THE MOST EXHAUSTING FUN I’VE EVER HAD....
EVERYONE PUSHED THEMSELVES RIGHT TO THE LIMIT....
REALLY STILL CAN’T BELIEVE I’M IN IT!!!!!
Hello everyone
This week I wanted to give you more of an insight into what goes on behind the scenes when making an extra special TV advert.
I have previously described how it felt to film the autumn 30 second adverts starting to be on screen from the end of September. At the time I was surprised how long it took to film and how much work was involved. After filming the latest Christmas advert over four days I now think those ones were easy! I don’t want to spoil the surprise by telling you exactly what we were all doing but will say it involved dancing, amazing costumes and about 100 extras.
When I look back now I don’t believe what I actually did and think it will only seem real once it airs on TV for the first time around mid November. None of us are actors, dancers, or singers; we really are just normal Iceland customers who have found ourselves in a very surreal situation quite unlike our normal lives. It’s such an amazing opportunity to show the world, and more importantly ourselves, what we are actually capable of if we put our minds to it. Being in a group really helped too as we all had our moments of self doubt, missing our families, or injury but the way we all supported each other and pulled together was amazing.
You have to remember we all have family lives; children and loved ones at home. For some of us with younger children it was the first time we had really left them for any length of time with others. We were all suffering from tiredness too as the days filming started early and didn’t finish till late evening, so all emotions were running high. Once in costume we couldn’t stray far from the set either for fear of being needed, or in my case for fear of tripping up and landing in a puddle or something and ruining our outfits!The dance routine was also very mentally and physically tiring, as we had to concentrate hard on the moves, whilst remembering to smile, and watch the choreographers at the side without showing that we were looking at them! I don’t know how professional dancers do it. At one point I described it as a mixture of boot camp and the big brother house! However when you have gone through all that and come out the other side the reward you get is the most amazing sense of achievement you could ever imagine. It really is a priceless feeling. If someone had talked me through exactly what I would be doing for the four days step by step and told me the hours involved and asked me beforehand if I could do it, I would have instantly replied “I can’t do that”. Well the big surprise for me was I could, and did do it!
There is also a lot of sitting around involved when filming adverts and whilst you might think that bit sounds easy, once you see our costumes you will realise even that was challenging!It was in these moments though we really all got to know each other and discussed anything and everything, including copying each other’s accents, sharing jokes and life stories telling ghost stories and scaring each other! Considering how little sleep we all had compared to a normal week, the atmosphere was electric and full of energy.
We also celebrated two birthdays and an anniversary and found time to eat cake! I think at some point or other I experienced every emotion possible in those four days and even made up a few new ones! I nearly fainted, had a nose bleed, and got told to sit down with someone holding my feet up! It’s funny though, looking back now I just remember all the fun and laughter the most.
After returning to the normal world again and coming out of the limelight I went to the other extreme and went on a camping trip with my boys, Rob and his children to a lovely campsite on a farm in the Forest of Dean.
Completely off the beaten track with woods to play in, rope swings, cute baby piglets and the space to make real fires and toast marshmallows. Two other friends had also taken their children, so in total there were nine free spirits of various ages running around and getting back to what children used to do, before computer games and TV were invented. I sat there watching the sausages sizzle on the fire with my nice plastic wine glass and asked myself why we didn’t go camping more often. It really was idyllic with beautiful sunsets. Then the rain set in and popped my bubble, killed our new gazebo, and flooded the tents!
It was at that point I remembered why we don’t go camping more often!
Thanks for reading and please come back next week to read all about my next adventure, my life really is the most exciting roller-coaster ride at the moment!
Ellie
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