There are many ways you spend the weekend – sleeping in, shopping, or catching up with your friends over a good cuppa. And if you’re lucky enough, you get to be a calefare in an upcoming commercial!

It all started some time back when my course mate Yen Lin, aka NUS Ukulele Girl, made waves in Singapore when she boarded a shuttle bus in school and held an impromptu singalong, all in the name of making NUS a happier place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koRxe1wO4Gw

Who knew that StarHub would soon approach her to star in an ad for their latest Facebook application, Happy Everywhere!

The video’s pretty simple; it’s a re-enactment of her impromptu singalong, so calefare were needed to re-create the lively atmosphere on the shuttle bus. Needless to say, I was pretty excited at this chance so I immediately said yes when Yen Lin asked around.

I’ve only done this calefare stint once when my friend had to film a concert scene for her FYP – gosh, it seems like I’m fated to be involved in these “concert” scenes. 😀

Here’s a shot I snapped of the filming process!

Lights.. Camera.. Happy!

Filming’s no easy feat though; we were slated to film for a whopping four hours, so you can imagine how many rounds the bus made around NUS while were filming away. Luckily, the producers placed me in the seat so I didn’t have to stand all the way. 😀

There’s no such thing as one perfect take either; the producers had to keep psyching us up to get the right tone, the right facial expression, all for thirty seconds of advertisement footage. I think we sang that song, If You’re Happy and You Know It about a hundred times that day!

Here’s the final product (you can spot my side view at around the 0:11 mark :P)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BaSbbL9rMx0

So there you have it, my second stint as a calefare. 😀

After seeing (and taking part in) the amount of work that goes into producing a commercial, or even a short film, I’ll never underestimate people in the video production industry. To say that it takes hard work is a real understatement!

chueonit.