7 a.m.
When I went out to the entrance, there was a different sedan parked there instead of Manager Soyeong-unni’s car.
The sedan window rolled down, and inside the car I saw Manager Yu Yeongho from the rookie development team.
Manager Yeongho said,
“Dohee, get in!”
This commercial shoot was in Gangneung.
Since we had to take the highway, it seemed Manager Yeongho, who was an experienced driver, would be joining me for the day as a road manager.
I greeted him and got into the passenger seat.
“Dohee. Did you eat breakfast?”
“Yes, I had an apple before I came out, at least.”
Just in case I looked puffy, I had been avoiding salty foods since dinner yesterday.
“One apple? Will that be enough?”
I smiled and answered.
“If I get really hungry, we can stop at a rest area on the way.”
“Sure, we have plenty of time, so let’s do that. You must be tired, so don’t mind me and get some sleep.”
“Yes, thank you~”
I can’t sleep. My face will swell up.
After driving for two and a half hours like that.
We arrived at a breakwater in Gangneung, the shooting location for the Ion Sweat commercial.
The filming site was bustling with all sorts of vehicles and staff, just like when we filmed the “Think of You” music video.
I got out of the car, greeted the staff including the director like last time, then moved to the makeup trailer and finished getting ready.
The styling for this commercial shoot matched the image of the ad, a harmony of blue and white.
First, a sky-blue short-sleeved windbreaker top and bottom, with a white T-shirt underneath.
And white sneakers with white socks.
Finally, long straight hair.
It was a simple outfit that emphasized innocence.
What I had to shoot today was also as simple as the styling.
Without needing to move to any additional locations, I just had to stand on the breakwater for the day and film a few cut scenes with the sea as the backdrop, and that would be the end.
After finishing makeup and waiting two hours for the shoot to be ready.
The filming finally began.
“All right, let’s start with the first scene. Cue.”
The director gave the cue sign.
The camera began filming my profile.
I stood on the breakwater and looked at the blue sea spread out in front of me.
The director shouted,
“All right, raise your head and look toward the sun!”
Since the audio would be recorded later anyway, it didn’t matter if outside sounds got in.
I lifted my head and looked at the sun in the sky, and naturally, my eyes were dazzled and I closed them.
“Cut. Even if it’s bright, please hold it in a little and keep your eyes open.”
“Yes, understood.”
After several attempts.
“Okay. Let’s move on to the next scene.”
Following the director’s instructions, I filmed in order.
A scene drinking the beverage.
A scene smiling as the wind blew my hair.
A scene jumping with the sea in the background, and so on.
.
.
.
Three days later.
I came to a recording studio in Seoul to record the commercial.
As I was reading the script and practicing my diction, a production staff member sitting in front of what looked like the recording director’s audio mixer spoke to me.
“Dohee, are you ready?”
“Yes, I’m ready.”
I entered the recording booth, placed the script on the music stand, and put on the headset.
Inside the recording booth, I couldn’t hear a thing.
The only time I heard sound was when the staff outside pressed the talkback button.
The voice of the outside staff came through the headset.
— Hello. —
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
— We’ll try it once. You can watch the video, find your timing, and come in. —
The staff told me to match the narration to the commercial video playing in front of me on my own.
“Ah, there’s no separate cue sign?”
— No, there isn’t. You can do it comfortably. —
“Yes.”
Still, the script had approximate narration timing written on it, so I’d just have to refer to that and do my best.
— Here we go. —
The commercial video without narration began on the recording studio screen.
I softly uttered the word.
“Spring.”
The timing was slightly off.
“I’m sorry. I’ll try again.”
— Yes, we’ll go again. —
The video started again.
“Spring.”
“It would be nice if it were always warm.”
The video showed me with the sea in the background.
In the video, I looked forward, then raised my head to gaze at the sky.
“But sometimes, there’s a late spring chill.”
The screen switched, showing a student from the soccer team running and then falling.
“It would be nice if it were always clear.”
A student in a school uniform looking at a test paper in despair.
“But sometimes, there’s yellow dust.”
A student holding a guitar, downcast after failing a music audition.
“But so what?”
My face appeared again with the sea in the background.
My hair swayed in the sea breeze.
“Finding your blue within that spring—that’s youth, isn’t it?”
The soccer student running again.
The student studying again.
The student playing the guitar again.
“Find your blue.”
My profile as I drank Ion Sweat.
“The blue within you, Ion Sweat.”
After drinking the beverage, I turned my head to look at the camera and smiled brightly.
Then the Ion Sweat logo appeared.
The video ended.
The staff spoke through the headset.
— Yes, that was good. You can set it like that. —
“Yes.”
— Let’s try it one more time. —
The video started again.
“Spring…”
.
.
.
After recording the narration three more times, the staff said,
— We’ll organize the recording. Let’s listen to it once. —
“Yes.”
Silence flowed through the recording booth again.
In the silence, all I could see was the advertiser and the production staff moving their mouths beyond the glass window of the recording booth.
It seemed they were listening to the recorded version and exchanging opinions.
In the quiet, I went over the script again and drank water to wet my throat.
About five minutes later, sound came through the headset.
— Dohee, you listen to it too. —
“Yes.”
They played the recording I had narrated for me as well.
As I watched the recording, I gave myself feedback.
Mm, this part feels too awkward.
The tone here seems too low.
The delivery here is a little disappointing.
When the video ended, I looked outside beyond the glass window to see if there were any additional instructions, but the staff were just talking among themselves.
As I waited again in the soundless recording booth, feedback came through the headset.
— You did well. But for now, the part “But within spring” is a little delayed. —
“Yes.”
— And I think you need to pay attention to the difference between narration and line delivery. —
“Yes, understood!”
I picked up a pen and noted the parts I needed to revise on the script.
— All right, let’s organize what we just did and try once more. —
And I began recording.
— We’ll start from “But so what?” —
Recording again.
— For “Find your blue,” please bring out a bit more of a student-like feeling. —
Recording again.
After all kinds of feedback, the recording for the 30-second commercial was finished.
The staff said,
— Now we’ll record the 6-second version. —
“Yes~”
— All right, here we go. —
The short six-second video showed me, drenched in sweat, my straight hair flying as I jumped high toward the sea.
I began the narration.
“Find your blue.”
“i on sweat, Ion Sweat!”
And with that, the recording for the six-second version of the commercial ended.
The staff spoke through the headset.
— We’re all finished. Good work. —
“Yes! Thank you for your hard work~”
Phew, I’m glad we still finished within two hours.
I heard professionals can finish in under thirty minutes when the script is this short.
I still have a long way to go.
.
.
.
At the end of July, less than a week after I finished recording.
As usual, I had come to the company at 10 a.m. and was practicing.
After finishing my vocal lesson and coming out of the room, Ua-unni, who was next for vocal lessons, said to me,
“Dohee! I heard your Ion Sweat commercial came out earlier. Did you see it?”
“Huh? Really?”
It seemed the post-production work had moved quickly, and the commercial video had been uploaded early.
Ua-unni said, sounding happy as if it were her own matter,
“Yeah! The staff were talking about it. Check it out!”
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll check it in a bit.”
First, I finished all of my scheduled lessons.
Then, when it was time for free practice, I entered an empty vocal room in the basement and turned on my phone, which I usually kept off in case it disturbed practice.
As soon as I turned on my phone, it vibrated with text messages and KakaoTalk notifications.
The text said that the commercial video had been uploaded, and the KakaoTalk messages were congratulatory messages from my family.
I quickly replied, then went onto YouTube with an excited heart and searched for Ion Sweat.
[2021 Ion Sweat TVCF: Find Your Blue Lee Dohee_30s]
[2021 Ion Sweat TVCF: Find Your Blue Lee Dohee_6s]
Two versions came up in the search results.
With a trembling heart, I pressed the short six-second version first.
— Find your blue. i on sweat, Ion Sweat! —
The commercial was exactly the same as the recording I had checked in the recording studio.
The 30-second version I pressed afterward was no different either.
But unlike when I had been recording, too nervous and focused to watch the video at ease, now that I could watch it comfortably, it felt different.
Back then, I thought I looked ordinarily pretty…
But this time…
I’m freaking gorgeous…?
Kreugh…
I’m intoxicated by myself.
At this level, I think I captured not only youth but innocence too.
With an excited heart, I dragged the screen down and began looking at the comments.
6 comments
Since the commercial video came out today, there didn’t seem to be many comments yet.
All right… let’s see.
[It’s such an Ion-like ad. So pretty.]
[This ad somehow makes my heart flutter.]
[I was jealous because Japan’s Ion Sweat ads use a student-youth theme, so I’m really glad Korea gave us an ad like this too.]
[Perhaps all of us are living while having forgotten our blue. This ad, which awakened that blue dream, feels different from all the other Ion ads in history.]
[Ion Sweat ads have an outstanding ability to empathize with customers. They understand, embrace, and comfort the hearts of young people, so the image feels warm.]
[The lines are seriously so cool.]
Mm…
What is this?
Why is there not a single mention of me?
They’re all just praising the ad.
.
.
.
Two weeks after the commercial aired on TV.
As its exposure increased, more people who had seen the TVCF came to YouTube to watch it again.
And naturally, mentions of me began appearing not only in YouTube comments but on internet communities as well.
[ Who is this person???? ]
(Screenshot from the Ion Sweat CF commercial)
The person in this Ion Sweat ad… she’s so freaking pretty ㄷㄷ
└ YouTube says she’s Lee Dohee.
[Whoa, the female lead from Think of You filmed Ion Sweat]
She was so pretty I kept thinking about her, then I was watching TV and she came out in Ion Sweat, so I was freaking shocked.
└ I wasn’t sure, but it really is her.
[Does anyone know who the Ion Sweat ad model is?? ㅜㅜㅜㅜ]
No matter how much I search, all I can find is that her name is Lee Dohee… does anyone know who she is… *trembling*
└ She’s a Top East trainee.
└ She’s the female lead from the Think of You MV.
└ Whoa, she was a trainee? Omg, thanks for telling me!!!
└ What, she was from Top East?
└ I wondered who she was because she’s pretty every time I see her, haha.
└ Me too… She’s so pretty every time I see her that I watch the ad to the end lololol.
And just like that, I naturally went from being a private trainee to a public trainee under Top East Entertainment.