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| From left to right, Ahn Jae-hong, Jeon Yeo-bin, Chun Woo-hee, Han Ji-eun and Gong Myung, pose before a press conference held at Stanford Hotel in Seoul, Friday./ Courtesy of JTBC |
Tough start in TV series humbles box office-hit filmmaker
By Jung Hae-myoung
Can the TV series "Be Melodramatic" overcome its dismal viewership rating?
Early this year, director Lee Byung-heon's "Extreme Job" showed signs of becoming the hottest film of the year after attracting an audience of 16 million. His TV series "Be Melodramatic," however, has a disappointing viewership rate of one percent.
At a press conference at the Stanford Hotel in Seoul, director Lee along with actors and actresses of the TV series sat down with reporters to share their views about what apparently went wrong ― but despite this setback how the TV series came to get positive reviews from its avid fans.
"I think the lower viewer rating may be the result of the public's low expectations for TV series," Lee said. He said he was humbled after the unexpected great success of his film. "I could have become arrogant after the success of the film, but the ongoing challenge made me go back to basics," he said.
He admitted he was under pressure because of the low ratings, but now he tries to think positively about it. He said one percent is still "sexy" because he knew there are lots of avid fans.
Positive reviews about the drama have gone viral online as fans spread the word about it.
"I thought a soap opera would be hard to direct, but it was even more so when I was writing the whole story. It was an adventure," Lee said. "I burned out near the end of writing the script, but the experience helped me work more effectively."
"Be Melodramatic," is a soap opera which airs on JTBC every Friday and Saturday. The drama revolves around three characters in their 30s ― Lim Jin-joo, Hwang Han-joo and Lee Eun-jung. Although they have imagined they would be settled down in their 30s, they are still struggling to strike a balance between work and their love lives.
The crew has just wrapped filming all 16 episodes. Ten episodes have been aired.
"I think one of the biggest strengths of our soap opera is that it is not provocative," actress Chun Woo-hee said.
"The stories of the characters are melted well into one. When audiences dwell on the lines over and over again, there will be some feeling left behind. Rather than one big turning point, people will slowly fall into the story when they watch one episode to the next."
The director explained the narrative centers on people who are just about to embark on a new journey in their life.
"Jin-joo starts as a writer for a television soap opera; Eun-jung, after a huge success, is back to work as a documentary producer; and Han-joo takes a new position in her drama production company. In this story, the characters are just about to start another journey in their lives," Lee said.
"These are the people who have finished one and starting another. Showing their way of life, I wanted to give people in their 30s courage that they can start over. This was also a message that I wanted to give to my younger self."
On why he chose television over film, he said: "I think in films and soap operas, the technology and film techniques have become similar these days. The two fields used to be very different in the past. I think the platform is not an important issue to decide what is good work or not."
He added, "There are still many things left in the drama. Since we have been expanding the stories, it's time to bring them back to condense into one story. I hope people will pay attention to how the characters grow and what adventures they go through."
Even with the one percent rating, actors, the actors and director showed great faith and solidarity in their work. Yet their confidence is not ungrounded as people often see others recommending this work as a "soap opera of their life."
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