Case Overview – Project headline and key visual
Memories of the Alhambra
Studio Dragon / Chorokbaem Media
Case Overview – Korean Netflix fantasy series & Hungarian train station shoot
First broadcasted in December 2018, the South Korean Netflix Original fantasy series called Memories of Alhambra is a truly international co-production. Progressive Productions provided full production services for the train station scenes that were shot in Hungary. During the six-day shoot, we shot more than 70 minutes of footage ready for use. The scenes filmed in Budapest, Mezőtúr and Kisterenye appear again and again throughout the first 11 episodes of the series. Popular stars such as the actor Park Chanyeol and the K-pop star Park Shin Hye appeared in the series, as well as Hyun Bin, who after three years of taking time out, returned to television with the Memories of the Alhambra. The series was produced by Studio Dragon and Chorokbaem Media and premiered on December 1, 2018 via the TVN South Korean television channel, as well as becoming available worldwide on Netflix from that day.
Case Media – Official Series Trailer (YouTube)
Story Context – Love story, fantasy and AR video game in Granada
It is a love story spiced up with some fantasy elements, in which Yoo Jin Woo (Hyun Bin) is an adventurous CEO of an investment company who goes on a business trip to Granada in Spain. Here he stays in the hotel run by former guitarist Jung Hee-joo (Park Shin Hye). Their lives take some unexpected turns and they both get into some mysterious and magical adventures. Alongside this, Alhambra’s thousand-year-old history gets muddled up with reality, in the form of modern video games.
Location Services – Spain story locations with Slovenia & Hungary as stand-ins
The series is especially interesting not only because of its story and genre, but also since unlike other South Korean series, a significant part of it was shot in Europe. A large part of the filming happened in Spain, to be precise in Barcelona, Granada and Girona, which are the locations that are authentic to the story. Scenes they could not shoot in Spain for various reasons were therefore shot in Slovenia and the train station scenes were filmed in Hungary. The locations in these two countries acted as alternatives to the Spanish locations in the storyboard.
Location Services – Choosing alternative European train stations using prior experience
Since the shoot could not be realized at either Granada or Barcelona train station, the Korean studio started to search for train stations in other cities. Among many other European train stations, the Hungarian stations proved to be the most suitable, for such reasons as their architecture, their flexibility and infrastructure. Progressive Productions’ team has wide-ranging experience in shooting complex train station action scenes, thanks to producing the American series Covert Affairs, which was an important factor for the producers of Studio Dragon when making the final decision.
Location Services – Scouting three Hungarian train stations as Spanish doubles
When scouting the locations next to flexibility and production friendliness, appearance was one of the most important aspects, since the train stations of Barcelona, Granada and an abandoned Spanish small town had to be staged. Progressive’s Location Department scouted countless train stations in order to find the best-fitting ones. Finally, our three main locations were the Keleti station, doubling as Barcelona’s, the Mezőtúr train station acting as the Granada station and the Kisterenye station, which played the role of the small town station.
Case Media – Trailer of TV Series Episode (YouTube)
Location Case Study – Keleti station night shoot & station-wide logistics
The Keleti is the country’s largest train station, which due to its eclectic 19th-century style and grandiose size is one of the most popular shooting locations in Budapest. It is so production-friendly, that despite its heavy traffic, with top quality organisation, multiple platforms can be closed down and the movement of various trains can be executed as well. Progressive’s team has a long-standing relationship with this station since we shot one of the episodes of NBC Universal’s Covert Affairs here and also have closed down the train station for a photo shoot of ours with Nikon. For the Barcelona night scenes of the Memories of Alhambra, we used three of the four central platforms, closing them down completely from early evening until dawn. In addition to the platforms, we also used the infrastructure of the station and its service units too, thereby keeping the entire station awake. For shooting scenes, we opened the ticket offices, the newspaper stands, a buffet and a shop as well, while the restaurant of the station provided craft and dinner for the crew during the entire shooting.
Case Media – Night exterior of Keleti station during shoot
Location Case Study – Mezőtúr station as Granada with local cooperation benefits
Granada’s train station was played by an atmospheric train station in a small countryside town, which is a 2.5-hour car journey away from Budapest and which is unbelievably similar to the original location. Filming in the countryside is most often more costly than shoots in larger cities since they often require more complex organization and also they cannot offer the infrastructure needed for shooting, which has to be supplied from the city instead. Yet Mezőtúr counts as an exception, since although previously there had never been any film productions in the town, nor at the station, everyone was extremely cooperative with us during our three days of shooting. The fifty extras needed on location were cast on the spot and we were able to provide the crew’s entire catering service via local companies, enabling significant savings for the budget. Thanks to the excellent organisation of the train station’s staff, the train traffic could continue undisturbed even during filming on two closed platforms.
Case Media – Mezőtúr station as Granada train station
Location Case Study – Kisterenye station as abandoned town with crane & rain SFX
According to the script of the series, in one of the scenes, Jin Woo accidentally arrives in an abandoned Spanish town’s train station and then tries to get back from there to the Granada station. This small town station was doubled by the Kisterenye train station, which used to be a busy hub for transporting materials from neighbouring mines, but since their closure, only one train travels through the city each day. This is why the station did not have overhead cable structures installed, which fit MotA’s concept perfectly and also it reduced the risk and gave us good opportunities to use various technical equipment and production solutions. For example, we were able to use a larger crane and create rain effects using SFX for the scenes.
Case Media – Kisterenye station as abandoned Spanish town platform
Stunts & Action – Local stunt team, medieval costumes and authentic weapons
The countless action scenes in the series were important because we had to find local stunt performers with the right skills, as well as the most authentic costumes and weapons for them. According to their roles, the stunt performers included medieval Spanish archers and Arab soldiers, who were shooting arrows from the top of the Mezőtúr station and acting out choreographed fighting scenes. There were many videogame-like first-person shooter perspective shots in the series, which is why choosing the right authentic weapons (shotguns, swords) was key. The majority of the Slovenian and Hungarian filming ran parallel, so part of the weapons chosen and used in Hungary could also be used in the scenes filmed in Slovenia.
Case Media – Stunt performers with medieval weapons at station
Production Reflection – Working with Korean series makers & future projects
Memories of the Alhambra was a special project for us in multiple aspects since we had already taken part in creating American series (Covert Affairs, Royal Pains), but it was an interesting new experience to see how these Korean series creators work, who are also highly popular in Europe. We were delighted that although filming at train stations can come with a lot of restrictions and compromises, we were able to flexibly deal with the demanding requirements. We hope to be able to take part in many similar productions in the future.
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