A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Director Who Dominates OTT

Episode 20

Action 3. Excellent Craftsmanship

Several fifty-thousand-won bills were stuck into the pig’s head brought from Seoul.

Many directors skip the ritual ceremony, calling it a relic of the past, but there are still many directors who believe accidents will happen if they don’t hold the ceremony.

Director Jeong Hee-su was half and half.

He personally didn’t place much meaning on the ritual, but he held it for the sake of other directors, you could say?

The ceremony ended hastily in 20 minutes, and after a few photos, the pig’s head that had fulfilled its role was distributed to the staff.

Usually, the managers who have more leisure time than the staff would devour this kind of thing…

“This is my first time on a set like this.”

As the now-familiar staff member said, our drama has no actor managers.

It’s not that all eight don’t have agencies, but there were no managers doing man-to-man marking.

The funny thing was that the child actors who would start B-team filming in Seoul this afternoon had managers.

With such thoughts, I looked around the Mountain Lodge.

It’s amazingly identical to the Mountain Lodge in the script.

What I intervened in most during the pre-production process wasn’t the script or the acting.

It was the art direction.

So much so that the art director asked if I was going to quit being a CE and become an art director instead.

I was so picky that there was a nerve-wracking moment when the director got upset in the middle…

“It turned out well though, right?”

“Yes. It’s exactly what I had in mind.”

“Learn set art design sometime later. You have talent for it.”

Seeing the final result, the director was also quite satisfied.

The cinematographer isn’t the only artist.

The art director is also an artist who brings the spaces in the script into the world.

If you like the art you’ve created yourself, all the conflicts that occurred during the process are just happenings.

After that, Art Director Jo Tae-seok started speaking casually to me and promised to work together on the next project too.

He made grand promises while drinking, so I recorded it on video.

“I was quite stubborn, but thank you for listening to me.”

“Forget it, man. Honestly, there were times when it was annoying… But this is better. Better than leaving it to us and then bitching later that it’s different from what you thought.”

“Is that so?”

“You had a clear plan, didn’t you? Do you know how many supervisors just talk nonsense?”

Well, I had no choice but to have a plan since I had actually seen it.

The art director who had praised me went inside saying he needed to check the interior, but I continued to look around.

Honestly, it’s a bit surprising.

The Mountain Lodge being similar is because my hands were involved, but what about the natural environment being similar too?

Especially this tree.

The tree in front of the Mountain Lodge where Jeong-hun, the first victim, will hang himself is exactly the same as in my memory.

Does this mean that what I saw was ultimately the result that would come out in reality?

It was when I was seriously pondering this, knowing there was no answer.

“CE Dohyeon-u.”

Director Jeong Hee-su called me.

“Let’s start filming.”

* * *

Jeong Hee-su, 43 years old.

A young director who started with independent films, gained recognition for his directing skills, and achieved success in commercial films.

He’s evaluated as being the most advanced among new directors who debuted in major productions in the last 10 years, but…

The dramas he challenged himself with in between were spectacular failures.

So Accomplice was important to Director Jeong Hee-su too.

If you just have confidence in your skills, it’s okay to fail up to two projects.

But from the third one, people’s expressions become strange.

“Isn’t he missing mass appeal by putting too much effort into directing?”

“He seems unable to exert his power in long formats…”

Three consecutive failed works would provide grounds for suspicions to not end as mere suspicions.

In that sense, when Tivic’s Dohyeon-u pushed forward with ridiculous casting, Jeong Hee-su wanted to withdraw.

If the drama failed because of directing, he would humbly accept it, but if it failed because of casting, it would feel unfair.

What changed Jeong Hee-su’s mind was because of the writers.

He personally liked Gil Sanghun and Go Yeongtae.

Without exaggeration, he thought of them like younger cousins with an age gap.

The three first met at a university student screenplay contest.

Jeong Hee-su originally planned to just judge.

It didn’t make sense for a director of Jeong Hee-su’s caliber to direct university student scripts anyway.

However, he gained great inspiration from Gil Sanghun and Go Yeongtae at the final presentation.

The two analyzed the structure of the script they wrote by comparing it to engineering design, and that approached him in a very attractive way.

Later, sharing drinks privately, he became convinced that these friends would become great writers someday.

Eventually, he impulsively directed the two’s short play, and the result was much more to his liking than expected.

After that, they became comfortable contacts.

Moreover, Gil Sanghun and Go Yeongtae came up with the idea for Accomplice while Jeong Hee-su was drinking and talking about friendships in their forties.

Given this situation, Jeong Hee-su didn’t feel like Accomplice was someone else’s work, and Gil Sanghun and Go Yeongtae naturally demanded Jeong Hee-su’s direction from Tivic.

So even when Dohyeon-u pushed forward with shitty casting, he couldn’t easily say he’d give up.

Jeong Hee-su’s feelings began to change little by little when he received the revised script.

He was helping with filming a junior’s independent movie, so his script check was a bit delayed.

“What the hell is this…”

The moment he saw the script, he got goosebumps.

With just the one element of time loop, it solved all the shortcomings that Accomplice had been having at once.

The problem was what came next.

“CE Dohyeon-u is really a genius!”

“He gave us all the ideas, you know?”

“There was also this story about past recollections…”

“CE Do said…”

“In this part too…”

Gil Sanghun and Go Yeongtae had become devotees of Dohyeon-u.

In Jeong Hee-su’s eyes, that didn’t look very good.

How many years had these two wasted being tied to Tivic?

How many pages did they have to throw away every time new CEs were assigned?

By this point, it was time for the trial and error to end, and time for good ideas to pop up.

Could Dohyeon-u have done that alone?

It was thanks to the company’s human resources and the scripts the two writers had written so far serving as references.

But how much gaslighting must he have done for the writers to firmly believe that all of this was entirely thanks to Dohyeon-u.

Before he knew it, Dohyeon-u in Jeong Hee-su’s mind had become an old monster who manipulated young children at will.

Furthermore.

‘These bastards, they weren’t just calling me a genius?’

He wouldn’t admit it himself, but he also felt like he’d been betrayed by his nephews.

Of course, these feelings of Jeong Hee-su faded considerably during the script reading.

“Let’s put away the script and try it.”

Dohyeon-u’s ability to instantly draw deep immersion from the actors was very impressive.

Even when communicating later to finalize the script, he thought he was a director who knew something.

Nevertheless, since some prejudice still remained…

Half as a test, and half with mischievous intent, he threw out the question.

“Something about the acting feels a bit flat, doesn’t it?”

In fact, it was natural for inexperienced actors’ performances to be off during the first shoot.

It often happens to experienced actors too.

That’s why the first Gangwon-do location shoot was deliberately focused on the first part of the script.

Originally, the call sheet would aim to minimize costs regardless of the script’s chronological order, but this was a call sheet that considered the less experienced actors.

Therefore, the question Jeong Hee-su posed had no answer.

There was nothing to do but repeat retakes over and over until the actors got used to it.

But…

“Wait a moment. Let me go talk to the actors.”

Dohyeon-u went over and whispered a few words.

“…Cut! Okay!”

An okay came out in one take.

The acting was absurdly clean.

What was even more absurd was what Dohyeon-u said when he came over.

“I could tell since I’ve been watching for the past few months… but I have no idea how you knew, Director. You’re amazing.”

No, what?

What did I know?

But I couldn’t bring myself to ask, so I cleared my throat.

“Ahem, thanks for the help.”

“Not at all. If you notice anything else, please feel free to tell me. I know the actors’ habits better, after all.”

Habits?

What kind of habits?

But Dohyeon-u left, and Jeong Hee-su couldn’t find out the answer.

Should I call it fortunate?

The two long takes that followed were okay in one shot without any problems.

The problem arose when shooting the bust shots.

“Hmm…”

The acting itself was excellent, but something felt a bit awkward.

To the naked eye, I couldn’t tell the difference between the full shot and bust shot, but the output through the camera lens was subtly different.

In cases like this, nine times out of ten, the camera is right.

‘Is it a shoulder line issue?’

Unlike movies, shoulder lines are very important in dramas.

This was because in close-up scenes, shoulder lines were what affected viewers the most after faces.

While thinking about this, Dohyeon-u caught my eye.

His face looked like he was waiting for something.

‘Could it be…?’

Jeong Hee-su, who had been pretending to think for a moment, called Dohyeon-u.

“CE Do.”

“Yes. I’ll convey your opinion to the actors, Director.”

But I didn’t say anything?

However, the result was the same.

Dohyeon-u went to the actors and whispered something, and soon a satisfying cut came out.

At the okay call, Dohyeon-u smiled broadly.

“You looked up the actors’ independent films, didn’t you? What just happened couldn’t be figured out by instinct alone.”

“Uh, well. That’s right.”

“You really are amazing.”

What?

Is he mocking me right now?

But Dohyeon-u’s face was too bright for that, and he looked satisfied.

After Dohyeon-u left, Jeong Hee-su had no choice but to use his ultimate technique.

It was the Sound Director summoning technique.

“Director Oh?”

“Yes.”

“Could you extract the conversation CE Do had with the actors separately? I’m a bit worried about the directing approach. Even if the results were good, the process might be different.”

I couldn’t hear it from the distance, but the microphone would have picked it up.

The Sound Director was someone who had worked with Jeong Hee-su before.

Which meant they could joke around.

“Director Jeong. Honestly, you don’t know.”

“…What?”

“What CE Do said.”

“Ha, really. What do you take me for.”

Hee-su. 43 years old.

It was an age when being honest was difficult.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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