"I pursue lighting that looks very natural"

The Night Owl, which deals with the secrets of Crown Prince Sohyun's death, is a film about 'darkness.' Kyungsoo (Ryu Junyeol), a blind acupuncturist in the palace, only can see faintly at night and the main stage where he acts is darkness. In this movie, how was the lighting work done using 'light?' Starting with the lighting team for The Siren in 2000, Lighting Director Hong Seungchul worked for a number of films, including Believer, The Throne, The Beauty Inside, and Eunkyo. Through the paper interview, we met Lighting Director Hong Seungchul who has been with the K-movie history since the early 2000s.  

- Tell us the point you cared about most when you directed the lighting for The Night Owl, please. 

= When I first read the script, I thought Kyungsoo's gazes were the most important. Due to the setting of Kyungsoo's perspective, it was necessary to emphasize the situation when Kyungsoo could see. So, I focused on increasing the three-dimensional transmission power of the entire space, and to achieve it, the main concept of the work was the interpretation and transmission of ambient light. Also, this film had to have contrasts between when the main character could see and when he couldn't. From the beginning, we planned the whole design based on ambient light, and other light sources such as candles could be involved naturally for other colors. The ambient cyan tone was set to contrast it with other light sources such as candles and torches.

- What devices did you use to express the characters in the dark without setting lights such as candles and torches? 

= As mentioned earlier, neighboring light was important, and fluorescence filters were used to express colors. According to the lighting directing techniques of Greg Fraser, the Director of Photography (DP) of the film, Zero Dark Thirty, there is a scene where night vision goggles are used in a situation where there is no light. I referred to the scene. These days, LED illuminators have built-in filters to freely express colors and tones, so color expression seems to be easier than before. In Kyungsoo's perspective, there were scenes where lights were naturally smeared on people around him when the light went out, and I actively used the candle effect or the natural dimming (controlling the brightness of the light) built in the illuminators. Especially, the illuminators made by Laysion were very helpful.

- As most events unfolded in the dark, expressing the characters' psychology must have been different depending on each situation in the same darkness. 

= Other genre films usually depict characters' emotions using the contrast between light and shade, but for The Night Owl, I thought it was more important to make the actors' real emotions transparent without filtering than using the standard contrast between light and shade. So, in the case of Kyungsoo, instead of setting lights, we focused on eye light (a small amount of light used to express emotions or of the characters or to make their eyes more vivid) so that Kyungsoo's eyes, which played the key role in the film, could be seen well.

- How did you express the point when night becomes morning? 

= It was important that the character's special vision condition, which can be a characteristic and limitation at the same time, had to be distinguished into 3 categories; the night without light, before the daybreak with very dim light, and morning when light exists. For the night scenes, we used the illuminators actively to express the scenes, while we used the magic hour (the dusky time just before or after sunset or sunrise when the light has a soft, diffuse quality) was used for dawn time. The magic hour at dawn is really short and we could shoot scenes only for a short time. Even though it was a risky task, all the staff members were able to concentrate and complete the shooting successfully. Fortunately, the sun was shown clearly in the morning, and I thank the sun.

- Is there anything you intended to make use of the genre characteristics of a thriller? 

= Rather than the effect of the general thriller genre from contrasting light and dark, I tried not to be sunken in space and time so that the characters could be clearly seen in all scenes. We tried to make a difference in gradation (the stage of concentration that gradually changes from bright to dark). The characters looked soft, but we designed the light to produce detailed contrasts within the softness.

- Is there a difference in lighting expression for each character? The character, Jo Soyong played by Actor Ahn Eunjin, seemed that she was emphasized by the red color through her costumes and art. 

= For this work, I didn't use the concept of designing lights to make each character stand out. I think a movie is to make characters live and breathe in the natural development of time and space. So, the lighting for The Night Owl was naturally developed according to the flow of the story. In addition, regarding the expression of the king characters in the Joseon dynasty, King Yeongjo in The Throne was depicted as a person with many internal conflicts, while King Injo in The Night Owl seemed to be a person with many external conflicts. I worked to emphasize two aspects by sharing the stories created by the directors of the two films and the character concepts carved by the actors.

- How did you use the lighting according to the main space such as the medical center in the place, King Injo's main hall, and Crown Prince Sohyun's bedroom?

= I was impressed by the art of the places mentioned in the question. Since Art Director Lee Hajoon perfectly embodied the interpretation of each place in reality, I only tried not to let the audience miss even the smallest parts of the places.

- Tell us how the lighting for a costume drama is different from that of a modern drama. 

= Including The Alienoid, Director Choi Donghoon's costume drama, The Night Owl is my 4th costume work. Compared to modern dramas, the locations are limited for historical dramas as well as limitations in the composition of settings, etc. In addition, for The Night Owl, we couldn't neglect the characteristics of the thriller genre. After much consideration, we decided to abandon the customary approach or guidelines saying, 'This is what historical drama should be,' and just worked based on our ideas. Instead of regarding The Night Owl as a historical drama, we just focused on the characteristics of the genre and designed the lighting.

- We are curious how you started working in the lighting section. In particular, you have been working with Director of Photography Kim Taekyung to make more than 10 films, including Eunkyo, The Throne, and Believer. Tell us about the story. 

= I started working in the lighting section at the recommendation of a guy who lived in my neighborhood. The funny thing is that he actually quit the movie work early but I continued the career. I work with DP Kim Taekyung for about 200 days a year. Since Director Chung Yoonchul's Marathon (2005), DP Kim and I have been working together for almost 20 years, and I feel him as my big brother, friend, and family.

- If you pick a film that impressed you with the lighting work, what is it? Also, tell us what 'good lighting' is from your point of view. 

= I'll pick Road to Perdition and it is the posthumous work of DP Conrad Hall. The film clearly shows the ability of lighting in the movie. The best movie lighting I think is the natural lighting that you can't tell whether artificial lighting work has been added or not.