2005
was the year that the Appleseed animated film from Japan joined a long
list of movies that were hoped to be Japan's first breakthrough toward
success at the U.S. movie box office. There's another Asian contender
that will join Appleseed, the Ghost in the Shell and Miyazaki films as
hopeful contenders in America: Sky Blue. The big difference is that Sky
Blue is Korean, not Japanese, a part of Korea's advance in the
animation world. "It is from Korea, not Japan," said Sun Min Park, an
actor and one of the forces behind the Maxmedia-produced film. She
joked that she had to, uh, modify some posters for the film because
they said something like "one of the greatest Japanese films out
there." Sky Blue's trailers show a world of underground workers and
tells the story of environmental chaos and rebellion, a story that Park
said came from a trip to Los Angeles when the smog gave her headaches
and made her realize there was a need for a tale on the threat to the
ecology.
The
Sky Blue feature took the better part of a decade to progress from
concept to finished film. "Once you fall in love, you can't stop," said
Park about the film's protracted history. "You want to finish it. I
make regular feature films, but I've always been in love with animation
- it's very intimate to work on." Sky Blue has had only a limited
release in California theaters, but Park hopes for more in the U.S.,
based on good reaction from overseas markets such as in France and
upcoming release in Great Britain. Much of the feature was digitally
animated (a few of the backgrounds remind you of the final Matrix
feature), but all was done in South Korea for a smaller budget - maybe
a tenth - of what the work would have cost in the U.S., said Park. The
complete film cost $15 million to produce, and exceptionally low price
by 21st century standards and a cost that gives Sky Blue a better
chance of turning a profit than most U.S. features.
2005
was the year that the Appleseed animated film from Japan joined a long
list of movies that were hoped to be Japan's first breakthrough toward
success at the U.S. movie box office. There's another Asian contender
that will join Appleseed, the Ghost in the Shell and Miyazaki films as
hopeful contenders in America: Sky Blue. The big difference is that Sky
Blue is Korean, not Japanese, a part of Korea's advance in the
animation world. "It is from Korea, not Japan," said Sun Min Park, an
actor and one of the forces behind the Maxmedia-produced film. She
joked that she had to, uh, modify some posters for the film because
they said something like "one of the greatest Japanese films out
there." Sky Blue's trailers show a world of underground workers and
tells the story of environmental chaos and rebellion, a story that Park
said came from a trip to Los Angeles when the smog gave her headaches
and made her realize there was a need for a tale on the threat to the
ecology.
The
Sky Blue feature took the better part of a decade to progress from
concept to finished film. "Once you fall in love, you can't stop," said
Park about the film's protracted history. "You want to finish it. I
make regular feature films, but I've always been in love with animation
- it's very intimate to work on." Sky Blue has had only a limited
release in California theaters, but Park hopes for more in the U.S.,
based on good reaction from overseas markets such as in France and
upcoming release in Great Britain. Much of the feature was digitally
animated (a few of the backgrounds remind you of the final Matrix
feature), but all was done in South Korea for a smaller budget - maybe
a tenth - of what the work would have cost in the U.S., said Park. The
complete film cost $15 million to produce, and exceptionally low price
by 21st century standards and a cost that gives Sky Blue a better
chance of turning a profit than most U.S. features.
