Korean Director Oh's Animation Draws Attentions in the U.S.
Published on | Source
The magical world of animation, once it captures a person's attention, can linger inside the heart far longer than expected. The middle-aged generation remembers reading comic books, but the younger generations can enjoy high-definition animation.
In America, the genre is not limited to children given the number of animation channels, with family-oriented series like "The Simpsons" and "Spongebob Squarepants".
The award winning animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (also known as "Avatar: The Legend of Aang"), has an ethnic Korean as supervising director, Oh Seung-hyun. The 35-year-old has under him three production directors, a storyboard artist, a character designer and other dozens of other staff members.
The story is based on the Asian concept of the four elements of water, air, earth and fire. The world is comprised of Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. When the Fire Nation takes over the whole realm, the boy Avatar of the Air Nomads saves the day with his friends and restores the balance of air, water, fire and earth. The storyline continues to progress like a grand epic from episodes one through 60.
"Avatar" has been sold to more than 70 nations in Europe and Asia. Oh was also named best director at the Genesis Awards last year. His series is being filmed into a motion picture trilogy by Paramount Pictures under the guidance of M. Night Shyamalan, director of the Hollywood blockbuster, "The Sixth Sense". The live-action trilogy will be filmed over the next three years, and will have a scale rivaling those of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings.
Oh says he long dreamt of a career in drawing. After graduating from high school, he applied to many departments of industrial design, only to see all the doors slammed in his face. Life was hard, as he was unable to enter college and had difficulty getting a job as employers kept asking him which school he attended.
Then he heard that no such discrimination exists in animation. So in 1992, he entered an animation production office in the Seoul business district of Gangnam. Oh had been an animation lover since he was young, so he jumped at the chance to work in the industry. He spent many nights at an art studio, with its dark floor covered with pencil marks. He earned a meager monthly wage of 89,000 won (95 U.S. dollars) for a year.
"It was my passion for animation that kept me going", he said when asked if he ever felt like quitting. "I told myself that the moment I gave up, I'd go downhill from there. I pulled myself together and pledged to see how my work pays off in the end".
He says he once used money he would have spent on food to buy a book on human anatomy to enhance his drawing ability. In 2002 -- ten years after he first entered the animation field -- he produced his first full-length animated feature "Wonderful Days", in which he took charge of the storyboard, concept design and editing. The film used photo-realistic computer-generated images with cell-animated characters, and it left him even hungrier for more experience.
In 2003, he left for Japan to study for a year under Kawamori Shoji, a renowned Japanese anime creator and designer. Kawamori is famous for a number of popular Japanese animated series, including "Macross" and "The Vision of Escaflowne". Oh was also helped by a foreign internship from the Korea Culture and Contents Agency and funding for three months.
The U.S. children's cable channel Nickelodeon offered Oh a full-time position in 2005, but then suffered a bout of dumb luck. Nickelodeon executives left out a few necessary documents he needed to enter the United States, which led to visa complications. Oh had to wait an entire year before finally going to California in 2006.
The first thing Oh did was to improve his English, which was far from easy. The last time he saw any semblance of the language was in high school, but he pushed on nonetheless.
"The first six months were hell", he said. "I had to hold meetings a number of times every day at the Burbank studio, and I could hardly exchange ideas. When the pressure grew almost unbearable, my English just improved".
"I work five days a week and receive about 3,000 U.S. dollars a week", he says without qualm when asked about his income, which translates to a healthy 150,000 dollars a year.
So what advice does he have for people interested in animation, or any other field? Oh speaks after a bit of hesitation.
"The door will open when you're ready to fully throw yourself into your work", he said. "You won't go far if you're ready to run away in the face of obstacles. No job is too tough if you have the passion to see it to the end. It's that passion that drives you on".
"Everyone is born with a light of their own. The purpose of living is to exert that potential and help those who cannot".
By Yoon Hee-sang
Korean Public Relations Officer
Los Angeles, CA
In America, the genre is not limited to children given the number of animation channels, with family-oriented series like "The Simpsons" and "Spongebob Squarepants".
The award winning animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (also known as "Avatar: The Legend of Aang"), has an ethnic Korean as supervising director, Oh Seung-hyun. The 35-year-old has under him three production directors, a storyboard artist, a character designer and other dozens of other staff members.
The story is based on the Asian concept of the four elements of water, air, earth and fire. The world is comprised of Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. When the Fire Nation takes over the whole realm, the boy Avatar of the Air Nomads saves the day with his friends and restores the balance of air, water, fire and earth. The storyline continues to progress like a grand epic from episodes one through 60.
"Avatar" has been sold to more than 70 nations in Europe and Asia. Oh was also named best director at the Genesis Awards last year. His series is being filmed into a motion picture trilogy by Paramount Pictures under the guidance of M. Night Shyamalan, director of the Hollywood blockbuster, "The Sixth Sense". The live-action trilogy will be filmed over the next three years, and will have a scale rivaling those of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings.
Oh says he long dreamt of a career in drawing. After graduating from high school, he applied to many departments of industrial design, only to see all the doors slammed in his face. Life was hard, as he was unable to enter college and had difficulty getting a job as employers kept asking him which school he attended.
Then he heard that no such discrimination exists in animation. So in 1992, he entered an animation production office in the Seoul business district of Gangnam. Oh had been an animation lover since he was young, so he jumped at the chance to work in the industry. He spent many nights at an art studio, with its dark floor covered with pencil marks. He earned a meager monthly wage of 89,000 won (95 U.S. dollars) for a year.
"It was my passion for animation that kept me going", he said when asked if he ever felt like quitting. "I told myself that the moment I gave up, I'd go downhill from there. I pulled myself together and pledged to see how my work pays off in the end".
He says he once used money he would have spent on food to buy a book on human anatomy to enhance his drawing ability. In 2002 -- ten years after he first entered the animation field -- he produced his first full-length animated feature "Wonderful Days", in which he took charge of the storyboard, concept design and editing. The film used photo-realistic computer-generated images with cell-animated characters, and it left him even hungrier for more experience.
In 2003, he left for Japan to study for a year under Kawamori Shoji, a renowned Japanese anime creator and designer. Kawamori is famous for a number of popular Japanese animated series, including "Macross" and "The Vision of Escaflowne". Oh was also helped by a foreign internship from the Korea Culture and Contents Agency and funding for three months.
The U.S. children's cable channel Nickelodeon offered Oh a full-time position in 2005, but then suffered a bout of dumb luck. Nickelodeon executives left out a few necessary documents he needed to enter the United States, which led to visa complications. Oh had to wait an entire year before finally going to California in 2006.
The first thing Oh did was to improve his English, which was far from easy. The last time he saw any semblance of the language was in high school, but he pushed on nonetheless.
"The first six months were hell", he said. "I had to hold meetings a number of times every day at the Burbank studio, and I could hardly exchange ideas. When the pressure grew almost unbearable, my English just improved".
"I work five days a week and receive about 3,000 U.S. dollars a week", he says without qualm when asked about his income, which translates to a healthy 150,000 dollars a year.
So what advice does he have for people interested in animation, or any other field? Oh speaks after a bit of hesitation.
"The door will open when you're ready to fully throw yourself into your work", he said. "You won't go far if you're ready to run away in the face of obstacles. No job is too tough if you have the passion to see it to the end. It's that passion that drives you on".
"Everyone is born with a light of their own. The purpose of living is to exert that potential and help those who cannot".
By Yoon Hee-sang
Korean Public Relations Officer
Los Angeles, CA
Advertisement