Freer Expression Thru Digital Media
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By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
CHONJU, North Cholla Province - Filmmaker Song Il-gon takes advantage of the freedom that digital filmmaking can provide with his newest - and longest - "take" on storytelling yet.
With one long tracking shot, Song lets the actors play their characters naturally without feeling the presence of the camera to make a 40-minute feature film.
This experimental film, titled "Magician(s)", ("Magician(s).php">The Magician(s)") was made as part of a film project "Short Digital Films by Three Filmmakers", organized by the Sixth Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF). The omnibus film opened the festival, which kicked off Thursday.
The organizing committee provided the three directors - Song from Korea, Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand and Shinya Tsukamoto from Japan - with as much freedom as possible without any restrictions on topic, genre or style. In addition to the creative freedom they were all given, Song says he also owes a lot to digital media.
"Of course, without the support from the festival, it wouldn't have been possible to make the film", Song said during an interview with The Korea Times on Thursday. "But a digital video camera also allowed me to try many different things with fewer crew members and a smaller budget, and at the same time, I was able to depict stronger images and capture a closer look at people and events".
"Simply, it's impossible for you to carry an ordinary film camera freely all the way while you're filming as we did for this movie because they are a lot heavier", Song said smiling.
Song thinks the potential of digital media is "incredible", and with a digital video camera, anyone can now become a filmmaker and express themselves more freely. "Digital media itself can't change the world, but people with stories can now make a difference thanks to the advance in technology", Song said.
The film deals with the ambiguity or mixture of reality and fantasy. It revolves around the members of a music band who gather at a bar to remember their late bandmate who killed herself three years ago. The band, named Magician, broke up after the friend died, and in a way, they are also living as Magician(s) who can no longer do tricks.
Since the actors and crew were not accustomed to the method of shooting in one single take, they all had to endure a number of rehearsals to prepare since one small mistake would require the entire scene to be re-shot from the beginning.
"But I think this gave the actors more chances to think and study their characters and situations and finally they were able to create perfect characters for the movie", Song said.
He also said he realized the potential of digital media when he made a one-minute film for the First Seoul International Media Art Biennale six years ago.
"When I filmed a scene of a girl having a stillborn baby in a toilet with a digital video camera, I was able to learn that the new medium could be a strong tool, not just a cheap way to film something because it can capture more detailed expressions in freer ways", Song said.
The realization later led him to make the digital short film "The Picnic" in 1999, which won him the Grand Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival and made him known to international audiences.
"But I don't want to limit myself to digital media because there are a lot of things that I also want to do with ordinary film cameras. The media are just tools. Interesting stories and the proper way that I can express them with suitable methods are more important", said the director, who also made the mainstream thriller "Spider Forest (Komisup)" in 2004.
Song says he is happy with the results of "Magician(s)" ("Magician(s).php">The Magician(s)") as well as the other two films in the omnibus film project - "Worldly Desires" by Apichatpong and "Haze" by Tsukamoto. Song plans to release a 90-minute version of his short film containing additional stories in the near future in local theaters as well. For his next film, Song is now thinking of making a detective movie set in the 1980s and the present day.
"Worldly Desires" is a sketch about a film crew working in the jungle while Tsukamoto's film is about a man who is stuck in a concrete building. The film festival will run through May 6. For more information about the festival, go to http://www.jiff.or.kr .
Staff Reporter
CHONJU, North Cholla Province - Filmmaker Song Il-gon takes advantage of the freedom that digital filmmaking can provide with his newest - and longest - "take" on storytelling yet.
With one long tracking shot, Song lets the actors play their characters naturally without feeling the presence of the camera to make a 40-minute feature film.
This experimental film, titled "Magician(s)", ("Magician(s).php">The Magician(s)") was made as part of a film project "Short Digital Films by Three Filmmakers", organized by the Sixth Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF). The omnibus film opened the festival, which kicked off Thursday.
The organizing committee provided the three directors - Song from Korea, Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand and Shinya Tsukamoto from Japan - with as much freedom as possible without any restrictions on topic, genre or style. In addition to the creative freedom they were all given, Song says he also owes a lot to digital media.
"Of course, without the support from the festival, it wouldn't have been possible to make the film", Song said during an interview with The Korea Times on Thursday. "But a digital video camera also allowed me to try many different things with fewer crew members and a smaller budget, and at the same time, I was able to depict stronger images and capture a closer look at people and events".
"Simply, it's impossible for you to carry an ordinary film camera freely all the way while you're filming as we did for this movie because they are a lot heavier", Song said smiling.
Song thinks the potential of digital media is "incredible", and with a digital video camera, anyone can now become a filmmaker and express themselves more freely. "Digital media itself can't change the world, but people with stories can now make a difference thanks to the advance in technology", Song said.
The film deals with the ambiguity or mixture of reality and fantasy. It revolves around the members of a music band who gather at a bar to remember their late bandmate who killed herself three years ago. The band, named Magician, broke up after the friend died, and in a way, they are also living as Magician(s) who can no longer do tricks.
Since the actors and crew were not accustomed to the method of shooting in one single take, they all had to endure a number of rehearsals to prepare since one small mistake would require the entire scene to be re-shot from the beginning.
"But I think this gave the actors more chances to think and study their characters and situations and finally they were able to create perfect characters for the movie", Song said.
He also said he realized the potential of digital media when he made a one-minute film for the First Seoul International Media Art Biennale six years ago.
"When I filmed a scene of a girl having a stillborn baby in a toilet with a digital video camera, I was able to learn that the new medium could be a strong tool, not just a cheap way to film something because it can capture more detailed expressions in freer ways", Song said.
The realization later led him to make the digital short film "The Picnic" in 1999, which won him the Grand Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival and made him known to international audiences.
"But I don't want to limit myself to digital media because there are a lot of things that I also want to do with ordinary film cameras. The media are just tools. Interesting stories and the proper way that I can express them with suitable methods are more important", said the director, who also made the mainstream thriller "Spider Forest (Komisup)" in 2004.
Song says he is happy with the results of "Magician(s)" ("Magician(s).php">The Magician(s)") as well as the other two films in the omnibus film project - "Worldly Desires" by Apichatpong and "Haze" by Tsukamoto. Song plans to release a 90-minute version of his short film containing additional stories in the near future in local theaters as well. For his next film, Song is now thinking of making a detective movie set in the 1980s and the present day.
"Worldly Desires" is a sketch about a film crew working in the jungle while Tsukamoto's film is about a man who is stuck in a concrete building. The film festival will run through May 6. For more information about the festival, go to http://www.jiff.or.kr .
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