The Korean period blockbuster "Roaring Currents"
continues to up the local box-office ante.
It′s the most-watched movie in Korean film
history, smashing through the 16 million-viewer
mark on Sunday.
And as our Kwon Soa reports... part of its
success can be attributed to its visual effects.
The intense naval combat scene depicting the
historic battle of Myeongnyang with hundreds
of vessels was, in reality, made using just
four ships during filming.
The backdrop of 330 Japanese ships charging
vigorously along with hundreds of soldiers
were brought to life with sophisticated 3D
computer graphics.
Even the sea waves are fake.
The battle scene takes up half of the movie,
and visual effects were used in over 90 percent
of the filmmaking process.
"We had over 60 minutes of a battle scene
to depict, with more than 300 vessels, so
it is no exaggeration to say that almost all
of the scenes were made using special effects."
The swirling torrents crashing against the
ships and other water movements, in particular,
were hard to create and they had to make use
of what was available.
For the speed of the water or direction of
the wind,... things that were impossible to
digitalize, they worked from experience.
"With the high level of visual effects being
stressed in making movies, we had a long extensive
discussion about solving the technical obstacles.
I think we ended up with a satisfactory result."
Korean digital technology is slowly gaining
recognition in the cinema industry after years
of research and development.
It′s now being regarded as one of the main
reasons for the wild success of the movie
"Roaring Currents."
Kwon Soa, Arirang News.
