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| yna@yna.co.kr 2023-03-01 16:04:12
SEOUL, Mar. 1 (Yonhap) -- When a girl group member who participated in the survival audition receives the lowest grade, she cannot overcome her anger and runs away from the set.
Another participant raises her middle finger toward other participants, and utters abusive language when things do not go her way during the mission.
If you are a member of a girl group, you will be exposed to only pretty words on your smiling face to manage your image, but unexpected behavior continues in Kakao Entertainment's variety show "GIRL’S RE:VERSE," which has been released sequentially since last month.
“GIRL’S RE:VERSE” is a virtual survival variety show where 30 girl group members compete for opportunities to debut as idols in the virtual world. Participants thoroughly hide their identity and immerse themselves in 2D characters they created using VR (virtual reality) technology.
Producer Son Soo-jung and Cho Joo-yeon, who co-directed the program, said in a video interview on Tuesday, "I wanted to break my prejudice against idols and show each idol member that has been hidden in the broadcast."
Participants sing, dance, and exude talent with characters in their own worldview. Looking at the characters, there are a variety of characters, including the 431-year-old witch "Zzaru," the fallen angel "Ujewel," “RIEN” the first creature on the planet Gliese-832c, and the singer-songwriter "Jipsunhui."
Many people know the concept of metaverse (three-dimensional virtual world), but the program using it is still unfamiliar to viewers, so lowering the entry barrier to the program was an important task. Putting Pengsoo, a character familiar to everyone, into the metaverse was also a device to lower the entry barrier.
Producer Son said, "I also thought that people might not like the program itself because it was unfamiliar," adding, "The goal was to make it 'unconditionally familiar." In order to do that, I thought the cast should fully immerse themselves in the character," she said.
"We put a lot of effort into creating the characters of each idol member participating in the program," she said. "The production team and the cast talked a lot about where they were born and what their favorite food and hobbies were."
Producer Cho also said, "I carefully created the characters through dozens of discussions with the cast a day," adding, "We also selected a company that implements the characters and the space they live in, paying a lot of attention not to increase the burden of work."
"GIRL’S RE:VERSE" was not as popular as popular variety shows on terrestrial networks, but fans of each character appeared among those who liked the program. Above all, the free-spirited appearance of idol members through their characters was favorable.
Producer Cho said, "Idol members use honorifics when to those who are older in the same group, but in “GIRL’S RE:VERSE,” characters boldly spoke informally to each other, saying, 'Hi, I'm ○○,'" adding, "I thought this is what it is to show off each other's charm without considering class."
Producer Son said, "If the goal was to show that the cast participating in the program have their own charm and are living with passion, I think we achieved 90 percent," adding, "In an interview after the last filming, the cast shared the words, 'I did everything I couldn't show in reality'."
“GIRL’S RE:VERSE” is meaningful in that it opened the prelude to metaverse entertainment. The final five selected as the debut group are scheduled to release a new song in May.
However, technical limitations still exist. The production team said it was difficult to implement the small movements of the cast like an actual idol stage.
Producer Son said, "There are still technical limitations to expressing the fine movements of the muscles of the human body, so we showed performance in music videos rather than on stage," adding, "We tried things that we couldn't show on the stage rather than showing how well the cast sings and dances."
Producer Cho said, "The technical part is improving day by day, so if these parts are supplemented, we will be able to create higher-quality content."
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Yunhee Cho.)
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