DRAKAR
Youth Drama Series
I worked as a production designer on a Swedish language youth drama series Drakar (Dragons). The series tells a coming of age story of four 18-20 year old young men doing their final road trip through Finland, Sweden and Norway before they all head off on their own journeys in life. The four boys - Rollo, Isak, Leo and Omar - take Rollo's parents' camper van and drive it all the way from Tammisaari, Finland to Narvik in Northern Norway with all sorts of shenanigans on the way. Their main goal is to return Freud, a garden gnome, back to its original home in Trondheim. Everything for this series was shot on location, the main location being a Camper van. The production had about one month prep time and five weeks of shooting.
Camper Van
The camper was arguably the most important location of the entire show. I spend a lot of time and care in designing this space, as it had to look like Rollo's parent's had owned it for a while and now after Rollo's mother's passing he had slightly taken over the space. A lot of postcards, maps, and other memorabilia was added on the walls and the soft furnishings had a feminine touch to them in order to showcase that the camper van wasn't just a bachelor box but it had been a very important part of the family for a while and Rollo had grown up going on many trips in this van with his mothers. Above is the camper van before any work was done to the interior.
Above are a couple of pre-visualisation drawings I made to show the director what colours would be present on the set and how the new upholstery would change the overall look of the space.
Above are a few stills of the camper van after the re-upholstered seats were in place, the curtains hung and all the dressing items in place. The interior got gradually messier as the boys travel with it, with clothes, beer cans and take away boxes scattered around the place. Below are stills from the show.
Rollo's Home
The boys' roadtrip starts from Rollo's home where he lives with his two mothers. We managed to find style-wise a suitable looking location to use, and only did light dressing changes by adding story related items and some dressing pieces around. In the story one of Rollo's mothers has just passed, so her memorial picture took a central place in the set.
Above are pictures of the final set, below still from the show.
Road Trip
We filmed most of the main locations around Tammisaari and Helsinki, but towards the end of the production a miniature crew drove all the way from Helsinki to Narvik and filmed travel material along the way. So our camper van actually did make the whole road trip and Freud the garden gnome was there for the whole journey!
Aapo's Home
After picking up two hitchhiking girls, Janika and Teresa, from the roadside the boys drive to pick up Janika's stuff from her ex-boyfriend Aapo's place. For Aapo's home a semi run down country house was redressed to look more lived in. We also scattered a whole bunch of empty beer cans and take away food containers around the set to make it appear like a man who has just been broken up with lives there. The location also needed to have a bit of a scary vibe so we dressed hunting gear and trophies on the walls.
Above stills from the dressed set. Below stills from the show.
Rakel's Home
After wishing Teresa and Janika good luck on their journey the boys drive onward. They stop at Pietarsaari to crash Rakel's (Leo's ex-girlfriend) party. Most of the dressing for this location was outside in the garden. We put up party tents, balloons, bunting, a small pool, snacks and DJ set.
Above is the dressed yard ready for a party, below are some still from the final material.
Beach / Rest stop
On their way from Rakel's party the boys stop at a rest stop to consider whether to detour via a beach in Oulu or drive straight onward to Sweden. They choose to hit the beach due to Rollo's hangover. The beach required minimal dressing but we created the rest stop on the other end of the shore from scratch.
A worn bench and a sign board were added to an empty beach corner to create a sea side rest stop. Below are stills from the show of the boys at the beach and rest stop.
Nightclub - interior
In Sweden the boys stop at a nightclub, however the interior for this was shot in Helsinki. We added Swedish language labels and posters around the location, and the lighting department helped to create the authentic mood for a nightclub. The white walls of the location were a bit of a concern at first, but with lighting everything came to life.
Below are some stills from the final material.
Car Repair Shop - interior
Towards the end of the journey the camper van breaks down in Norway it is taken to a car repair shop. We filmed the interior of the repair shop in Finland, so it was necessary to dress it to look like Norway. We covered all Finnish signs and added some distinctly Norwegian items as dressing, such as a flag and Norwegian license plates on the cars. I created all the set graphics for this show, in Swedish and Norwegian. This was a bit of a challenge as I only speak moderate Swedish, but the end results served their purpose.
Below are some final shots from the series.
Kristian's Home
Kristian's home was the only home location shot in Norway. Only a miniature crew went to Norway due to covid restrictions, so I had to do the dressing plans solely based on photographs. I instructed my prop master on how to lay out the space and props, and the end result worked great.
