Actress Jernelle Oh brings AsiaOne on a tour of the opulent film set used as the Zhang residence in the drama Emerald Hill, a spin-off of The Little Nyonya. We sit down with Jernelle and her co-star Seow Sin Nee to find out more about their roles in the drama, how they prepared for it and also their favourite spot in the set.
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Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
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00:00Every time when we are not filming, I will just go outside.
00:02Just to like, enjoy the view.
00:04Oh.
00:04Yeah.
00:05I really like the outside.
00:07I thought you always go to artist's restroom?
00:09Eh.
00:09That one is my second favourite place.
00:11Don't expose.
00:27Hi, everyone. I'm Janelle.
00:28And I'm Xinyi.
00:29And I'm acting as a ma jie.
00:30We are all acting as a ma jie in the Zhang residence.
00:33I'm Ah Flower.
00:35Ah Hua.
00:37Yeah, me as Ah Good.
00:39Ah Hao.
00:45So, for me, Ah Flower.
00:47I am the lowest form of ma jie in the whole household.
00:52Meaning that I don't have a master that I attend to.
00:56But I do all the cleaning in the house.
00:58But me, will be a nanny.
01:00So, I actually take care of the children in the house.
01:02Will be all the little masters and little miss.
01:06So, at the start, I'll be attending to a little xin niang.
01:09Which is actually Tasha.
01:12When she's younger.
01:13And then afterwards, I have the opportunity to attend to er shao nai nai.
01:17Which is Jessica Liu in the show.
01:19And my role actually just appeared in two episodes.
01:22So, the first two episodes, you'll see me chasing around the children.
01:25Taking care of them.
01:26Due to some reason that I couldn't stay now.
01:28I'll be chased out of this house.
01:30Sadly.
01:31Sorry.
01:32It's okay.
01:33You'll catch it up.
01:40I'm super, super ordered.
01:41Yeah.
01:42I think I'm very excited.
01:43We're all very excited about the show.
01:45And we really want to make this drama good.
01:49Yeah.
01:50So, I think even before we start shooting.
01:52We have already been discussing about how we can make the drama better.
01:56How our roles, our characters better.
01:58And also, we even have a ma jie group chat.
02:01Oh, yeah.
02:02Because we want to standardise maybe the habits.
02:05And some of the things that we do as ma jies.
02:07So, our boss, which is Priscilla Chan.
02:10So, she's the leader of our pack.
02:13Yeah.
02:14She's the one who attend to ah jie.
02:15Who is the zhang tai lao jun.
02:18Yeah, lao tai tai.
02:19In the show.
02:20So, actually she will be our manager basically.
02:28For us, even before we started filming.
02:30We have a lot of classes.
02:32Yeah, by the production team.
02:33So, they prepare us to how we can say our lines better.
02:36We have script reads.
02:37And then also, we went to like the Peranakan Museum.
02:40To tour.
02:41To understand the Peranakan culture better.
02:43Yeah.
02:44Yeah.
02:45And we were told to make some behind story.
02:47And we were told to make some behind story.
02:49So, we know our background better.
02:52Like which family you come from.
02:53How come you have this kind of characteristic.
02:55And which result in this kind of habits.
02:58Yeah, I think every ma jie have a very different personality.
03:00Yep.
03:01So, you can see distinct habits from each of us.
03:03Yeah.
03:04And then how we prepare.
03:06Other than going for classes.
03:08We ourselves, I think we also listen to 50 to 70 era music.
03:13To help us better.
03:14And movies.
03:15Yeah.
03:16And we also look at all the ma jie information.
03:18Like for example, on YouTube.
03:19We can see interviews that there are still real ma jie around.
03:22Yeah.
03:23So, that's where we try to learn from them.
03:30I was amazed by all these decorations.
03:32And all the furniture.
03:33So, I think the one that I got impressed much.
03:35Is the moment when I open the door.
03:37And I walk in.
03:38I realise.
03:39Wow, this is like a museum.
03:40You know, like this just resembles so much with the museum in Melaka or Penang.
03:45Which I actually paid the ticket to get in.
03:48And this is actually for our set.
03:50And I was just very lucky to be part of it.
03:52For me, my favourite place is actually outside.
03:55Like the whole furnishing outside right.
03:57I think it's very well done.
03:59Even the pillars.
04:00You know, they have painted it.
04:01The floor.
04:02So, when I'm outside.
04:03I can actually feel the breeze of the wind.
04:06And you can see the greenery.
04:08I really like it.
04:09So, every time when we are not filming.
04:11I will just go outside.
04:12Just to like enjoy the view.
04:13Oh.
04:14Yeah.
04:15I really like the outside.
04:16The exterior is nice right.
04:17I thought you always go to artist's restroom.
04:18Eh.
04:19That one is my second favourite place.
04:20Don't expose.
04:25Okay, so this is a real functioning kitchen for us, Ma Jie.
04:29And also some of the little nunias to work at.
04:32We will cook and do everything here.
04:35As you can see, all these are real props.
04:37You can really cook here.
04:39This kitchen is made by the production team.
04:42It wasn't in the original house in the first place.
04:44And they built it afterwards.
04:46Just for us to have scenes.
04:47Or the kitchen scenes.
04:50This place is the Zhang's family living room.
04:52Where more intimate gatherings happen here.
04:54And also, they can have guests over.
04:57And they will sit around.
04:58To talk and drink some tea.
05:03This is Ah Jie's room.
05:05You can see a lot of furniture.
05:07That's dated about like 1930s.
05:09They are all very traditional wooden furniture.
05:14Which are considered very expensive in that day.
05:17There are also dressing tables.
05:19Even the cabinets.
05:23Welcome to Jessica's room.
05:25So Jessica is the second son's wife.
05:27And this is their room.
05:30They are more studious people.
05:33They have actually studied a lot.
05:35You can see that further back.
05:37There is a bathtub.
05:38And it's more westernised.
05:40So there will be some scenes with the bathtub here.
05:43And also, I have quite a bit of scenes with Jessica.
05:46In this room.
05:48Thanks for watching Zhang's Residence House Tour.
05:50Bye bye!