Commercial

Went out this morning and saw the strangest thing! A group of men were standing together looking at something going on on the other side of the street. There were large lights, stands, a generator, lots of vehicles and it didn't take more than 2 seconds to figure out that there was some filming going on in our little grocery store!

Neither of us had cameras as I was going to my Consulate to get a piece of paper I needed for my Residence Visa, so G raced back up to get hers and went over to get required blip and also had a chat with the crew. Turns out they are filming a TVC (television commercial) of a non-alcoholic beer called Bavarian! Imagine that! By the side of the block, they had a wardrobe and makeup tent, a catering tent and a general sit & relax tent.

On the front it must have been the supervisors tent!! It seemed to take forever to do the setup as we didn't see any acting or actual filming going on. HOURS were spent just getting the light right. So... we went out (Consulate, Creek) and back and they were still there. Went out again (Jumeirah, Burj Al Arab Beach) and got back hours later and they were still there! I popped out again at 7:30 in the evening and they were still there! Wonder how long it actually takes to get footage for a 30second commercial??!!

It is now 10:45 and I could venture out to see if they've finished, but I'll wait to hear from my neighbours tomorrow! Exciting day, but I can see that there is a definite very unglamorous side to making movies. Endless hanging around being the most tedious. Our little grocery was closed to walk-in customers (I went in for some milk) but on one of my outings, I saw their home delivery man racing off with a bag. Enterprising.