www.korea.net

More documents

Recommendations

Info

INTERVIEW KOREAN ARTISTS TO LEAD CG BLOCKBUSTERS Anyone who has been paying close attention to the end credits of Hollywood blockbusters for the past several years will have noticed the occasional Korean name scroll by. Today, there are actually quite a few Korean VFX artists working on some of Hollywood’s top productions and at some of America’s leading studios. These talented men and women represent the future of the Korean VFX industry. Koreans had a hand in Avatar (2009), James Cameron’s epic 3D motion picture that has fundamentally altered the movie industry. The list includes lighting technical director Jung Byung-gun(above), digital modelers Chang Jung-min and Lo Eung-ho, senior facial modeler Lee Jin-woo, modeler Lee Sun-jin, visual effects artist Im Chang-eui, FX ATD Sean Lee, motion editor Kim Ki-hyun and senior animator Park Jee-young. A total of nine Korean artists were involved in the historic cinematic project, two of whom sat down to talk with KOREA about their lives and the VFX industry. Jung Byung-gun 12 KOREA FEBRUARY 2010
Q How did you end up working overseas? A Jung Byung-gun After graduating from Hongik University with a degree in Department of Art Studies, I enrolled at the Academy of Art University (AAU) in San Francisco in 1996. I then worked on three feature films and one short animation at the Walt Disney Studios before landing a job at Weta Digital. In the past, I’ve also worked for Paramount Studios and Sony Computer Entertainment, the maker of the Sony PlayStation. Early on in my career I spent three or four years in the field of game cinematics, working for companies like SNK, Activision and Sony. Park Jee-young In character animation at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), I started work at an indie movie production company as a 2D key animator. At the time, many 2D animators were transitioning into 3D, and I was no exception. Three years ago, I saw an announcement saying James Cameron’s Avatar was going into preproduction, and, of course, that’s when I applied to join Weta’s animation team. 20 th Century Fox Korea Q What exactly did you do on Avatar? A Jung In November 2008, for the first eight months of production, I worked as a texture artist, developing colors and textures for CG character backgrounds and objects, and then for the last four months I worked as a lighting technical director, designing the lighting for scenes to create the final images. This transition between departments enabled me to experience a wider range of the movie’s production process. Park I worked on Avatar as a senior animator. All of these creatures, none of which exist in the real world, were created from scratch through nothing but animation. Q What did you think was special when you first saw how Hollywood productions were made and became a part of it? A Park The first things that come to mind are the massive amounts of capital investment, the systematic production pipeline in place, and the abundance of trained professionals. A particular focus is placed on preproduction and planning, during which an efficient production plan is drawn up, while developing the necessary software and technologies and creating a coherent storyline at the same time. Such thorough preparation, combined with an efficient work environment, saves a lot of time. During the preproduction of Avatar, which lasted several years, James Cameron and 20 th Century Fox developed a new camera technology called the Pace Fusion 3D camera system. Another strength of the Hollywood VFX industry is that there are so many artists who know how to use all these new technologies really well. Q How do you think Korea’s VFX technology is coming along? A Park Thanks to Korea’s soaring interest in VFX and how it’s revitalizing the entertainment industry, investment in VFX movies is growing every year and movies out there are becoming more and more expressive. The use of VFX is only going to increase in Korea in the future. It’s also noteworthy that there are a growing number of professionals who are well-versed in this field. Q What do you think about Korea’s intention to take its VFX overseas? A Jung It’s great that Korean VFX companies are collaborating on overseas projects and making inroads in other markets, and they should definitely keep up with this. It’s difficult to expect the Korean VFX industry to grow if companies just target the limited domestic market with its small number of moviegoers. Producers in Hollywood are turning their attention outside the country to cut costs. So as long as you have solid qualifications and a good command of English, there’s a good chance you can sign some kind of a deal with an overseas company for VFX or animation production. We have to figure out what our strengths and weaknesses are, and deal with the particular problems we face. Korea has a domestic movie and game market base, and a professional workforce. On the other hand, there is a lack of experts with high-end production experience and a language barrier in place. You also have to keep in mind that most of the countries doing VFX and animation work for the US right now are English-speaking ones like Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, India and the UK. KOREA FEBRUARY 2010 13
Page 1 and 2: FEBRUARY 2010 FEBRUARY 2010 www.kor
Page 3 and 4: PRELUDE The Beauty of Korea Located
Page 5 and 6: TRAVEL 26 Inje, which lies on the e
Page 7 and 8: When a massive tsunami approached t
Page 9 and 10: Joon-ho’s The Host (2006) was als
Page 11 and 12: efore after before after Still and
Page 13: other such movies, with companies a
Page 17 and 18: Zip Cinema Stills from the recently
Page 19 and 20: DEEP INTO THE WORLD OF EVERYDAY LIF
Page 21 and 22: into obscurity again, the point is
Page 23 and 24: THE ART OF SHARING A cafe can serve
Page 25 and 26: As soon as “Art for Life” opene
Page 27 and 28: Art for Life COOKING CULTURE One of
Page 29 and 30: The Road to Baekdamsa temple
Page 32 and 33: 18 KOREA FEBRUARY 2010
Page 34 and 35: MY KOREA Singin’ in the ROOM ----
Page 36 and 37: less singing at one. After much pro
Page 38 and 39: SUMMIT DIPLOMACY KOREA TO BUILD NUC
Page 40 and 41: NEW REACTOR TECHNOLOGY The APR 1400
Page 42 and 43: GLOBAL KOREA INDIA’S MAMMOTH MARK
Page 44 and 45: KOREA-INDIA BILATERAL TRADE (Unit:
Page 46 and 47: NOW IN KOREA
Page 48 and 49: AP Photo / The Canadian Press, Darr
Page 50: while holding hands with his sons C

www.korea.net

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?