some pix taken between the 3 days, with none on set  because we weren’t allowed any photos by venue’s gate-keepers. :x

{the 33-weeks+ belly}

{mama & me}

{with wardrobe artist, Ms Annie who was a darling… helped massaged my swollen legs & feet}

{done for the day!}

{with mom at Gill’s salon for a much-needed haircut}

{doing a moisturizing hair treatment}

{mother & daughter}

{sporting a shorter hair cut – 4 inches off}

4 more weeks to full-term!