Covering the food & beverage industry, beauty, fashion, retail markets, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and related people and entities worldwide
'Audio cinema' - voice actors have new way to express emotions
By Ko Dong-hwan
Promotional still for “Man and Woman,” starring Kang So-ra, left, and Kim Dong-wook.
By Ko Dong-hwan
Voice actors in Korea have a new way to express their emotions and deliver as good a plot and sound effects as in conventional film. It is the “audio cinema,” which the country's largest online portal Naver has rolled out with actress Kang So-ra at the forefront.
Released on June 18 on the portal's Audio Clip channel for free, “Man and Woman” is an 82-minute-long audio story sound that purports to be a movie for the ears, not the eyes.
With the voices of Kang and Kim Dong-wook as a couple in their 20s who go over a cycle of meeting and breaking over seven years, the romance is based on a Korean webtoon of the same title that ran on Naver from 2014 until 2015 over 59 episodes.
Before “Man and Woman,” Kang drew acclaim for her previous voice acting with the Pixar-Disney animation “Brave,” where she dubbed its lead character Princess Merida, and Samsung Electronics' artificial intelligence secretary Bixby.
Because audio cinema cannot convey what conventional silver screens can, such as actors' eyes or body gestures, Kang had to fill the void by speaking in high and low voice pitches as well as by using breathing, according to Xportsnews.
Also supporting the actors' voices in the audio film are choice scores of original sound tracks by indie musicians such as We Are The Night, Gogang, lalasweet, HEN and Dasutt.
Kang reportedly said she met Kim for the first time but they hit it off well and enjoyed working together.
Directed by StudioN, “Man and Woman” closes its online streaming on June 24 and reopens next month.