Pablo! How are you? - Nice to meet you - Thanks for your help. - My pleasure. - Could you please introduce yourself to our Coursera students? Where are you from and why have you come to Korea? - My name is Pablo, I came to Korea because I got a scholarship 6 and a half years ago. I studied visual communication design here at Hongik University, And now I'm already working, I've been working in marketing for a year. - Let's chat a little bit about movies. It's a big industry, right? - Yes, very big. - Yes, yes. Globally but especially here in Asia. - Yes - And movies like those that are part of The Marvel universe are very popular here in Asia. - Yes - Why? - The truth is that the American cinema in general, most are Hollywood movies that come here to Asia, because they like action, special effects. - The action. Super hero - Yes The loud sounds, so it keeps you attentive and active constantly. - Yes - Those are movies that are not like calm, instead they are fast, lots of action, many things happen. So that's why people like this type of cinema, because it is something very entertaining, that's why Hollywood cinema is especially consumed. - But movies like Moonlight are not so popular. - Yes, no, no. Some are, but if they win awards, if they are prestigious, they have like an opportunity to enter the market. But, Moonlight for example was not so, there were not so many cinemas that showed it and there were very few schedules, it was shown very few times compared to other films, compared to Spiderman for example that was shown like 10 times a day, but Moonlight was shown like 4 or 5 times, not so much, because it is known that it will not be so many people who are going to see it. Because perhaps it's very serious, in the sense that you are going to see it and you feel like... you don't go so much to entertain youself, but you go to feel something that can affect you or cause you a not very positive feeling. Because Moonlight is a movie that after you watch it, it doesn't make you don't feel happy. - Very controversial, right? - Yes, yes, it is not happy and also the topic of Moonlight was very controversial. It's the same with Park Chan-wook's Ahgassi, it the same topic, the topic of homosexuality was a bit controversial, especially in Asia in that time. - But it's also about - the regulations. - Yes - And the distribution. - Yes, the distribution. The truth is that for example the case of China is a very extreme case because to enter the Chinese cinema, there is a list of requirements that you have to be able to comply with, a part of the movie has to be filmed in China, the distributor has to be Chinese, you have to have more than 50% of Chinese actors, then there are many requirements. And they only accept about 10 films a year in China. And in Korea, the truth is that the regulations are much more free, yes. Korea does have a lot more relaxed regulations but at the same time they also have limitations because they prefer to promote the local product more than the foreign product. In a Korean cinema there are going to be three, four foreign films and the rest is going to be Korean cinema, because they really like to consume local products, because the film industry in Korea is very large. - Yes - Then there's always constantly new movies, new movies, then It is something that is always constant and it does a lot too. - And speaking of Asian cinema, particularly here in Korea, it has its own nature, right? - Yes, yes, it has its... - Can you can talk a little bit about Korean cinema. - Korean cinema, aesthetically speaking is very different from other cinemas, it's usually very like... the expressions are very... - Very emotional. - Yes, they are very emotional and also the characters follow the structure of the character very well, you know, there is like the bad guy, there is also the good guy, and there is also the guy who is bad but is also good, then all those structures are used very well in the cinema, and also aesthetically speaking, they use a lot, they rely a lot on the expressions of people, so you see a lot, they focus a lot on facial expressions and also at the time of filming itself, the majority is very bright and colorful so try to keep it cheerful, not necessarily cheerful but a little bit more relaxed. I think that that is the Korean aesthetic. - And the films within Asia are very different, right? When is it compared between Korea and China and Japan and India? - Yes, especially India. - Korea is not Bollywood. - Yes, yes Bollywood is another story. Bollywood is the biggest movie industry. - Yes, yes, of course. - Even though it is almost only consumed in India. That's another story. Bollywood is an exaggeration. - And, interestingly, Korean movies or K-drama are very popular in South America. Why? - Yes, yes, they are very popular. Many years ago my brother came to Korea, and when he came my parents and I started watching Korean dramas to see what culture was like and all that, and when it comes to dramas, it's the fact that one can easily get along with the character and can understand the character even though it's from the other side of the world, for us something very exotic because there not many Asians in El Salvador to begin with. So if you see a Korean drama it feels like it's easy to be able to relate to the character and also it really follows the structure... - It's about love, emotion. - Exactly, yes, yes, it's really about dreams, like for example in the Disney movies which is what we grow up with. - Yes - Then it's like a continuation of that narrative, that even though things may go wrong, eventually things are going to go well, and how you relate to people, it follows that narrative, then it's easy to simply make that connection and start watching Korean dramas. And the truth is that the audience grows, it has been growing as years pass in Latin America. And also as it has become much more accessible, because years ago you could only watch it if you found it on TV, but now you can find everything on the Internet with Spanish subtitles, so now it's so accessible, - Sure. - So easy to watch it that many people have started to see it. - And Latin American soap operas are still popular, at least in my opinion, but not as much as before, is there any reason for that? - Well, the truth is that as there are so many new entertainment industries, the truth is that the narrative of the dramas, the soap operas, which usually the most famous, at least in Central America, are Mexican, have been so constant and so famous that little by little people have started to become bored of watching always the same type, the same style of narratives. Eventually audiences start looking for something more innovative or something more different and also with access to Internet people start to consume another type of content, for example on YouTube, people get to watch more videos on YouTube than watch TV these days, or the series. - They have to be more extreme. - Yes, something more striking, something new. Because now also, as I told you, with internet you can access other content from other countries what makes that people may not consume the local products that much. - Finally, why are not there more movies from Spain or South America here in Asia? You cannot see them. - I think it's a lot because most people, generally in Latin America, don't have a budget, a very large budget, to be able to compete with Hollywood cinema. And also that the majority of Latin American cinema that is recognized internationally, is like, it's similar to Moonlight, It's about very serious topics, topics that you either like them or not. It's not movies that anyone can watch and enjoy them even though, "I did not like it that much but I enjoyed it". But when it is already... - And there's no market for artistic movies here? - Not so much, not so much. For example here they are very, there's so much international cinema that does not come to Korea, that you can not see, movies that win awards but do not win Oscars, instead win an award in Venice, or win an award in Cannes, but in Korea you can not see them. Then there are very few cinemas, only independent cinemas, there is a cinema called Daehan Cinema and there is also... well I forgot the name, they show independent cinema, another type of cinema. - Yes - But if you go there you see that the rooms are smaller, because they know they are not gonna be full, because it's not as promoted here as the great Hollywood movies. - Can this situation be improved? - The truth is that you could start by promoting independent cinema in Korea, I think it would be like a good way to promote it more to begin to consider. - Using SNS - Exactly, exactly, now it's so easy to access movies, content on the internet. So, I think it's a good tool, to be able to use the internet to promote more people to watch that kind of cinema or to make it accessible online, because everyone wants to watch it on their phone, watch it when they are on their way to work. Then those kind of things - Sure, sure. It would be cheaper also. - Yes, cheaper than going to the movies. So that's something that should be exploited more to be able to enter more to the market. - Thank you very much, it's been a great pleasure. - Likewise, a pleasure.
