Animation Basics An Examination of the Current Status and Future Directions of Korean Animation
GCC Academy
Hello
This is Lee Jieun from Blue Wave Entertainment
During this session, we will focus on the current status of Korean animation
And we'll also take the time to reflect on the future directions of Korean animation
Then, let's start by examining how Korean animation began
And secondly, let's look at the development process of Korean animation
Exploring how it has progressed over time
Next, we'll discuss and reflect on the direction of development in Korea
Let's proceed together and delve into these topics
The origins of Korean animation
Korean animation screenings began in earnest in 1910
According to records, it was produced in 1918 by Nikkatsu Corporation
The Japanese animation "The Battle of the Monkey and the Crab" was screened in Busan
However, according to a 1936 article in The Chosun Daily,
characters such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse
An article mentions that even three-year-old children recognize them
So, we can learn that animations were quite popular at that time
We can also find out that those shows were quite successful in terms of screenings
The first Korean animation was an advertising animation
It was called "Sinalco," an advertisement animation for a beverage
In 1956, it was produced by the art department of the first private domestic broadcasting station, HLKZ TV
Mr. Moon Dalbu, Director Moon Dalbu
He created the OB Sinalco advertisement
But at that time, animation technology in Korea was almost non-existent
So, according to Director Moon Dalbu,
he studied and produced the animation by copying each frame of a 6-second German advertisement
He said like that
Before the Sinalco ad, a Lucky Toothpaste commercial was made
We thought that was the first-ever animation
Actually, the Sinalco advertisement was the original
So, after the Lucky Toothpaste commercial, until the early 1960s,
many 2-3 minute cinematic commercials were produced
The reason why advertisements like Sinalco and Lucky Toothpaste were produced a lot in Korea is because
at that time, there were many advertisements for beverages and food
Actors tended to avoid advertisements that involved those types of items
Nowadays, becoming a model for beverage and beer advertisements
That is considered prestigious
But back then, actors often avoided advertisements for medicine, beverages, and food
Therefore, they opted for animation as a substitute for people in advertisements
These days, soju advertisements feature very attractive women, but
in the 1960s, Jinro Soju advertisements were produced using animation
Director Shin Donghun worked on the Jinro Soju advertisement
The Jinro Soju advertisement was widely screened at that time
We can see that it was heavily influenced by Disney's Peter Pan
Because back in 1960, Japanese animation had not yet introduced in Korea
It was a period when Korean animation was greatly impacted by American animation
So, if you look at the illustrations, you'll see scenes of sailors baring their bellies
Or dancing on the ship's deck
These elements are directly incorporated into the advertisements
These are scenes commonly seen in Peter Pan as well
And scenes resembling Hawaiian women are also briefly depicted
Those scenes were also directed similarly to the mermaids in Peter Pan
So, was only the commercial produced?
That's not entirely accurate either
There were also cultural promotion animation
"Let's catch mice," "Let's eat insecticide"
These are examples of cultural promotion animations
These were also mainly screened in theaters
Because television was not widespread at the time
It's hard to imagine now, but
TVs were not available in households
There might have been one TV for every 20 or 30 houses if any at all
That's about the extent of it
Because TVs were very expensive appliances,
Even after the 1950s, they were still relatively sparse
Therefore, the main medium for watching movies or videos was
Theatres were considered the primary option
"Kojubu" (Big-nosed) was the first animated character
Appeared in the video "Let's catch mice"
This can be seen as the first character animation in Korea
Gradually, with advertisements and cultural animations like this,
These kinds of productions were being made,
And various animation production techniques were becoming more diverse
Finally, in Korea, full-length animated films were being produced
In 1967, a full-length animated film
Was created, titled "Pung-un-a (lucky adventurer) Hong Gildong,"
Directed by Shin Donghun, the same director I mentioned earlier with the Jinro Soju story
The director for Jinro Soju created this piece
However, it was still based on a comic book
Fortunately, there was also Shin Dongwoo, his younger brother, who was the animator
They adapted the work that he serialized, "Hong Gildong," into an animation
Which was screened and attracted tremendous popularity
Thus, the first full-length animated film in Korea was produced
These works began to gain recognition overseas
So, they became known in Japan as well,
and even in the United States
They initially viewed South Korea as a country that was once a wasteland,
but now they realized that South Korea could create animations
The United States, Europe, Japan, and other countries sought to produce animations
This became a time when they came to Korea for such purposes
Therefore, this first full-length animation,
is not only Korea's original creation
Ironically, it laid the foundation of Korea's OEM creation industry
Which holds a very important significance
Earlier, while discussing the Sinalco advertisement,
we briefly mentioned the first broadcasting station
At the first Korean broadcasting station, HLKZ TV,
they broadcasted for the first time
However, this broadcasting station soon transitioned into state media
Because there were no viewers watching TV
How would they collect money?
Things like advertising revenue generate income for TV stations
As a result, they declared defunct simultaneously with the establishment of KBS
In Korea, from 1968 onwards, they began assembling TV sets
Not produced domestically, but rather assembled,
and began distributing them after assembly
So, KBS was established in 1961
TBC was established in 1964
MBC was established in 1968
So, what happened?
The number of channels increased to three
Marking the beginning of the era of full-fledged TV animation
With the advent of the TV animation era,
starting with KBS,
many foreign animations were imported
and aired
The most well-known one being, Popeye
Popeye, Woody Woodpecker, Cute Betty
Cute Betty is indeed Betty Boop
Naughty Bunny, which is Bugs Bunny
And "The Adventures of TINTIN" is known as "Tang Tang"
At that time, there was a program called "Disneyland,"
Where Walt Disney would appear in the show
And show Mickey Mouse to kids
There was a program like that
And there were shows such as "The Road Runner Show" and "Tom and Jerry"
Even though the names of these works are all in Korean,
They originated from the United States
With the increasing demand,
it wasn't enough to just air American animations
So, they started airing Japanese animations as well
But at that time, importing Japanese works was restricted
Therefore, the were indirectly treated as American productions
and imported in Korea
Both in Japan and the United States,
the beginning of TV broadcasting stations
significantly influences animations
So, two works were produced in collaboration with Japan
Shows called "Golden Bat" and "Humanoid Monster Bem"
Appeared during that time
However, animators who were involved in these productions at the time,
also participated in subsequent full-length animated productions,
became actively involved in their creation
So, "Golden Bat" and "Humanoid Monster Bem"
In Japan, they were like, "Is this ours or theirs?"
The pre-production process was handled in Japan,
while the actual animation and storytelling were done in Korea
That's how we understand it
The development of Korean animation
To discuss how Korean animation began,
even though it's a Japanese work, it seems essential to introduce one particular piece
It aired via MBC starting in August 1975 in Korea
According to newspaper archives from that time, the series "Mazinger Z"
was broadcasted under the name of "American Pictures,"
and was disguised as an American production to air domestically
At that time, all the children in Korean were truly enthralled
They were so thrilled, and the Japanese essence was skillfully removed from the broadcast
Another point is that the work "Mazinger Z"
To export abroad, many aspects of the characters were
western-style characters appeared frequently as well
That's why Korean-made products seemed remarkably like Western productions
Because if you looked at the credits, you'd see many Korean names listed
To the point where you might question whether it was produced in Korea
Children were unaware
Of which country the production was from
In 1976, however,
going with the flow of this robot animation boom,
Director Kim Chenggi's work, "Robot Taekwon V"
achieves complete success at the box office
Robot Taekwon V is still remembered by many people today
Especially to the extent that it can be called a classic even among the elderly
Even among those in their late 50s now
When discussing animation, people would first mention Robot Taekwon V
It's one of those works
That made their hearts flutter
Just listening to the music makes their hearts beat
It was such an amazing piece of work
Combining the trend of robots at the time
And adding Taekwondo into the mix
Making it a very Korean character
Resulted in its immense popularity
So, a wide variety of Robot Taekwon V series emerged
About four installments were particularly successful
They did well and continued to be successful at the box office
While also spawning merchandise and more
It had a significant impact on the development of animation in Korea
It's such work
We briefly talked about Mazinger Z earlier
Director Kim Cheonggi acknowledged it that
Robot Taekwon V was influenced by Great Mazinger, Mazinger Z
There were parts where he mentioned being influenced by such works
But did we only receive influence from Mazinger Z?
Well, that's not necessarily the case
In Robot Taekwon V, there are scenes featuring martial arts and Taekwondo
As the pilot and Taekwon V overlap,
they perform Taekwondo moves in sync
However, if you take a look at Japanese animations,
like driving a car,
they drive the robot in that manner
Rather than the process of driving a robot
We provided the feeling of the driver and Taekwon V merging together
This aspect was later adopted in reverse by Japanese animation
Giving a sense of unity, a sense of unity with the driver
Such scenes are often incorporated
And these full-length animations
until the early 1980s
were continuously produced for theatrical release
There were also a work called "Wonder Princess"
When you hear "Wonder Princess," or wonder, what comes to mind?
You would probably think of Wonder Woman, right?
At that time, watching foreign films like this,
there were such works made into animations in Korea
And Robot Taekwon V kept being rerun endlessly,
being produced in various forms
At the same time, Taekwondo itself also gained popularity
the work Maruchi Arachi was also produced
Anyway, until the early 1980s
Korean theatrical animations were produced in abundance
In addition, animations with anti-communist themes were produced
There was also a series called "General Ttoli," which was an anti-communist animation
Back then was a period when ideologies were overflowing
There were even anti-communist animations available for children to watch
In the General Ttoli series, during that time, depicted Kim Il-Sung of North Korea
Kim Il-Sung being referred to as the Red Pig
The "General Ttoli" series was also popular
Then came the truly significant era of OEM
Based on the knowledge gained from the establishment of companies
"The Starland Trio" series also became a work
What's particularly significant about 'The Starland Trio' is that
The same characters, of course, and likewise various other aspects,
As a series, they precisely share the maincharacters,
And they also bind together the supporting characters in this way,
The fact that they continues the series together holds significance
Because they were all produced by the same studio
In the case of 'Robot Taekwon V,' it was initially produced
And was later transferred to another production company
Here, the works were consistently produced by a single company
And also, 'Fifteen Children Space Adventure' and '30000 Leagues in Search of Mother'
These are adaptations of Western classic fairy tales
They are based on novels and such
And they were also adapted into animations
At that time, other works that were also produced included
There was a works called "Boy 007,"
"Boy 007" was likewise adapted, much like "Wonder Woman" earlier
It drew inspiration from the James Bond films
Mr. Kim San serialized the work 'Boy 007'
It was a very entertaining and popular comic
Again, it was also adapted into a movie
It was produced as a full-length animated film
Here, the first and second parts were produced by different studios
But behind the vibrant production of animations like this,
You could say it was a strategy to import foreign films
There was such a factor
In order to import foreign films,
There were requirements on how many films needed to be produced
Given such conditions
So, to import foreign films,
I wanted to share an interesting story about
The production of feature-length animations in Korea
This wouldn't sound interesting to the film-makers
But somehow, whether obligatory or not,
There was a situation where production had to be carried out
And also, the artist Koh Wooyoung's 'The Romance of Three Kingdoms'
Similarly, 'The Romance of Three Kingdoms' was produced as both a first and second part
This one was aimed at an older audience
While other animations targeted children specifically,
Koh Wooyoung's 'The Romance of Three Kingdoms' itself was aimed at an older age group, so
This one was also enjoyed by adults to some extent
You could tell by such animations
And there's also the 'Dokgo Tak' series
The 'Dokgo Tak' series also had three series produced
Which was also screened as feature-length animations in theaters
While feature-length animations were being created,
At that time, in Korea,
It was approaching the 1988 Olympics
In the late 1980s, Korea was preparing for the Olympics
The government had this in mind
We, at that time,
Korea's animation industry was thriving
It was doing well in terms of
Aside from the feature-length animation projects I've mentioned so far,
OEM business, receiving work from other countries,
Taking on outsourcing and exporting it after doing it ourselves,
We were making a lot of money through such business operations
Yet, despite this, there were still no TV animations
The Korean TV animation
You could say it actually began slow a bit
So at that time, there were no domestically produced TV animations
The active involvement of broadcasting companies and
Discussions about turning well-known comic book originals
Into TV series were underway
"Wanderer KKachi (Crow)" and "Run, Hodori" were also among them
The mascot Hodori from the 1988 Olympics also had an animated series
The universally known characters like 'Dooly the Little Dinosaur,' 'Run, Hani,' and '2020 Wonder Kiddy'
It's already past 2020, and it's neither particularly stellar nor wondrous right now
In addition, 'Taoist Meoteol' and 'Guru Cabbage and Guru Radish's Once Upon a Time'
Shows like 'Guru Cabbage and Guru Radish's Once Upon a Time' and 'The Flying Superboard' used to present old tales to children
'The Flying Superboard' was incredibly popular as a theme song
'The Flying Superboard,' 'Young-sim,' or 'Soul Frame LAZENCA'
The theme song for 'LAZENCA' was very popular as well
Various works were aired, and so on, resulting in a vast variety of productions
The first regular domestic TV series was 'Run, Hani'
This was aired via KBS station
Dongwoo Animation participated as a subcontractor
Despite being involved as a subcontractor,
In my opinion, it was during the pre-production process
When they joined as a subcontractor
The same way goes for 'Wanderer KKachi (Crow)'
This is Director Lee Hyunse's work
'Wanderer Kkachi' at the time
This refers to the production of two feature-length animations for TV
And then, the first season of the 'Dooly the Little Dinosaur' aired in 1987
The second season aired in 1988
This series has been consistently produced as animations over time
It even had full-length feature films produced
Next, 'Taoist Meoteol'
'Taoist Meoteol' was also a very popular animation
This series also had three TV feature-length films made
Then it was remade into a TV series
It was produced with 26 episodes on EBS
Well, you've covered quite a bit of well-known pieces
Some of you might be familiar with or not
That Korean TV animation
Continued to be produced consistently up until the late 1990s
You could get a grip on that
There are indeed a lot of comic book originals here
And in fact, there are a lot of things that are not included here
Reflections on the directions of Korean animation
Now, it's time to reflect on the direction of Korean animation
The first thing I want to mention is the work named 'Mashimaro'
Even now, the character Mashimaro is well-known to many people
It was originally famous uner the name "Yupki Rabit" (Yupki - bizarre, insane, crazy)
During that time, from the late 1990s to 2000s
Everyone now has TVs in their households
And then, through the medium of the internet,
This work became immensely famous internationally
Then, it was also through online role-playing game platforms that
Were a paid-for broadcasted work
It was also produced as short 2-minute flash animations
Flash animations was
At that time, the file sizes were quite small and light, so
It was produced for web use
Until recently, it was still being produced to the extent of being suitable for TV animation
After that era of flash animation,
It became possible to create content adaptable for TV animation production
During that period when flash animation was being produced,
The nascent stages of its creation, Mashimaro emerged
It rose to prominence as a very big shot, a highly renowned character
Then came the character Dinga
Now, it's transitioning more into the era of 3D animation
Of course, 2D animation has continued to evolve as well
And has been broadcasted and so on, but
With the emergence of 3D, Korean animation
Started to focus a lot on creating 3D animation
Therefore, we'll look into some of the representative works and
Work together to organize and summarize
Dinga the lazy cat
Was created by the company called Iconix
This work might be one of the first
Collaborative animations between North and South Korea
It's a collaborative animations between North and South Korea
Out of a total of 33 episodes, 17 were made through collaboration
In 2001, it won the Character Award at the Cartoon Movie Awards
In 2002, it won the Minister of Culture Award from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Its award history was quite illustrious indeed
During the early 2000s, TV series and
Web animations in 3D were not as prevalent
Moreover, it had some hits that I think were quite significant
Next up is Pororo the Little Penguin, a character known to all of you
Potongryeong (President Porto) makes an appearance
Pororo made his debut in October 2002
There is an event called "MIP Junior" held in Cannes, France
I used to go there often
There is a licensing market there
Licensing refers to the potential for successful merchandising
Such characters open up opportunities there
And are showcased to people from various countries
It made its first appearance at such event
So far, up to Season 8 has been released
Season 8
Season 9 is scheduled to be released in 2025
It's been over 20 years now
Since it began producing in 2002
Pororo the Little Penguin was also created into a movie
The production company OCON hold the rights to the movie
Since 2004, they have been producing and releasing feature-length animations almost every year
Which seems to be doing quite well
So they've been continuing with it consistently
In addition, looking at Pororo now
YouTube channels related to Pororo are very active
And you can see that they are progressing well
So, even just with Pororo, there's a ranking
Gold, silver, and so on
However, Pororo's channel reached the diamond level
And it's available in various languages
Each on its own channel, which is referred to as localization
They've localized it into different languages
So it's being made available to children in various countries in different languages
Actually, Pororo is globally recognized
It was one of the early pioneers in 3D animation
Back when Pororo entered the market in 2002 and 2003, at that time
There weren't many 3D TV series dominating the market globally
So, in a way,
the timing was also very favorable
It was a character with the potential for popularity
The next work is called "Robocar Poli"
All of the characters are cars
It's something children would really enjoy
With all the elements to become a hit
I believe it's a work that has the potential to be successful
It involves various cars, and it doesn't stop there
It transforms, it turns into a robot
So that work also became a huge hit
When I went abroad for marketing purposes
Robocar Poli gained tremendous momentum
They were even selling Robocar Poli toys in France
I've personally seen it myself
Robocar Poli like the one you're seeing now
Is a Roy Visual website
It also has several YouTube channels
On YouTube channels in various languages
Through those YouTube channels, it offers OTT services
Through OTT services
It is being provided to children in various countries overseas
Next, this character is a bit different
When it comes to Pororo and Robocar Poli, they are animations targeting toddlers
Larva has a slightly different character
In 2009, Larva first appeared in a contest
So, it evolved as a web animation
It was officially aired on TV in 2011
Larva gained tremendous popularity
It's only been about 10 years since then
I believe you might remember
If you take the village bus,
At the place where a small TV is installed on the front of the village bus
Larva appeared a lot
They appeared a lot on buses and subways
So, but Larva's characteristic is
It's not just for kids
This is considered slapstick comedy,
With a bit silly feeling
It's the type of comedy with runny noses and fart jokes
Made for both adults and kids to enjoy
It's that kind of animation
So, it's done very well
Larva even got picked up by Netflix
So, things like Larva Island
Are made as Netflix originals
And it's still being continuously made
And if you watch the YouTube channel of Larva,
It shows an impressive number of subscribers
Other works of TUBA are also featured
Larva is not only available on its own channel
Larva itself, on various platforms,
It is well-received
Some channels are owned and managed individually
And some channels are managed by distributors in other countries
But in the case of Larva,
It is known that they also do a lot of broadcasting
Through overseas distributors on YouTube
As for the next work, in 2014,
There is Super Wings, which was aired on EBS
This was a collaborative production between South Korea and China
It was heavily exported overseas
The characteristic of this work is that
The script was written in the United States
So, if you look closely,
It's like a joint production between Korea, China, and the United States
The U.S. script company doesn't hold the rights
So they don't own the rights to this work
They only wrote the script
Nevertheless, they made significant efforts
For international expansion
So, Season 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
And now Season 7 is airing until 2023
And it's going really well
Should we call it a delivery service?
The protagonis character who delivers items
Travels to various parts of the world to deliver packages
And then the characters there
Helps to solve any problems or incidents that arise, and they return
It's content along those lines
In a way, it could be seen as following in the footsteps of Robocar Poli
The airplanes transform into robots
It's such a work
I think they've done a great job of picking up the baton
Also, Super Wings' YouTube channel is currently doing quite well
They have multiple channels
Their international expansion is also going well, it seems
So, since the 2000s,
Apart from the shows I've introduced so far,
Actually, I haven't introduced any of my own works, so
I do have my own work
But now, we should think about the future direction of Korean animation
I think it's a time when we need to give it some serious thought
Most of the Korean animations I've shown so far are
mainly targeted towards young children
They're the safest animations, you could say
They're safe for kids and adults alike to watch
But in reality, animations that kids watch are
hardly watched by adults
So, animations are mostly watched by kids
This is a thought that many people have
Nowadays, people are having fewer children
Looking at the current trend, people are having fewer children
the age group that grew up watching animations is
Increasing
So, adults can also enjoy animations
I think that trend has been cultivated to some extent
These days, Korean animations
Animations based on original comics have
Developed from original comics
But how is it now?
More towards webtoons rather than traditional comic books,
It's become a state where the media has somewhat skipped from books to media
Even now, when you mention webtoons abroad,
Korean webtoons have become somewhat mainstream
As far as I know, they've become a dominant trend
Webtoons themselves have become a term coined in Korea
That's what I know of
So, naturally, there's less printing them on paper now,
compared to exporting books,
webtoons, which are easily accessible externally,
Are spreading well overseas.
As a result, these webtoons are also being adapted into drama content
There are quite a lot being produced
Content that has become a huge hit on platforms like Netflix
Indeed includes many Korean webtoons
So, webtoon content
It's great that webtoon content is being adapted into dramas, but
There seems to be anywhere it hasn't reached.
There's also animation
Comic books being turned into animations
There are quite a lot of such cases, so
Now, with successful webtoon originals,
It's time for us to produce animation
That's the situation we're in now
Actual successful webtoons are being adapted
So, the animation of webtoon content is
A significant factor in the future of Korean animation
I think it could be a new direction
Now slowly, it's starting
'Lookism,' 'Solo Leveling,' and 'Tower of God'
These works are on Netflix
They're being broadcast worldwide
We should keep an eye on the feedback from around the world, but
Going forward, even animations targeted at older age groups like this
Isn't it a direction that Korea should also consider challenging?
I believe in that way
Summary The origins of Korean animation 1918- 'The Battle of the Monkey and the Crab' produced by Nikkatsu was screened at Busan Sangsang Hall 1956- HLKZ TV produced Korea's first animation, the OB Sinalco advertisement
1959- Korea's first character animation 'Catch the Mouse' was produced and screened in theaters 1967- the cartoon 'Pungwoona Hong Gildong' was produced as Korea's first feature-length animation
1960s- with the establishment of KBS, TBC, and MBC, the era of TV animation began in earnest
They primarily aired American animation, but as demand grew, they started importing and airing Japanese animation indirectly
The Development of Korean Animation 1976- 'Robot Taekwon V,' inspired by the 'Mazinger Z' character, achieved commercial success The early 1980s- theatrical animations were continuously produced
Building on their experience in OEM production, Korean animation flourished by creating high-quality feature-length animations Domestic feature-length animations based on comic originals were also produced to increase foreign currency imports
In anticipation of the 1988 Olympics and the absence of domestically produced TV animations, TV animation series based on comics originals began to be produced
1988- The first domestically produced Korean TV animation series 'Run, Hani' was officially aired
The Direction and Reflections of Korean Animation 2000- the 2-minute Flash animation 'Mashimaro' was produced, marking its entry into the international market The early 2000s- the production of 3D animation series began
2001- A joint production with North Korea resulted in the creation of 'Dinga' 2002- With the success of 'Pororo the Little Penguin,' a variety of children's animations such as 'Robocar Poli,' 'Larva,' and 'Super Wings' achieved commercial success
Korean animation should move towards adjusting its target age range and developing animations based on webtoon originals