There are people who have to show everything by video in a very limited time. The given time for video is just two minutes. Can you guess what this video is? The name of this video is a movie trailer. The Sookmyung Times (SMT) visited HAHAHA Film Production, the company which produces trailers of Jeonwoochi (2010), National Team (Gukgadaepyo, 2009), Secret Reunion (Uihyeongje, 2010), The Man from Nowhere (Ajussi, 2010), and had an interview with director Choi Seung Won (CHOI).
SMT What caused you to be a movie trailer producer? And tell us about the attraction of this job.
CHOI When I was in the university, one of my seniors who work at a movie marketing firm asked me to do editing as a part-time job and this made me to be a movie trailer producer. The most attractive part of being a movie trailer producer is that I can see the movie before any other people and I have the power to select my favorite cut of all cuts. Also trailers are videos which show the most attractive images of movies, so sometimes people remember movies with their trailer. Because of this, I can leave something behind and this is the attraction of this job.
SMT On average how long does it take to make one trailer?
CHOI Usually we take five months for one trailer, but sometimes we prepare it for one year. A trailer is not just an editing job but it is a work to make a new two-minute video. So we have to make a scenario for each trailer and this a is time-consuming task because we have to gather the opinions.
SMT Now you are in activity with your own company. SMT wonders why you made a company named HAHAHA.
CHOI In HAHAHA, there are two meanings. The first thing is to do the job happily, and the second thing is to laugh out “HAHAHA” throughout a big hit of a movie. Also, this job is in a service industry, so I think the name should be soft.
SMT What do think about correlation between hottest movies and their trailers?
CHOI The trailer is an important factor in a movie. The trailer gives information about movies when people are in the dark about the new movies, and it arouses interest in the audience. Generally, we think the trailer decides the box office of the first week.
SMT Please tell us why sometimes trailers are different from movies.
CHOI Until just recently box office hits were influenced by advertisements, so to make some impact scene we would shoot something new. However these days, box office hits are influenced more by word-of-mouth, so it has been decreased. But still, it is used to make characters stand out even more. For example in Jeonwoochi we shot a new scene of Kang Dong Won standing on the building. Furthermore, for fan marketing we sometimes make another scene. There are fferences between just putting in new information or repacking it with some elements.
When SMT asked him to give advice for people in their twenties he answered, “I’m not in a position to advise twenties but to learn from them. I have to learn about the trends of 20s.” Movie trailer producer was a job which could be done with just a one computer, so Choi decided to do this job. He chose to take a risk instead of doing a normal job. He said not being afraid of failure makes him to achieve his position. Even now, he is a learner to achieve his own dream.
