Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Retake (1)
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Around mid-March, while I was lost in my work.
One day, I received a phone call.
“Hello?”
-“Have you been well, PD Jo Hyunsoo? This is Professor Han Jeongshik.”-
“Ah, yes, Professor! How have you been?”
-“Haha, thanks to you, PD, I've been incredibly busy. I'm doing well. The reason I'm calling is that the videos for both animations from our industry-academia collaboration are finished, and I wanted to send them over. There's still sound mixing and post-production left, so please keep that in mind when you review them.”-
“Ah, of course! I'll do that. Should I check my email?”
-“Yes, I've sent the videos to your email. Please take a look.”-
Immediately after, I opened my email, downloaded the videos to my desktop, and forwarded the message to the art and programming leads, asking them to review them.
*Alright, let's take a look.*
With a mix of anticipation and worry, I took a slow, deep breath and opened the video file.
The first was a 'stencil' animation, a style similar to a shadow puppet show created using light and shadow.
I had chosen this technique because the beginning of the POD project starts with a discussion of dreams, a theme that runs through the entire work, and the uniquely dreamlike atmosphere of the stencil technique was a perfect fit.
I pressed the play button and waited for the video to start.
A moment later, a shooting star fell across a purple sky above a dark horizon, and the animation began.
[A dream... it may be a small star held within the universe of everyone's heart.]
The video played along with the subtitles, followed by symbolic scenes representing Van Gogh's childhood, presented in the style of a puppet show.
Rather than smooth movement, the characters had a distinct, puppet-like jerkiness from the cutout animation style, but that in itself created a unique feel that I actually liked.
*Good. The first video is perfect.*
And the second video was a sand animation.
Chapter 2 of POD covers Van Gogh's time working at his uncle's Goupil Gallery with his brother, Theo.
The story unfolds with him receiving his first powerful inspiration as an artist after seeing a work by Millet, getting fired from the gallery after arguing with a customer, and his brother Theo showing a talent for gallery management. Through this, the process of their respective dreams taking shape is depicted.
I had specifically requested sand animation for the scene where Van Gogh is inspired by a replica of a Manet painting in the gallery, wanting to express it sensuously with the technique's characteristic warmth.
It was a choice I'd made thinking that expressing this scene with sand animation, which creates scenes quickly moment by moment, would be a good emotional fit.
*What the hell? What's wrong with this?*
Unlike the first piece, the second was completely different from what I had requested.
I'm no animation expert, but sand animation is supposed to have a unique, shifting quality. This had none of that; the movement was minimized, and in some ways, the animation felt lazy as it played out.
*This is strange. Some scenes are dense and detailed, but others are directed arbitrarily, with no connection to the storyboard.*
To be sure, there were a few scenes in the middle that were of a higher quality than I had even imagined.
But the other scenes were objectively very poor in quality, which created a jarring disconnect with the well-made parts, making the whole thing feel even more alien.
*This won't do.*
The shock and emotion Van Gogh must have felt—the man who would call Manet 'master' for the rest of his life. That was the highlight of Chapter 2.
To express that through animation, this quality was, frankly, far from sufficient.
I tapped my fingers on the table before speaking.
[Me: Hey, leads. What did you think of the animations?]
[Heo Yuri AD: Oh, the first one, the shadow-like animation, was amazing. But, um... am I allowed to say this?]
[Me: It's fine. Please be honest, both of you.]
[Jeong Yosep DD: I thought the first animation was flawless, but the second one is honestly quite disappointing. The quality is inconsistent, and the scenes that look like they were rushed lack proper acting, making them very dull.]
[Heo Yuri AD: Hey! No fair! I was about to say that! That's exactly what I thought!]
[Me: Hmm. I see. Thanks for your opinions.]
It seemed everyone had a similar eye for these things, as their opinions were nearly identical.
*This is a headache. There isn't much time left until the second build.*
Honestly, given the quality of the sand animation, it would be better not to include it in the first build at all.
But doing so would be like voluntarily taking on a penalty in my showdown with Lee Hyeonho.
If possible, I wanted to find a way to resolve this.
*First, I should talk to the professor.*
I slipped out to a meeting room and immediately called Professor Han Jeongshik.
-“Hello?”-
“Ah, yes, Professor. I've reviewed the animations you sent. The first stencil animation is truly flawless, but...”
-“Hmm. I take it the sand animation seemed a bit lacking in quality to you.”-
His response came as if he'd been expecting it.
Which meant he also knew that the sand animation's quality was lower than anticipated.
-“Actually... it seems the students in charge of the sand animation had some internal conflicts, so the quality didn't quite come together within the deadline. We're looking for a way to handle it at the university level, but I do apologize. I tried my best to supervise them. Haha. If you provide feedback, we'll do our best to retake it within the deadline and improve the quality.”-
Professor Han Jeongshik, clearly feeling uneasy about it himself, brought up the idea of a retake.
However, I didn't think slightly tweaking it at this point would achieve the quality I wanted.
What I wanted, of course, was a fundamental solution.
“When you say conflicts, you mean there were problems among the team members working on it, right?”
-“Yes, you could say that. It's difficult to go into the details, however.”-
The inconsistent quality, the scenes directed differently from the storyboard.
*I think I have a rough idea of what happened.*
Teamwork, by its nature, inherently involves conflict among its members.
It was a common occurrence—no, something most teams experienced—even in game companies full of adults.
Once conflict begins, it's inevitable that morale plummets, taking the quality of the work down with it.
If this issue wasn't resolved somehow, the sand animation would be doomed to remain a mess.
*Looking back, this was a perfectly plausible issue for an industry-academia collaboration. It's my fault for not anticipating it.*
The advantage was being able to request a unique, unconventional style of animation on a much smaller budget. But every advantage has its flip side.
No matter how much the professors supervised, given that the work was being done by students in an academic collaboration, unexpected variables like this were, in a way, to be expected.
*I have to fix this, no matter what.*
But I had no intention of giving up and sitting back.
Clutching my smartphone, I quickly racked my brain and found my next words.
“Professor, if it's alright with you, could I meet with the students who worked on the sand animation tomorrow?”
-“Oh. I don't see why not, but for what reason?”-
“Since we haven't been communicating face-to-face, I thought there might be some points of friction. I feel that if I talk to them one by one, we might be able to steer things in a better direction.”
-“Hmm, if you say so, PD, then I suppose that's fine. I'll let the students know you'll be visiting tomorrow.”-
“Yes, thank you. I'll be there before noon.”
With that, I hung up the phone.
“Phew.”
Then, I crossed my arms and sank into thought.
The final piece of the puzzle needed to secure victory in the concurrent review against Lee Hyeonho.
*If the last piece of the puzzle doesn't fit, it's the PD's job to shave it down until it does.*
To make it fit, one way or another.
****
The next day, in front of Seojong Arts University.
“Haa. So I ended up here after all.”
I had taken a day off from work and come here alone.
I hadn't told Rokhui or even Director Shin Chihwan that I was coming.
I didn't want to make things worse by bringing up an issue that wouldn't be solved just by talking about it.
*Please. I hope the method I came up with works.*
The one saving grace was that, while I wasn't 100% certain, I had spent all of yesterday thinking and had found a clue to solving the problem I was facing today.
“Professor Han Jeongshik. I'm here.”
“Ah. You've arrived, PD Hyunsoo.”
When I found the professor's office, Professor Han Jeongshik, with his stark white hair, greeted me by pushing up his glasses.
He seemed embarrassed that the sand animation hadn't turned out well and wore an awkward expression the whole time.
Normally, I might have questioned him about his poor supervision, but it was obvious that controlling students wouldn't be easy, and I didn't particularly want to hold Rokhui's former teacher responsible.
My only interest was solving the problem at hand and utterly crushing Lee Hyeonho.
“The students who worked on the sand animation should all be in the workshop now. Shall we go meet them? Or...”
“Hmm, if possible, I'd like to meet with them one by one for an interview. When everyone is together, people often hold back what they really want to say.”
This was a common experience in corporate life.
Voicing an opinion that differs from a superior's—or even a peer's or junior's—in a group meeting is quite a daunting act.
Conducting one-on-one interviews is more time-consuming, but it allows you to draw out people's true feelings and has a higher probability of yielding the information you actually need.
“Hmm. Let's do that, then. There's a break room for part-time instructors right next door. If you wait there, I'll send the students in one by one.”
“Yes, please do.”
After a short wait in the break room, a female student with an ordinary appearance entered, bowing her head deeply.
“Ah, hello! You were looking for me?”
“Ah, yes. I'm PD Jo Hyunsoo. I'd like to ask you a few questions about the sand animation you worked on.”
“Ah, yes, of course!”
I asked the first student many things: if she was familiar with the story of POD's Chapter 2, what process they used for the sand animation, if she faced any difficulties during her work, and so on.
“Soyoon, why did you decide to work on the sand animation?”
“Uh. I just chose it because it seemed like it would be fun.”
As we talked, I found it strange; this student didn't seem to have much passion for the project.
“Umm. I was just in charge of the acting, and a fourth-year, Kanghyuk, was in charge of leading the overall project.”
And at the end of our conversation, I was able to learn one fact: a fourth-year student was the project lead.
“Kanghyuk, a senior. So he was the de facto director?”
“Ah, yes, that's right?”
The first student tilted her head and asked back.
*Well. This one doesn't seem like someone who would have a major impact on the overall project.*
Judging by her bright expression, she seemed completely unaware that the reason I was here was because of the sand animation's quality issues.
“Well, that seems to be all my questions. Thanks for taking the time to talk, I know you're busy.”
“Not at all. So, can I go now?”
The student scratched her cheek, just as she was about to get up from her seat.
“Ah, before you go, would it be alright if I asked just one more thing?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Are you by any chance interested in game development? Like concept art or animation for games.”
“Ah! I am! Very interested!”
At my words, the student's expression suddenly brightened.
She seemed to have mistaken my question as a sign of recruitment interest.
However.
<<Understanding of student 'Lee Soyoon' increases!>>
<<Understanding of student 'Lee Soyoon' is unlocked!>>
The reason I asked that question had nothing to do with that.