Log 1

Preparations for the film “Won’t Forget You” has been underway since the beginning of this month. Presently, we are eagerly waiting for the results of the casting.

Visiting Korea last month, I finally have realized this – there is a tremendous difference between the film / TV industry in Korea and Japan.

What ignited the Hanryu boom in Japan was the TV series such as “Winter Sonata”.

Drama series in Korea are aired 2 times a week, Mon&Tues, Wed&Thurs, Sat&Sun, and prime time (from 10pm to 11 pm). What’s more, commercials are not inserted during the episode! Therefore, the series consists of 22 to 26 episodes.
Ten years ago or so, Japanese dramas too, had 2 cours, and lasted for 6 months. Those were the days when TV dramas were at their peak.
Around the time I entered the TV industry – 2 hours dramas like “Tuesday Suspense Theater” and such had just started. Dramas were at a decline, and long dramas were being reduced. Those days were dubbed “the winter period” for both actors and staffs, and prime time were being taken over by variety shows.
Presently, Japanese drama series have 13 episodes on average, and because it is usually only aired once a week, one cours lasts for 3 months.

In Korea, the same 3 months has twice as many episodes. But we start shooting almost at the same time… which means? That’s right! They film 2 hours worth every week.

This means that they are shooting under extremely severe conditions.
Incidentally, the series which has the most severe shooting conditions in Japanese drama is the afternoon soap drama hour. These are aired 5 times a week from Monday to Friday and each episode lasts for about 26 minutes. This means that we are shooting for approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes worth every week.

Naturally, we have to shoot the horrendous amount of episodes in the style of a set drama. There is no time to shoot on locations – it can be done only in the very beginning and the end (too bad). The situation has not changed from 20 years ago, in the days I had been shooting dramas such as “Ai-no-Arashi” and “Hana-no-Arashi”.

This means that the drama series in Korea are shot under similar conditions. Scenarios are completed just before the shooting, so hot that we need to make changes during the shooting. We are only able to announce the camera blocking on the day of the takes. And we are forced to work from early morning to late into the night for over four months. .

People of the Korean film industry all state flatly that these conditions are to blame for the ragged and low quality of dramas.
On the other hand, Korean films are produced in 3 to 5 months on average. Preparations are made far more carefully and the shooting conditions are far better than dramas.
These differences between the Korean and Japanese film and TV industry are beginning to have subtle influences on the production of my film “Won’t Forget You”.

(Originally posted in Japanese on Aug.18, 2005)