On Set for the Shinhwa Commercial... Monday, June 21

Headed off to Seoul today for a commercial shoot. In Seoul, I then boarded a bus with another 50-some foreigners and off we headed to Suwon, the commercial location. The commercial was meant to look like it was taken at a baseball game but we sat in this massive soccer stadium.

The shoot was for Shinhwa bank and in addition to the 50-some foreign extras and 80-some Korean, extras, they had also brought along a professional baseball player, a Korean gagman, and a British actress.

They had us sit in the stands and the various scenes they filmed consisted of us screaming at the camera when he came to our seating area, doing a crowd wave, catching a fly ball, and then a scene where the main Korean actor stands up and yells at the camera with his “I love you mom” poster. It was fairly easy work but rather tiresome having to sit for so long and it left me with a sore throat from all the yelling. For the most part I sat beside this one particular Russian girl – most of the foreign extras were Russian actually. She and I chatted the hours away and took random pictures of each other and the crowd.

Some strange things went down at shooting. First there was the one Korean male extra who initially got my attention by eating a pack of coffee minus any water and then blurted out “I love you”. Then there was this one Russian male extra who had a hissy fit with the model contract they made us sign, to which my seating partner on the bus joked and blurted out that he must be an illegal immigrant. I was given the look of disgust by one female Russian extra when I refused to answer her "Isn't my son cute" question -- to which my honest answer, had I had said it, would have included a reference to the "ugly tree" and him taking out all the branches. I hate when people ask me those kind of questions. It's like backing me into a corner. Like honestly, what do they really want me to say, more importantly, what can I really say? My options are basically only "yes" and "yes"... right?!

Anyways, another gave me the evil eye when I said "no" to her "don't you want kids" question. Then there was the fact that we all showed up at an unprepared set, so that was definitely not cool. And then I got secretly passed a business card by one of the crew members who mumbled to me not to call me but instead text him; he supposedly wants to take my picture… sketchy.

Tonight's filming made for a very long night and an early morning -- more about that on tomorrow's posting though.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Will they actually fool the viewer with those wigs?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
-- Stephen Leacock