Oemyeon is a film I made in October and
November 2006. My friend Jay
Hubert came up with the original idea of this short film.
We wrote the screenplay together before he moved to Beijing.
The idea behind Oemyeon
was to make a film out of photo stills instead of video image.
As an alternative of using 25 or 29 frames per second in video,
I wanted to cut Oemyeon
into single picture units. By using a format, which corresponds
to the smallest entity of film, I wanted to emphasize that
the media film is nothing more than a chain of single photo
stills. Within the editing process though, it was the intention
to bring it back into an arrangement of video/film. Through
the use of transitions and sound (ambience, monologue, music)
Oemyeon
is given a film-like look, therefore distinguishing it from
a normal slide show of photo stills. The style of editing
also plays with the differences and the commonalities between
the two media types photography and film. In this respect
some shots last up to 10 seconds, strongly emphasizing the
unit as a photograph, whereas others are edited in a quick
chronology, lasting from time to time not longer than half
a second and therefore underlining what the media film is
about.
In terms of its content Oemyeon
is a portrayal of an outcast, who seemingly falls in love
with a woman. The woman, although she is has a boyfriend,
shows some affection. After the main character finds out about
the boyfriend, he becomes anxious about his space being invaded
and turns into a stalker...
In November 2006 Oemyeon was succesfully screened
at the 2.
Korean Film Festival in Muenster, Germany and in
January 2007 it won the Dynamic Korea-Film
Competition held by the Korean Embassy in Berlin.
