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| yna@yna.co.kr 2023-02-23 09:28:35
SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean director Na Hong-jin’s filmlet “FAITH,” which was filmed with his latest smartphone, has been unveiled.
During the press preview on Wednesday, this 10-minute-long short film, which highlights the story of a man (Ko Jun) who fights against the villains and secures a key that he covets from their boss (Choi Moo-sung). This man, however, is then assassinated by another man (Um Tae-gu), which gives the film an unexpected twist.
The film, which had its premiere at the Dolby Cinema Hall in Megabox COEX, showcased eye-catching action scenes throughout the entire movie as if it had cut out a portion of a blockbuster film and put it on a large screen.
The device Na used to produce this enthralling work was the recently released Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung Electronics flagship smartphone. This phone touts significantly enhanced camera functions, which enables the users to gather more lighting even when filming in unusually darker places.
In addition to the action scenes filmed in the dark, the scenes in which heavy weapons emit strong flames and villains get stuck upside down on the floor while fighting against the main protagonist filled the screen splendidly.
If viewers were not told of the fact that the film was produced with a smartphone, they would not have guessed it was – the scenes were as impressive as those filmed with a normal film camera.
Director Na said, “I did go through tons of test runs, and I tried to comprehend every bit of detail of the smartphone’s camera,” adding that he did not find filming with a smartphone that difficult.
Looking back, he playfully added, “Now we cannot make any excuses on the device,” adding with a smile, “I thought I should not have done it.”
The actors who starred in the film also backed up the director, saying that shooting with a smartphone was not much of a burden.
Veteran actor Choi Moo-sung said, “I actually found it comfortable,” adding, “As I could not see the camera lens while shooting the long shot, I found it even better than shooting with an ordinary film camera.”
The co-starred actor Go Joon also looked back and said, “Listening to what Moo-sung said, I now realize that it was actually comfortable,” explaining, “I also realized that there was more production crew involved while shooting a scene with a smaller camera.”
In fact, there were a whopping 300 names of the production crew listed on the ending credit.
“FAITH” was produced while using the “autofocus” function of the phone, which is deemed as a default setting of the camera app. Since the focus of the subject was automatically set, there were some times when the camera had its focus on a portrait on the wall along with the actors.
“I had difficulty with the camera keep bringing its focus on the portrait, but when the portrait eventually got a hole in the face in the end, the camera no longer had its focus on it. It was a unique experience,” the director added.
In terms of what can be complemented, Na said that the inability to change the camera lens was slightly upsetting and that he wished to have changed them while shooting.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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