THE VISUAL HEART OF OLDBOY

Oldboy, an iconic, provocative film that speaks both to the eyes and to the deepest ghosts hidden in the human mind. But who is the artist behind the surprising settings and the scenery breathtaking visual of the famous South Korean film ‘Oldboy? His extraordinary work helped shape the unique and engaging atmosphere of this cult film, giving us an unforgettable viewing experience. Today we have a chat with the production designer, Han Sung-won.

Thank you Han for giving us this interview, tell us a little about yourself before the questions

Of course. I am Han SungWon.
I work for the movie, Old Boy as a set designer in 2003.

60% of the scenes were taken in the sets. We had two of big studios, and built many sets, such as the prison, elevator, rooms, Penthouse, etc. Also we made a partial fence for location video shooting of when SUA who is UJIN’s sister fell down into the water.

The biggest set was the Penthouse. We had huge printed screens outside of the windows, and put lots of water in pools.

The walls of every set was able to assembled and disassembled easily so the cameramen could get multiple view angles easily.

It has been almost 20 years since we started pre-prduction, still I have the exciting emotions about the movie. I really enjoyed it and worked as like my own movie.

1-HOW DID YOU APPROACH THE WORLD OF CINEMA AND SCENOGRAPHY? WHAT WAS YOUR TRAINING?
I happened to work for submarine miniatures of the movie, Phantom in 1998. My team leader liked my work. He wanted me to work together after I graduated my university. My major was Industrial Design. I studied the designs of product, transportation, interior, and environment. So this helped me with working for movies.

2- YOU HAVE HAD THE HONOR OF WORKING FOR A GREAT MASTERPIECE OF SOUTH KOREAN CINEMA KNOWN IN ALL THE WORLD, WHAT A FEELING YOU HAD IN THE PUT YOUR ART OF SET DESIGNER AT THE SERVICE OFTHIS FILM?
I was so proud of that, happy, lucky, and honored to work with my favorite artists, the director Park, the actors, and staffs. I still remember the feelings when I saw my name on the credit when we had a staff preview of the movie.

3- HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN OLDBOY? HOW DID YOU START SETTING UP YOUR WORK ON THE FILM?
Like I said, my team leader liked my work and I came across him in the street one day after I graduated my university. He told me that he started his company newly and suggested me to work with him. We worked another movies before Oldboy. In the field of Korean movies, they share many new screen plays. One of them, Oldboy was the best. After I read all I insisted with my boss to work for it.

As like another preproduction for movies, we had tons of meetings with the director, assistant directors, art director, and other staffs before crank in. We listened to them, suggested new concept & ways, and compromised all to make the movie better.
Lots of scenes in the sets, we made teams and started building sets in two studios.

4- TO A YOUNG MAN WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE A SET DESIGNER, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE?
Nowadays they use lots of 3D graphics though, still real sets are needed. If you love movies and have passion for it, you can give it a try. You would feel thrilled and happy. The set design is related with art & production design. So it should be better to get knowledges about them.
There are many teams in a movie, so compromising with other teams and working together are important. “Team Work”

To follow, unpublished photos from the set kindly granted by our set designer