Do Je-hae edits news stories as part of the AI team.
Beaming arts
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High-definition filming shows an overview of the corps de ballet during a screening of the “Nutcracker” at a movie theater in Yeouido, Seoul. / Courtesy of Seoul Arts Center
By Do Je-hae
Arts center launches screen project
By Do Je-hae
Korea's biggest performing arts venue is on a mission to popularize high art. In carrying out this task, Seoul Arts Center (SAC) has chosen to duplicate a method that has been working extremely well for New York's Metropolitan Opera.
Last year, SAC announced it would create its own version of the "The Met: Live in HD" project, a series of high-definition broadcasts from the stage of the Met transmitted into a network of digitally equipped movie theaters around the world, including Korea. Since 2006, the Met has been transmitting live performances to 1,900 venues in more than 50 countries with subtitles in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese and Korean.
The project has become indispensable for the Met, which now heavily depends on the HD movie presentations to boost revenues at a time of declining audience attendance. A recent New York Times article reported that they have grown to account for 10.7 percent of the Met’s revenues last year, up from 7.8 percent a year earlier. Revenues from its HD presentations of operas in movie theaters worldwide rose to $34.5 million from $22 million over the past five seasons.
The Opera House of Seoul Arts Center is the main venue for ballet and opera productions that will be made into film for the “SAC on Screen” program.
The SAC version is called "SAC on Screen." Both projects are similar in theory, but there is a difference between them. With less people coming to the opera, the Met needed a way to make the genre more relevant to today's audiences while generating profit. The SAC, at least for the time being, seems to be more focused on its public role to spread the arts. The first screening of the "SAC on Screen" held at a CGV Theater in Seoul was free of charge and will continue to operate this way for the foreseeable future. The Met's HD presentations at Megabox chain of theaters cost about 20,000 to 30,000 won.
In the coming months, the SAC will take its filmed ballets and operas to theaters nationwide. This could help undo the cultural isolation that people living outside Seoul have long suffered.
The biggest allure of the "SAC on Screen," other than being free of charge, is that one doesn't necessarily have to travel to that part of town late at night for an evening of opera. SAC is just about the only place in Korea that has the content worth filming, but not everyone can travel there. The location of SAC is notorious for its inaccessibility even for people in Seoul, unless one is a resident in the Gangnam area. For such a huge venue, it does not have a direct subway link.
Unfortunately, the SAC is not able to film the best performances it has staged, like the performances of the Berlin Philharmonic's Seoul tour. The hall can only work with productions from its residents companies, like the Korea National Ballet and the Korea National Opera. As such, the success of these companies is directly linked to the success of SAC's screen projects.
One of the biggest concerns from critics when the SAC announced the project last year was that there may not be productions that are attractive enough for filming. But the screening of the "Nutcracker" Tuesday at a CGV theater assuaged such doubts.
The national companies of ballet and opera have grown artistically, particularly in the last decade. The ballet company is enjoying a period of rejuvenation with new stars like Lee Eun-won, one of the youngest principal dancers the company has ever had.
Her stunning performance in the "Nutcracker" will be available for another screening Saturday. The SAC took two months for filming and editing, and the camera work and the sound are of very good quality.
Future screenings will include opera, theater and modern dance.
One thing that the project lacks so far is publicity. The Met runs a Facebook page for stories and photos of its HD presentations. But the SAC's website does not have any announcements about the project.