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12.12: The Day, Seoul Spring (Movie, 2023)
12.12: The Day, Seoul Spring (Movie, 2023)
The movie 12.12: The Day is about a coup d'état that occurred in December 1989. In October, the former president was assassinated, prompting an investigation by the military's intelligence agency.
A highly ambitious two-star general was in charge of the agency. He monopolized all the information and relished the power it granted him. The highest-ranking members of the military planned to neutralize him by assigning him to a remote region where he would be unable to exert influence on central politics. In response, the ambitious general decided to stage a coup and seize the nation's highest position for himself. He led a private faction within the military known as Hana Group, which means "one team" in Korean. On the night of December 12, the group gathered at a military post near the presidential office. They demanded that the acting president arrest the chairman of the army, accusing him of involvement in the former president’s assassination.
Over the course of one night, events unfolded at a dizzying pace. 12.12: The Day portrays that frantic night with dramatic intensity. The ambitious general, determined to rule the nation, and the courageous man, determined to protect it, engage in a tense and dramatic struggle throughout the film. In the short term, the ambitious general appears to prevail, but in the long run, the indomitable spirit of the Korean people renders his victory hollow.
All of Us Are Dead (Netflix, Jan 28, 2022)
All of Us Are Dead (Netflix, Jan 28, 2022)
All of Us Are Dead is a zombie genre drama that is no longer uncommon in K-content. The movie 'Train to Busan'(2016) and the drama 'Kingdom'(Season 1, 2; 2017, 2019 respectively) have already successfully dealt with zombies. They assumed a unique situation of a closed train and an old dynasty palace. All of Us Are Dead also depicts the unique stage of high school.
The school represents the compressed image of society. In this drama, some dark aspects of Korean culture are revealed. Living in a relatively small country, Koreans are keen to belong to social groups. Those not involved in such groups must face harsh realities. Powerful groups easily spot the lonely weak. The weak in school society become victims of bullying because of the violent nature of the dictatorship group. Therefore, students fiercely try to be one member of stable social groups. They also study hard to get into college, an entry card into the social class. They follow others while wearing famous brand jumpers and shoes. Sometimes they are indulged in same celebrities, sports stars, and computer games. In this drama, some students divide ranks by calling someone a parasite. Severe school violence eventually leads to the development of a violent virus. Even after becoming a half-zombie, violence comes alive by setting fire to hateful schools and killing each other.
In All of Us Are Dead, the appropriate use of school spaces stands out. In the library, a row of bookshelves becomes a dangerous stepping stone in a desperate escape from zombies and the villain. It took four days to shoot this scene, which created a tense five minutes of the drama. In the broadcasting room, students play an educational CD on the entire school speaker to lure in sound-sensitive zombies. In the classroom, desks and chairs act as effective barriers against zombie attacks. In the music room, instruments are used to confuse zombies. In the school cafeteria, a large table provides a place to hide from zombies. In the gym, steel ball storage boxes create a round hole that survivors can only rely on in the midst of zombies. In addition, the rooftop door dramatically opened by the automatic fire detection system, temporary storage boxes for students' smartphones kept in the teacher's office, a drone in the science lab, food stocked in the music room warehouse with the support of parents for students practicing chorus, a piece of chocolate bar mistakenly thrown away among sports equipment, an elevator shaft in a classroom under construction where the main characters escape from the fire when the bomb goes off are realistic and fit naturally with the storyline. These details owe the original webtoon and its author, Joo Dong-geun, who devoted his life between 2009 and 2011 to create this world without even going out of his house.
One of the reasons why K-zombie dramas are powerful is the presence of many good actors. Even the extras of this drama show great performances. All the Zombies throw their best acts in every scene of this drama. It makes the story come alive. The actors were gathered through an online cafe for aspiring actors just before filming. The potential of instantly recruiting talented actors with just short notice is the power of K-drama. The well-established VFX technology by the company 'Westworld' and the special make-up by the company 'Cell' also add great detail to the scene.
Moreover, the main actors in their early 20s have been skillfully trained through long experience in the industry from their young ages. Almost all of them started their careers long ago, playing child roles in several movies and TV shows. This drama acts as a turning point for them who just become adults, and are not acting as someone's youth but getting their own spotlight. For a long time, K-drama was run around a well-known superstar born in the 1970s. Since they were well known in Asia when the Korean Wave(Hallyu) boom swept the Asian market in the early 2000s, the K-drama of the 2010s relied strongly on their superpower. However, the changed OTT environment, where the K-drama is released worldwide, gave room to try new faces. There is no difference between well-known superstars and new rookies to viewers around the world. Thanks to this, producers have attempted to cast fresh faces at low production costs.
All of Us Are Dead is a well-made drama that combines the expression of social problems condensed in school society, a solid plot that properly uses the school classroom, and the abilities of young actors who are just starting to bloom their careers as independent actors. Next story will probably deal with the situation of war in the ruins where conscious zombies fight evil forces who want to dominate the world using their bizarre power. It is worth waiting for the unfolding of season 2.
Published: Feb 27, 2022
Hellbound (Netflix, Nov 19, 2021)
Hellbound (Netflix, Nov 19, 2021)
Webtoons have become the main source of K-dramas. About 90,000 webtoons per year are serialized on internet platforms in Korea. A famous webtoon artist makes $10 million a year. The average income of a webtoon artist reaches $200 thousand, which is enough to live a relaxed life.
A distinctive feature of webtoons is that they are open to the world like the OTT in dramas. It does not require a sophisticated distribution network, printing machines, warehouses, or stores. Webtoons are uploaded all over the world at the same time. In the United States, the word 'webtoon' was introduced in 2014. Now 14 million users enjoy it every month.
With many readers and no tedious work thanks to convenient computer programs, artists can focus on their creative work. All they need is a computer and themselves. The production cost of creative works is very low compared to movies or dramas. Because of these characteristics, many fresh experiments are attempted on the webtoon platform.
A well-crafted webtoon can easily be turned into a drama. Webtoons have already visualized the characters and scenes. And the tempo of the plot matches the storyboard of the motion picture better than that of novels full of invisible descriptions which are difficult to visualize. In addition, the advanced VFX technology makes it possible to vividly express webtoon drawings.
'Hellbound' released in November 2021, is also based on the original webtoon. The director, Yeon Sang-ho, made two short animations while he was in college in the 1990s. After acting alone, he replaced live-action footage with animation using a technique called rotoscopes.
He developed the story from 2019 that he wanted to tell when he was young. He drew it with his friend as a feature-length webtoon. The webtoon became popular and based on that story, the drama production was decided.
It is a story about a situation in which a messenger of the gods suddenly appears and announces that the person being notified will go to hell on a set date and time for no certain reason. That unrealistic assumption asks us what good and evil mean, what are we doing in this world, and what is the reason for our struggle.
The question started from inside a young man 20 years ago. And thanks to the webtoon, it echoed in many people. And now the global platform gave it another opportunity to reach more people all over the world.
The 'Engine Visual Wave', the VFX production of this drama, made the creature from hell a reality. The artists expressed the unknown energy and smoke flowing through the creature's skin. They wanted to create a being that shows both intimidation and awe, not just a scary character. It's hard to wait to see other webtoons come to life on the screen with such technology and creativity.
Published: Jan 1, 2022
Squid Game (Netflix, Sep 17, 2021)
Squid Game (Netflix, Sep 17, 2021)
The Squid Game released in September 2021 has been a worldwide hit due to its peculiar story, actors, fun childhood games, and epic situation of its characters. Among them, stage sets and props are the main reasons for the popularity of the squid game.
Chae Kyoung-sun is the art director of the Squid Game. Director Chae created a space of childhood memories that contrasted with the brutal battlefield of a survival death game. She transformed the play space in the scenario's text into a reality. It is a playground with colorful rides and a neighborhood with narrow alleys. The giant girl-shaped robot has the face of a friend we've seen a lot, but it's so cruel that it makes the first game shock. The playground where they eat Dalgona Candy is like a real old-fashioned playground, making the fear of failure unrealistic. In the village alleyways, milk delivery bags, exterior porch lanterns, and even honeycomb briquettes were embodied in detail. She used pink, mint, sky blue, and yellow colors for the set, realizing the colors of a fairy tale.
Apart from the space of memories, Director Chae visualized the cold atmosphere of the game arena. The large dormitory space where the participants slept was created by mixing a tunnel and a market. The tiles on the wall are modeled after the white tiles of the road tunnel. And layered beds represent a market where people are piled up like groceries. The guards' pink costume and black mask emphasize their indifference to the participants' feelings.
Besides artwork, VFX also plays an impressive role in the drama. In reality, the piggy bank hanging from the ceiling is not as shiny and transparent as on the screen. Indeed, it has a lot of scratches when the light shines on it. Also, the money inside, which is an important motivation for the participants, is not as visible and golden as it is on the screen.
These things are realized through VFX. The pastel-toned maze stairs that the participants walk up to go to the play area are actually about three stories. But thanks to the VFX it looks like 10 stories or so, making the road to the place of life and death seem long enough. The location where the tug-of-war and stepping-stone games were filmed is actually not that high. However, because VFX has increased the height, viewers can feel a greater sense of fear. The dirt marks made by marbles and the smooth surface of Dalgona Candy are all the result of technology. To those effects, 90 artists and more were put into work in five months.
It is hard to say that such artwork and VFX are possible without the help of a worldwide platform business. The drama costs 21.4 million dollars. In Korea, no broadcasting company can invest this amount of money into one drama without a certain probability of success. But on international streaming platforms, it's not that expensive. By comparison, the movie 'Don't look up' released right after the squid game costs 75 million dollars. From an international platform standpoint, K-drama well-armed with great actors, writers, directors, and artists is worth the investment.
Published: Dec 29, 2021
Kingdom (Netflix, Jan 25, 2019(Season1) / Mar 13, 2020(Season2))
Kingdom (Netflix, Jan 25, 2019(Season1) / Mar 13, 2020(Season2))
A historical drama has been a popular genre in the K-drama industry. Around 130 K-dramas are produced in a year, which shows an increasing trend in terms of the total number. It's because of the gaining reputation of K-drama throughout the world. However, the parade of new historical dramas has been declining these days.
It is analyzed that there are several factors in this symptom. One is that too many stories have been covered so far. Creative fictions, as well as classical works centered on major historical events, have been repeated through various forms, attracting a lot of attention to viewers. In tens of years, Korean people have found the other side of history and its impact on the present thanks to many well-made historical dramas. The other is the difficulty of making historical dramas. You need to construct every set from the scratch to recall an old-day scenery. From the clothes to the accessories, the effort of the staffs to prepare the shooting is more extensive than that of the modern drama. It is well known that the actors and faculties have to be ready to meet lots of troubles in producing historical shows, especially in a hot summer in a cumbersome traditional clothing, and a heavy old hairstyle.
For these reasons, there are few historical dramas and fewer successful ones in the recent 3~4 years compared to the boom of historical dramas in the early 2000s. At that time, there were a bundle of mega-hit historical shows, such as 'King Taejo(2000),' 'Petticoat government(2001),' 'Dae Jang Geum(2003),' 'Damo(2003),' 'Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin(2004),' etc.
In this situation, Netflix Kingdom in 2019 and 2020 is a unique try in a Korean historical drama genre. That's because it introduces an unfamiliar and even unimagined creature in ancient Korea where people lived in literally Asian old fashioned way. That creature is 'Zombi.' All of a sudden, people in the Joseon dynasty in the 16c century, got to have a strange disease. Infected people eagerly want fresh blood, leading them to find another uninfected persons to bite them to make more zombies. The South-Eastern part of the nation was fallen down by the fierce force of the illness.
The crown prince noticed the hidden danger of the infection. The powerful family clan of the nation is trying to conceal the problem and attempts to seize the throne when the King himself gets infected. The crown prince intuited that there is a conspiracy among them. He sneaks in the citadel called Sangju, which is the main passageway connecting the South Eastern Part of the nation and the other side of the country.
A lot of stories are intermingled in this saga, including the political struggle, the strength of human nature confronting untouchable threats, the noble sacrifice of unnamed heroes in this harsh situation. The plot unfolds quickly, and unexpected reversals continually happen, making the viewers get indulged in the fiction, which illuminates the reality and let us look back at ourselves.
Published: Mar 28, 2020
Crash landing on you (tvN, 2019-2020 Winter)
Crash landing on you (tvN, 2019-2020 Winter)
K-drama 'Crash landing on you' proudly present long term best actor, actress, and writer of the industry. The female protagonist, Son Ye-jin(born in 1982), played her first leading role in the drama 'Delicious Proposal' in 2001 when she was 19. After that, she has featured 10 K-dramas, including 'Crash landing on you,' and 17 starred-in movies. Through these works, she vividly embodied various roles. She was a divorced woman, the dear first lover, a female pirate, and the last princess of declining dynasty in the 19th century. She has a talent to fully materialize the exact character in every screen and seamlessly cross the ages regardless of her real age.
The male protagonist, Hyun Bin(Also born in 1982), has been the major actor in the K-drama world since 2002. He starred in 11 films and 9 dramas. He seldom shows off his charisma, but finds his suitable position in harmony with the partners. Because of his tender attitude, the actress or co-starring in his work enlighten themselves. Kim Sun-ah in 'My name is Kim Sam-soon(2005)', Song Hye-kyo in 'World Within(2008)', Ha Ji-won in 'Secret Garden(2010)', Park Shin-hye in 'Memories in Alhambra(2018)' are all beneficiaries of his bright humbleness. For almost 20 years, Hyun Bin hasn't caused any frowning problems. He joined military service in 2011 as a marine corp, which is unusual for top celebrities. In Koream, military service is mandatory for every man regardless of his status or wealth, but the powerful rich used to find a way to avoid it.
The writer, Park Ji-eun(Born in 1976), has created 8 dramas so far. Her 2013 show 'You who came from the star' was the mega-hit throughout the world, especially in Asia, which had a massive contribution to Korean drama to proceed to the world-class contents. With the emerging 4G technology developed at the time, the drama sparked the explosive growth of the OTT service in Asia using the thriving smart-phone industry.
These three distinct figures in K-drama worlds created great fiction in 'Crash Landing on You.' Writer Park proved her gift as a storyteller who set up the odd situation then make it plausible. In her story, the handsome alien came to the earth(You who came from the star), the Mediterranean mermaid appeared in one Korean island(The legend of the blue sea). And in 'Crash landing on you,' she also imagines an absurd situation that a South Korean woman who is paragliding falls to North Korea by a sudden gust, starting her fantastic love tale. Actor Hyun Bin transforms the North Korean army's a little out-dated military uniform into a royal outfit. Of course, his faithful affection to the lover paints the story with the powerful sympathy and have the partner even more adorable. Actress Son Ye-jin is truly like the Korean rich woman who accidentally crashed on the land that is entirely apart from her former life. Her change in mind toward that land and its people is persuasive enough because actress Son is already adept in expressing the multiplicity in human nature.
Recently the propaganda medium of North Korea criticized that drama because 'it pilfers money from the tragedy of national division,' and 'It is full of falsehood and hoax, making it vain and impure.' Maybe that venomous comment demonstrates the anxiety of the impenetrable regime in the fierce popularity where so many people in North Korea enjoy that show in secret.
Published: Mar 13, 2020
When the camellia blossoms(KBS, 2019 Autumn)
When the camellia blossoms(KBS, 2019 Autumn)
K-drama, 'When the camellia blossoms', represents the sweet but unrealistic words in the positive side of your mind. Those are miracle, support, faith, future, dream, and blindness. Dong-baek(Female protagonist) is struggling in life but has little to be happy about except her only son. One day, Yong-sik(Male protagonist) appears before her eyes. Yong-sik seems countrified, rough, but he has a pure affection in his heart. Dong-baek wanted not to draw him into her wounded life. Nevertheless, Yong-sik's affirmative love convinces her to accept her sudden happiness slowly.
Yong-sik treats Dong-baek as the most precious in his small but solid world. Even though the people around him say that she's not worth it, he doesn't wish to listen to them, but keep stepping on his way without any hesitation. Dong-baek says, "I'm the person only to look at the ground when walking on the street. But since he continues to tell me that I'm a wonderful one, it keeps making me walk with my shoulders open.“
Finally, Dong-baek gets the right to smile with her companion on the top hill looking down the beautiful sea. The two lovable supporters to each other also cast a smile to the people who have watched the troublesome way towards that bright moment.
Surely, Koreans like this kind of story. It's somewhat different from the Disney's princess story where the prince is only used as a tool for improving the life of a charming dreamy girl. And it's undoubtedly different from the hero or heroine story in which the protagonist has an overwhelming power after recognizing his or her hidden potential. The people in that sort of K-drama have their own sorrow but try to overcome that. The world is not that easy, but suddenly somebody comes up with a smile to recognize their pain like a miracle. Thanks to that, they acquire new strength to grow their hope as if they are the children who haven't experienced any hurt. The fans of that K-drama genre believe that someday the spring when the camellia blooms will come in their own lives like a miracle.
Published: Mar 13, 2020
Skycastle (JTBC, 2018-2019 Winter)
Skycastle (JTBC, 2018-2019 Winter)
Entering college in Korea is like fighting on a stressful battlefield. As with any other country, there are many things for students to keep in mind not to miss out on every single item on your school record. Therefore, if a mother or consultant helps students manage their schedules, they are more likely to get better results. The 2019 JTBC drama Skycastle is about the parents' desire to raise their children best in this situation. Often, greedy parents are misleading their children, making them fail to find the way they really want. The writer Yoo Hyun-mi is famous for being adept at dealing with social problems. Viewers in Korea, where the issue of children's entrance examination is the most important topic, enthusiastically responded to the writer's awareness of the problem.
Published: Jan 4, 2020
Mr. Sunshine(tvN, 2018 Summer)
Mr. Sunshine(tvN, 2018 Summer)
1. Mr. Sunshine, the splendid story
Mr. Sunshine, a K-Drama, which can be seen on Netflix, is a story about the righteous army in the late Joseon dynasty. It's fiction based on history. That fascinating show is trying to talk about the people who wanted to protect the dying Joseon. Many scenes in that drama cause heartbreaks and tears of viewers. Because it is about the loss of adorable lovers, missed parents, trustworthy friends, and beloved motherland against brutal violence of imperialism. The protagonist, Eugene Choi, is the US marine captain, born in Korea as the son of servants of the lowest rank. He ran away from the cruel master. The lord killed his father right in front of his and his mother's eyes. His mother urgently cried to him, "Go! As far as you can. Never come back," before killing herself to avoid a further humiliating assault. Upon that mournful command, he made it through to the US, growing up as a US citizen. The heroin, Ae-shin Ko, is a noble lady, born among the couple engaging righteous army activity. Even though she didn't know the face of her parents, she found a profound desire in her bloodstream to protect her waning country. She came to be the snipper of a righteous army, meeting Eugene, who had been dispatched as an American consulate to Korea. They are intertwined with each other, eagerly going on to the rough way to save their land of birth. In that procedure, Eugene poignantly asked Ae-shin, "Whose country is that my lady is trying to save? Is there a place the slaves stand? Is there a space the butchers breathe?" However, she couldn't answer that question. She was trying to guard her country as a responsible noble lady. And, at first, it was hard for her to imagine the nation without the ranks or orders.
How was Korea back then, that the two lived in and tried to protect? It was late 19C. What was it like in that era in the far eastern peninsula of Asia. If you take a close look at the background of that time, it would be helpful to understand the details of the drama and different aspects of human lives.
2. 19C's Korea peninsula
Korea had been a 'Land of morning calm' as in the phrase from British painter Arnold Henry Savage Landor's 1895 book, 'Corea or Cho-sen: The Land of the Morning Calm.' The name of 'Joseon' literally means 'Morning Freshness' in Chinese characters. Besides the name itself, geographical characteristic locating at the far east of the continent was a crucial reason that Joseon was 'calm.' Joseon was the place out of the stream of the remnant change sweeping all over the world in the 1800s. Joseon had only a limited perspective regarding the enormous industrial revolution at that time. The steam engine, railroad, telegraph, electricity had smashed the Western hemisphere throughout the entire 19th century. In the Eastern region, Japan realized the drastic jump of the world in 1868, embracing it actively with the Meiji revolution. In a brief period, Japan succeeded in rapidly transforming itself into an industrial nation by accepting Western culture and technology. China also had an opportunity to experience various new thoughts and techniques. However, Korea got its information almost through the books indirectly spilled into Korea from China. Even though the late 1700s scholars tried extremely hard to figure out a way to lead the nation in a new direction, bearing meaningful accomplishments, the efforts could not continue to materialize in the 1800s.
3. Late 19th centuries
The Civil War in the US ended in 1865. And transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 to broaden its views to the Pacific ocean. Aforementioned Meiji reformation in Japan took place in 1868. Japanese people actively took part in change when they realized the tremendous force of American steam vessel and its devastating weapons. The US Navy attacked Joseon(Korean) fortress in 1871, which is the battle depicted in the first episode of Mr. Sunshine. In the drama, the captain of the ship wrote about the Joseon soldiers. They were fighting fiercely under the flag of their general even though they knew the defeat was destined, and the enemy's fire prevailed theirs. The US navy conquered the fortress for only 20 days, requesting the commerce. But the unresponsiveness of Joseon government to that demand made them return home. In the drama, the debate over the diplomatic policy towards America's pressure was described. The king, Gojong, asked the cabinet what kind of country the US is. Then, the father of Gojong, who had not been a king himself, answered. He said that the US is just a conglomerate of small towns across the ocean, which is why the king doesn't need to worry about it. That was not to deceive the king but was the common sense of that era in Joseon's ruling authority.
King Gojong was 19 years old at that time. He was once a powerless royal family far from the throne. When he was a young boy, nobody thought that one day he would be a king. But his father, Daewongun, was an ambitious man. In 1863, at the time his son was only 11 years old, he made a secret promise with the highest royal woman in the palace. The former queen of a demised king of 3 generations ago fulfilled his dream of making his young son a new king. Since his son was too young to take care of national affairs, Joseon's essential policies in the 1863~1873 were determined by Daewongun as the father of a living king. Like the debate scene mentioned above, the king is a sinecure, and what the Daewongun said became a policy.
4. Beginning of tragedy
In the meantime, the power struggles of the world powers over the Korean peninsula intensified. In 1873, King Gojong started his direct rule and remained as the king for a total of 44 years. After he was deposed by Japan in 1907, he had to live a painful life until he died in 1919. In his regime, Japan forced Joseon to open ports in 1876, suppressed people's rebellion by violence in 1894, and assassinated the incumbent queen, King Gojong's spouse, at the palace in 1895. In the end, Japan deprived Joseon of diplomatic rights in 1905 and merged it into a colony in 1910. In this long period, people in Joseon fiercely tried to oust the rapacious enemies. However, the dominant foreign army was not their match from the start. In this desperate situation, it is surprising that the men and women who went into the battle without a single possibility of victory had come out endlessly. They knew they might not win, but felt it their obvious duty to protect the beloved land. Mr. Sunshine is a story about those people. Human spirits are always shining in any situation.
Feb 7, 2020
Goblin(tvN, 2016-2017 Winter)
Goblin(tvN, 2016-2017 Winter)
1. The power of female writers in K-drama
In a K-drama production system, writers are prominent features. Of course, the quality of the script is a decisive factor for the success of any drama. However, especially in an environment where directors, staff, actors, OST musicians, and technicians are so good at their roles, well-made scripts become even more critical. K-drama is no exception here.
Among many Korean drama writers, a parade of women in generation X stand out clearly. Born in the 70s, they spent their youth in the 90s. In the 90s, Korean culture experienced explosive growth in songs, movies, literature, and romantic comics as well as dramas. Those writers who have spent their impressionable age in that era seemed to have developed rich sensitivity in their imagination. Suwan Jin(Born in 1970, Famous work: The Moon Embracing the Sun), Eunhee Kim(1972, Kingdom), Eunsook Kim(1973, Descendants of the Sun), Jaejeong Song(1973, Remembrance of the Alhambra Palace), Jieun Park(1976, You who came from the star), Hong sisters(Jungeun Hong, 1974 and Miran Hong, 1977, Hotel Del Luna) are all in that generation and achieved globalization of Korean dramas. Among them, Eunsook Kim has been leading the trend of K-dramas by producing consecutive hit works since the early 2000s.
2. Eunsook Kim's scripts style
Like most K-dramas, her stories tell a fantasy where people overcome their pain and care for each other warmly. It is a 'fantasy' in the sense that the contradictions of the actual world are not always surmountable, and the people of the real world are cold only to know themselves. But she has consistently made new, persuasive, captivating plots deluding people's minds. She maximizes the virtue of fiction that gives viewers an ability to take a step away and move forward to the uncertain future. Like Cinderella, her heroines were hurt by the world. But they seemed not to care about it much but try to establish her own way. And like the prince on a white horse, the male protagonists are handsome and confident. But they have their sorrow that nobody can see as well. And unlike the old fairy tales, they are a little talkative and sometimes make a cute mistakes. Besides two protagonists, there also exists another attractive couple around them. The love and life of the supporting characters are as pathetic and brilliant as those of the leading roles.
3. 'Goblin' aired in 2016~2017 winter season
Writer Eunsuk Kim's 2017 hit drama 'Goblin' is also on this extension. The tall, good-looking male protagonist has been alive with his sword stuck in his chest for 900 years. Only a goblin bride who can see this sword can pull it and free him from eternal torment. The courageous female protagonist also has her own pain of life and does not know how to escape from that. Those two sad people met by destiny and supported each other.
Like Eunsuk Kim's previous famous dramas, Goblin boasts beautiful OST music adding delicate emotions to the scenes.
For example, when they meet a second time, they exchange warm buckwheat flowers by the cold sea. The chill of the wavy ocean soaks in viewers' hearts while the OST 'Beautiful Life' melody flows.
When she is in the rain, he opens an umbrella. When he is in the suffering with the sword in his chest, only she can recognize that sorrow. OST 'Stay with me' in these scenes give heartbreaking feeling to us.
Even though the world is full of hardship, she always smiles at him. When she blows the candle in longing, he must appear and hold her hands. OST 'I will go to you like the first snow' convinces viewers that happiness will come as if it snows someday.
As mentioned before, this may be probably the sweet fantasy that never comes to realization. Nevertheless, this metaphor comforts our minds. We can hope that one day something like drama may happen in our lives, too. Or not, we can at least dream about it in the world of stories. Above all, this dream is so luscious that we do not want to break it.
Published: Nov 9, 2019
You who came from the stars(SBS, 2013-2014 Winter)
You who came from the stars(SBS, 2013-2014 Winter)
1. Back in 2014
Now we are familiar with the phenomenon in which K-drama is one of the worldwide favored contents. And, many people in 2019 are used to watching dramas through OTT(Over The Top) such as Netflix, Hulu(USA), Viki(Japan), iQIYO(China), Wavve, Watcha Play(Korea). The fast mobile internet, LTE(4G communication network) service, started in 2009 in Scandinavian countries. Around 2014, many people were using LTE, which means that they can watch VODs in a streaming condition. They came to enjoy real-time watching, not listening, while riding subways, buses, and even walking down a street. It was a new environment where the video contents began to be spent on an enormous scale. It's like that the video industry found a new massive market consisted of people's moving time.
As we all know, China has 1 billion populations, 1 in 7 people in the world. Between Feb and May 2014, Chinese liked to watch new released K-Drama 'You who came from the stars.' It was not played on the broadcast television channel, cable TV, or IPTV. Chinese people enjoyed that drama using a new-born technology, OTT(Over-The-Top) service. iQIYO had grown to China's Youtube after having been acquired by China's largest portal, Baidu, in 2012. 'You who came from the stars' marked 2.5 billion views for the 21 episodes in iQIYO alone. In all of China, various OTT services hit a total of 3.7 billion views. In 2014, there were 99 million 4G subscribers existed in China. That number was only 8% of the whole mobile users, but it's more than the entire population of most other countries. Maybe, they started to watch VODs while moving. So, thanks to the newfound time, a sum of 3.7 billion hours could be spent on that one K-drama. That's equivalent to 70 years life-hours of 6,000 people!
2. The effects
'You who came from the stars' was a well-made drama. It boasts charming, pleasant actors/actresses, beautiful scenes, creative subjects, and a convincing plot. Thanks to those advantages, new possibilities opened up for K-dramas. Seamless streaming 4G technology, the emergence of various OTT providers, expanded worldwide market, all are enormous new chances for K-drama productions. They already had developed a slick ability to make good quality dramas with an inexpensive cost. The preoccupy of the networks had become less critical. Instead, real charm and talents had gotten more attention. 'You who came from the stars' was sold to the iQIYI, for 2.3 million dollars in 2014. But, that firm has earned at least 10~20 times profits from its smart investment.
After the massive success of the drama, Korea and other countries came to understand the hidden, immense value of K-drama. Korean production regretted that it had sold its precious asset for a meager price. And, foreign countries realized that K-drama could be a cash-cow as fruitful as the one from Hollywood. Already, 'Gangnam Style' smashed the music market in 2012 via Youtube. Besides, the insatiable thirst for contents of smartphone viewers is continuously asking more sources of new fun. K-drama was ready to outside Korea more vigorously.
3. K-drama in recent five years
Of course, there were a bunch of internationally famous K-dramas before 2014. But the wave after 2014 was more fierce and intensive due to the changed media environment. Each country's broadcasting company couldn't yield its right anymore in choosing the dramas worth being imported. Now, the viewers can decide which show they would like to watch. It was an orderly organized fight before, but now it is a genuinely gladiatorial contest in front of large crowds. In 2016, 'Descendents of the sun' conquered the world territory again. This time, the K-drama production appreciated its high-risen position. It sold the right of the drama with a running guarantee. The more viewers choose to watch that, the more profits the studio can gain. In 2017, K-drama productions earned 4.9 billion dollars by exporting their dramas overseas. Goblin, Stranger, Powerful woman Do Bong Sun, Pretty sister who buys me food, got its popularity. In 2018, that tendency continued. Mr. Sunshine, While you were sleeping, Memory of Alhambra attracted world viewers. In 2019, Kingdom, One spring night, Sky castle, Arthdal chronicles, Man to Man, Hotel Del Luna followed the route.
Nobody knows where the Korean drama spread their wings to fly higher. You who came from the star in 2014 was the early evidence of the emergence of those wings. That drama is now an old one. But it is still frequently mentioned and watched. Now, K-drama itself is becoming 'the one who came from the stars.'
Oct 17, 2019
Korean movie industry
Korean movie industry
1. Korean movie, 50% in domestic market
The market share of Korean films in the domestic screens has fluctuated around 50% for almost two decades. That reached a maximum of 63.4% in 2006 and the lowest bottom of 42.1% in 2009 but has remained solid around 50% since then. In the 2010s, the highest number was 59.7% in 2013, and it has declined a little bit until 2018 marking 50.9%. Anyway, audiences of Korean movies have been more than those of foreign films for eight consecutive years in the domestic market. It is encouraging, given the drastic gap in production costs with Hollywood movies.
2. The case of 2018
Let's take a close look at 2018 market. The movie with the most audience was 'Along with Gods: the two worlds', made in Korea, which attracted 12.3 million viewers. The second most popular movie was the 'Avengers: Infinite War', of course, made in the US, watched by 11.2 million people. 'Along with Gods' was produced with the budge of around 15 million dollars, while Avengers cost roughly 350 million dollars. Koreans like to watch their movie featuring familiar actors and languages, which has been a continuous phenomenon for almost two decades. Of the top 30 movies in 2018, there are as many as 17 Korean films, which had the box office records from 3 million to 7 million viewers.
3. Movie studios in Korea
There are four major movie studios(and many smaller ones) in Korea. Three of them are subsidiaries of large conglomerates, which are CJ E&M(CJ), Lotte cinema(Lotte), Showbox(Orion). The 4th studio, Next Entertainment World(NEW), is an independent studio founded in 2009 by former Showbox staff, gaining its firm position by making a massive success in the big hit K-drama' Descendants of the Sun' (2016) and several other movies. The conglomerate related three studios have their theater chains. Therefore these three companies are capable of all the process of the movie industry, production-distribution-screening. These characteristics of the Korean movie industry causes pros and cons. The market power of Korean movie depends on the ability of these big companies in many parts. It is hard to deny that these intensive production-distribution-screening synergy provides them a strength to compete with the major Hollywood studios. On the contrary, their dominance in the domestic market has a dark aspect. Smaller studios and those who have not these theater systems are having a hard time to find a screen for their movies.
4. Can K-movie go to the world?
Korean movie industries' earnest hope is to broaden their market toward foreign countries. But it's challenging to penetrate another market which has different languages and cultural basis. For example, mentioned above, 'Along with gods,' the most popular one in 2018 is about the journey to the afterlife with various players in the imaginary gods' world. Is that kind of worldview able to be understood by Westerners? Can even Easterners based on the similar cultural environment to Korea fully appreciate the background of that movie deeply rooted in the traditional Korean religion?
Thankfully to the Korean movie, there is now being another trend around the world called 'Webtoon,' which has not yet familiar to many people outside Korea. Webtoon is the cartoon on the web, allowing anybody to read the latest comics from their favorite authors. It first started in Korea and has gaining gradual popularity throughout the world using the smartphone app that everybody in the world can download for free. Unlike the novel, webtoons have pictures which are the main potential to test its adaptability to other cultures. And if it is proved that it worked in different cultures, it can be easily transformed into a movie. Since it already has its own character, images, and simple storyline, which is adequate for 2 hours movie.
Actually, 'Along with gods' itself was produced as a movie based on the famous webtoon with the same name and same characters. If this process can be applied to another country, The potential of Korean film is beyond imagination. Broadly speaking, if other countries make their own movies based on Korean webtoons, the value of Korean content itself can massively increase.
Do you think Korean movie would expand their realm beyond their own market? It's already great to have a 50% domestic market share against Hollywood movies. Can they do more? I suppose it would be possible. K-drama, K-pop, K-movie, K-culture have enormous potential as they influence each other. Let's see what happens next!
Sep 20, 2019
Unique color of K-drama
Unique color of K-drama
1. The rise of K-drama
K-drama is regarded as a cultural phenomenon gaining more and more popularity, which covers all over the world, not just being limited to Asia. Why does K-drama enjoy global affection despite their inherent language barrier, considering that few people in the world can understand and be familiar with Korean?
The first K-drama, which had grown in prominence in foreign countries, appeared in 1997. ‘Star in my heart(1997, MBC)’ was a mega-hit on both Korea and China. After that, a series of drama favored throughout Asia came on the stages once a year including ‘Winter Sonata(2002, KBS)’, ‘Jewel in the Palace(Dae Jang Guem)(2003, MBC)’, ‘Full house(2004, KBS)', ‘Boys over flowers(2009, KBS)’, ‘Secret garden(2010, SBS)’, ‘The Inheritors(2013, SBS)’, ‘You who came from the star(2014, SBS)’, ‘Descendants of the sun(2016, KBS)’, etc..
As you may notice, these dramas were produced by the major broadcasting companies in Korea, not independent studios. KBS, SBS, MBC are acronyms of national-wide broadcasting firms which stand for ‘Korean Broadcasting,’ ‘Seoul Broadcasting,’ ‘Munwha(equivalent culture in Korean word) broadcasting.’
Until the mid-2010s, most K-dramas had been produced by those three large public TV networks. They usually had made drama series of 16~20 episodes each. And there was hardly a concept of ‘season’ which develops successive plot with the same actors and backgrounds from the start to the end. Seasons repeat to come back at a few months or years intervals going so far to the several numbers of seasons. At what number they end those seasons is highly dependent on the popularity of the drama. For example, the famous American TV show ‘Game of Thrones’ ends at season 8 in May 2019, whereas some unpopular drama dropped the curtain quietly just in Season 1.
2. Like one story and many seasons
The reason that K-drama didn’t embrace the season format is that it was so crucial for those broadcasting companies to maximize a profit with advertisements. There were no mid-program ads in Korean TV commercials, but ads before and after a program only existed. If a company had created a drama and aired it, selling all the spots for advertisements at the maximum price is the primary concern of the executives. TV advertisement price always fluctuates according to the audience ratings daily. Therefore the staff who made a drama continuously changed their story, plot, dialogue, actors according to the public response to pull the viewer ratings up as high as possible. The script of drama came just before the shooting schedule with only the amount being able to complete that day of shooting, so these several sheets of text were called ‘Page script.’ In that situation, planning long seasons before shooting is nothing but impossible.
Instead of manufacturing long seasons, all of the K-drama was like the part of one big story, which deals with our human’s most profound mind like love, dream, betrayal, sorrow, revenge, etc. Sometimes it bore only another version of stereotyped cliches, but frequently an intriguing variation of similar subjects emerged and enchanted the people.
In the early 2000s, the world finally came to get its clearest notice about the strength of K -Drama. Its color has gone from just one county’s particular culture to something that’s really inside everybody’s heart.
3. Special features in K-drama
In K-Drama, guns do rarely appear, and drugs are the least things the protagonist likes to have. A cruel murder is not the choice of long-time prepared revenge. Supernatural phenomenons are not overused for the convenience of an author. And the unfamiliar men and women don’t spend the night together on the first day they meet to excite viewers. In K-drama, the loved one can’t be more precious than the right appearance in front of their eyes. No matter how hard the world is, hope is always in the encouragement of a loved one. Some trample others for their benefit, but the good always wins. The protagonist possesses a near-perfect appearance, superior physical, intellectual abilities, and sometimes a cynical, jaded view regarding human beings, but shows faithful love to the only one lover.
Of course, the world is not like that, but we want to live and dream them even in dramas. And many viewers in the world, as well as Korea, like to embrace that fantasy willingly. In addition to that, the actors in those fairy tales are quite good looking! For this reason, each K-drama is like an independent season of the whole gigantic one love story, which is getting to take their unique place in the media world.
4. The change of K-drama
Nowadays, there is undoubtedly a concern about these repetitive storylines, and many K-drama productions are trying to make something new.
After the mid-2010s, the media environment of Korea has changed a lot like many countries, and other influential players have begun to emerge except for three old giants. Cable channels started to make competitive dramas like ‘Incomplete Life(2014, TVN)’, which were somewhat different from the typical K-drama format of love, longing, and triumph. A lot of new subjects and stories have come up from various content sources like webtoons(web cartoons), internet nobles.
Online streaming platforms such as Netflix shifted the ground of K-drama even more. Platform companies that don’t dwell on everyday viewership can pay enormous production costs in advance. Therefore, many K-drama studios finally get a chance to prepare several seasons in the long term. And, that causes to lead a more excellent opportunity to diversify the themes. And of course, these OTT(Over-The-Top) services push more viewers around the world into the more comfortable K-drama watching environment.
How much will K-drama change in the future? It’s thrilling to see that because all we have to do is just waiting and watching new dramas!
Sep 10, 2019
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