From the hit Netflix series “Squid Game” to “Queen of Tears,” Korean company Westworld is taking the lead in VFX (visual effects).
South Korea-based Westworld “provides everything from movie and drama VFX (special visual effects), virtual production, digital color correction (digital intermediate) & mastering, editing, DIT, R&D, VFX professional shooting studio, and content production all at once.”
The CEO and founder of Westworld is Son Seung-Hyun, aka Daniel Son, who is also the company’s visual effects supervisor.
Son Seung-Hyun, aka Daniel Son, the CEO and founder of leading Korean visual effects company Westworld (Contributed photos)
Westworld founder and CEO Son Seung-Hyun, aka Daniel Son, during the interview with Manila Bulletin (Jonathan Hicap)
(From left) Project Development Officer Don Quilaman of the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA); Kevin Kua, SM Aura mall manager; Marian Torre, head of Festival Divisions, Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP); Consul General Sang Seungman of the Korean Embassy in the Philippines; Korea Culture and Tourism Institute's Lee Yun Kyung; and special visual effects company Westworld CEO Son Seung-hyun at the opening of the 2024 Korean Film Festival at Cinema 1 of SM Aura in Taguig on Sept. 26 (Jonathan Hicap)
Westworld's works include "Exhuma," "Squid Game," "Queen of Tears," "King the Land," "The Glory," "Reborn Rich," "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," "All of Us Are Dead" "The Frog," and "Veteran 2" and “Crash Course in Romance.”
In an interview with Manila Bulletin, Son Seung-Hyun talked about his company and the works they have done for Korean dramas and films.
Son Seung-Hyun graced the recently concluded Korean Film Festival 2024 in the Philippines organized by the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in the Philippines.
“My company is basically working on visual effects. So when I receive the scenario of the movie [or K-drama], I start consulting and gather all the opinions and then direct the scene. At the film shooting, I also direct. After recording, I also work on editing. The work I’m doing right now is ‘Squid Game’ 2 and 3,” he said.
He added, “There is also something called the IP, which is organizing the data of the filming. I also have a studio called soundstage. About this, my company does everything that is essential in filming.”
Son Seung-Hyun cited examples of projects they worked on.
“I’ll start with ‘Exhuma.’ We filmed on a mountain. Since we tried to make the background that we wanted, I was able to do that through visual effects. I was able to make, for example, the fire move in the movie. There’s also a giant appearing in the movie. That’s combined with a person and visual effects,” he said.
About “Queen of Tears,” which starred Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, he said, “the scenes, the shots were like 10,000. Especially that the background was Germany. Actually we weren’t able to film everything due to lack of time and other situations, so we filmed a little bit in Germany and we brought it back to Korea and we combined it through visual effects. For example, the weather. In Germany it wasn’t snowing so we were able to put snow through visual effects.”
For “Squid Game,” Son Seung-Hyun said “we were able to do the coloring effects, which is the last stage of the series.”
“In ‘King the Land,’ there is a skydiving scene. It was very dangerous for the actor to actually do it. They filmed it safely and we created the background and buildings,” he said. In the drama, Junho’s character did a parachute landing to the top of a hotel.
Westworld (Photo from Westworld website)
Westworld's work for "Squid Game" (Photos from Westworld website)
"Sweet Home" (Photo from Westworld website)
"All of Us Are Dead" (Photo from Westworld website)
"The Silent Sea" (Photo from Westworld website)
"Exhuma" (Showbox)
"Queen of Tears" (tvN)
CEO
Son Seung-Hyun started his career in 1998 as a production director and VFX supervisor at Insight Visual, a film-specific visual effects and digital film studio.
He became the head of VFX supervision and production at Digital Idea Co. and became the vice president, CEO and president of the company in 2018. He founded and became the CEO of Westworld in 2019.
His works spanned Korean dramas and movies. He was the production division executive director for the projects “Frog,” “Queen of Tears,” “Smugglers,” “Celebrity,” “King the Land,” “”The Glory,” “Exhuma,” “Confidential Assignment 2,” “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” “Start-up,” “Mr. Queen,” “”All of Us Are Dead,” “Hero,” “Sweet Home,” “The King: Eternal Monarch,” “Itaewon Class,” “Search: WWW,” “Mr. Sunshine,” “Goblin” and “Train to Busan.”
For “Squid Game,” he was involved in digital iIntermediate and digital mastering.
Among the awards he received are: 19th Blue Dragon Film Awards, Technical Award (1998) for “The Soul Guardians”; 12th Chunsa Film Art Awards, Technical Award (2004) for “Taegukgi”; 43rd Grand Bell Awards, Visual Technology Award (2006) for “Typhoon”; 29th Blue Dragon Film Awards, Technical Award (2008) for “Modern Boy”; 50th Grand Bell Awards, Visual Technology Award (2013) for “The Tower”; 52nd Grand Bell Awards, Special Advanced Technology Award (2015) for “Ode to My Father”; 1st Korea-China Film Festival Achievement Award (2017) for “The Battleship Island”; 2020 Popular Culture and Arts Awards, Production Staff Award, Korea Creative Content Agency Chairman’s Award, Film Division; and 2021 Korea’s Top Job-Creating Company Presidential Award.
Son Seung-Hyun said Korean dramas and films have become more popular compared to five years ago.
“Five years ago, only a number of films and dramas were popular. Nowadays, there are a lot of dramas and movies which are really known and loved all over the world. So there’s a big difference. I think the reason is that these days, it’s easy to approach K-dramas and movies through a lot of channels,” he said.
Most Korean dramas and films are available on OTT (over-the-top) video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Viu, and TVING in South Korea.
He said there are many reasons why Korean dramas and films have become popular in many countries.
“There are a lot of reasons and it’s very complicated because the genres are various. For example, there are romance, fantasy, science fiction, action and historical dramas in South Korea. For example, there is a drama series that starts from comedy and becomes a thriller and also becomes a family series,” he said.
He added, “For example, there is ‘Crash Course in Romance.’ If you look at that series, there are a lot of problematic issues, and then there is also romance and then it’s like a family series where everyone can show empathy. It’s related to family and friendship. On the other hand, there are a lot of main characters in K-dramas and series but the actors themselves are various. There’s a time when a K-pop idol becomes the main character and after the drama, he or she also sings and dances on stage, and also sings the OST of the drama. There are a lot of charming points.”
He said, “The other reason is the quality. For example, the visual effects are fresh and spectacular. And the quality is very high for each series or movie. I think the biggest reason is that it’s easy to watch K-dramas, series or movies anywhere all over the world. I think that’s the thing that contributes most to the most famous K-drama era right now.”
Some of the projects by Westworld (Screenshots from Westworld website)