With almost 50 years of history, Telson is the oldest post-production studio in Spain. In this building on Alcalá Street in Madrid, all kinds of special effects have been created and, during 2023, also those of Romancero, the ambitious Spanish series that Prime Vídeo produced together with 300 Balas (The Mediapro Studio) and which premieres this Friday celebrates. November 3rd.
On the opposite side stands the leader of the project, Tomás Peña – a member of the audiovisual collective Manson. He has been responsible for several video clips from artists such as C. Tangana, Katy Perry and Rosalía and the longest time he has ever spent on a shoot was seven days. This time, the six 30-minute chapters, designed by screenwriter Fernando Navarro, took three months to record. Previously, he spent four months in pre-production to design the particular aesthetic universe of this supernatural horror story, set in a dark Andalusia that is as real as it is magical. And then he spent another five months retouching what he had shot on the computer.
Together with his trusted collaborators and veterans such as Pelayo Gutiérrez, sound engineer of Spanish cinema whose filmography includes more than 100 titles, the young director from Murcia has led a diverse creative team for a diverse story. The protagonists Cornelia and Jordán seem like children, but life has turned them into adults. Romancero begins with just the two of them escaping along a street in dark Andalusia in the middle of the night. The two main characters, played by Elena Matic and Sasha Cócola, are fleeing from the Civil Guard, from supernatural beings and from what is happening in their own bodies. Belén Cuesta, Guillermo Toledo, Ricardo Gómez and Alba Flores intervene around them. Between the pursuers and the pursued, it is not known exactly where the monsters live.
In addition to Almería, the Madrid town of Morata de Tajuña was also used in the picture to recreate a dirty and magical Andalusia in a film full of night scenes.Prime Video
“The horror of the series lies in the most real moments,” Peña emphasized in May at the Telson studio as his team put the final visual touches on the series. In fact, the director has filled himself with references to ensure his narrative is unique. He himself proclaims that there are three aesthetic pillars on which he relies. Firstly, the Spanish costume from Los Tarantos (1963) by Francisco Rovira-Beleta or that of Víctor Erice, two of his idols. It combines it with the essence of 1990s Hollywood that David Fincher built in thrillers like Seven. And finally, it adds the imaginative aesthetic of anime. “We mixed a dark and pessimistic reality with a very white trash portrait of the Spanish South that could perfectly be set in Texas, and we combined it with fantasy elements,” he says. “For years we have heard the term Spanish cinema in a derogatory way: because it is cinema made in Spain with an international focus. It is designed so that otakus (manga and anime fans) can see it and be amazed,” Peña continues.
Although Romancero relied on artificial intelligence at the beginning of the process to quickly create the first sketches, he relies on analogue techniques for his special effects to preserve the essence of the ’90s that his director so admires. Filming wasn’t filled with green screens, nor did the actors have to imagine what would happen on that nightmarish night of demons, witches and blood drinkers in which much of the first season takes place. A mask was created for one of the characters, tailored to the facial features of its performer. First, the actress’s face was scanned in high resolution, then the prosthetics she wore on set were created, and months later, sophisticated digital programs were used. “To retouch real things like makeup or fake bloodstains and erase some things. We don’t mind seeing some seams, we prefer them to the coldness that only comes with digital effects,” says Peña, together with Guillermo García, his special effects supervisor, and Ana Valencia, his post-production coordinator.
In addition to the anime aesthetics and Spanish customs, some moments of “Romancero” reproduce the essence of the 90s Hollywood “thriller”. In the picture Guillermo Toledo (in the background) and Ricardo Gómez.Prime Video
To construct such a sordid story, combining such real horrors as domestic violence and racism in the labor camps, it was necessary to record many night sessions. There are shots that took almost a week of retouching to correct their lighting and get where the cameras couldn’t reach. The sound also needed a lot of rework, says manager Pelayo Gutiérrez, who collects Goya awards. “In the first chapter a lot of things happen outside of the shot, we have to tell what the cameras don’t record. When the time comes, in the episodes where it seems like the narrative pace is slowing down, it’s the ones that have the most nuance and where the tonal challenge is greater,” he says.
Peña wanted to surround himself with experts and new talent to give life to what only lived in his head. “People in the industry are surprised that I was responsible for overseeing so many aspects of the series, but I’ve waited 25 years for this opportunity and didn’t want to share it,” he admits.
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