I’ve been watching this drama almost marathon-like during the last three weeks or so, and I’m already up to Episode 43, so I’m almost caught up to you guys. I’ve been reading the recaps just prior to watching each episode. The recaps and your comments have helped me understand the drama a bit better, since the subtitles on my DVD’s are not as good as on your television broadcast. The worst part for me is the Korean names, which are very difficult for me to remember under the best of circumstances, but almost impossible to remember when they are mangled up by the Chinese translators. It took me a while to realize that the character called “Lichengwan” in my subtitles, is actually Dr. Rhee. The same with all the other characters.

I have one question: does anyone know where this drama was filmed? Did they find a quaint little town in Korea to represent the Seoul of the 1940’s, or did they have to build a special set? The street scenes of 1940’s Seoul are absolutely beautiful, and I hope this town really does exist. If the producers had to build a special set to recreate 1940’s Seoul, then I hope they’ll keep it as a tourist attraction as they did with the set for Dae Jang Geum. Does anyone here know?

Muscovy_2000 wrote:
"I have one question: does anyone know where this drama was filmed? Did they find a quaint little town in Korea to represent the Seoul of the 1940’s, or did they have to build a special set? The street scenes of 1940’s Seoul are absolutely beautiful, and I hope this town really does exist. If the producers had to build a special set to recreate 1940’s Seoul, then I hope they’ll keep it as a tourist attraction as they did with the set for Dae Jang Geum. Does anyone here know?"


Hi Maria

Here's a link to an article (in Korean) and pics about
the set/location for Seoul 1945... possible it is a small
town... but it looks like a set built from scratch...

Betz in Philly

where is the link?

rofl

Kelly wrote: "where is the link?"
Lucas wrote: "rofl"


Sorry guys... forgot to paste the link... my bad
http://www.cinecine.co.kr/travel/travel.asp?tc=72

Thanks!
Deciphering is going a bit slow, but my first thought to the OP was that the old Seoul part was definitely a set. I mean the scenes when they are washing at the Chongye creek are obviously somewhere else since that is in the middle of a huge business district now.

Wow, thanks Betz! I tried to do an online translation using Worldlingo, but the translation left me just as confused as the original Korean. If Lucas or anyone else could translate the webpage, it would be great for those of us who don't speak Korean.

It does look like a set, and since the website is a travel page, it appears that it is indeed a tourist attraction. Wish I could go there one day, I've fallen in love with that little town.

Thanks again.

Maria.

The Seoul 1945 drama set is located in Hapcheon, which is in southern part of Korea. KBS built this one with the help of local governemnt. Now it works as a theme park where tourists, especially RSY fans, pay a tribute visit to the drama set.

The site mentions that there are about 100 buildings in the set, including Seoul Train Station, a moive theater, Japanese governenor's office building, Bando Hotel, Severance Hosital, etc, which are major landmarks between 1930s and 1960s. Right next to it is a set for Taeguki:Brotherhood of War.

Admission is about $2.00.

More pictures.

http://blog.naver.com/kerria07?Redirect=Log&logNo=30009390574
http://blog.paran.com/zzangko/10850609

chinohills wrote:

The Seoul 1945 drama set is located in Hapcheon, which is in southern part of Korea. KBS built this one with the help of local governemnt. Now it works as a theme park where tourists, especially RSY fans, pay a tribute visit to the drama set. The site mentions that there are about 100 buildings in the set, including Seoul Train Station, a moive theater, Japanese governenor's office building, Bando Hotel, Severance Hosital, etc, which are major landmarks between 1930s and 1960s. Right next to it is a set for Taeguki:Brotherhood of War. Admission is about $2.00. More pictures. http://blog.naver.com/kerria07?Redirect=Log&logNo=30009390574 http://blog.paran.com/zzangko/10850609

Thanks, those picutres were really great. Nice to be able to focus on the scenery rather than watch the main charaters and read the subs at the same time. Looks like they put a bit of $$$ into this drama.

Jason, thank you for the links to the great photos!

I guess many of us already know about the great discovery by Betz of Wang Guhn historical group, but still someone may not know about it.

http://www.imagesofvision.com/korea/korea.html