By Lim Hyun-ju
Global Student Reporter
I recently met a foreign actor Michael Arnold who has posted 500 video clips about Korea on You Tube, the world's largest UCC site. He was a nice-looking guy with adorable smile and voice. I feel he looks very familiar. You maybe have seen him many times on TV shows or dramas in Korea. When he decided to start traveling, he had a close relative teaching here, so he came to visit this mysterious but intriguing country. He stayed for a month, much longer than his initial itinerary.
He feels that staying in Korea will open his future. His speaking is very serious and I can feel he loves Korea very much.
Also, it wasn't so much a decision as an offer, and after a few times working with some good people his interest began. He had done some acting in Canada when he was a child, and he graduated from a film school. But all that passion for acting resurfaced after he started getting calls to perform on Korean TV and Films. It wasn't some kind of ``Lucky Break'' into the business. He was just an extra on some dramas and TV shows and he put out as much effort into as possible. After sometime he was recognized for his passionate efforts and he began taking a bigger role in films he appears in.
Many Korean know him well now because he is an actor. He has also made many groups for Korean and foreigners. He always is trying to know Korean life and Korean culture. The most famous group is called ``Seoul Circle,'' which meets every Saturday. A book published here introduced the group. The ``Seoul Circle'' group makes good relations between Koreans and foreigners by exchanging their culture and passions for each other.
I interviewed him about making video clips. He has made some 500 videos about Korean life and posted them on You Tube, and lately many people in Korea and around the world are interested in his UCCs. At first, he documented his daily life, almost as if he was making videos to show someone from back home.
When You Tube came on the scene it was an ideal platform for him to show his life in Korea to the world. He has over 500 video clips and somewhere around 420 subscribers from around the world. Although he still makes them for fun and to chronicle his routine life here, he now has a lot of people watching him and his Korean life.
He feels a little embarrassed walking around the streets and subways holding a camera to his face and talking, but he doesn't bother anyone and so perhaps they just think he is another Zany foreigner. He looks very serious. He hasn't had any complaints or criticisms, but he gets a lot of comments from people from all over the world. He will continue to make them as long as he can, and if you watch any of them, wait for the very end and his trademark, just before he ends his video and turns off the recording.
He is very proud of making videos in Korea. That's why he can make many good videos. His attitude is not just making videos for fun.
When I was talking with him, I felt his big effort and passion about his work. Actually he has a good motto he uses often: ``Passion, Vision, Love and Ambition.'' He believes those are the things people really need to accomplish dreams and goals. He thinks the four are things that give balance and harmony to everything.
Michael and his colleague Michael Lindberg say they are going to make movies until someone pays for them to make videos, which means they have a deep love for filmmaking, and money shortages never disrupt their passion in making them.
He hopes that someday he will get some recognition for the effort he puts in, and maybe he can actually do it and get paid for it in one way or another.
It's extremely difficult to complete a project on a budget of about $300 to 500. Also, he loves writing story, casting actors, directing and producing a film on his own.
When I asked about his future plans, he spoke with confidence. He has worked very hard, and works longer than anyone he knows.
Ideally, he'd love to make films and cast himself in at least small parts and show the world what he sees. Many people say actors and filmmakers create films to express their internal struggles or to show how they see the world. He said he loves Korea so much and hopes to realize his dream here. To make it come true, he will not stop making UCCs in Korea.
Lim Hyun-ju was editor-in-chief of the Dankook Herald, English-language newspaper published every two months by Dankook University in Seoul. She is a senior majoring in English language and literature.