How much did it cost to make Padak?
Including about KRW 1 billion (USD $881,000) for the production cost and some more for the P&A (Purchase & Assumptions), a total of KRW 1.25 billion (USD $1.1 million) was spent.
How did you procure production support?
The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) lent us software and workrooms in the form of industry-academy collaboration and supplied us with equipment. The Seoul Business Agency (SBA) helped us with the post-production stage including sound, color adjustment and printing, which cost a lot. The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) also supported us by securing at least 50 screens for a premiere.
The delay of the production maybe ended up giving you more time for preparation though.
I was very careful in my preliminary research. Because pictures are very crucial for animation making, I spent about two years checking facts and collecting data. I also could strengthen my narratives in the meantime. Preparing for the production, I worked at a sushi restaurant and kept a journal about the restaurant. I studied hard to figure out how a cook uses the knife, what the fish in the tank do, how they deliver fish and so on. I think I probably learned enough to open a restaurant myself.
As someone who currently works for Korean animation industry, what do you think about that field?
While Hollywood animation is enjoying a golden age, Korean animation has just started. It is like an infant who can barely work on his own. At the moment, what we need is try to find an optimized system for our circumstance rather than just following Hollywood. We have to be able to grow on our own. Korean animation is very weak in every manner including infrastructure, human resources, investment and other fields, so we should work on the basic factors.
After the consecutive successes of Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild and The King of Pigs, people say that Korean animation is on the right track now. Do you sense positive signs in the production environment?
The environment has greatly improved by fighting against the poor condition of the industry five or six years ago. I would say the soil has become pretty fertile by now and is just starting to bear fruit. It’s common knowledge that an industry grows every ten years. Having suffered a harsh environment, the soil of Korean animation is becoming fertile, more and more. Investors are yet unwilling to invest in animations, but they no more see us as strangers like they did in the past. I recently heard YEUN Sang-ho, the director of The King of Pigs is hopefully going to attract funding from an investment and distribution firm.
What is the most important factor for a Korean animation to be competitive?
The scale of the domestic market is about 300,000 people/admissions. Some say we have to go abroad because the domestic market is too small, but I don’t agree with that. 300,000 is big enough in my opinion. We must first find a breakthrough in the domestic market before looking at the global market. Let’s say an American director makes a drama similar to Jewel in Palace (MBC) and tries to sell it in Korea. Who is going to watch it? In other words, we have to come up with a story and image that fares well in the domestic market first. Then we can try aiming at the foreign market.
Specifically what kind of story and image will they need to make?
How about something with Korea’s typical color and background? It is important to use images exclusive to Korea. I think even an alley with telephone poles and electric wires on the side can strike up Korean emotions very well. Those images can induce sympathy from domestic viewers and offer a new experience to foreign viewers.
Does this opinion have to do with the direction that your company pursues? (LEE founded his own animation studio and Padak is the first animation from the company).
Ultimately, yes. The studio needs to stand at the center of the division of labor to make the production smooth. The polish of a film can be improved only when every process flows smoothly. You can see my animation studio as a frame for the overall process. With the studio, I’m expecting to gain a lot of production know-how from the staff and fluently communicate with them. I didn’t plan to found a studio at first, but I realized later that I might need one to make good animations. As for live action films, sometimes an entire crew can jump in if they like the planning, so it is quite flexible. However, a fixed team works best for an animation. So I figured a studio could control the overall process.
Do you have any plans for another work?
I’m in the middle of treatments for a story that happens outside of the fish tank. It might as well have a robot in it. Actually, Padak is not really aimed at children, but I hope everyone from children to grownups like the next one.