In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 78

Chapter 78: Exciting Commercial Shoot!

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“Nice to meet you.”

I arrived at the studio for today’s commercial shoot, held at Matsurou Studio.

“Whoa, amazing. It looks like the real thing.”

Lit up by bright studio lights was the set of the convenience store “EXA,” reproduced to look exactly like an actual store. But upon closer inspection, not everything was exactly the same. The products on the shelves and the promotional posters around the register featured items, brands, and celebrities I’d never seen before. Why was that?

“We can’t show other companies’ products or artists, you know. That’s why we use fake products and fake ads instead.”

I see. They had to be that careful about it.

“For convenience store product commercials, we sometimes rent out real stores to film, but since this is one of our flagship products and the model was chosen through a top-secret audition, we built a special set just for it.”

Today, along with Jun-san, the client representative, Yoriko-san, was also on-site and explained everything to me.

“Building an entire store from scratch must be a lot of work.”

“It is. But it comes with benefits. We can choose the filming time freely, and there’s no need to restock products. The refrigerated and freezer sections don’t even need to be plugged in, so it stays warm on set.”

“Even things that only flash on screen for a moment or appear in the background—logos, color schemes, and such—matter a lot. With a set, you have much more creative control.”

“That’s where the art team really gets to show their skills. If you look closely, you’ll notice how much attention they put into the fine details.”

I never realized all those things before. The commercials I usually watched without a second thought, a commercial that was just 15 seconds long, actually had so many people involved and they had to prepare and make sure everything was perfect down to the finest detail. It was truly an eye-opening experience for me. 

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Before filming, I got my makeup done and changed into an outfit designed to match the product’s packaging. It was my first time wearing makeup, so it felt kind of weird.

“I heard you like sweets, but your skin’s so smooth. Not a single blemish. I’m so jealous of you.”

First they checked my skin and hair condition. It made me feel like I was a fish on a cutting board. It also reminded me of when I went to the salon before. It was embarrassing and ticklish at the same time.  After hair and makeup, the director called me over for a meeting while looking over the storyboard. Only then did we finally move on to rehearsals.

“Cut!”

The director’s voice cut in here and there. I could feel how serious everyone was. They kept checking the monitor, making small adjustments, and repeating rehearsals.

Not just the filming crew, but also the people from EXA, the client, were involved. They were giving feedback like, “Try it more like this,” or “How about this angle?” Adjustments were made on the spot as we fine-tuned the details.

For this commercial, they really wanted to emphasize the product’s unique hexagonal container design as a key visual element. To do that, there was a scene where I’d “draw a hexagon with both index fingers.” So that part was filmed very meticulously.

First, I had to press my index fingers together above my face to form the top point. Then, I separated them and drew three sides each on either side, reconnecting the tips at the bottom point. Sounds simple, but it was surprisingly hard to draw a neat hexagon in the air with just your fingers. I already realized how hard it was when I practiced at home and just like I thought, I ended up drawing it over and over again during the shoot because I couldn’t make a perfect hexagon.

“Smile!”

Oops. I’d been so focused on my fingers that my face had gone totally stiff. 

Smile, smile. Make it look like you’re having fun!

When I checked the footage on the monitor, I realized how different things looked from someone else’s perspective. What I thought was straight was tilted, or the height on each side didn’t match. Hence why these kinds of adjustments were necessary.

And finally, it was time for the real take. Filming started.

On set were producers, the director, the commercial planner, the cameraman, lighting crew, stylists—all kinds of staff, of course. But in addition to them, people from the agency and the client company were also there. All those people were now focused entirely on me. With such serious expressions, too.

Normally, I’d be nervous in a situation like this. But strangely enough, I felt completely calm.

《”Pudding Quest: Let’s Promote the Ultimate Hexagon Pudding!” Part ③: “Exciting Commercial Shoot” is now underway. Your current specs are more than sufficient to clear this. We are cheering you on.》

Even though it was a luxury pudding, it was still a convenience store item. So it needed to feel familiar and approachable.

A relaxed, natural smile that made people feel close to me… That was the kind of image we needed to capture. The perfect smile of “Yuusei Takeda,” who was both me and not me…. I hoped I could bring that out in front of the camera.  Fortunately, I loved pudding. That bubbly joy I felt whenever I found a new, delicious-looking pudding product… I didn’t need any acting to bring that feeling forth. 

I just needed to embrace that uncontrollable happiness and be myself.

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“Amazing. This is beyond what I expected.”

“I can’t take my eyes off him. No wonder Director Rokkaku recommended him.”

To the filming crew watching through the monitor, Yuusei didn’t look like an amateur at all. Calm and composed, he moved naturally and performed each direction to perfection.

He wore a charming smile while being bathed in overflowing light. He was standing at the very center of it all, drawing everyone in to him. No one could look away from his every movement. That charming aura seemed to come naturally to him. The studio was bright and hot under all the lighting and yet, he barely broke a sweat and moved around with a cool, composed expression.

“You don’t sweat much, huh? Is that just your body disposition?”

“Now that you mention it, I really don’t sweat a lot. I wonder why?”

“Well, that makes things easier for makeup. I’ll just touch up your hair a bit.”

“Okay. Thank you very much.”

《You have acquired the special skill 【Sparkling Photogenic】》

While we were filming against a green screen for composite shots after finishing the convenience store set scenes, I suddenly heard that announcement.

Photogenic?

Didn’t that mean “looks good in photos”? We’d done a ton of shooting today and the ones taking the photos were all professional photographers. Maybe I got the skill because of that? 

When filming against the green screen, a composite image with the background was shown in real-time on the preview monitor.

“This is what it’s going to look like? That’s so cool.”

Next, they brought over a life-sized hexagonal container prop—also for the composite scene. It was designed to open and close so a person could actually get inside. Of course, that person was me.

According to the storyboards I was shown beforehand, the direction called for me to act surprised and confused, like I was trapped inside the container. You know, like, “Let me out of here! Bam! Bam!” That kind of thing.

“Cut!”

“Nice. That was great. Okay, next let’s try a kabedon.”

“A kabedon?”

“Yeah. It was a last-minute addition requested by the client.”

“Something about seeing you, Yuusei-kun, just made us feel like a kabedon would totally work.”

“Got it. I’ll give it a shot.”

Kabedon! If I remembered right, there was some kind of built-in manual from the Diary for that.

《Automatically optimizes for any wall. Recreates the ideal kabedon!》

Yes, that one! No need to overthink it! Just go with the flow!

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After that, we took a short break and then moved on to shooting stills for the print materials. With that, all filming was done. I’d arrived in the morning and we’d started shooting in the afternoon. Now it was evening—but it didn’t feel like I’d been tied up with work for that long at all.

“Good work today!” 

“Thank you very much!” 

“Nice job!”

I was free to go at this point, but the staff still had cleanup and breakdown to deal with—it looked like a lot of work.

“Yuusei-kun, how was your first commercial shoot?”

“To be honest… Everything went by so quickly.”

“I’m sure you realized it as you experienced it firsthand, but video production is all about many people working toward a single goal—each contributing their skills, preparing, moving, and collaborating. It’s something one person could never do alone, but when everyone comes together, it gets done just like that. Amazing, right?”

“It really is. I could feel the whole creation process as it was happening.”

“Right? Now we’ll move on to editing the footage we shot, figuring out how to fit everything effectively into just fifteen seconds.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product.”

“Be sure to let us know what you think when you do.”

“Okay, I will.”

《You have cleared Pudding Quest: Let’s Promote the Ultimate Hexagon Pudding! Part ③: “Exciting Commercial Shoot.” I’m looking forward to the broadcast too. Thank you for your hard work.》

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