Javier Pons: «We are still very ambitious with‘ I am alive ’, both in that mixture of genres as peculiar and in the technical excellence we seek»
The fourth season of ‘I am alive’, a series created by Daniel Écija, continues its broadcast every Wednesday at 1.The family drama with supernatural dyes that premiered in September 2017 with Javier Gutiérrez in front has returned in March with thirteen new episodes recorded in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Double feat, therefore, that of the series produced by RTVE, Good Mood and Globomedia (The Mediapro Studio), which, in addition to staying in a context of miniseries and marathons based on marathons, has managed to preserve its spirit despiteCoronavirus restrictions.Individual and team responsibility, mandatory compliance protocols and more digital effects of the usual are the ingredients that have allowed to record the season without too many shocks and in time.
In the new episodes, with more humor than usual, Daniel Écija, Guillermo Cisneros, Adriana Rivas, Andrés Martín Soto, María Miranda and Luis Moya;With Jesús Rodrigo, David Molina, Luis Oliveros and Antonio Diaz Huerta at the head of the direction of the chapters.‘I'm alive’ also has Néstor Calvo and Paco Belda in the photography direction.All of them, together with the rest of the members of the production, have gone through locations such as the tank of the storms in Madrid, Torrespaña, the Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid Arena, El Espinar de Segovia or Alcalá de Henares.
- Publicidad -Javier Pons, executive producer of ‘I am alive’ from Globomedia (The Mediapro Studio), comments for audiovisual451 the challenges of this fourth season.
Audiovisual451: Javier, ‘I am alive’ has returned, how has it been possible taking into account the context of Pandemia?
Javier Pons: «After health, the most important thing for us was to guarantee audiovisual production and the work of a lot of professionals.It is already known that 100 people or more work work in a fiction series.So, to be able to record 'I am alive', we take the prevention measures that are being stacked in all productions today, I mean entry and exit, special dressing rooms, tests before starting filming and during ... by ... byAssumption, the personal responsibility of each member of the team has also been very important and the result is that the fourth season of 'I am alive' has been possible.The filming began on August 17 and ended on January 11, we are talking about 26 weeks without interruptions, we have only had some leave of team members who fortunately did not prevent the recording.I must say that all the people of the team have adapted perfectly to the measures."
A los personajes principales y conocidos por el público, interpretados por Javier Gutiérrez, Alejo Sauras, Cristina Plazas, Fele Martínez y Jesús Castejón, se han sumado tres nuevos gracias a la incorporación de Guiomar Puerta, Almagro San Miguel y Pablo Vázquez al reparto.A451: Have you had to sacrifice many things for the pandemic or have you get the context not to transte the screen?
J.P.: «If you are following the fourth season of‘ I am alive ’every Wednesday in the prime time of 1 you will find very few differences with respect to previous chapters.We have managed not to translate the conditions and the context in which we were working.Yes we have limited the number of figures in some sequence and we have used more digital effects than in other seasons, but otherwise, we have been able to maintain the same tonic of previous seasons.
For example, around 45 percent of the sequences have been shot outdoors, we have passed through the Esgovia Espinar, the tank of the storms of the Casa de Campo de Madrid, the Museum of Reina Sofía, persecution by car by car by car by car byMultiple streets of Madrid and Alcalá de Henares ... We are still very ambitious with 'I am alive', both in that mixture of genres as peculiar and in the technical excellence we are looking for.
We have recorded on the oscylight sets, it is a space that we normally use to record the scenes that happen on the catwalk.All this material that we record there then goes through the digital effects, ‘I am alive’ is one of the Spanish series that has the most postproduction in this sense, as fiction with supernatural touches could not be otherwise."
«Hemos conseguido que no se traduzca al contenido las condiciones y el contexto en los que estábamos trabajando."
A451: For the digital effects you have Manu Herrera and his team of The Room VFX.How do you work with them?
J.P.: «Indeed, the digital effects team is led by Manu Herrera and is giving us wonderful results.Year after year we ask him to be overcome, and in this fourth season we have made new demands, we have incorporated the character of Adriana, played by Guiomar Puerta, and as it has already been seen in the chapters that have been issued to date,has special powers.Thanks to the excellent work that Manu Herrera and his postproduction team do, spectators will see that these powers materialize in a very real way.
‘I am alive’ is one of the Spanish series that have the most digital effects, I would say that between 10 and 15 percent of the series budget is destined for digital effects."
«‘I am alive’ is one of the Spanish series that have the most digital effects, I would say that between 10 and 15 percent of the series budget is destined for digital effects."A451: What can you tell us about the filming in the tank of the storms in Madrid?
J.P.: «It is the first time we roll in this tank of the storms in Madrid, which is the largest in Europe.Although it has already been used for other series, I had no knowledge of this building, in fact, when I read "tank of the storms" in the planning of scripts and filming, I thought it was a scenario that was leavingto recreate in digital.Until they told me it exists!When I finally met him, it seemed like an amazing structure, with two floors, gigantic, reinforced concrete and with great potential for fiction.In the case of ‘I am alive’ we will have to wait at the end of the fourth season to see the scenes we have shot there, this tank has given us a lot of game and has been fundamental to give the series of that spectacularity that characterizes it.When you enter it you have a feeling of chill that is ideal for this production."
El último capítulo de la temporada incluye escenas grabadas en el Tanque de las Tormentas de la Casa de Campo de Madrid, el más grande de Europa: «Cuando entras en él tienes una sensación de escalofrío que es ideal para esta producción."A451: Other locations this season have been the Reina Sofía Museum, Torrespaña ... has it been easier to roll in them because there are fewer people in these buildings due to measures against pandemic?
Wonderful presentation and discussion! Thank you are very.CO/83MAV0SM27
— Alexandra Butman Fri Apr 24 23:02:15 +0000 2020
J.P.: “I would really say no, because the sanitary measures involved in the alarm state puts things a little more complicated to filming, go ahead that we all understand that these measures are necessary.It is true that, for example, the Reina Sofía Museum had less public influx.But when getting permits for both interiors and natural exteriors it has been a feat.The municipalities of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares and other locations have facilitated the processes, but it has not been a filming exempt from bureaucracy.And to top it off Filomena in recent days ... "
A451: At what time in production do you catch Filomena?I understand that towards the end ...
J.P.: “Sí, estábamos rodando en plató, pero todavía nos quedaban algunas escenas de exteriores por grabar.We had no choice but to delay a week and a half the production, again, thanks to the effort of the entire team we were only standing on Monday after Filomena.On Tuesday, January 12, we were back."
A451: Madrid is hosting a lot of filming.Being a city and a community already very portrayed, are they still finding singular spaces?
J.P.: “Madrid sigue siendo un excelente plató de rodaje.Thanks to its dimension it is a community that still has a place for many shootings.In general, all of Spain can boast its locations and its technicians.In the case of 'I am alive', being a series that every season is committed to enhancmost suitable filming and new spaces are always incorporated."
«Adquirimos un compromiso tanto con la cadena como con la audiencia para ofrecer una historia de calidad desde el primer capítulo hasta el último, huyendo por completo de tramas de relleno."A451: Javier, what would be your favorite chapter of this season of ‘I'm alive’?
J.P.: “Uf, qué difícil, tengo varios, pero voy a mencionar el último de la temporada, pasan muchas cosas, muy impactantes, pero, insisto, me resulta muy difícil quedarme con uno solo porque unos capítulos me emocionan más, otros me hacen reír más, otros me sorprenden por los efectos… en ese sentido diría que es una serie bastante homogénea a lo largo de toda su temporada, adquirimos un compromiso tanto con la cadena como con la audiencia para ofrecer una historia de calidad desde el primer capítulo hasta el último, huyendo por completo de tramas de relleno.
And also taking care of all the characters, this is a very coral season.The cast of ‘I am alive’ as a whole is wonderful and unique, I think it has to be especially valued that a group of actors from this draft is in a series on a public television. Sin querer menospreciar a los demás, el caso de Javier Gutiérrez es destacable, se trata del actor español posiblemente más demandado del momento, está presente en múltiples producciones de otras cadenas de televisión, en plataforma, en películas de cine, en obras de teatro…"
‘Estoy vivo’ es una de las series españolas más vistas en diferido. Además, se ha venido como lata y como formato a múltiples países, incluido Estados Unidos.A451: Being a series that opens a chapter every week, do you have more margin for postproduction?
J.P.: “Cuando terminamos la grabación, ya habíamos entregado cinco capítulos.In this sense, Globomedia is a producer with a lot of experience when complying with the calendar that is established.Fortunately, COVID-19 pandemic has not difficult for processes.In addition, ‘I am alive’ premieres a chapter a week, which in addition to giving us a little more margin, creates a weekly appointment with the spectator that seems very interesting to me.I have the feeling that, being an intense series, it is better to enjoy it like that, week by week and not in marathon format, at least I prefer to see it slowly."
«‘Estoy vivo’ crea una cita semanal con el espectador que me parece muy interesante."El futuro de la ficción española en abierto
«Estoy convencido de que la televisión en abierto no sería lo mismo sin series de producción propia."A451: Spanish open series are registering discrete audience data.What future predicates gender in TDT, also in this context of success of Turkish fiction?
J.P.: “Creo que la ficción nacional es un género que tiene mucha vida por delante.Both the executives of the television chains and those on the side of the producers have to assume that the audience data is not those of a few years ago, when we accept this, we will take away a lot of pressure and a lot of frustration from above.We have to look for other consumption measurement scales in order to evaluate the performance of a content.You know that ‘I'm alive’ is a success in deferred consumption ...
Obviously, I am a bit of the prominence of Turkish fiction on open television in Spain, but hey, if you think about it, there have always been foreign series in Spanish grills, they were formerly Americans and now they are Turkish.In short, I do not believe that Spanish series are a content that they are going to dispense with open television, and even less when they are all promoting their own digital platforms.We are seeing how the premieres are being combined on these platforms that go by subscription with the broadcast later in the prime time in open, it is a way of adding spectators.I am convinced that open television would not be the same without own production series."
«Tanto los ejecutivos de las cadenas de televisión como los que estamos en el lado de las productoras tenemos que asumir que los datos de audiencia no son los de hace unos años, cuando aceptemos esto, nos quitaremos mucha presión y mucha frustración de encima."A451: What projects from The Mediapro Studio will we see in the coming months?
J.P.: «‘ Paradise ’, Fernando González Molina's original Movistar+, and the return of‘ The men of Paco ’in Atresmedia will surely be released this same spring.From the latter we have prepared two seasons.They are two very different series that will give a lot to talk.
In addition, we have multiple shooting, such as ‘Express’ for Starzplay in Madrid, and other series in Latin America.And, of course, several projects in development."
