A Day In The Life: Filming a Commercial (On Set: Part 2).
If you've read Part One of our adventure of filming a commercial for Lidl's next baby campaign then you'll know how we found ourselves travelling to London for a few days, here's the rest of the story...
Arrival in London and checking out the posh digs!
We arrived in London, mid-afternoon on the Sunday to settle in. We would be staying at the Park Plaza Hotel just off the A40, which had only been open about a month, needless to say it was very shiny, new and clean! I found out the next day that it had been selected as it was literally across the road from the studio where we would be filming for the commercial on the first day. Nice and convenient!
The hotel itself is very modern and swish with plenty of high-tech gadgets (a smart tv, complete with Sky) and plenty of friendly and attentive staff (just check out the hallways, it was like walking the corridors of a space ship!)
The only downsides I found were baby related (indeed this was my first hotel stay as a mum!); one was the heavy fire doors that appeared halfway down the hallways - not ideal for struggling through with a baby buggy; they were heavy and narrow but also didn't stay open themselves so it was a bit of an awkward shuffle through. Additionally, the bathroom only had a shower, which meant bathing Lochy in the sink - not a problem at all, except that the sinks didn't have plugs, so it couldn't be filled. None of this ruined the stay by any means though, they were merely observations of a new mum - things I wouldn't have noticed at all before.
Day One - on set!
Bright and early (a gruelling 8:20am, I used to be at work by 8am, but that was before I had a baby that would decide to wake up at 3am, leaving you unable to sleep for the next 2 hours. Ahh Motherhood!) we were collected from the hotel by the Agency Producer with another 'newborn' mum Sophie and her little boy Reuben who was the same age as Lochlan.
Walking onto set suddenly made everything very real! There were countless people, mounds of equipment and wires and an impressive and brightly lit lovely sofa which we would be filming on. Part of the fear was that of the unknown - I wasn't yet sure what the filming would involve, I was assuming that there wasn't a script as such as I was sure I would have seen it by now.
The very friendly and accommodating First Assistant Director showed us through to the dining room where I got myself a cup of tea before being ushered through to wardrobe and then hair and make up.
We'd all been asked to bring a few of our own bits as potential wardrobe, eventually I was dressed in my own favourite Levi's and a nice, soft grey shirt. My hair and make up was tweaked (I'd already done it myself as I thought I had too) to casual perfection. Lochy was dressed in a cuter than cute little knitted 2 piece from Zara Mini. I was very excited to be told the next day that he could keep the outfit too! It's so cute for a little newborn its such a shame he'll grow out of it!
Lochy and I would be first to go on set, so it wasn't long before I found myself sat on the sofa in the bright studio lights face to face with several people I'd never met and two intimidatingly large cameras that looked as though they wouldn't miss any blemish!
Action!
I was relatively relieved to find that there was no script, in fact I didn't even need to open my mouth except to smile. Day One consisted of capturing what Mark the Director referred to as 'moments', of Lochy looking adorable (he pretty much has that look down at all times so no challenge there) and me looking like a happy, doting, content mummy... I am all of these things (I like to think so anyway), but when confronted with a television crew you're all of a sudden highly aware of your face! And it doesn't necessarily do what you want it to, and when you're feeling self conscious, its hard to relax! (God only knows what the footage looks like *cringe*!)
I was with the film crew for about an hour while they got what they needed (children under the age of 4 are required to take regular 'breaks' (this made me chuckle as some of his filming involved him being passed out asleep, totally unaware he was at work!) which were over seen by one of the two qualified nursery nurse chaperones on location.
It might sound silly as at 9 weeks he was of course oblivious, but I was so proud of him! Its totally hit and miss with a baby as to whether they'll be in the appropriate mood at the time when you need them to be, but he was as good as gold, he opened his pretty blue eyes and looked adorable, and he also nodded off all snuggled in my arms so they were able to get some close ups of him sleeping sweetly!
Before I knew it were were done and off we went back to the hotel for an afternoon of leisure.
Take Two!
After a good nights sleep (Lochy was kind enough to sleep through the night) we were set for an even earlier start to be transported over to the location for the second day which was a private residence. This gave me another opportunity to chat with another mum, Laura who despite now living near Swansea, used to live just 10 minutes from me; its a small world after all!
If I had a moment of pre-shoot jitters on the first day, arriving on location for the second day was instantly a lot more impressive! But this time I felt excited, I knew more what to expect and had met everyone, so I was determined to sit back and enjoy the last day!
The house we were filming in was a lovely corner town house opposite a park, where a popup location caterers was stationed for the day, stacks of equipment and equal amounts of people were milling about as we were lead through the garden by Dan the runner. The small cute garden was equally overrun with bodies and equipment as was the spacious open plan kitchen/sitting room. As there was need for sound that day as well, this meant a lot more 'stuff' and people. Having done my fair share of am-dram I thought I was fairly familiar with radio mics and mixing desks; but the amount used for this professional operation was certainly impressive! There was a desk tucked in a corner and apparently more in the garden under a tent!
I was first to wardrobe and hair again (wardrobe situated in the nursery and hair/make up in a spare bedroom), today I was wearing a mauve sweater from H&M, absolutely not something I would have bought for myself but I loved the colour and Lochy a very cute summer romper from M&S).
The we were ushered downstairs to film again - today I was being interviewed while Lochy could sit comfortably in my arms either sleeping or looking cute!
We were being asked our genuine thoughts about products as well as questions such as "Whats the best advice you would give to first time mums like yourself?" I found this a really easy question to answer, it went something like this; "Just relax and enjoy it, you can never choose what a newborn wants and you don't want to waste precious time feeling stressed - it goes so quick so don't take it for granted".
The directors seemed really pleased with my answer and that gave me a great boost, as well as being told that we both looked great on camera, although I won't flatter myself too much, I'm sure the other mums were told the same!
There were a few breaks during filming - children under 4 years of age are only allowed to film for a maximum of 30 minutes at a time before needing a break, they can only be filmed for 2 hours in total and aren't allowed to be on location any longer than 5 hours. (This made me chuckle as his 'work' literally consisted of sleeping in my arms!) Other than that a couple of takes were made redundant by a persistently ringing doorbell and a plane travelling overhead that ruined the takes.
* Above: Lochlan in his cute 'Day 2' outfit
Ultimately I don't know whether any of the footage we filmed will be used in the final cut, 6 mums filmed in total for what I'm sure will just be a 30 second advert. But either way I had an absolute blast and it gave me a fab insight into a world and industry I'd always wondered about! Regardless, I'll definitely post a link to the ad when it airs!
