PUBLISHED ONJuly 24, 2025 10:04 AMBYYeo Shu HuiOne morning in Yishun late last year, it began to snow.
However, it's not an unusual weather phenomenon that happened in some say Singapore's most notorious neighbourhood, but Mediacorp filming their upcoming drama Where the Heart Belongs.
Recounting the unforgettable filming experience, local actress Denise Camillia Tan told AsiaOne recently while promoting the drama: "We had to catch the sunrise [for the scene], so our call-time was a bit earlier and when we reached the filming location, there were no cars around.
"Slowly, we started to see the number of cars building up and the traffic getting heavier. When the drivers stopped their vehicle, they would look at us, like, 'What are they doing?'"
The 32-year-old added that she was wearing thick winter clothes with gloves for the scene.
She added: "I didn't expect [the production team] to do the snow effect in real life, we thought it was just going to be CGI from a green screen, but no, they actually had a machine to create snow, so it was quite interesting."
In Where the Heart Belongs, Denise plays Ming Zhen, a strong-willed consultant from the Housing and Senior Affairs Board in the fictional I'Deal City, where an ageing population and declining marriage and birth rates resulted in the government implementing policies allowing the younger population to adopt senior citizens as parents. Singles could also no longer purchase public housing.
Ming Zhen adopts senior Ou Shengde (Zhu Houren) so that she can receive subsidies for her ideal two-room apartment. As their opposing personalities and lifestyles result in frequent conflicts, she seeks advice from her colleague Situ Ziyang (Romeo Tan), who has adopted seniors including Liu Zhen Wanyu (Xiang Yun) and Zhong Yilian (Kym Ng). In the process, Ming Zhen and Ziyang develop feelings for each other.
However, both harbour their own secrets — Ming Zhen has abandoned her biological father, while Ziyang's motive of adopting seniors could be a calculated facade.
Wearing winter clothes while filming in Singapore's heat posed a challenge for Denise.
She shared: "I remember we had to shoot outdoors under the sun, and we were sweating so much. But obviously in winter, we can't sweat. I think it was most challenging for the makeup artist because she had to keep touching us up before every shot.
"That took up quite a lot of time also, because we needed it to be perfect on screen, to make sure that we don't sweat and instead look very glowy and dewy. But in real life, it was just very hot."
Denise also said they had to film under the sun followed by indoors in air-conditioned rooms frequently, and she was concerned about falling ill because of the temperature changes.
"During that period, I had to really make sure that I was as healthy as I could be by taking vitamins and probiotics just to make sure that I was fit for the role," she recounted.
She's not the only one, as Xiang Yun and Kym also faced a similiar situation during filming.
Xiang Yun told us that while they had the chance to dress nicely in winter wear for the drama, it was actually very hot for them.
"Whenever we went out for filming and saw each other wearing layers, we would laugh at each other," she laughed.
The 64-year-old actress recounted she had to film a few workout scenes at a reservoir during 'winter season'.
"The sunlight was so glaring, and we had to wear thick tracksuits and exercise. Later we 'bargained' [with the production team] that because we are working out, we can't wear too many layers," Xiang Yun shared.
To prevent heat stroke, the make-up artists prepared mini fans for them and dabbed away their perspiration frequently between takes.
She added: "It was actually quite tough for them also. In some shots, you can see that our hair is wet [with sweat]."
Kym, 58, had to cope with the heat too.
"It was quite uncomfortable, but somehow everybody was so professional that we just forgot about the temperature and ignored the sweat running down our cleavage and just continued acting," she laughed.
Where the Heart Belongs will be available on demand for free on Mewatch from July 28 and premieres on Channel 8 on July 31, airing on weekdays at 9pm.
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