[Interview] 'The Nature Man' Director Noh Young-seok "In the Era of One-Person Media, Let's Face It with Film"

Cineplay Lee Hwa-jeong Guest Reporter

Independent film fans must have been curious. 〈The Nature Man〉 is the first new work in 11 years from Director Noh Young-seok, following 〈Day Drinking〉 (2009) and 〈Intruders〉 (2014). The film is a comic thriller that satirizes reality through the scary, thrilling, funny, and absurd experiences of artificial (Byun Jae-sin) and Byeong-jae (Lee Yong-hoon), who enter a remote mountain where GPS doesn't work to shoot ghost content, and meet a nature man (Shin Un-seop) over a 3-night, 4-day period. The production method is just as interesting and scary as the film itself. Every part of the ending credits, including screenplay, direction, production, cinematography, art, costume, computer graphics, digital color correction, and sound mixing, features the name 'Noh Young-seok'. The director does everything except for acting. This is a film completed with the nature of one-person media!

Fortunately, despite the passage of time, Director Noh Young-seok's creative power remains intact. Film is a medium that makes you laugh while doubting your eyes, ears, and all senses in bizarre, grotesque, and unpredictable situations without worrying about others. This film is a clever one that has found its way in the independent films of our lost era. So I hope many audiences will be 'isolated' in the strange fun of this film that unfolds non-stop for 125 minutes. I met Director Noh Young-seok, who is finally about to meet the audience after winning the Grand Prize at the Seoul Independent Film Festival two years ago.

It's the emergence of a new type of film that mixes 〈I Am a Nature Man〉 with ghost video YouTube content. (haha) Where did the idea come from?

I was running on a treadmill at the gym when I saw 〈I Am a Nature Man〉 (a program on MBN featuring ordinary people living self-sufficiently in nature) on the monitor. I heard it doesn't cost much to produce and has good effects. But as I watched, I discovered ridiculous scenes being staged. For example, it was not the season for wild greens, but they planted a cold-weather vegetable bought at the supermarket and called it 'foraging'. Seeing that scene, I thought, 'What if I exaggerate that?' It seemed like it would create a suspicious and bizarre feeling. Also, my sister often watches ghost-hunting YouTube videos, and there are setups involving equipment or ghost hunting. I thought combining those two elements would be really strange. (haha) Since it's made in the mountains, I thought it could be done on a low budget as long as I had a location. So I hurriedly wrote the script.

It starts with horror elements but turns to comedy. In fact, the real horror of this film was the ending credits. The production method includes 'Noh Young-seok' credits in all roles except for acting, including screenplay, direction, and cinematography.

After making the previous film 〈Intruders〉, I found my self-esteem dropping while only writing the script. So I thought, I can't do this, I should try it alone. I thought it would give me a sense of accomplishment. So I searched to see if anyone had made a feature film alone. There were some. (haha) Director Bae Yong-kyun made 〈Why Did Dalma Go East?〉 (1989) by doing the screenplay, direction, cinematography, lighting, and editing all by himself. I thought, someone has done it, so I wanted to try even more. I think I needed a sense of purpose. It was a challenge.

The choice to take on multiple roles may be due to limited production conditions, but on the other hand, it seems connected to the production method that critiques the attributes of YouTubers and one-person media.

That's right. I also had a determination inside me to 'do it all myself'. I think it's a production method closely related to the content of the film. But honestly, every morning I had moments of 'What am I doing here?' (haha) I often wondered, 'Will this method work out?' I thought that at the very least, I needed to have sound. But I wanted to do the sound myself. So I added a setup in the script where the character wears a microphone. I actually recorded a lot with that. I tried modifying a boom mic, but it didn't work, so I couldn't use it. I expected that sound would be a disappointment from the start. I thought I would have to do ADR.

Let's take a closer look at the film. They go to a remote mountain where GPS doesn't work and experience a kind of isolation. In that sense, I saw a connection with 〈Day Drinking〉 and 〈Intruders〉. It seems you are always interested in events that happen in limited spaces.

〈Day Drinking〉 also came about because I thought I had to shoot it somehow since the other scenarios didn't work out, and it reflects real experiences. The early part of 〈Intruders〉 also came from my experience of going to write a script. This film also started with the purpose of 'survival report' while doing something else, and I think I have a fear of space or others inside me. When I meet strange people, I tend to be overly cautious or imagine a lot. I initially wrote it as a grotesque horror film, but as time passed without investment, I changed it to the current comic version.

Those constraints likely allowed for scenes that wouldn't be possible in a well-equipped production environment. Otherwise, the scene of playing the flute with the nose would have been cut. And the 'salt jam' that the nature man serves to outsiders is also an important prop. It's a food that is curious and scary because I don't know the raw materials.

In fact, the current version received a lot of reactions saying 'This doesn't make sense'. When I showed it to a production company, they gave me a report. The rating was really low. They said the setup of 'playing the flute with the nose' didn't make sense. Rather, after receiving that evaluation, I became convinced that 'I can do it alone'. So I removed the scenes that would cost a lot of money and kept only what I could handle alone. And the salt jam was a setup where the nature man eats something nonsensical. I put coarse salt into kaya jam to make it look like skin. I also added a little pepper to make it look like skin flakes. I made it all myself.

The character that creates a genre twist in the film is the nature man's junior 'Ran-hee', who appears in a white robe and is overwhelming from the start. Surprisingly, she is Director Lee Ran-hee, who directed 〈Vacation〉 〈3rd Year, 2nd Semester〉. She also played an important role in 〈Day Drinking〉.

Since the location is limited, it can be frustrating, so I wanted to insert another story within the story. I included a tiger story and introduced new characters. The most exciting moment while writing the script was when I thought of Ran-hee. I imagined a scene where she eats ramen with her nose and laughed to myself. I immediately called Ran-hee and asked her to join. The first time we met was at the HanKyeore Cultural Center because I wanted to make a film, and I thought, 'I came to the wrong place' when I saw her sitting there with long hair. But it turned out she was a really nice person. Because of that connection, she appeared in both 〈Day Drinking〉 and 〈Intruders〉.

With the development of digital and social media, it's an era where video content like YouTube or entertainment can be easily shot. On the other hand, it seems to be a time when films are hard to gain response. I think you must have felt changes in making independent films after 〈Day Drinking〉. I'm curious about your next work.

It's a work that won an award in 2023, but it took time to release. After that, I was making a game because I needed to earn money. I learned programming, and the game I made over two years was released early last year, but it failed. It didn't go well. I'm curious how that two years will help me later. Ultimately, timing seems to be important. And now I'm preparing a work I wrote around the time I was making 〈Intruders〉, which is a story about fifth graders in 1986 going on a trip. It's a period piece and involves isolation, so it costs a lot of money. It's a work I really want to shoot, so I think I need to do better than now to make it happen. (haha) I think of myself as someone who can provide people with interesting experiences. But I can't keep up with the general comedy flow. I have to find my way while doing it my style.