The Shooting of Gojijeon

Translated by : Wid Ko Soo

via : today.movie

Based on the address, it’s Hamyang San 61 Street. Turned out it’s not that easy to find. But then we found a temporary milestone with ‘Gojijeon : shooting scene' has written on it. After a few milestones over the desolate mountain road was steep and dangerous. Gojijeon has been shooting here, in one of the cultivation land of White Rock Mountain. The wildfires burned about 25ha of the forest. The article reported this incident as "The forest fire did not occur very often, but if the fire spread it would be dangerous so  more than 80 people over 40 households in surrounding villages evacuated to a nearby village, fortunately no fatalities."

They’re busy filming the scene, we can hear Director Hoon’s voice.  Jo Geun Han’s quiet tone voice was commanding the scene.

Mountain residents lived in Sanya during filming days of Gojijeon, a war movie about the battle of highlands in South Korea, and the hills seemed to be an open set. Subsequently, we had to endure the bombardment of grenades . The mountains look different  when war swept through South Korea. ‘Gojijeon’ is about a war which started in July 1951. North and South Korea began the truce talks to end the war.

‘Gojijeon’ is focusing the story on the battle of the two soldiers negotiated a truce for two years to recapture a notice of the North. Before the war, Gim Soo Hyeok (Ko Soo) was a timid man and undergoing an extremely difficult battle he was getting notices to adapt as the war goes on the feature. Another man, his longtime friend, Gan Geun Pyo (Sin Ha Kyun) means everything to him. A North Korean lady is set between those two men and another person, including five other characters in ‘Gojijeon’.

 

Special effects used to record the buried bomb. The explosion point and around were connected with a red flag. Subsequently the positions for several staff members  were noted. In one day, we can hear about 5 or 6 explosions and the machine gun fired to emerge in the scene. They’re trying to recapture the People's Army and the armed forces in the film.  Staff announced the start of shooting to actors and reiterated. “Calling the paramedics! Screaming as hard as you can!” 3 cameras were ready to shoot at the same time. The dirt bounced, the screaming was rampant, the crew fell in so many places. Bullets were flying everywhere. The staff members cried, “Are you injured, sir?” over and over again. Then I heard on a radio transmission that the martial arts director Sin Jaem Yeong is OK and he said, “Thank you”.

The actors called by director Jang Hoon to check on the monitor. They are Gim Soo Hyeok (Ko Soo), Gan Geun Pyo (Sin Ha Kyun), Yang Hyo Sam (Go Jang Seok), Oh Gi Young (Ryu Seung Sou), Si Nil Young (Yi Je Hoon), and Nam Seong Ssik (Private Yi). All dressed in soiled uniforms with dust were covering their face.

During recess, the actors and actresses were discusing about each other’s name. ‘What is the name that you really want’ was the topic.

-skipped-

‘Gojijeon’ is about the realistic form of shooting and action style. Sin Jaem Yeong the martial arts director said, “We’re giving the priority to feel the effects of the action concept first,” he explained. "When we was shot, opened fire is needed on purpose to show the effects of all kind of behavior, so the action is great. They can not fight, but fight may not have thought. In those circumstances, everyone is gonna feel the fear of murder.”

Director Jang Hoon said that cinematic style of Gojijeon is ‘clear- style’. "I’ve talked many times with the director of photography Kim Woo Hyeong. We love the tone of war movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’ for ‘Gojijeon’. Since both have been threw a monotone, ‘Gojijeon’ has the color of dirt, and the sky was going to implement the colors. Our goal is to make ‘Gojijeon’ real, so it does not look like an action movie. It’s a war movie, but there are some scenes to make you laugh, and a little sad scene to the audience.”

Then it’s three o'clock and the weather was getting cold. All staff members were busy. When the sun rises, the full sunlight was enough to take close-ups of the characters. Production Director Jeong Won Chan usually gathered at 5 am to clean up after the sun sets, the company said. They started to shoot again, this time with more explotions than before. Soldiers fell from a tree. The screams of the crew went off even more dramatically. Advanced shot to catch the falling sun was over only after about 30 minutes. The staff looks at the installation of lights descended from the mountain. The entire recording crew of ‘Gojijeon’ are about 100 staffs. After a few shoots in tougher areas, ‘Gojijeon’ is expected to finish the filming in the arrival of spring around mid-February 2011.