Save the red

SO WHAT WENT ON BEHIND THE SCENES?...
DID FILMING AN AD LIVE UP TO MY DREAMS?.....
I LEARNT LOTS OF THINGS, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY.....
TURN OFF YOUR MICROPHONE WHEN YOU NEED A WEE!!

Hello again,

Last week I mentioned my fear of flying, and this week when I had to fly to Manchester and back again for the second time so I was determined I would be much better. Unfortunately this time when I got to the airport an announcement came over the tanoy saying “We apologise to all our passengers that due to an electrical storm overhead all planes will be grounded until further notice”

The fear came rushing back. I dreaded the storm following us once we finally took off and the plane being struck by lightning! I must admit to having a little “why me?” moment but in the end got through it all by putting on my iPod and reading one of the new books I had picked up at the airport shop for Sam. I don’t know what anyone watching must have thought about seeing a 39 year old woman bopping away whilst reading ‘Beast Quest’ a fantasy adventure book obviously made for children. By this point I didn’t really care though, I just wanted the journey over with, and have to say, I did actually quite enjoy the book!

Soon I was at the hotel, meeting up with Sue, Amira, Eve and Alissa, the other ‘Iceland mums’ in this particular advert. For me it is exciting enough just to have a night away in a hotel with other nice people, even if we hadn’t been filming an advert. When people ask me what is the best bit of winning the New Face of Iceland competition it really involves so many different things, I think I have to sum the whole experience up by saying I just get to do lots of new things I wouldn’t normally do! Staying in hotels with new friends falls into that category.

We were picked up from the hotel at 6.00am and driven to the studio. The attention to detail was the first thing I noticed. You would not believe how long it takes to film 30 seconds worth of television. The ‘soaps’ people must be much quicker or they would never get all those episodes out in a week. On this particular day we finished filming at 9.45pm; imagine doing that long a day, every day, for a career. After we had all had our makeup done the food had to have its make up done too! Under the heat of stage lights obviously food slowly loses its just cooked appearance as the day wears on. Everyone on set worked tirelessly all day to make sure that neither the actors, nor the food looked tired.

We were all wired up with microphones and I felt sorry for the sound man who had to listen to our constant chat all day between filming. It was actually surprising how quickly you forget they were there. On one occasion Alissa and I had rushed off to the toilet and only realised once we got there we were still switched on. The studios are huge and it was too far big to go back so we used our initiative and got over the problem by singing very loudly!

So, this week I have learnt a whole new language. The language of filmmakers! “Save the red” is now my favourite of all the filmmaker terms as this seems to mean that particular shot is finished with, and it’s time to move onto the next one. After ‘Take 13’ this is what you look forward to hearing! It did take me a while to work out that the sound man was actually fine, and just doing his job when he kept shouting out “we’re speeding”. This seems to simply mean the sound is now being recorded!

I have a mild Bristol accent, which is unnoticeable to the people of Bristol who all say I sound posh, (I’m not!) but it is instantly picked up on everywhere else I go in the country. The director noticed it and we started discussing where we grew up and then found out we had attended the same primary school! In fact he even remembered the little hill on the playing field where I fell over aged 7 and broke my arm playing kiss catch! (It taught me never to chase boys!). It really is a small world.

Everyone was very friendly, and although we must have given the production team a longer than usual day, as none of us are actors, they were all very patient. I’m really not sure what the finished result will look like until it comes onto TV later in September. Scenes and shots are filmed in a different order to how the end result will run so it’s hard to keep up.

Really can’t wait to see now though and am planning an advert party for the first screening with friends and family, at which it will be great to see their reactions to me being a TV star at last!

Overall I would have to say it’s a once in a lifetime experience and now I’m really looking forward to filming the Christmas Adverts. I will be staying with ALL the “Iceland mums” for this one, not sure the production team are ready for us all together but time will tell!

Although I had fun at the filming, I was so happy to get home to my family and friends and tell them all about it. I think sometimes it’s good for everyone to go away for a while as it really makes you appreciate all the more what you have at home. I came to the conclusion I really am a very lucky person.

The next exciting Iceland mission involves all the family and some friends too. I have been sent a list of Iceland products to test and send our results back to Iceland to help other shoppers decide what they might like. The boys are already taking it very seriously as I am paying them 20p per test product as long as they write down a score out of 10 and a comment about what they liked or didn’t like. I have invited friends round for a big barbeque and food testing session and will expect them all to do the same.

Please come back next week to see how we are getting on and also look out for our ‘official food reviews’ coming soon to the Iceland facebook page.

Thanks for reading
Ellie x

Cider country and jet setting!

IT WAS THE NAILSEA FESTIVAL OF BEER AND CIDER.....
GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOUR SMILE GROW WIDER......
THEN OFF ON A PLANE TO HAVE MORE FUN......
WITH MY NEW FRIENDS, THE ICELAND MUMS!

It’s been another exciting week here in the land of tractors, and cider.

Probably the biggest annual local event; The Nailsea Beer and Cider Festival came to town last weekend. Compared to Glastonbury, it’s like having a party in someone’s back garden, but for me that was a good thing after all those huge crowds. The community feel is very strong, and every year a lot of money is raised for charity, this year’s charity was “Help for Heroes” and local Army Cadets.

It’s also a chance for all the local brewers of real ale and cider to show off their produce. There were over 100 different beers and ciders with weird and wonderful names such as ‘Loose Cannon’, ‘Fiery Fox’, ‘Black Dragon’ and ‘Dog Dancer’ and despite my West Country roots, I am not a huge fan of cider but feel I’m doing my bit for farmers to try one or two at the annual festival!

It is also a big family event with lots of activities for children; they even have their own non alcoholic ‘jungle juice’ in the beer tent along with all the other barrels. Rob managed to win a coconut, and the children had great fun bashing each other off a big inflatable platform with big inflatable sticks! Luckily the weather stayed dry for the first year I can remember, so we had a very relaxed day with lots of friends, watching the local bands into the summer evening.

The pace of life soon changed again on Monday when it was time to go to Manchester to film my first ever television advert. To say I was excited about it would be a bit like someone saying they were “quite pleased” if they won the lottery! Iceland had kindly offered to fly me up to Manchester and in all the excitement and anticipation I had forgotten what a nervous plane passenger I am. Until I reached the airport.

Even with domestic flights you still need to be at the airport an hour and a half before you fly, so there was plenty of time to run through in my mind all the disaster films I had ever seen involving air travel. I think I was pondering too much whether there might be snakes on the plane, and not paying attention to detail; when my boarding card said a time I thought that was the time to go into the departure lounge, not realising it was actually the time to get onto the aircraft.

Even now I don’t know what on earth made me think that, as despite being scared, I have caught planes on numerous occasions and know you have to go through to departures long before your boarding time, to allow for all the security checks.

Anyway, as I was standing in line, amongst a huge queue of people going off on their holidays clutching plastic bags full of toothpaste and face creams, I noticed the screen listing my flight turn to red as it said “final call for boarding”.

The penny dropped and my mood changed from fear of flying, to mild panic as despite being at the airport two hours early I might actually miss the plane! A few toe-tapping moments later when I heard over the P.A system “would passenger Taylor travelling to Manchester please proceed directly to gate 6 where the plane is waiting to depart “, I decided I had to do something more drastic than stand in the queue being patient. All the people in front of me were very understanding when I said in a slightly wobbly voice “that’s me they’ve just called please, Please, PLEASE can I go in front of you?!”

After the speediest security check ever, I was soon running through the duty free shops desperately looking for the signs to gate 6. Clearly marked was a sign saying “gates 1 to 5” and another saying “gates 8 to 11” At this point my heart sank and I wondered for a moment if I was on secret film for the worlds stupidest people TV series or something. I rushed breathlessly up to gate 8 and shrieked “Where is gate 6?!!” “It’s just there” the kind lady said as she pointed to the gate next to her, which I still maintain was masked by a pillar!

Luckily I made the flight and had stopped being scared of flying for a while due to the immediate crisis management situation. As soon as I sat down though it came back, when the air steward came and started explaining to me how to open the emergency exit and throw the door into the sea in the event of a crash landing. I nodded nervously when he asked me whether I thought I would be able to do this, and then embarrassed myself even more by adding in a high pitched voice... “But of course it’s not going to crash is it? IS IT?!!”

Of course I got there safely and speedily, and once we were on safe ground again I remembered all the statistics about how you are more likely to be killed by a heard of buffalo charging along your street, (or whatever the exact quote is) than to be involved in a plane disaster and the feelings turned to excitement again as I thought about meeting up with Eve, Alissa and Lizzie, some of the other “Iceland mums” filming this particular advert with me.

We had all been booked into the same hotel and when they arrived it was lovely to meet face-to-face and have time for a chat. For me it is a very comforting feeling to be with the others who auditioned with Iceland as I did. I think they are the only other people who truly understand my crazy dream that has become real. Throughout the New Face of Iceland competition I continually pestered Iceland saying they should use more than just one real mum in their TV advertising campaigns. When I won the competition my view didn’t change. I thought wouldn’t it be great to show lots of real mums, from different parts of the country, of different ages all getting together and celebrating the things they have in common. So far it seems all my dreams are coming true.....

Please come back next week when I can tell you what filming an advert is like from behind the scenes, and how I am getting on with all the other amazing Iceland Mums!

Thanks for reading.
Ellie
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The world of Public Relations!

I’VE LEARNT SO MUCH FROM MY TRIP.....
THE PACE IN LONDON IS SO QUICK......
THE P.R WORLD NEVER STOPS......
AND FOR THE TUBE YOU NEED FLIP FLOPS!!

Well as you know if you follow my blogs I am forever saying how I am an ordinary normal working mum. This week I have had a taste of a different world, and whilst it might not be a world I would chose all day, every day, it is certainly fun to visit!

I have opened a new Iceland supermarket in Dursley, opened the school fete, and spent two days in London with the marketing team trying to woo the world of media publications with exciting new food ranges for autumn and Christmas and with my New Face of Iceland story. As I am still quite normal and ordinary I don’t have the luxury of a nanny at home who can sort out all the day to day children things in my absence, so even planning two days away ended up a military operation with many different helpful friends and relatives all chipping in.

The store opening was a fantastic experience for me. The new manager there was the manager from my local Iceland in Nailsea who had backed me through the whole New Face of Iceland campaign, so it was lovely to be able to do something to help him too. I got to cut the ribbon with the mayor of Dursley and let the first customers in. Dursley is a very pretty village and even smaller than Nailsea where I live, so the new store opening had attracted a big crowd. Must admit though one of the best bits for me was playing with the gas balloon pump and quickly made it my job to spot approaching children and rush up to them with my balloons just so I could use the pump again!
The school fete opening was much lower key, which actually suited me as it was amongst my friends and I didn’t want them all to think I had ideas above my station. We had no PA system so I really just shouted “the fete is open now!” We raised lots of money and a good time was had by all and it really helped that Iceland sponsored us with food vouchers.

This evening I have just returned from my two day trip to London with very sore feet. I have already learnt that whilst high heels may give you a nice posture and make you feel glamorous and important, on the tube you don’t need to feel glamorous and important you just need to be able to run, and sometimes even jump. I was actually quite proud of myself for dealing with the underground at all, but I learnt from a professional, that in London, the wise people carry flip flops at all times for use between meetings! I also learnt that I need to be slightly more assertive than normal when boarding the busy tube trains. I am the sort of person who apologises first if someone bumps into me. I realised after standing on a platform watching others push their way onto an already crowded train that unless I joined in I could politely wait for my turn for several days as person after person and train after train passed me by!

It really was an eye opener for me, as we had several trips to different big magazine houses where I was constantly reminded of the “Absolutely Fabulous” series by the colourful characters we met. The first building we went to was 12 stories high with views right across London. I could see the London Eye as well as other landmarks and embarrassed myself my shouting “ooo look at that” at regular intervals.

The new Iceland food products we tried seemed to get a very good reception with everyone and I must admit that I will be looking out for them as soon as they reach my store. Sorry I can’t tell you what my favourites were yet as it is still top secret at the moment!

I really enjoyed meeting all the different people and telling them my story so far with Iceland, and explaining that I was motivated to apply by my lifelong dream to be the “Shake and Vac” lady, and my belief in good quality, reasonably priced food! I also got to see the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes at these occasions and could draw a comparison with my own life as a working mum, where you always have to be thinking and planning the next move as well as organising the present.

I did manage to see a few sights too and was very impressed with a sword and chainsaw juggling man on a unicycle wearing only purple shorts at Covent Garden! It got me thinking how much a street performer might earn in a place like that with the huge crowds of tourists, but after attempting to stand on the boys scooters and skate boards, I know I have no balance nor co-ordination skills, so I don’t think I’ll give up the day job just yet!

I returned home from London to find Rob in my kitchen cooking me a lovely cauliflower cheese and felt the relief and relaxation when you return home and shut the door after a busy day. However it didn’t last long, as I realised there was a mountain of work clothes and school uniforms to wash and after I had bathed the boys, Sam informed me he had to have a “villager” costume for the next day at school and that Luke needed “an Army man” costume! At 8 o’clock at night my only option was to rummage around in their wardrobes and see what I could come up with. Must admit to being slightly confused over the definition of “a villager”. It seems the PR world is not the only world that never stops, Mum’s never stop either!

Please come back next week to see how the first phase of filming the new TV adverts went. I’m off to Manchester on Monday to meet Scott the stylist again, and the whole film crew and several of the other “Iceland mums” I know it will be hard work but also so much fun. I really still don’t believe everything that is happening to me and think I will only truly believe it all happened to me when I see my face on screen for the first time in the advert.

Ellie
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A Stylist Calls

A FAMILY BAR-B-QUE WEEKEND AND KIDS ON SCOOTERS.....
A STYLIST CAME AND STRUGGLED WITH MY HOOTERS....
THE SHOES LOOKED NICE ON MY FEET......
AND THE BRIDGET JONES PANTS WORKED A TREAT!!!

Hello again.
Must start by quickly mentioning one more interesting fact I discovered about Glastonbury. My mum informs me that I have actually been to Glastonbury before. The very first one ever in fact in 1970, as an unborn baby, albeit unknown to my mum at the time. She had never told me that story before and never ceases to amaze me with her tales!

Anyway, it was nice to get back to normal this week and return to the world of baths and showers. We had a lovely barbeque on Saturday with Rob and his children after I finished work. Charlotte had a friend round too. The light evenings are a real bonus when you have six children to entertain and we enjoyed every minute of spectating while they had energetic scooter races. We also played a game that involved throwing a sponge rocket at each other in teams of 4 and if it hit you then you were out. If you caught it you could get a team member back in. I got shouted at by the boys for “throwing like a girl”. Seem to remember my old PE teacher making similar, if not worse comments! I thought it was nice that in this world of computer games and technology sometimes the best entertainment is still a £2.50 foam rocket! We played until it got dark then collapsed in bed from all the fresh air.

I have also had a visit from the Iceland stylist this week which was very exciting. His name was Scott and he is in charge of dressing us all for the new Iceland adverts. He arrived with a big suitcase of clothes, shoes and accessories and explained the different story ideas and outfits needed. I told him I had never been “styled” before and that my own personal style could be summed up by saying floral and floaty!

Obviously in adverts the creative directors have their own ideas about how everyone should look and what colours, patterns etc. work on screen. I told Scott that I was just so happy to be included that if it was necessary that I dressed up as a giant chicken or something I would happily do it!

Fortunately dressing as a giant chicken was not required; instead we were looking at two different outfits, one casual and one dressy. I think I surprised Scott by telling him I didn’t own a pair of jeans. For me casual just means wearing slightly less jewellery than normal so even the casual jeans and T shirt outfit was interesting for me. I am famous amongst my friends and family for always dressing inappropriately for every occasion. I still remember watching the Banger racing with the boys in my long white flow skirt and getting sprayed with mud as soon as they drove off. I think it goes right back to the time of school field trips to climb up hills and investigate rock formations, when I used to wear my new stilettos!

The second outfit was much dressier but again a dressy outfit for me is the same thing as every other occasion just with higher heels! Unfortunately Scott had my size written down slightly wrong and despite Bridget Jones knickers and a hold it in vest I was not able to shrink two dress sizes! I suggested emergency liposuction but we both agreed as he had to be in Southampton in the next two hours there probably wasn’t time. By the time I was zipped up I was seriously holding my breath, so let’s hope I don’t go blue next time we try them on! I now await for the verdict on the outfits, and plastic surgery options, from the advert directors and production team, in the meantime, I think I might try to loose a few pounds, just in case; wish me luck!

My most recent exciting mission as the new face of Iceland was opening in a new store in Dursley, just north of Bristol where my old friend Martin from the Nailsea store is the new manager. I was lucky enough to be invited to join in with the grand opening, along with the Mayor. It will also be good practice for me because as you may imagine I have never done this sort of thing before, and as I am also officially opening the boy’s school summer fair, I need all the practice I can get.

Make sure you come back next week to find out whether I had to make a short speech, mind you when I’m nervous it sometimes goes the other way and perhaps they’ll be trying to cut me off mid ramble before the hot dogs get cold!

Ellie
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Two dreams come true in one week

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT; I’LL BE ON T.V.......
I’VE ALSO BEEN TO GLASTONBURY........
IV’E WALKED MILES AND MY MUSCLES ACHE....
JUST HOW MUCH EXCITMENT CAN ONE MUM TAKE?!

Hello everyone and I hope you aren’t all as sunburnt as me!

Before my mum reads this and phones me to tell me off, I must add that I had a hat and sun screen on, but have still managed to end up looking like Clint Eastwood in a cowboy film after he has been stuck out in the desert and crawled back into town with a face full of blisters and cracked lips! Not a good look.

Yes, I have just experienced my first ever Glastonbury festival and apparently it was the hottest one ever recorded. I have been saying I’d love to go for at least the last 15 years and this year I actually did it!

As I packed my rucksack I felt so excited about life. I had just received a call from Iceland to confirm I will be in all three of their next TV advertising campaigns. I must have won them over with something special, because however hard to believe that seems, I can tell you now it wasn’t on the strength of my singing! The great news is that all the other lovely ladies I met at the casting day will have a part too, in either one or more of the adverts. I am now truly following in the footsteps of my greatest hero, the shake and vac lady from the 1980’s! Not sure what she would have made of Glastonbury though and her beige suit would definitely not have been suitable to wear!


Whenever I have watched the coverage on TV before there was mud everywhere; however in this mini heat wave what would have been mud was thick dry dust clouds. I’m sure a lot of people thought they had very quick sun tans that in fact were just dirt. As you enter the gates of the festival you say goodbye to all your home comforts and the things we all take for granted like washing, having your own toilet and making cups of tea. Quite scary at first, but at the same time also exciting to have a complete break from normal life, and it certainly makes you realise how lucky we all are in this country.

The size of the place is overwhelming. The sea of tents stretches as far as the eye can see and with nearly 200 000 people there that is a lot of tents! Rolf Harris opened the show and at 80 was still so full of life and humour he had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
Florence and The Machine were also one of my favourites and when she started to sing “dark days are over” I had goose bumps. The sun and heat really were very intense and with very little shade anywhere every tree you passed had people squashed under it like sardines. However this didn’t put people off wearing full thick fancy dress costumes. I saw a group of penguins, a gang of crocodiles in full fluffy body suits, 6 Michael Jacksons, some “where’s Wallys” to name just a few! Everywhere you looked there was something to take in.

After a bit of exploring I found my favourite part was the “green fields” area. It’s the area where most of the children and families stay and also where the Glastonbury veterans and traditional hippies seem to be. I watched lots of small unknown bands playing here and it really was a much more relaxed calmer and cooler atmosphere than the huge crowds at the main stages. There really was something for everyone. I met a lot of people up there who said they don’t watch the main bands at all as there is so much to do. You can make jewellery, have massages, watch fire eaters, see sand and metal sculptures, people doing circus tricks, have tarot card, palm and rune readings and so much more I couldn’t fit it all in! I even found a healer who gave me some treatment for my terrible sun burnt blistered chin and nose that seems to be working well now thank goodness.

I deliberately haven’t mentioned the toilets as I was brought up being told, “If you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all “. So I will have to opt for saying nothing at all on that one, but whatever you are imagining you are probably right! Despite that, and the sunburn, and taking over an hour to try and find the car again before we could even join the traffic jam to get home, it was the experience of a life time and since I’ve been home all I’ve wanted to do is watch the TV footage to catch up thinking of all the time I was there!


Here’s one last question for you, what do Iceland, me, and Glastonbury all have in common?
Well I’ll tell you. We are all 40 years old within the next 12 month period. What a great vintage!

So with one life ambition fulfilled I am now looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks when we start filming the first Iceland advert. We all laughed so much on the audition day I can’t wait to get together and do it all again for real.
Ellie
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