DECISION TO LEAVE LEAVES THE VISUAL EFFECTS DECISIONS TO LEE JOEN-HYOUNG

By TREVOR HOGG

Pictures courtesy of MUBI.

“The mountain [where Seo-rae falls to his death] is 100% CG, however the background the place that peak is located is an actual scene that we shot. There are a ton of mountains in Korea, so it’s a composite of those two. The 2 primary areas of the mountains and sea have this distinctive type that goes up and down and up and down. We wished to repeatedly present such up and down patterns, like a wave in an ocean or the panorama of the mountain vary, however on the similar time we didn’t need to make it too apparent for the viewers to say, ‘Ah-ha! I see that.’”

—Lee Joen-hyoung, CEO & VFX Supervisor, 4^th Inventive Get together

Ever because the launch of Oldboy, Lee Joen-hyoung, who serves because the CEO and VFX Supervisor at Korean VFX studio 4^th Inventive Get together, has been collaborating with filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Determination to Depart, which revolves round a detective turning into infatuated with a homicide suspect, appears to be a much less possible candidate for in depth digital augmentation due to the subject material, however this was not the case. “This was the simplest learn of all of director Park’s screenplays,” Lee recollects. “Nevertheless, ultimately, the work that I needed to do was the hardest as a result of not like The Handmaiden or Oldboy, for which I used to be capable of give you the creativeness straightaway by way of the visuals and mise-en-scène, Determination to Depart was so ambiguous.” About 580 photographs have been created over a interval of six months. “We have been accomplished on the finish of 2021, however then we had a while left earlier than Cannes and the precise launch, so we did some detailing work with solely a handful of individuals to make it much more excellent,” Lee remarks.

Undesirable pure components needed to be faraway from the finale, which happened in a seaside setting that was, in actuality, three completely different areas mixed collectively. “Jang Hae-joon’s portion of it was shot on the finish of fall, coming into into the winter season, so we began to have some snow,” Lee states. “For the sake of continuity, we needed to take out snow and in addition needed to work on the mountain which you could see from far. Regardless that we needed to take away the snow and wind, Tang Wei, the actor, nonetheless felt these harsh circumstances, which mirrored the emotional state of Hae-joon. With Son Web optimization-rae’s portion, there was no drawback as a result of the time of day was completely different.” Atmospherics have been additionally digitally added into photographs. “We needed to have mist within the latter a part of the movie as a result of it’s set in opposition to Ipo, which is legendary for mist and being humid the entire time,” Lee provides. “Mist needed to be current in virtually the entire outside scenes, however we needed to outline how a lot for a selected scene.”

“Director Park likes to make use of bugs in his motion pictures, such because the ants in Oldboy or the mosquitoes in Woman Vengeance or the ladybug in I’m a Cyborg, However That’s OK. I knew even earlier than that he was going to place some form of insect on this movie, too. We have already got an enormous library full of bugs and their types and actions, so we have been well-equipped to execute that.”

—Lee Joen-hyoung, CEO & VFX Supervisor, 4^th Inventive Get together

“Hae-joon tries to copy what Web optimization-rae would have accomplished to kill her husband, and he goes up the mountain, lies down and appears up. Then Web optimization-rae’s hand is available in and so they maintain fingers collectively. Director Park informed me that the viewers ought to be capable to see the callus on her palm as a result of it’s proof that she is already an professional climber. It was troublesome to visually make that occur as a result of when these two fingers meet collectively the palm turns into somewhat bit darkish, so we needed to do a number of retakes. That one scene was essentially the most difficult for me.”

—Lee Joen-hyoung, CEO & VFX Supervisor, 4^th Inventive Get together

The mountain the place the husband, Web optimization-rae, falls to his demise was {a partially} constructed on a backlot set surrounded by bluescreen. “The mountain is 100% CG, however the background the place that peak is located is an actual scene that we shot,” Lee reveals. “There are a ton of mountains in Korea, so it’s a composite of those two. The 2 primary areas of the mountains and sea have this distinctive type that goes up and down and up and down. We wished to repeatedly present such up and down patterns, like a wave in an ocean or the panorama of the mountain vary, however on the similar time we didn’t need to make it too apparent for the viewers to say, ‘Ah-ha!  I see that.’” Ants crawl over the face of the deceased partner. “Director Park likes to make use of bugs in his motion pictures, such because the ants in Oldboy or the mosquitoes in Woman Vengeance or the ladybug in I’m a Cyborg, However That’s OK. I knew even earlier than that he was going to place some form of insect on this movie, too. We have already got an enormous library full of bugs and their types and actions, so we have been well-equipped to execute that,” Lee notes.

A intelligent shot transition strikes from the x-ray of a hand to the one belonging to Hae-joon as he’s having intercourse together with his spouse in mattress. “I’ve already gathered a lot expertise with Park Chan-wook-esque transitions!” Lee laughs. “We knew how the output ought to seem like as a result of it was labored out within the storyboarding part and we subsequently shot the supply materials. That transition was a nod to what we had already did in I’m a Cyborg, However That’s OK. As a long-time collaborator, I already knew what colour director Park likes for the x-ray and the timing for the motion of the hand. That transition was the image of how Hae-joon is de facto with Soe-rae regardless that he’s bodily subsequent to his spouse.” The rising emotional bond between the detective and the homicide suspect is visually emphasised within the interrogation scenes. “We wished the viewers to see one thing occur that isn’t bodily doable,” Lee describes. “For that we had 4 characters as a result of there have been two in entrance and there are two within the reflection of [the mirror]. We shot the true individuals, then the reflection cross, and composited these two collectively in order that we have been capable of management the focusing and defocusing as a way to absolutely notice director Park’s intention and imaginative and prescient for the scene.”

“That transition [shot of the x-ray of a hand to the one belonging to Hae-joon as he is having sex with his wife in bed] was a nod to what we had already did in I’m a Cyborg, However That’s OK. As a long-time collaborator, I already knew what colour director Park likes for the x-ray and the timing for the motion of the hand. That transition was the image of how Hae-joon is de facto with Soe-rae regardless that he’s bodily subsequent to his spouse.”

—Lee Joen-hyoung, CEO & VFX Supervisor, 4^th Inventive Get together

Driving photographs are frequent place for Korean tv sequence and movies. “For our movie, we wished to make it possible for the windshield of the automotive and the reflections on the automotive and the way the lights will change inside the area could be recognizable to the viewers,” Lee remarks. “We needed to make it possible for the lighting and reflections labored completely; that was our full intention. Since our actors are contained in the automotive, we additionally wished to make a sensible search for the inside shot.” An unlikely shot proved to be troublesome. Reveals Lee, “Hae-joon tries to copy what Web optimization-rae would have accomplished to kill her husband, and he goes up the mountain, lies down and appears up. Then Web optimization-rae’s hand is available in and so they maintain fingers collectively. Director Park informed me that the viewers ought to be capable to see the callus on her palm as a result of it’s proof that she is already an professional climber. It was troublesome to visually make that occur as a result of when these two fingers meet collectively the palm turns into somewhat bit darkish, so we needed to do a number of retakes. That one scene was essentially the most difficult for me.”