I have been a K-drama fan since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and "Our Beloved Summer" was one of my all-time favorites. I am more into romantic comedy genres than thriller or action ones. Therefore, despite the series being 'slow' and 'boring' for some, I find it extremely fun and entertaining to watch.
Example - Our Beloved Summer (2021)
Directed by: Kim Yoon Jin
Production company: Studio N
Distributed by: SBS TV (South Korea) and Netflix
Episodes: 16
Audiences
Romance comedy K-drama have recently gained lots of viewers from all over the world with different ages, mostly ranging from teenagers to young adults, from 16-25 years of age. Since Our Beloved Summer talked about first love and youth, it could easily attract audiences experiencing it or wanting to relive their youth.
A survey conducted by Korea Creative Content (KOCCA) has stated that a majority of Korean drama viewers are female, with 88.6%. Their audience includes mostly Asians (29%), Caucasians (24%), and Latinos (18.9%). Another survey conducted in Indonesia showed that on average, 41.3% of respondents watched Korean drama more than 6 times a week. Moreover, the top 20 K-dramas among US viewers were dominated by romance comedy genres and it is clearly people's favorites.
Representation
Our Beloved Summer focuses on the main characters (Choi Ung and Kook Yeon Su) who are all students at the beginning of the series who start to develop feelings for one another but later on, due to different circumstances, they break up. In short, the 16 episodes tell the story of how 2 completely different human beings start from strangers to lovers, back to strangers, and eventually in love once again. This is the representation of high school students who are young and always passionate about their first love. Just like us, Choi Ung and Kook Yeon Su are also ordinary 17, 18-year-old kids who make mistakes and have emotions that are hard to share with anyone but as they grow up, they learn how to open up about their feelings and become more empathetic.
Choi Ung was a last-place student at school who couldn't care less about studying. He enjoys drawing and reading so much that his dream is to lie down under the trees to read books and live a peaceful life. Choi Ung was definitely the representation of people who prefer to live in the moment with a stress-free life, someone who is free-spirited. Completely opposite to Choi Ung's personality, Kook Yeon Su is a girl who was always a top student at school and always strives to be better to have a bright future, just like any other students her age. Kook Yeon Su is also a very competitive girl and always wants to be the best in whatever she does.
In the first half of the series, Choi Ung and Kook Yeon Su sat back once again to film a documentary after 10 years since their first went viral. At this stage of the story, the audience gets to know more about the character's personality and how they look in each other perspective. In the first 4 episodes, viewers questioned why Choi Ung hated Kook Yeon Su so much after their break up and was a bit harsh and cold towards her. 4 episodes later, after knowing Ung's innermost feelings, we tend to view Yeon Su negatively as she is the one who decided to end her relationship without giving Ung reasons for it, leaving Ung to experience post-breakup depression which has a huge effect on him after 5 years. In the end, when the full story is told, the audience finally understands the whole situation that both characters have been through and can answer all their wonders throughout the series.
Media language
Our Beloved Summer is light-hearted, humorous, and emotional. The mise-en-scene in the series shows the world surrounding Choi Ung and Kook Yeon Su which includes their high school, Ung's house, Yeon Su's house, and their neighborhood. Even though there are a lot of different scenes throughout the 16 episodes, only a few locations have impacted the main character's love story. Overall, the world that the main character lives in gives people a peaceful feeling but at some stages in the series, viewers could feel the loneliness through the scenes.
Choi Ung's world on screen was surrounded by drawings of architects near his parents' home and places where he has special memories. In contrast to Kook Yeon Su, his place was mostly dark and cold as he was mostly alone in the studio, working on his drawings as an illustrator. Despite having a best friend, a close assistant, and parents side by side, the absence of Kook Yeon Su in Choi Ung's heart was hard to describe in words and could only be presented through his workspace.
Kook Yeon Su works as a Public Relations Expert in a small company which is directed by her close senior in the university. She works in an office, surrounded by her coworkers and they work together to satisfy clients' needs and wants. In the series, the office was only filmed in the morning when there was natural light with colleagues around, and in general, the space was a lot warmer compared to Choi Ung's studio.
One of my favorite media languages that is used in the series is the use of colors. The audience was informed by the colors that represent Choi Ung and Kook Yeon Su in the first episode of the series. Choi Ung's color was blue, while Yeon Su's is yellow, these color schemes were applied throughout the 16 episodes. When both the characters are alone in the frame, the scene will look either blueish or yellowish. The combination of the 2 colors creates green and that is the color that will appear when both Ung and Yeon Su are together in 1 frame. In a scene where they recount the memories of the last day of filming the documentary, they remember each other's shoes as blue and yellow, while in reality, it is all white. Overall, I love the way they use colors and shades to fully show Choi Ung and Kook Yeon Su's love for each other.
The use of camera angles in Our Beloved Summer was mostly medium close up as it could show the emotions of the characters but also the feeling of the space surrounding them. To create a connection between Choi Ung and Kook Yeon Su with their workspace, some wide shots were used, like the scene on the left. Choi Ung and Yeon Su are visible with the scenery that gives a youth feeling.
Since Our Beloved Summer is a romance comedy series, not a lot of abrupt sounds are heard, instead, the sound effects only include daily sounds like leaves in the wind, rain, and others that are very familiar to us. This sound effect gives Our Beloved Summer a peaceful feeling to it.
Industry
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| The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion |
The pre-release stage first started in March 2021 when Choi Woo Shik (Choi Ung) and Kim Dami (Kook Yeon Su) were confirmed as the main cast for Our Beloved Summer. The rest of the cast was also revealed on July 8 of the same year. The series' filming started in July 2021 and ended in December 2021. Before the official release of Our Beloved Summer, it gained a lot of attention due to the main cast as they worked together for a project in 2018, The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion.
On December 6, 2021, the first episode of Our Beloved Summer premiered on SBS TV at 22:00 (KST) and is also available to watch worldwide on Netflix. The series releases new episodes every Monday and Tuesday until January 25, 2022, when the 16th episode was released.
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