One Malaysia- One Whole Day Affair

Yesterday afternoon, my two elder children were offered to do a promo for Astro TV on One Malaysia. Aina was ecstatic, Nabil wasn't because he was more looking forward to attend his football practice tomorrow. Thinking that he will still make it for the practice we persuaded him to take the job. It was pretty a last minute thing as the shooting is to be done today and we have to be there at 9.00 am.

As last night, I attended the Form 5 Graduation Dinner in KGNS which ended around 11.00 pm and as I was knackered after that thus I did not get the chance to check my e-mail for the script that the children need to memorize. So I only managed to get them to read the script this morning at around 8.00 am and Aina being excited for the job succeeded in memorizing the whole lines in mere 10 minutes whereas Nabil could not be bothered to learn it by heart. Which pissed me off but I did not want to spoil his mood so I actually let him be. So the script goes like this:-

It doesn't matter,
How we look,
How we speak,
What colour we are.

We all laugh
We all cry,
We all take pride,

In our home,
In our future,
In our country,
We are...one,
One Malaysia.

We were told to bring 3 different colours of clothes; white, red and one casual wear.
We reached ASTRO at around 9.20 am, we actually got lost (ni semua punca because some husbands who just refused to listen to the wives) I taulah I buta jalan but I've called to ask the way tapi some husbands believe diaorang lagi pandai than the wives kan! Opppss...out of the topic, that part nanti kita cerita lain ok? ahak ahak.

So upon reaching there, after all the mumbo jumbo at the security post we were escorted inside. We were taken to the cafeteria for breakfast, the sandwiches and the curry puffs were good. So no complain there. Then we were taken to the dressing room, the kids waited to be made up. Oh by the way, the were 20 other talents involved in this promo, 14 adults and 6 kids.

Nabil after the made up. He requested for rambut Ultraman.

We waited and waited, the children while their time away watching TV, as I was in a hurry burry this morning, I did not bring anything with me so I wasted my whole day today doing nothing besides waiting and waiting and waiting. I should have brought my test papers to mark or a book to read. Regret! regret! Alright so after they have been made up, they were brought to the studio for a rehearsal. So that too took quite some time as they were about 6 people ahead of us. And each person had to do quite a number of takes. As it was already lunch time, we were told to take our lunch first. So the food was good, we had fish curry, sweet sour chicken, fried wantan, mixed veggie and fish fillet, the children truly enjoyed their meal. Both Aina and Nabil went for a second helping. I guess as it was so bl**dy cold in there, it made us get hungry easily.

After lunch, the kids were sent to do some touch-up and then we went back to Studio 3 and there were still 2 people doing their shoot. Once they were done, Nabil was called to the floor, he said his lines and he sounded like a robot, he was later coached by one of the crew members, he was slightly better but he spoke like he was reading one boring book. Nabil was told to take a break and it was Aina's turn, she delivered her lines pretty well and we were all happy. As hubby and I had some errands to do, we left the kids under the care of my cousin who was a part of the production team. Thinking that they will do well as they sounded ok when we told them we had to leave, we then joyfully made our way to the exit.

Thirty minutes later, I received a call from my cousin saying that Aina cried and she did not finish her shoot because she requested for her mother to be around. As we were almost reaching our destination, I told her to give us an hour for us to settle our things and will be right there soon after.

More than an hour later, we saw the kids and we heard them giggling away as they have made friend with Vijay of the Geng Bas Sekolah. By this time, a lot of waiting involved as the second batch of talents arrived for their shoot. So we waited and waited again for their turns. Nabil was the clown of the day as he had to do so many takes, apparently he did not take instruction very well. Luckily enough the crew members were all patient and nice group of people, even the talents were all friendly and managed to put the kids at ease. Nuraina did pretty well this time and she only had to do two takes for both sections.

Aina all set to say her lines

This promo was divided into 3 parts, the first one, individual lines, second one, group photos and the third one each talent takes turn to hold the flag. So we waited and waited for each talent to finish their individual line, we went for tea then we waited to get everybody to do the group thing, we waited until all the groups done, then we went for dinner and we waited and waited again to do the last segment the holding of the flag. We were then finally allowed to go home at around 9.15 pm. And before we left, they were still a few other talents who haven't finish with their individual lines.

Waiting to be divided into groups
Nabil's group shoot

This promo may take less than a minute to be on air, my children may appear on tv for few seconds but it took more than 12 hours of preparation. So that's it children, I will never allow you to choose a career in this entertainment business, the working hours are just too ridiculous. So jangan mimpi nak jadi superstar ok? So the rest of you out there, watch out for this promo which will feature my kids (omigosh! am so proud) sometime next month.

Till then, take care.

P/S- Oh man! I have orchestra practice to attend to tomorrow from 9-12. Sigh! I need rest. Can I not go? (hmm...wishful thinking!)