Young-Wook Paik Takes Us On A ‘Seoul Tour’

A night on the town with drunken friends can result in a few things – desperate self-reflection, relationship contemplation, embarrassing moments, the seed of an idea for a short film…

OK, whilst most of us probably wake up from such instances with a sore head and a cute anecdote, MassMessAge director Young-Wook Paik instead cultivated a filmic vision which, 11 years later, emerged as ‘Seoul Tour’. The heartfelt tale of three friends who work through emotional strife and personal realisation, the short takes place over the period of a single car-ride home. Taking the characters (and viewers) on a whirlwind tour of the city, the smart performances and professional shoot from Paik and his commercial crew makes for an entertaining and heartfelt watch.

We caught up with Wookie to chat about the film’s inspiration, shooting in Seoul at night and coaxing drunken performances out of actors.

Where did the idea for the film come from?

The idea of the film is loosely based on an event that happened to me 11 years ago. The title ‘Seoul Tour,’ is an inside joke/term I always play on the friend who I had to drive home that night. Me and another friend literally drove around town looking for the friend’s home, while that person was drunk.

You wrote and directed the film, so obviously invested a lot of yourself into it. How long did it take to get up and running? What was the toughest obstacle in the early stages?

It took about six months for the completed script. I had a concept in my head. But it took time filling in the backstory of each character, as well as the development of the story. Once the script was complete, it took another three months of pre-production and casting. The toughest obstacle in the early stages was getting the cast right. Even if there was a good actor, he or she needed to have chemistry with the other actor who they were playing off with.

How did you assemble your cast and crew?

We held a casting call through many routes including acquaintances, talent agencies, and online casting. I worked with my usual production crew who I’ve worked with so many times on commercials. It was a short film with a short budget, but that didn’t stop them from giving their best effort. It was a team effort.

What were your influences?

I always wanted to direct a road movie with two female characters in the lead. There was definitely a ‘Thelma & Louise’ influence in there somewhere. Like any other character-driven story, the two had their own problems and weaknesses. But I didn’t want to create a stereotype where the two characters are tough, just because they’re on the road. They were just regular people with regular relationship problems. But sometimes like real life, they involuntarily had to deal with these issues in one night.

How smoothly did the shoot go? Did you experience any unexpected moments?

The actual shoot was far from smooth. We shot for two and a half days, during late August of 2015. Obviously we didn’t have too much time, since the days were longer and all our shots had to be done at night. The sun only set around 8:00pm and we would only have about 7~8 hours before sunrise again.

On the technical side, because we were shooting night locations and driving around on a process trailer, there was a quite an amount of lighting equipment that had to follow us around. Even for a short film, that didn’t come cheap.

One of the toughest scenes to shoot, was when our three characters get pulled over by the police. Our location manager got permission for us to shoot on a one-way street. What we didn’t anticipate, was that the American Ambassador’s residence was right next door. And security around that particular area is quite tight. We couldn’t do big road blocks like big budget films. But we were later told by our location manager, that the Ambassador was curious about our little project (thinking it was a big budget Korean blockbuster) and drove himself past our location, in disguise, when we were letting cars pass to prevent any traffic congestion. So that was fun to know.

Another tough moment was when we were shooting the ‘almost car accident’ scene. We had two professional stunt drivers do the actual drive-by. But it was still dangerous since the location was a hill area, and there were still real cars coming out right and left from small alleys. Even if we blocked the main road, we couldn’t anticipate the small ones. Seoul is full of these small alleys.

The film is very much set in Korea, but explores pretty universal themes of love and friendship. Were you thinking of a wider audience when you were making it? What did you want audiences to experience whilst watching the film?

I think no matter where it’s based, love and friendship is pretty much a universal subject. I wasn’t necessarily thinking of an international audience when I made the film. But then there’s no reason why an international audience wouldn’t understand it either. I would expect the audience to agree that love is always difficult. But it’s easy to share that same difficulty between friends.

The film really ‘feels’ like the consequences of a night out – the lighting and soundscape really adding to this. How did you achieve the look you were going for?

Personally, I always felt that Seoul is much more dynamic at night. The lights, the sounds… Whether you’re out driving, taking a walk, meeting a friend, there’s always something seductive about it. The look of the film is purely based on how I see my home city. It could be lonely at times, but it could also be loud.

How was the assembly of the film? Did much change in the edit?

I had a meeting with my editor before the shoot. And I usually let the editor have the first say. I like to distance myself from my own project after a rigorous shoot, because I’ve worked on it for so long. I want to approach the edit with a fresh eye when I look at what the editor has done. That being said, the 1st offline edit was very fast-paced. In a negative sense, the edit was choppy. The emotions felt a bit shallow. The editor initially used different takes from the actors’ performances. It made the characters look like simple-minded club junkies.

Was there much else that had to be added in post? How did the soundtrack come together?

I’m quite happy with the overall post-production for the film. But I’m most happy with 1) the colour grading, and 2) music. Telecine was done by ‘Lucid Colour,’ who I always work with in colour grading every one of my commercials. They’re one of the rising stars of colour grading in Korean advertising these days. They understood the mood of the film perfectly and gave my film the look it has now. But most importantly, I’m extremely satisfied with the soundtrack. The entire soundtrack is actually part of a debut album by an up and coming contemporary jazz artist named, ‘Bu Kang-hyun’. I had heard his music months before at a live jazz bar before production. At the time I wasn’t really thinking of using jazz as a soundtrack. While I was editing, it became clear that I needed a voice that represented the night scenery of Seoul.

Are you pleased with the reception the film has received?

Very much especially as it was selected as 'Finalist' at Roma Cinema DOC festival in Italy! To be honest, I’m not one of those Directors who make heavily-themed genre films. Many short films in Korea deal with serious themes or subject matters. For me I’m comfortable telling my own stories about friendships and relationships. I did that with my first short film, ‘One Shot’. A few acquaintances were even kind enough to say that my films feel like a mix of America’s ‘Woody Allen’ and Korea’s ‘Hong Sang-soo’.

What’s up next?

I just finished writing my third short script. It will be the final chapter in a trilogy of shorts that I’m making under the theme, ‘Love, Friendship, and Time’. The first film, ‘One Shot,’ the second, ‘Seoul Tour,’ and the third film as of now is tentatively titled, ‘Scent’. I’m planning to shoot it sometime this year. The first two films are now available to watch on Source. They’re also available to watch on my Vimeo site.

I’m also currently working with another writer to develop a script for a feature, which hopefully I can direct in the near future.