[KT AI P.A.N. Interview ④] Sensory Style Extracted from the Logline, KT Group Media IP Division Excellence 'There Are No Good Women. Good Woman, Busemi' Burned Rabbit Fur

Can something be created from nothing? It is a proposition that no one can easily answer. However, if we slightly change the question to whether an impressive trailer can be born from a single line of logline, the answer can be given on behalf of the Burned Rabbit Fur team. "YES." The Burned Rabbit Fur team, which won the Excellence Award in the KT Media IP Division at the KT AI P.A.N competition, sublimated the logline of the drama 〈There Are No Good Women. Good Woman, Busemi〉 ("The good woman Busemi, a former bodyguard, lures greedy second-generation chaebols into her game after a three-month contract marriage with a chaebol chairman") into a trailer that mixes noir and modern art. On September 17, we met the Burned Rabbit Fur team to discuss 〈There Are No Good Women. Good Woman, Busemi〉 and AI video production. Meanwhile, this year's award-winning works can be enjoyed on the KT Genie TV YouTube channel ‘Genius Cut’ and Genie TV VOD.

What process did you go through to submit to the KT AI P.A.N competition?

Kim Jin-sung I graduated from university in February this year. After that, I prepared various things at my professor's lab, and while using AI and various technologies, I thought I could definitely create something like a video with this. Although I am not an expert, I thought that now even ordinary people could create technically decent videos, so I thought it would be good to submit to the competition and check how much capability we both had, so we decided to enter the KT competition.

Is there a reason you chose the KT Media IP Division as your submission field?

Ahn Chan-woo I dream of being a film director, so I have directed short films. However, I thought the competition would be high in that area, and since we were just starting as a team and didn't have any particular ideas, I thought we wouldn't have a chance. At that time, this division looked attractive. It was difficult to have only the logline, but I thought it would be fun to challenge it, so I decided to take on the challenge.

How did you feel when you won at the awards ceremony?

Kim Jin-sung That's right. When you create your own work, you always see the flaws first. Honestly, I thought there were many shortcomings when I submitted it, so I was surprised when I was invited to the awards ceremony. Only then did I see what awards there were and how much the prize money was, and I found out there was a commendation award. So, I thought I would attend with a grateful heart (to receive the commendation award), but there were a total of 8 teams for the commendation award. But my name wasn't called until about the fifth one. So, at least the excellence award was confirmed. I am infinitely grateful to KT. (laughs)

Ahn Chan-woo I thought it was going to happen then. (laughs) However, I think it wouldn't have worked if it had been a short film competition. There were many people who knew about movies. However, I think that if you slightly change the field and utilize the knowledge you have, it can work out much better. This time, there were many ordinary people, so what I had built up until now was helpful. So, I think it was fun.

The team name is very impressive. How did you come up with it?

Kim Jin-sung It's a long story, but to put it simply, when you first heard it, you probably thought, 'What is this?' So, I thought it would be a name that would elicit such reactions when someone hears it, and it's not common, so it would be less likely to be forgotten. I wanted to combine two completely unrelated words so that it would be memorable, but there was no big meaning behind it.

You chose film noir, modern art, chess, and other themes just from the logline. How did you come up with this combination?

Ahn Chan-woo When I first saw the logline, I thought about using Veo 3 to go for a realistic style, but I felt that AI video is currently at the point of the uncanny valley, and I thought it would be frustrating to create it. (laughs) So, I remembered a movie I watched when I was young, 〈Catch Me If You Can〉, where the opening features a motion graphic style combining black and blue. My parents told me to study in my room, but I secretly watched that movie about 100 times. So, I thought of that and applied that style, using Midjourney and such to create it. At first, I thought it wouldn't work, but the style came out perfectly.

I would like to hear about the tools and workflow you used in the production of the work.

Kim Jin-sung The planning took the longest and had the most revisions. Since we were making a trailer based only on the drama's logline, I think we spent the most time thinking about what kind of planning would yield the best video. Then we divided the scenes. Since there were two of us, we didn't specifically separate the tasks. This time, Ahn Chan-woo did most of the video work. We didn't use AI in the planning, and we mainly used Midjourney and Freepik for the work.

If there is a scene that was particularly difficult to create, what would it be?

Ahn Chan-woo There is a scene where Busemi appears like a giant and chases two men. I originally didn't plan to make it that way. What I had in mind was a scene from 〈The Shining〉 (1980) where Jack looks at the maze while walking with Danny and Wendy, and later he chases them in the maze. I was going to have Busemi watching the men in the maze. But the maze didn't implement well. At first, it was shot from a low angle, and as I continued, it looked too realistic, and the desired style didn't come out, so I removed the maze and changed it to a shot where Busemi threateningly watches the two men.

Kim Jin-sung I also thought a lot about whether the narration would be a benefit or a drawback. I was worried because it became awkward as it went on.

Ahn Chan-woo Especially in movies, narration is not often used. I have a somewhat rigid perspective because I learned about movies before. (laughs) However, without narration, I don't have the confidence to convey this logline with just images. I found a female voice that I liked from ElevenLabs TTS and added it.

What do you think about the future of AI movies?

Kim Jin-sung There was something that actor Jo Woo-jin said at the awards ceremony. It may not be the exact wording, but the nuance was that AI is still useful when used as a tool, and that humans need to finish everything. I agree with that. Even when doing this work, if you use AI from the planning stage, the results tend to be somewhat predictable and uninteresting, and you don't feel like you did it. So, I personally think that AI has not yet reached that stage. However, just looking at the difference between two years ago and now, the landscape of AI has changed. I don't know how it will develop in two, three, or five years from now. I can't really predict.

Ahn Chan-woo I think the only thing that can be immediately replaced is VFX. The cost will be much lower. For example, I learned a tool called Houdini, and AI can produce it at a much lower cost. In commercial films, labor costs are contracted with companies, so it costs hundreds of millions, and it can reduce the cost difference there, so I think AI can definitely be used in VFX. However, I think there will definitely be limitations in making an entire movie. However, when I made short films, I really hated those limitations. Short films have budget constraints, so I have to look for funding. So, I thought that AI might break all of this someday, and I wanted to challenge it first, so I brought Jin-sung along to do it together. Although it is still far off, I really think it will be soon. Currently, since audiences are not going to the movies much, production companies and the film industry will try to reduce costs as much as possible to lower the break-even point. Then, I think the AI movie sector will develop even more than it is now.

Are you currently working on a new project?

Ahn Chan-woo What we are currently preparing is a work that incorporates our own color in a series format on SNS. Since it is not yet clear what kind of color our team is presenting, I think we need to have many such works, so we are currently proceeding in that direction.

If you have a message for those who want to challenge AI video production, what would it be?

Kim Jin-sung Just a few months ago, I was someone who had nothing to do with AI. I first encountered it when I heard that AI is good these days and that it makes things easier, but for those who have never dealt with it, it may seem like an amazing technology that can produce things just by saying it, and it can feel difficult. But when you actually use it, as seen in this competition, there were office workers and high school students. I think it is not very difficult to utilize in everyday life, so I think you shouldn't be intimidated by the fact that it's AI and think of it as an amazing technology. Just comfortably think, 'I want to create something like this, so why not try making it?' I think it's worth trying with a light heart.

Ahn Chan-woo I think this is the most confusing time, so I think it's the best time to challenge quickly. If a little more time passes, now everyone can use AI, but the cost itself is also increasing. In just one year, companies have felt that many people know the value of this (generative AI), so if a little more time passes, I think there will be AI that can only be used by companies, creating a gap with ordinary people. I think it would be good to start a business quickly now. (laughs)