(Korean Movies) Swing Kids, 2018

“The movie <Swing Kids>
in the most painful times
Meet the people you don't like the most
He struggled to be happy with one keyword, 'dance'.
This is the story of a chaotic dance troupe.

Based on the tragic history of Korea, the Korean War,
Ironically, through the subject of 'dance', the most exciting activity,
I wanted to talk about war and ideology.

Although it is a little lacking, the passion for dancing is the best.
I want to dance with you, and I want to support you with all my might
Please look forward to the stage of ‘Swing Kids’”

– Directed by Kang Hyeong-cheol –

[ About Movie ]

Excited! Laughter bursts! Impressed!
<Speed Scandal> and <Sunny> Directed by Kang Hyung-cheol
In the middle of the Geoje POW camp in 1951,
A heart-pounding story unfolds!
Director Kang Hyung-cheol, who created a box office scandal in Korea with his debut film Speeding Scandal (2008, 8.24 million people), which tells the story of a three-generation family who started living together in one day, set the highest score of the year. Then, <Sunny> (2011, 7.36 million people), which recalled the memories of the nation with attractive characters and excellent music production, <Tazza – Hand of God> (2014), which gave a new charm to the series with a young sense of speed and directing. , 4.01 million people), the movie <Swing Kids>, which contains the strengths of director Kang Hyung-cheol, who has been loved for his unique directing ability and stories that all generations can sympathize with, will be released on the screen this winter.

<Swing Kids> is a movie depicting the heart-fluttering birth period of 'Swing Kids', a dance group that united in Geoje Prison Camp in 1951 with a passion for only dancing. Director Kang Hyung-cheol recreates the creative musical [Ro Gi-su] as a motif, which started with a photo of Werner Bischof, a war correspondent during the Korean War, of prisoners of war dancing in front of the Statue of Liberty wearing a mask at the Geoje Prison Camp. A movie, <Swing Kids>, offers unprecedented fun and spectacle through a heterogeneous combination of the saddest history of the 'Korean War' and the most exciting subject of 'dance'. The lovely personalities and ensembles of the five South-North-American-Chinese characters, who joined the dance troupe for different reasons, create a pleasant laugh, and gradually gain hands and feet with only their passion for dancing. Their story, as they fit together, expands the fun with a dramatic development. In addition to the explosive energy created by young actors, blockbuster-class masterpieces that make your heart beat just by listening to them, and the splendid performances of tap dancing, <Swing Kids> opens a new chapter in Korean cinema that has never been seen before, making the audience's feet and shoulders shake. will be. <Swing Kids>, which adds sympathy and fun that penetrates generations to director Kang Hyung-cheol's unique directing ability that unraveled the unique subject matter of a tap dance team in a prisoner-of-war camp through original storytelling, will spread laughter and emotion in theaters at the end of this year.

2018 ONE PICK by director Hyung-cheol Kang, a professional excavator!
Do Kyung-soo x Park Hye-soo x Oh Jeong-se x Kim Min-ho x Jared Grimes
A dance troupe full of charm that will shake the whole world!
Directed by Kang Hyung-cheol, who drew attention for his witty characters and perfect synchro rate in each work, from the three generations of the family of <Speed Scandal> to the friends of the Seven Princesses of <Sunny>, will love Do Kyung-soo, Park Hye-soo, Oh Jeong-se, Kim Min-ho, and even Broadway native Jared Grimes. Introducing the 'Swing Kids', a dance troupe full of irresistible charm.

From the movie <Along with the Gods> series to the drama [Hundred Days My Lady], Do Kyung-soo, who is solidifying his position as a representative actor in his twenties by going back and forth between the screen and the CRT, has become a troublemaker of the Swing Kids Dance Troupe with the full support of Director Kang Hyung-cheol. ' was cast for the role. For the character, Do Kyung-soo, who not only took on physical transformations such as weight loss and shaved hair, but also tried acting in the North Korean dialect, perfectly digests the high-level tap dance and radiates explosive energy. Actress Park Hye-soo, who captured viewers' eyes with her fresh charm through the drama [Age of Youth], joined <Swing Kids> as a new muse for director Kang Hyung-cheol, who has selected talented new actresses such as Park Bo-young and Shim Eun-kyung. Park Hye-soo, who plays the role of Yang Pan-rae, an unlicensed interpreter of the Swing Kids Dance Troupe, shows off her high-level singing and foreign language skills, showing off her colorful charms on the screen. Oh Jeong-se, who is reunited with director Kang Hyung-cheol after four years of <Tazza – Hand of God>, radiates an irreplaceable presence as the only love affair of the Swing Kids dance troupe, 'Kang Byung-sam'. Oh Jeong-se, who portrays a character who hides the longing and pain for his wife in laughter with a uniquely humanistic acting, showed a passionate performance that spared no part in his whole body. Kim Min-ho, an actor with a unique personality, took on the role of 'Xiaopang', a malnourished talent of the Swing Kids dance troupe. Kim Min-ho, who perfectly digested the character of 'Xiaopang' with his genius dance moves and excellent choreography sense, disarms the viewers with his irreplaceable dance skills and rich facial expressions. In addition, Jared Grimes, an actual Broadway dancer and actor who served as the main dancer for a performance for former US President Barack Obama, will play the role of 'Jackson', the leader of the Swing Kids dance troupe, making his first appearance in a Korean film. Jared Grimes richly completed the ensemble of <Swing Kids> with an exciting chemistry with the actors as well as an overwhelming dance performance that could not be seen in existing Korean films. In this way, director Kang Hyung-cheol, who discovered new actors like jewels in each work, will introduce a fresh combination of young actors and an ensemble of attractive characters that will fascinate the audience so intensely that they want to go into the screen and dance with them.

Shooting-Art-Clothes-Music 4 beats detailing!
Shooting-Art-Clothes-Music 4 beats detailing!
<Duke>, <Gukje Market>, <Namhansanseong>, <Princess Deokhye>, <Myeongryang>, <Mischief>
'1950's retro sensibility' presented by top-class production crew
Cinematographer Ji-yong Kim, who won the Golden Frog Award (Best Cinematography Award), the first Korean film in 2018, at the Energa Camerimage Awards, which is called the Oscars of the cinematography world, Art Director Park Il-hyeon, Costume Director Im Seung-hee, Music Director Kim Jun-seok Top-class production crew, including the director, joined <Swing Kids>. The best production team in Korea perfectly embodies the era of the Korean War in the 1950s, and at the same time captures the excitement and emotion of the swing kids dance troupe at the Geoje POW camp on the screen.

Cinematographer Ji-yong Kim, who was well-received for her immersive shooting style in <Namhansanseong> and <Mischief>, used an old vintage lens to express the texture and color like looking at a color photograph from the 1950s, and capture the dynamic movement of the tap dance performance. It provides a three-dimensional spectacle as if the audience were seeing it in person. In addition, Art Director Park Il-hyeon, who showed detailed spatial designs through <The Peacock> and <The Himalayas>, invested a total of 200 people in Samcheok, Gangwon-do to reproduce the Geoje POW camp, and opened a 10,000 pyeong area over three months. made a set. The interior of the camp, barracks, training grounds, and barbed wire paths were constructed through thorough data research and historical evidence, and the barracks in the prison camps metaphorically expressed the opposition of ideologies through the contrast between the primary colors and the pop art feel. The costumes were made with handmade textures reflecting the lifestyle of the prisoners of war by making their own clothes. Costume director Im Seung-hee, who was in charge of costumes for <Princess Deokhye>, <International Market>, and <Myeongryang>, enhanced the level of perfection with costumes that contained characteristics from pro-communist and anti-communist prisoners of war, US and Chinese forces to each character. In particular, the performance costumes of the Swing Kids dance troupe were made with great care in order to make the dance look more dramatic in consideration of the line that maximizes the effect of movement. Music director Kim Jun-seok, who has worked together in all of Kang Hyung-cheol's works, including <Speed Scandal>, <Sunny>, and <Tazza-God's Hand>, hired a jazz band from the Netherlands to express the unique atmosphere of swing music in the 1950s. He recorded and improved the musical perfection through the work with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO), which had collaborated with Ennio Morricone, the master of Hollywood film music. As such, <Swing Kids>, complete from filming to art, costumes, and music, is not just a movie to watch, but it will give the best cinematic experience with rich spectacles and explosive performances, and will shake the theaters at the end of the year.

Benny Goodman, David Bowie, The Beatles!
Immortal masterpiece that will break through speakers X screen-breaking high-level tap dance
Let's just dance together this winter!
The thrilling tap dance that seemed to pop out of the screen at any moment was completed with the perfect stage through thorough preparation by the production team and actors. Director Kang Hyung-cheol carefully prepared the continuity of every dance scene one by one in order to create a scene where dance and music are in perfect harmony, and he developed it with choreographer Ran-Young Lee by making a video. Director Lee Ran-young, who participated in musicals [Hero] and [Mozart!], created the choreography for <Swing Kids> for one year, demonstrated each scene, and completed the choreography that captures the flow of the story as well as the character's emotions. Meanwhile, Do Kyung-soo, Park Hye-soo, Oh Jeong-se, and Kim Min-ho learned the choreography through systematic practice from basic tap movements to high-level choreography for about six months before filming. Do Kyung-soo, who performed the largest amount of dance, played the role of 'Ro Gi-soo', perfectly digested the dance scene in which he competed one-on-one with the world-famous tap dancer Jared Grimes with his innate rhythm and intense practice. I came up with an idea and created a unique performance. In particular, the highlight performance stage on Christmas Eve will deliver a thrill that you have never seen before, with the movie's emotion and the energy of the Swing Kids dance group exploding.

The colorful masterpieces of <Swing Kids> captivate the hearts and ears of the audience as they flow in the right place along with the splendid dance. Director Kang Hyung-cheol and music director Kim Jun-seok selected songs from the pre-production stage by searching for numerous materials and songs to find a suitable song for <Swing Kids>. World famous songs representing the era, such as Benny Goodman's 'Sing Sing Sing', which is by far the standard jazz number, and David Bowie's 'Modern Love', praised as an innovative artist, are unique to <Swing Kids>. It doubles the dynamism and rhythm of the original performance. In addition, <Swing Kids> tried to differentiate itself with bold music directing that transcends the times and breaks stereotypes, such as selecting Su-ra's 1988 hit song 'Happiness'. In particular, for the first time in a Korean film, the Beatles' original songs are recorded as they are, making it an unforgettable viewing point for <Swing Kids>. The Beatles' 'Free as a Bird', considered one of the most influential artists in the history of popular music, draws attention as the Beatles, who deeply sympathized with the cinematic message of <Swing Kids>, unusually approved the use of the original song. 'Free as a bird', which contains lyrics that means that you want to fly freely like a bird, represents a swing kids dance troupe who crave dreams, passion and freedom beyond ideology, and will give you a deep impression that will not be forgotten for a long time.

[ Production Note ]

200 manpower input X 3 months construction
Produced a large-scale open set of 10,000 pyeong in Samcheok, Gangwon-do
Geoje POW camp, the largest in the Korean War, is recreated!
Established in Geoje, Gyeongsangnam-do under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Forces to accommodate prisoners of war in the 1950s, the Geoje POW camp was the largest concentration camp in Korea and accommodated about 170,000 prisoners of war with a size of 12 km2 (3.6 million pyeong). . One of the most important tasks for the production team of <Swing Kids> was to reproduce the Geoje POW camp, an exotic space where the cultures of various countries were mixed. To this end, Art Director Park Il-hyeon worked hard to find a filming location from the initial preparation stage to all over the country, and finally found a suitable site in Samcheok, Gangwon-do. The production team, who found a site similar to the natural background of Geoje Island at the time, such as uniquely colored soil and exotic trees, put about 200 workers and produced an open set of 10,000 pyeong after 3 months of construction. The set produced based on various historical materials such as video records of the Geoje POW camp, photographs of war reporters and U.S. forces in Korea, etc., is the set of the POW camps, from the barracks in the pro-communist prisoner-of-war camp, the U.S. military training center, the auditorium ballroom, the supply warehouse, and the field hospitals. Each space is meticulously crafted.

The barracks in the prison camp where the trouble maker Ro Gi-soo of the Swing Kids dance group lives was completed as a strong space through the primary colors of propaganda and the barbed wire structure. In addition, based on the fact that the provincial prisoners of the time were self-sufficient and made their own daily necessities, they made use of handmade textures in accessories and costumes, such as writing 'PW', which means prisoner, on all costumes one by one and letting the colors fade. added reality. The military parade ground was born as an exotic space through the contrast between the colorful colors of American pop art in the 1950s and the national defense colors. From props such as Campbell's Soup, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser in the 1950s, to the rough reproduction of the Statue of Liberty, and the Garrison cap worn by American soldiers, it tried to capture the American culture of the time. The auditorium ballroom, the main stage of the Swing Kids dance troupe, is a space with a cinematic setting and concept, and the semicircular structure and blue-gray color differentiated it from other spaces in the prison camp. The interior of the auditorium emphasized the contrast between day and night. During the day when the Swing Kids dance troupe practiced, the window structure was carefully designed to allow natural light to enter, and on the night of the prom, large mirror balls and colorful costumes were used to express the atmosphere of the 1950s US military social party. In this way, <Swing Kids>, which expresses the Geoje POW camp where various cultures are mixed in the midst of the Korean War in the 1950s through a high-quality set, will make the audience experience the vividness of being in the actual Geoje POW camp.

100% pre-production X 1 year of choreography creation X 3 years of music selection
Collaboration between director Kang Hyung-cheol and Korea's top-class production crew
There are 15 explosive performances that you can't take your eyes off of!
From <Speed Scandal>, <Sunny>, and <Tazza-God's Hand>, director Kang Hyung-cheol, who created a new syndrome by presenting a sensual direction using excellent music selection and music, through <Swing Kids>, the music that has never been easily tried in Korean films and I wanted to create a work in which the story unfolds through dance. Director Kang Hyung-cheol, who conceived an original development method to the extent that more than one-third of the scenario was a performance scene, draws the continuity of every performance scene one by one, then turns it into an animation video and goes through several simulations to create a perfect harmony between dance and music. He worked hard to save points.

Based on the continuation video completed by director Kang Hyung-cheol and the production team, choreographer Lee Ran-young, who was in charge of the overall choreography of <Swing Kids>, and music director Jun-seok Kim composed detailed performances for each scene. Choreographer Lee Ran-young conceived the choreography and scenes of each character a year before filming with the concept of 'characters who gradually communicate through dance', and music director Jun-seok Kim went through the three-year process of selecting songs to reflect the era of the 1950s. From jazz music that captures the background to the songs that express the passion and joy of the Swing Kids dance troupe, the songs were selected. The performance of the five-member, five-color swing kids dance troupe, which perfectly harmonizes with the masterpieces that warm the heart just by listening, will deliver a hot thrill to the audience through a total of 15 explosive stages.

# Best Performance 1. Swing Kids Dance Team VS US Army Dance Battle
(feat. Jung Soo Ra – Hwanhee)
The dance battle scene, in which the Swing Kids dance troupe and the US military Jamie-pa compete head-to-head, is the highlight of the dance battle scene, which comes from a fresh combination of song and tap dance. Director Kang Hyung-cheol and music director Kim Jun-seok, who focused on selecting music that can express the passion and dance of the Swing Kids dance troupe, without limiting themselves to the 1950s, which is the background of the film, directed Su-ra Su-ra's hit song 'Happiness', released in 1988. ' and delivers unexpected laughter through bold and witty music production. In addition, as choreographer Lee Ran-young is the first group dance performed by the Swing Kids dance troupe, who are gradually adjusting their feet, he wanted to express an easy-to-follow step, but well-rounded choreography, which perfectly harmonizes with 'Happiness' and the audience. explode their excitement.

# Best Performance 2. Ro Ki-soo X Yang Pan-rae's heartbreaking fast dance
(feat. David Bowie – Modern Love)
The dance scene of 'Ro Gi-su' and 'Yang Pan-rae', who aspire to freedom beyond national, language, and ideology, in the Geoje POW camp, where they were divided into different ideologies and sharply opposed in the 1950s, is a dance scene of legendary musician David Bowie's 'Modern Love'. Love)' along with a heart-pounding performance. Choreographer Lee Ran-young tried to express the emotions of 'Ro Gi-soo' and 'Pan-rae Yang' through choreography, who want to escape from the oppressed reality, and captured the explosive emotions of the two characters through a free dance with modern dance added to tap dance. . Ro Gi-soo, who runs out of an empty auditorium with tap shoes and runs through a prisoner-of-war camp, and Yang Pan-rae, who dances to his heart's content while battling the frustrating reality, is the heartbreaking sound of 'Modern Love'. It blends in exquisitely and conveys a heart-warming impression.

# Best Performance 3. Christmas Performance by Swing Kids Dance Team
(feat. Benny Goodman – Sing Sing Sing)
The Christmas performance scene of the Swing Kids dance troupe, which decorates the highlight of the movie, was born through the special efforts of tappers representing Korea. The first to start the choreography idea and the last shot for the Christmas performance scene was a large-scale audition that brought together top-notch tappers like a giraffe, and after numerous demonstrations and revisions, it was completed with an overwhelming tap dance choreography. Here, Benny Goodman's 'Sing Sing Sing', which is considered one of the standard jazz numbers, makes the listener's body move from the prelude to the rhythmic melody, and is so exciting that even the audience who watches the movie will stumble. tell the The performance of the Swing Kids Dance Troupe, which presents an upgraded choreography using high-level steps and sticks that explodes in rhythm, is a splendid performance that has not been seen in existing Korean films, giving the audience overflowing excitement and intense catharsis.