• Full House, Coming Into Blossom Under the Scorching Sun: A Thai TV Series Remake

  • 10.31.2014
  • Full House, Coming Into Blossom Under the Scorching Sun: A Thai TV Series Remake
     
     

    Title: Full House Remake
     
    Genre: TV series
     
    Production Company: HALO (Thailand), KTCC (South Korea)
     
    Director: Saraswati Wong Sompech
     
     
    In 2013, it became 55 years since Korea established diplomatic ties with Thailand. While we’ve already been working on several projects with Thailand at that time, we received a phone call from a famous Thai actor Ananda Everingjam of Shutter. He informed us that a Thai broadcasting company is planning to remake Full House; a popular Korean TV series that also had great response in Thailand, and they would like to film it in Korea.
     
    Actually, Korean TV series Full House has already had a tie with Thailand because in 2004, several scenes were shot in southern Phuket through Korea-Thailand Communication Center (KTCC). The following year, it aired on the Thai national broadcast, and the share of audience reached higher than 75%, which contributed to the sweeping Korean wave in Thailand.
     
    In return, the TV series starring the popular Korean pop singer Rain and actress SONG Hye-kyo, also contributed to introducing the beauty of Phuket island. For these reasons, it was great news for us that a Thai Broadcasting company decided to shoot some scenes in South Korea, and we were happy to help in making that shoot successful.
     

    This project reminded me of a Thai film Hello Stranger by Banjong Pisanthanakun, which was fully shot in South Korea in 2010.     In that year this film topped the box office charts, and thanks to this film, South Korea was well promoted in Thailand. Indeed, we were looking for the follow-up film to introduce Korea.  
     
    In addition, Anandan was invited to Busan International Film Festival several times already, and he was fully fascinated by Korea. In fact, he was asked to shoot Full House in China and Japan, but he was crazy about Korea and declined. It is especially interesting to note that he is a famous actor, but this time, he is producing this TV series. So it was not difficult to see that he was very passionate to make this drama successfully, even comparable to its original series.
     
    We first contacted Seoul Film Commission, who had a history of supporting Thai film Hello Stranger. Then we made another call to the Korean Film Council. Coincidently, Korean Film Council just had a roadshow in Bangkok for promoting location shooting in Korea. The proposal, having Korean TV series with famous Thai actors in front of Korea as the backdrop, was welcomed by these two organizations. 
     
    The project carried in haste and we were running out of time to prepare. Thanks to the previous experience with Hello Stranger, we were able to take care of matters quickly. Besides, director and producer were very driven as well. They were invited to the ‘familiarization tour’ organized by Seoul Film Commission and Korea Tourism, which attracts foreign producer to film on location in Korea. From this tour, they could learn about the landscape of Korea and be fascinated by it.
     
    10 out of 20 episodes was to be shot in Korea. It would take at least a month to shoot with this plan, but to meet the schedules for the main casts of the series, A–lister ‘Mike’ and famous actress ‘Eum’, only 2 weeks of time was allowed to shoot towards the end of July. Moreover, it was the vacation season and it was crowded wherever we went. On top of that, the boiling weather of Korean summer, even hotter than the summer of Thailand, wore down both Korean and Thai staffs.
     

    Early morning on 29th of July, it was the first day of shooting which became unforgettable. The scene was where the top star ‘Mike’ in the series was at a Korean press conference in Seoul’s Myeongdong Lotte Hotel. And     there, we had an accident. We broke the chandelier of the best suite room of the hotel while we were shooting the argument scene between the main actor and actress. Fortunately, no one was injured but this strung up the staffs’ nerves. From the very first day, all staff and hotel promotional team had to stay up all through the night.
     
    In the scene at Lotte duty free shop, Chinese and Japanese fans recognized the main actors and surrounded them to get an autograph, so we shot this scene with real fans without mobilizing extras.
     
    Main actor ‘Mike’ released albums in Japan and in China, and ‘Eum’ starred in TV series which aired in China. For these reasons, many foreign tourists recognized them. Every shooting location such as Seoul Tower, Trick Eye Museum, Myeong-dong, and Gwanghwamun was full of fans from China, Japan and Korea, and the fan club members even prepared beverages for their stars. Plus, when we shot the scene of a new performance piece “Music show wedding”, the performance team and the staff of the theatre supported our shooting until late at night, and we could shoot in a great ambiance.
     
    Since we didn’t have much time, we had to divide the shooting teams into two groups. Also, the main actors had to endure a tough schedule every day from very early in the morning till late at night  to meet the timeline. Even though it was a tough schedule, there were many supporters. For the in-flight scene, we went to Seoul HOSEO Technical College, and shot in the in-flight set. It was summer vacation for the college, but the principal and the professors of the school were there to encourage our shoot and the team. Besides, the college students starred in the scene as flight attendants. Not only that, the original director of Full House, PYO Min-su visited the set to support the shooting and he even starred in the scene as a supporting actor; a customer in the cabin.
     
    When we arrived at Incheon city, one of the shooting locations, we visited Wolmi Theme Park and Wolmi Park and saw perfect guidance and hospitality from the Incheon City Public Corporation. From traditional Korean house experience, chocolate making, to cooking Korean dishes, the scenes mentioned were made with a great support from them.
     
    Shooting continued in Kangwon province at the Jade Garden and rail biking scenes on the riverside. Afterwards, we shot on the auto-camping site of Mangsang Beach where we barely managed to reserve since it was the peak season of the year. Here, we had our hardest moment in shooting due to the strong heat. Even Thai staffs, who were used to summer heat, had a hard time. Besides, the ice cream that was used as a prop, melted too fast to complete the scene, so we had to do several takes on it. When main actors went back to Thailand, the first thing they mentioned about shooting in Korea was the strong summer heat. Now I confess that the summer of 2013 was extremely hot. However, now the summer has gone without us having had a chance to put our bare feet into the water of beautiful Mangsang Beach.
     
    Shooting in Korea was hard but it gave a great lesson. That we, Korean and Thai staff, sorted out problems together in any situation. It was a great experience collaborating with the Thailand team based on open communication. Indeed, I cannot agree more that Korea is one of the best film locations.
     
    It is a fact that TV series Full House, a special series produced to celebrate the 55th of Korea-Thailand diplomatic ties, recorded a mega hit in Thailand. I truly think that the huge success and accomplishments are largely due to the hard work of Korean staffs. Already, more than 13 of countries including China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea bought this TV series, and the interest from other countries are still coming in through on and offline channels. 
     
     

    Thai staffs including actors Mike, Eom and the director, who had stronger passion than the summer heat, still express that they miss Korea. Here, we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the shooting from A to Z; Korea-Thailand Communication Center, Incheon City Public Corporation, Gangwon-do Provincial Office and the Korean supporting companies. Again, special thanks to Korea Film Council and the Seoul film Committee.
     
     
    Written by Hong Ji-hee, Representative of Korea-Thailand Communication Center