[K-FILM REVIEWS] 청연 (Blue Swallow) Limited Edition - Part 2

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PACKAGING AND SPECS
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청연 (Blue Swallow)
Limited Edition

Released by Bitwin on May 9, 2006
2-Disc
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Dts, Dolby Digital 5.1
NTSC Region 3 - DVD9
133 Minutes - Colour

DVD (English, Korean Subs)

Package Art

NOTE: MAJOR SPOILERS!

CONTINUES FROM PART 1

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A/V, SUBTITLES
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Subtitles are essentially the same as the previous edition. Generally very solid, with no major mistakes and all the important on screen text subtitled. But sadly the transfer could have been a lot better, as it's not a huge improvement over the previous edition. There's a little too much edge enhancement and it lacks fine detail, which sort of kills the visuals in a film like this, especially in the flight scenes. It's still quite good, but I guess companies like enterOne spoiled us a little too much, this isn't the standard I expected for a film like this. On the other hand, the sound -- especially the added DTS track -- is exceptional, taking full advantage of the intelligent sound design of the film, and simply kicking ass during the most tense flight scenes.

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SPECIAL FEATURES - DISC 1
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Audio Commentary with Director Yoon Jong-Chan, Jang Jin-Young, Kim Ju-Hyeok

I was quite disappointed with this. It's not that it's horrible, as the three seem to enjoy watching the film once again and it's clear they got really close, but it just feels like they were forced to be there, and along with too many silences there's a general lack of excitement despite three people being there. It's still a decent listen and worth checking out, and I have no complaints about the lack of details about the shoot -- as people and dialogue were much more important here. But then again, a little less scene-specific comments and a little more analysis would have been nice. Then again, Yoon has never really done this before -- his commentary on the 소름 (Sorum) DVD was, what, 20 Minutes? -- so can't really blame him if he felt a little awkward. I guess there's directors who love doing this kind of things, and those who'd rather talk face to face.

- Kim Ju-Hyeok starts commenting that, since they're seeing the film for the first time in a while, all this feels a little awkward. And that's exactly what I'd call the first 10 Minutes of this commentary, with the three slowly warming up and spending way too much time mentioning where a scene was shot. Jang comments that the kid who played her younger version really looks like her, even her mother told her that. Yoon jokes that even if he didn't want to shoot in the Winter, all the delays and little problems ended up forcing them to shoot in Winter, when of course it's much more uncomfortable to shoot. The training scenes at the beginning are actually almost all one take scenes, because they only had a day left to shoot. Then we move to some scenes in the beautiful set in Bucheon, and Kim jokes that the two were really nervous talking to each other in Japanese inside the car, since essentially they didn't know what they were talking about (of course they knew the general sense of their dialogue, but learning the language phonetically doesn't really help you point out what's what. Ask Jang Dong-Gun). On certain occasions they had to shoot there really fast, because around that time the MBC Historical Drama 영웅시대 (The Age of Heroes), which was set around a similar historical period, was shooting. Because of the realism of the buildings and the lack of wind those nights, when they had to shoot the snow scenes it really felt like it was snowing for real, and that helped immensely his immersion into the part. The first scene with the 'Blue Swallow' was around 95% CG, and those initial flying scenes looked really 'polished' as they were shot in America, with the Space Cam and a crew who was really used to this kind of shooting environment.
- The extras in the shoot in China -- 800 people total -- seemed to be really into the film. Either they got the idea they were working on something important or they just liked the atmosphere, but they all comment they worked really hard. One of the most difficult scenes to shoot for Jang was the bicycle ride with Han Ji-Min, as they had to deliver their lines pretending to be drunk, ride the bike and then Han falls after a while, so they did many takes for this one. The scene inside the dancing hall was filled with Chinese students from a dancing school, even though they used them for free. Then they talk a little about the CGI, which accounted for 1,100 out of 2,000 total cuts, so quite an important figure. Jang was a little worried about it when she shot all those scenes with blue screens, but she thinks it came out really well, especially since, as Director Yoon comments, it was done by only 30 people -- opposed to over 3,000 for thinks like King Kong.
- They talk a little about the announcer at the tournament, who did a marvelous job even though he only had 10 Minutes. He's actually a theater-trained actor, who appeared on some Imamura Shohei films. Jang then wonders what the Japanese actors thought of the film, and most said that they never imagined its scale would be so big. Then the three talk about their viewing habits vis-a-vis their own projects: while Director Yoon sometimes watches his work, not necessarily soon after its completion, Jang almost never does so. It only happened for 싱글즈 (Singles), and she usually avoid seeing herself on the screen. They comment about the scene when Kyung-Won 'touches the sky', and Jang jokes that she didn't know what she was doing, so it was all thanks to the director's guidance and the storyboards. Even all the extras were acting without anything to look at, so it was quite a difficult job. Then the director admits that a scene with Kyung-Won looking at the horizon from afar was actually one of the assistant directors, shot in a rush because they had no time left.
- A lot of the final part of the commentary is a collection of silent moments broken every now and then by little comments, like the fact that they shot the final meeting at the prison between Kyung-Won and Ji-Hyeok with two cameras at once, and it almost all ended up in the final film without taking out much. A few other scene-specific comments follow, as we close a quite disappointing commentary.

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SPECIAL FEATURES - DISC 2 (~180 Minutes)
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MAJOR SPOILERS

박경원, 그녀는 누구인가? (Park Kyung-Won, who's that woman?) [20:01]

An excellent Mini-documentary/Interview with Yoon Jong-Chan about Park Kyung-Won's life. Essentially repeats what I wrote in the film review, but of course the difference is we get plenty of photos from the period. Really well produced, informative and fascinating. We start with a recap of the major events in her life, combining newspaper scraps, photos, video footage and 3D Images explaining what's being narrated. Director Yoon talks about why he was really interested in this project. Looking at all the material collected about her life, he was really fascinated by this woman who put everything on the line to fulfill an impossible dream with a tragic finale already written. Why? Because there were no planes in Joseon, she was forced to go to Japan to become a pilot, and her dream of making her flight back home was financially and technically almost impossible. But she did it anyway. She was called a traitor to her country, but she made that decision.

One thing he had to pay attention to in depicting her life was this superficial idea that if in any way you did something that looked 'against' your country, you'd be labeled a traitor. Park had only two choices: go to Japan or forget about her dreams. And even today some people look down on Korean women living with foreigners, so imagine going to Japan in that period, with its relationship with Korea. Add to that the discrimination against women -- men going to Japan to become pilots didn't get the same treatment -- and the fact she was poor, as the course to become pilot would only last six months for those who could afford it, and that makes her dream even harder to reach. Yoon experienced this 'filtered history' through his education during the Yushin period, which painted Japanese, Americans and communists in a certain way, so he didn't want to make the same mistakes judging that way. The last part of the mini-docu sees Yoon visit the place where Park died, commenting how he wanted to be there as he was making a film about her life. Even Jang Jin-Young and Kim Ju-Hyeok are there, and we get to see the place (it's the same shown at the end of the film).

PRE-PRODUCTION

제작발표회 (Production Meeting) [9:16]

This is much better than most of the Production Meeting clips you see in other DVD Releases. It took place in the Spring of 2004, which makes you realize just how long it took. Yoon Jong-Chan thanks all the people involved in the film for sticking with it for so long despite all the difficulties. Even though the shoot wasn't over (they did this right after the US shoot was completed), he thinks this is the first time a Korean film shoots so extensively overseas both in terms of time and cost. Even though the film is set in the Colonial Period, he just wanted to use that era to better portray the struggles of a very passionate woman, and tell the story of her life. Jang Jin-Young comments that she's been in this business for over 6 years and this is her 8th film, but it was particularly meaningful to her. The script was already pretty famous and acclaimed in Chungmuro, so that added to the pressure even more. Kim Ju-Hyeok comments it's probably the first time he stands on a stage for a Production Meeting, and feels a little strange about that. The most surprising thing about the film for him was seeing storyboards via 3D Animation, the first time something like that had ever been tried in Korea. A visibly nervous Yoo Min introduces her role, emphasizing that this is a really important film for her as it marks her big screen debut, and finally the director and the top leads talk a little about the film. Yoon says it's a love story and something showing a woman's passion for flying, and Jang says she trusted the director completely, so just doing what she was told was enough to make a good film. Very good.

의상 디자인 (Costume Design) [7:18]

A look at the costumes for the film. We see photos and scraps from old magazines, books and other material about the real Park Kyung-Won, then all the major cast take part in a costume fitting. We see Jang Jin-Young get her hair done, and finally some of the Japanese costumes. Would have liked an interview with the Costume Designer as it would have been much more helpful than just showing this, but I guess it's good enough.

3D 콘티 (3d Storyboards) [30:00]

Director Yoon introduces the initial concept behind the 3D Storyboards. Most films just use drawn images for storyboards, but since here movement and editing was crucial, they decided to go with 3D Animation. They brought that to the American shoot, and replaced the original Animatics with the real shoot, so in a way using this technique also helped with on the spot editing. Visual Effects Supervisor Kang Jong-Ik adds that this idea of using pre-visuals also helped the foreign staff, as they could get the feeling of the scene in a much quicker way. Then the fun begins: we get to see the real Animatics, with the final scene on top in a smaller window. Many of the most importance scenes are shown, from the prologue, the tournament scenes to Kyung-Won's final flight (of course we're only dealing with flight scenes). Some of the scenes have different timing, but a few of them are impressively close to the final shoot, the prologue in particular. Again, no problem with subs as most of this is dialogueless (the Animatics have full soundtrack and dialogue from the film, obviously). Never seen a feature like this used so extensively before on a DVD. And it's tons of fun.

세트 디자인 (Set Design) [2:38]

A quick but quite nice look at old photos from the period, leading to the Bucheon sets. We see the director, art director and other staff members discussing the shoot, and that's about it.

복엽기 디자인 (Plane Design) [5:28]

We start with photos of old planes, mostly from Japanese data, and then we see design sketches of all the planes used in the film. Because flight scenes were hard (OK, impossible) to shoot in Korea, they decided to shoot elsewhere and do composite shots using a studio. Yoon comments that while planning, they were worried they wouldn't find the right plane, as it was a really old model. They went to the US to get technical specs and parts and built it in Korea. The focus was on how the colour of the plane would look according to the weather, which is why you get Gibe's red plane with nice weather, and the Blue Swallow is much darker with all that rain.

대본 연습 (Script Rehearsal) [6:14]

More than the usual Rehearsal with actors sitting on a roundtable saying their lines, we get Director Yoon discussing aspects of certain scenes with the actors, which is much more interesting. He colours the characters' personality using the data collected from the period, helps the actors understand the tone he wants from them, and more. At the end we also get a little reading from the actors (Jang is hilarious here, making strange faces while waiting for her lines when Yoo Min says hers). This happens with many directors, but it's rarely shown on DVDs, which instead focus on the simple rehearsal.

PRODUCTION

촬영 일지 (Production Diary) [47:53]

An excellent Making Of documentary, ranging from interviews to behind the scenes footage and more. We start with the major actors introducing their characters, and how they changed from the initial concept once Yoon saw them interact -- Se-Gi at first was supposed to be this quiet guy who just helped Kyung-Won, but through discussion Director Yoon and Kim Tae-Hyun arrived at a different conclusion, that of making Se-Gi like a kind of time-bomb ready to explode, with a crush for Jung-Hee. Yoo Min (who's Japanese) comments on the irony of having to act in Japanese, speak in Korean to her fellow staff members and shoot in China, problem (communication/language barrier) which Nakamura Toru also mentions as one of the most difficult things of the shoot. After that we get to see some footage from the shoot at the Tachikawa Academy, and Nakamura comments on an important point. Of course he says that he liked the film because it was a tragic story of a woman who had a very difficult, short life, but it makes you appreciate the value of life, especially back then when living was much harder. Also, as a Japanese he feels foreign films always tend to represent his fellow countrymen as very cold and scary, and he comments that not all people are like that, so it was an important reason why he starred in this film, as it doesn't portray the Japanese in a negative light (no more than it does everyone else working for their country opposed to living their own life, that is). Then we see the Dance Hall shoot, with producer Choi Yoon introducing the scene, and the shoot in Korea at Jebu Island, back to China and finally Japan and the US. This should be enjoyable even without subs, with the obvious exception of the interviews.

한공 촬영 (Flight Shoot) [11:25]

I'm pretty much sure this is the part non-Korean speakers will enjoy the most. Why? 99% of it is in English, with interviews with Vern Nobles and Kevin La Rosa, the 'flight wiz' who worked on the film. We join the crew at the Big Sky Ranch in El Mirage, L.A. We see them prepare the miniature planes and the Sky Cam (a sort of Steady Cam for flight scenes, inside a sphere attached in front of an helicopter). Vern Nobles talks a little about himself, and he was attracted to this project because of the kind of planes they were using, and of course because he likes films with a lot of camera movement, like Speed he worked on years ago. Kevin La Rosa explains what his work (aerial coordinator) consists of, in basically coordinating all the aspects of the shoot, from preparing the scenes, picking good pilots, doing safety briefings and stuff. He comments that since the planes they were using were quite old, they're underpowered, slower and subject to weather, so since there was a lot of low level flying in the canyons and 'chase scenes', it was a difficult shoot. Nobles talks about the kind of shots and lenses they used, and La Rosa continues commenting on the steps he usually takes for a shoot like this. They close saying their feelings about the final product, and they all look forward to see it soon. This is really interesting, and of course it'll be quite enjoyable for everyone as it's almost all in English.

세트 촬영 (Set Shoot) [9:09]

A look at the flight scenes shot on the set with the green screen. We see all the preparations, and the model plane is actually a 1:1 replica. Jang Jin-Young comments that since this was a first for Korean Cinema, there were many trials and errors, and obviously it took time to get used to it. For her personally, because she had to sit for so long inside the plane, it was a little hard. Kim Ju-Hyeok adds a few things about Ji-Hyeok's first 'date' on the plane with Kyung-Won, and then we see a raw shot of some of the scenes without the CG. Yoo Min comments that this was the first time she tried anything like this, so it often felt really awkward. And finally the most fascinating part of the clip: Studio Simulation Director Yang In-Young talks about how they built the replica plane, and since they needed to have a 'free movement' environment, they used a motion base structure. What's even more interesting is they connected Flight Simulator with the commands of the plane, so the virtual pilot was looking at a plane on his computer screen while moving the replica plane on the set. This was all done to make things look more realistic. Really fascinating.

POST-PRODUCTION

시각 효과 (Visual Effects) [21:11]

Just the kind of featurette I wanted to see, extremely well produced (with shots of all the original sources, 3d and matte retouching often all on the same screen) and commented by Visual Effect Supervisor Kang Jong-Ik. He introduces the basic concept, which was combining the various flight shoots with the inserts with the actors, and trying to establish a flow in terms of visual tone. We get to see the prologue with young Kyung-Won, and the difference between the original source and the final result is impressive. Director Yoon wanted this scene to look really beautiful, so they went all out. The original source shows young Kyung-Won walking in a reed field, which actually has a small town visible from afar, so they basically took out the town, changed around the palette and the sky and added all the other little visual effects. For the scene with the plane, they shot Kyung-Won looking at the sky with a blue screen above her, then drew in the plane -- and later its shadow. The airplane design was a little exaggerated in terms of realism, because Yoon wanted it to fit with the rest of the prologue, seen from the kid's perspective. For Kyung-Won's first departure with the plane, they actually shot Jang Jin-Young leaving with a pilot in front, and completely erased him in the final film, that's why Jang sits on the second seat. Also, the original source was shot in the desert in China, so they added the flight school via CG. Right when the plane takes off I thought the pan the camera does in the film was a little strange, and that's where the CG starts. But it wasn't strange as in 'this is CG', more like 'how did they shoot that?' which is a sign of a job well done, I guess.

The first competition between Gibe and Kyung-Won was done replicating the only plane (the red one) of the original source, and adding all the rest via CG. Now I understand why Jang Jin-Young commented that she had vertigo throughout the entire shoot, as they didn't just replicate the cockpit, but the entire plane complete with wings, and they were making her do 360 degrees loops and the like. They wanted to add some fantasy elements to the tournament scene with Kyung-Won, as it was a sort of first climax within the film. We get to see how much was added to this scene through CG (especially more audience), and how they combined the real shot with the final film, and it's quite interesting. The last scene for adult Park Kyung-Won was quite difficult to put together, as they had to match the shoot in the US with the blue screen inserts, which had 'rain' too so they needed to balance all that. Since planes can't shoot while it's raining, all the rain and clouds you see were added via CG, and particularly the last scene before the plane hits the mountain, that's 100% CG. Finally we see the changes made for the prologue, which had a similar tone to the epilogue. This is all enjoyable without Subs, as you always get to see the before/after scenes while Kang is talking, so you can just enjoy the visuals if you don't understand Korean. This is definitely a lot of fun, and quite impressive considering only 30 people were involved in making all this CG.

체코 녹음 과정 (Czech Recording Making Of) [5:45]

Short but really sweet, especially if you love music. Seems like Michael Staudacher got rid of the Michael Bolton look he had going a couple of years ago. Anyway, we start with a piece from the soundtrack played live -- while recording -- by the orchestra in Prague, then Yoon and Staudacher talk about the concept of the music. Yoon says the most important thing was music fitting the scale of the film, and he also wanted something towards the classical. More than loud and spectacular, something with a wide scope using classical as a foundation. Staudacher talks about the long process they went through, which started two years ago when he first received the script, and took quite a while to develop, as they had to do two recording sessions (one in the Czech Republic, one in Korea). Yoon asked two things, mostly: one was soft music to fit the melodrama in the film, the other speedy but involving music for the flight scenes. Staudacher comments that even in this Internet era, it was hard to research the Jazz scene in Korea and Japan during the 30s, although he knows there was quite a Jazz scene in Okinawa between the 20s and 30s. To solve the problem, he used recordings which were famous in the US a few years earlier, which then were exported to Japan. We close with one of the main themes. Really nice.

이승철 '서쪽 하늘' (Lee Seung-Cheol's 서쪽 하늘') [5:38]

This is great, you rarely get to see musicians explain why they joined a film's OST -- mostly because it's the marketing that takes care of things, and it's often out of their hands which film they work in. As we begin the clip, Lee Seung-Cheol is inside the recording studio, and we get to see one of the many 'tricks of the trade': he lights up a cigarette, takes a puff, and starts singing. I've heard he uses that method, but it's fascinating to see it live. Then for a good Minute and a half we get to see and listen why this guy lasted 20 years in the industry. Of course it's not the first time I see a good singer record a song inside a studio, but this is quite fascinating. Lee then talks about the reasons for joining this project. He happened to be around the editing studio when they were working on 청연 (Blue Swallow), and he paid a visit. He was really surprised at how good the film was, combining Park Kyung-Won's life with a melodrama. He really loved it, and since he's a Film Mania too, he was happy to join the OST. He wrote the lyrics of the song himself, thinking about Kyung-Won's last flight on that rainy day, but he asked the director not to use it in the film, only for the ending credits. He thought the scale and atmosphere of the film didn't fit with pop ballads, and once his voice got in people might have been a little distracted (it's not like using Beethoven helped either, but he's got a point). And then we get to listen to the end of the song. And to think this guy was a rocker once -- lead of THE rock band in the 80s and 90s, Buhwal.

PROMOTION

Poster Shoot [2:25]
We get to see the shoot of the various posters with just background music and the final poster. A little too throwaway in my book.

Theatrical Trailer [4:54]
Features the Teaser Trailer (1:57) and Theatrical Trailer (2:57). The former is pure poetry in motion, with great editing and just the right amount of exposition, drama, spectacle, everything. The Theatrical one is a little more on the 'blockbuster' side, thus a little less exciting, but still well made and it should have sold the film fairly well, if it weren't for the controversy that happened later.

Music Video [4:21]
- Lee Seung-Cheol, 서쪽 하늘
As I commented in the previous review, great song by a pop ballad veteran of 20 years who keeps surprising. Why? I haven't bought even one of his many albums, yet I always remember his songs. That's a kind of talent too, I guess (his, not mine). Really nice Music Video, and the song fits perfectly.

Photo Gallery [0:30]
Instead of the usual format with background music, we go back to the old style photo galleries, where you have to use your remote to advance. Thankfully there's no graphics around the (really pretty) stills so you can get the full shot in high res. There's 60 stills (including posters and behind the scenes photos), with some I haven't seen before on the usual Korean movie portals.

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WRAPUP
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If you've been reading my reviews for a while, you'll probably know by now I appreciate daring and ambitious filmmaking more than perhaps anything else. But at the end of the day, what's really daring and ambitious? Making a little arthouse film shot on a shoestring budget for just under two weeks, with lesser known actors without demanding management companies to please, avoiding local media and traveling Festivals all over the World as an alleged 'maverick director' with an agenda that colours everything one says to the media? That, or having the burden of a 10 Billion Won budget, two top stars, shoots in four different countries with multi-lingual staff, a touchy subject and an audience to please? I don't know about you, but I'd say the latter. It's harder to make good commercial filmmaking that doesn't insult the average moviegoer, than making a very personal 'art' film which will often travel anyway because of the West's demands for what some people consider to be 'diversity'. Anybody with real talent can write and/or direct a good film. But when that much money is involved, being able to do that within such a structure, being able to involve viewers and please investors at the same time is even harder, that's why Bong Joon-Ho and Park Chan-Wook are so acclaimed and popular. And with time Yoon Jong-Chan could get there too, if his first two films are any indication. It's quite sad this film ended up suffering at the box office because of a mere controversy, and that it will likely be forgotten soon in the big picture.

But thankfully we have DVDs, which can bring back those memories in a quicker, much more accessible way. Blue Swallow is daring not only because it chose not to go the Hollywood way, or seen in a Korean context, the 태풍 (Typhoon) way. It's daring also because it never lets politics and propaganda invade the most important thing, which is Park Kyung-Won and her story. And of course it happens to be one of the most powerful, emotionally involving films of the year, so that helps. The DVD is just a better transfer and a good commentary away from being one of the Best of the last few years, but it's still a big improvement over the other release, obviously because of the extra features. If you liked the film watching the Standard Edition, you certainly won't waste your money if you buy this release, as many of the extra features can be enjoyed without subs. If you haven't seen the film yet... well, what are you waiting for?

FILM: 8.5
VIDEO: 7
AUDIO: 9
SUBTITLES: 7.5
EXTRA FEATURES: 9
VALUE FOR MONEY: 9
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OVERALL (Film Rating Counted Twice): 8.36

쳥연 (靑燕, Blue Swallow)
cheongyeon [lit. blue swallow]

Korea Pictures - 2005

감독 (Director): 윤종찬 (Yoon Jong-Chan)

출연 (CAST): 장진영 (Jang Jin-Young) as Park Kyung-Won, 김주혁 (Kim Ju-Hyeok) as Han Ji-Hyeok, 유민 (Yoo Min) as Kibe, 한지민 (Han Ji-Min) as Lee Jung-Hee, 김태현 (Kim Tae-Hyun) as Kang Se-Gi, 仲村トオル (Nakamura Toru) as Tokuda, 이찬영 (Lee Chan-Young) as Kim Sang-Soo, 김응수 (Kim Eung-Soo) as Park Choon-Shik, 이승호 (Lee Seung-Ho) as Ji-Hyeok's Father, 고주연 (Go Ju-Yeon) as Young Kyung-Won, 최호진 (Choi Ho-Jin)

제작 (Executive Producer): 김재영 (Kim Jae-Young)
기획 (Planning): 양국석 (Yang Guk-Seok)
프로듀서 (PD): 최성수 (Choi Sung-Soo)
조감독 (Assistant Director): 이진구 (Lee Jin-Goo)
각본 (Screenplay): 윤종찬 (Yoon Jong-Chan), 이인화 (Lee In-Hwa)
촬영 (Cinematography): 윤홍식 (Yoon Hong-Shik)
조명 (Lighting): 최석재 (Choi Seok-Jae)
음악 (Music): Michael Staudacher
미술 (Art Director): 서명희 (Seo Myung-Hee)
시각효과 (Special Visual Effects): 강종익 (Kang Jong-Ik)
비행감독 (Flight Scenes Directors/Coordinators): Kevin La Rosa, Vern Nobles
분장-헤어 (Hair & Make-Up): 이서진 (Lee Seo-Jin)
의상 (Costumes): 권유진 (Kwon Yoo-Jin)
편집 (Editing): 함성원 (Ham Sung-Won), 김형주 (Kim Hyung-Joo)
사운드 디자이너 (Sound Designer): 은희수 (Eun Hee-Soo)

개봉 (Release): 2005/12/29
Box Office: 502,142 Tickets Sold Nationwide
Official Website