Three high-school graduates enter mainstream Korean society, but don't quite fit in with tragic/comic consequences.

ELEGANT SIMPLICITY

Comments by the Director of Photography, Peter Gray

In a strange way, this film was a unique challenge. Not because of its complexity, but rather because of its beautiful cinematic "simplicity". Influenced by the long tradition of Korean art and painting, the director wanted to work with a very wide canvas. Also with a somewhat distant perspective of the detached observer. Almost every shot in the movie is a wide shot, and rarely with any camera movement. This presents a unique challenge for the director and the D.P., as the conventions of editing make the compilation of a long series of wide shots a very difficult task indeed. How to avoid those undesirable jump cuts? The mise-en-scène was a mini work-of-art in itself ...... to ensure the editing works smoothly and elegantly.

So this scenario, combined with some of the smallest rooms I've ever had to work in, made this a doubly challenging proposition. The director insisted on using real locations in the sprawling, low-income suburbs of Seoul, and this means shooting in tiny, tiny rooms and corridors (certainly "not big enough to swing a cat in", as the Australian expression goes). But I love a challenge to fuel the creative juices. I think I worked just as hard on the cinematography on this project, as on any production. It is not about flashy cinematography, but creating the right mood and context to tell the story as powerfully and interestingly as possible.

All the director's instincts were absolutely correct for the subject matter we were portraying. It is very much a slice of Korean contemporary life, and the movie had to look and feel very, very "real". The resulting drama has an almost documentary feel. It focuses on the flaws in the social veneer, often in a somewhat comic fashion. Although the story is ultimately a tragedy ..... it offers constructive criticism with many wider lessons to be learnt.

I shot the entire film with the finest grained film stock that I thought I could get away with, namely Eastman EXR 5248 (E.I. 100 Tungsten and 64 Daylight). This includes numerous large night-exterior scenes. It was a gamble, but it worked out very well. I love the very clean bright look of this film, which is a departure from the more film noir lighting style that I am better known for.

I also shot with a zoom lens (Panavision Primo (4x) Zoom, 17.5mm to 75mm (T2.3), using it as a variable prime lens. This was a case of teaching an old dog new tricks, and I was very happy with this approach. This particular zoom is as fast as a lot of primes lenses, and it saves considerable time by making each set up quicker and easier to establish and lock down. No lens changes ...... that's great!

Apparently, I had the great honor of being the first foreign Director of Photography to ever be invited to shoot a feature film in Korea. It is hard to believe this could really be the case in such a long and illustrious film industry, but I'm told it was "a first". Others have followed, including the renowned Christopher Doyle (for "Motel Cactus"), who's work is greatly respected in that part of the world.

Also of special interest, this was the debut feature project for Korea's only woman feature-film director working in the industry at the time. This opened doors for other women directors to follow in her footsteps. Congratulations!!!!

Award: NETPAK AWARD - "Asian Critics Award",
Pusan International Film Festival, Korea, 1996

Peter Gray
(near Los Angeles)
P.O. Box 5132
Pine Mountain Club, CA 93222
United States of America
telephone: +1(661) 242-1234

dp@petergray.org