Chapter 211. Baseball Bat and Sword
While Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon were pushing forward with their investigation and Kim Su-hyeok had departed for his assignment in Japan, time steadily passed until the day of the CF shooting arrived.
- Actor, we've arrived at the parking lot.
"Okay. I'll be right down."
Yeon-woo went down to the parking lot and got into Kim Min-soo's car.
Manager Kim Min-soo seemed excited about having a schedule after such a long time.
"Min-soo hyung. You seem happy that I have a schedule?"
"Of course. You know how much I hate sitting still."
Yeon-woo tilted his head at Kim Min-soo's words.
"But aren't you sitting still in the driver's seat right now?"
"Ahem, this is different. These days I've been creating training materials for the new road managers the company hired, but I don't think I have much talent for that kind of work."
Yeon-woo smiled at Kim Min-soo's complaints.
Having been both an instructor and commander in his previous life, Yeon-woo knew all too well how difficult it was to organize one's accumulated work experience into written training materials.
"By the way, it's been a really long time since I've had a schedule with you, Min-soo hyung."
"That's right."
From Yeon-woo's perspective, both the theater troupe performances and recent YouTube variety show filming were schedules, but unlike drama or movie shoots, there wasn't much for Kim Min-soo to manage.
"Min-soo hyung. Should we listen to some music while we drive?"
"Oh? What's the occasion?"
While filming "New Star Family," he'd realized just how out of touch he was with current music.
"Let's listen to the Top 100."
"Alright."
Kim Min-soo played music on his smartphone with practiced movements.
"Do you usually listen to music in the car when you're driving alone?"
"Ah, yes. I listen often."
This was news to him.
Kim Min-soo had been Yeon-woo's manager for several years now, but he had never played music until now.
"Then why haven't you ever played music during our long drives?"
"Ah, well, since you usually review scripts and practice acting in the car, I didn't want to disturb you."
Yeon-woo smiled awkwardly at Kim Min-soo's answer.
"You didn't have to do that..."
He had reached a level where he could finish reading literature even in the middle of South Sudan's civil war with rebels firing RPG-7s, so whether music was playing or not made no difference to his concentration.
"I like listening to music these days, so please play it from now on."
"Oh, will do."
Yeon-woo and Kim Min-soo headed to the CF shooting set in Paju while listening to upbeat idol music.
After parking and getting out of the car, they saw Jung Cheol-min getting out of his car on the opposite side.
When Yeon-woo gave a light smile and nod to Im Jae-wook, Jung Cheol-min's manager, Im Jae-wook bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle just like last time.
'I told him he doesn't need to be so formal...'
Figuring it wouldn't change no matter how many times he said it, Yeon-woo just nodded.
Then he approached Jung Cheol-min.
"Teacher, how do you feel about shooting the CF today?"
"I feel like I'm floating on air. What a blessing to have such a good student in my later years."
Yeon-woo bristled slightly at Jung Cheol-min's words.
"Come on, what do you mean 'later years'? They say retirement age is going up these days and people are working longer. You're not even in your 50s yet, you're still young!"
"Is that so? You always have such a smooth way with words."
It would be troublesome if Jung Cheol-min was in his later years.
Counting from his previous life, Yeon-woo was around the same age, so this wasn't really comfort for Jung Cheol-min but self-defense
"Let's go in."
Jung Cheol-min led the way and Yeon-woo followed him into the set.
'Come to think of it, I usually shoot CFs alone, but this time I'm doing it with colleagues.'
It gave him an oddly different feeling.
When they went inside, all the other actors had already arrived.
"Teacher Cheol-min! Oppa Yeon-woo!"
Han Byul, her hair braided in pigtails like Ella after a long time, waved her hands high above her head in greeting.
"Everyone's here early. Where's the director?"
"We just briefly greeted him earlier. I think he went inside to check on something."
Just then, as if speaking of the devil, a familiar figure walked over.
It was Jung Yu-han, who had been the CG director for "White Blood."
"Yeon-woo. It's been a while."
"Ah, Director. Have you been well?"
"I've been very busy thanks to our drama doing well."
"I didn't expect to see you again as a CF director."
Today, Jung Yu-han was here not as a CG director but in the role of CF director.
When they first heard during the advertising meeting that Jung Yu-han would be taking the position of CF director, everyone was surprised at first but soon agreed.
Even during the filming of "White Blood," he wasn't just a CG director but was an essential presence in all aspects of direction, with hardly any part of the filming untouched by his hand, so it wasn't strange at all for him to take up the megaphone himself.
"I'm not sure if I can do well. But I'll do my best to shoot it."
Though he said that, his eyes were full of confidence.
Actually, CG is used more in commercials than in dramas or movies.
CFs need to deliver a lot of commercial information in a short time, and while doing so, they need to feel fresh to consumers so the process isn't boring, which is why they make many more bold new attempts than other video content.
So it was natural that all kinds of special effects would be used.
"You're just being modest. Director Jung, you've handled countless CFs in America."
Jung Yu-han smiled at Yeon-woo's words.
"'Director Jung'... It feels awkward when you call me director. Though I've participated in many commercial films, this is my first time as director."
"Then I guess this would be your directorial debut?"
"I suppose it is. Well then, shall we start with group shots after makeup is done?"
The actors nodded at Jung Yu-han's words.
With familiar actors and a familiar director, it felt less like shooting a CF and more like filming a spin-off of White Blood.
===
**
===
After finishing their makeup, the actors began filming. The first group scene they shot received an OK quite quickly.
However, the problem arose with Yeon-woo's filming portion.
The overall concept of the commercial used a technique previously employed by a sports brand, where different videos were stitched together to appear as one.
In that commercial, they split the screen down the middle, seamlessly combining half-body shots of a swimmer on the left and a track athlete on the right as they warmed up in their starting positions, or showing a horse rider's jump transitioning mid-frame into footage of an amateur on a stunt bike.
The smartphone commercial Yeon-woo was filming now used a similar approach, splitting and overlapping screens to show a contrast between reality and fantasy scenes from the drama.
'I suppose the concept is to showcase a smartphone with such vivid display and uninterrupted data that it enhances content immersion.'
When Yeon-woo swings a baseball bat in recreational baseball, he needs to transform into Jung Do-jin from "White Blood" swinging a sword as he crosses the frame.
Acting both parts wasn't an issue, and having the best director handle the editing wasn't a problem either.
But the issue seemed to be that whoever wrote the commercial storyboard didn't really understand sports movements.
"Ah, this is a bit troublesome."
Director Jung Yu-han shook his head as he watched the screen.
Yeon-woo, wearing a baseball uniform and having swung the bat dozens of times, scratched his head as he approached.
"The transition point doesn't match up, does it?"
Jung Yu-han nodded at Yeon-woo's words.
"Yes. After all, swinging a baseball bat and swinging a sword have completely different forms."
Apart from the act of swinging, the sword and baseball bat differed in body movement, weight, and angle.
Moreover, while a baseball bat is swung with both hands, Jung Do-jin in the drama wields his sword with one hand.
"Hmm... How about swinging a tennis racket instead?"
Tennis might allow for a form more similar to Jung Do-jin's sword swinging.
But the advertising company's manager next to Jung Yu-han heavily shook his head at Yeon-woo's suggestion.
"...About that. The client specifically requested baseball."
"Baseball?"
Yeon-woo tilted his head in confusion before looking at his uniform and nodding in understanding.
"Ah, this is an SL Group baseball team uniform, isn't it?"
SL Electronics, which launched the Smartphone Universe, was a subsidiary of SL Group, which also operated a professional baseball team.
Now he understood why they had insisted on including baseball.
That's when Jung Cheol-min, who had been watching, came over and patted Yeon-woo's shoulder.
"They're trying to milk it for all it's worth."
"A-ahem."
The advertising manager, caught out, awkwardly averted his gaze.
Currently, actor Ryu Yeon-woo had become the hardest celebrity to book for commercials, as he wasn't taking any new advertising contracts except for Ihan Group's defense industry CF.
For SL Group, who had secured an advertising contract with Yeon-woo using the "White Blood" cast as leverage, they probably wanted to achieve multiple effects with a single commercial.
'No wonder I thought it was odd when recreational baseball suddenly appeared among the group shooting scenes that were mostly set in companies and universities.'
Swinging a sword like a baseball bat would make White Blood's Jung Do-jin look awkward, and doing the opposite wouldn't capture the baseball feeling at all.
But what could they do?
Once you've signed a contract, it's a professional's job to create something impressive while meeting the client's demands.
"Director Jung. Could you pull up the footage of Jung Do-jin swinging the sword? And if possible, could I get a stopwatch?"
Jung Yu-han nodded at Yeon-woo's request.
This young world star had often done this during the filming of "White Blood" too - when hitting a snag in filming, he would briefly contemplate before making some request.
And when they did as he asked without question, he would brilliantly solve the problem.
Having learned from repeated experience, Jung Yu-han moved quickly.
Jung Yu-han gave instructions to the staff through his walkie-talkie.
Chzzk─.
"Jae-jun, we have a stopwatch in the production team, right? Yeah, that black one. Could you bring it over?"
Soon after, a staff member brought the stopwatch, and Yeon-woo stood in front of the field monitor, focusing intently on his own footage where he had swung the sword as Jung Do-jin.
Click, click─.
Click─.
"Please play it again."
At Yeon-woo's request, Director Jung replayed the sword-swinging footage several times.
After pressing the stopwatch repeatedly while intently watching the video, Yeon-woo closed his eyes, matched the rhythm, and pressed the stopwatch.
- 2.75
- 2.73
The video playback time and Yeon-woo's eyes-closed stopwatch timing almost perfectly matched.
A 0.02-second difference wouldn't create any noticeable dissonance even without editing.
This time, Yeon-woo measured something with his fingers on the monitor showing himself holding the sword, then nodded.
"Hmm, so that's the height? Let's try filming again. I think I can match it pretty closely."
"Well then, let's give it another go."
Yeon-woo entered the chroma key set holding the baseball bat.
Yeon-woo started swinging the bat again.
He checked the swing timing using his sense from pressing the timer.
'Hmm, the bat's weight makes it slow. Need to speed it up.'
After several practice swings to find the right feel, Yeon-woo called out.
"I'll start now."
And when the swinging bat reached about mid-body, he released one of his two hands.
In baseball, this is called a 'one-handed follow-through.'
This motion is used not just in baseball but in all sports involving swinging at a ball, like golf or racket sports - the follow-through is the continuation of movement after hitting the ball.
What Yeon-woo was doing now was performing this follow-through with just one hand.
The moment he swung, Yeon-woo instinctively felt it.
'Got it. Perfect timing.'
Then, as if he had hit a baseball that would be added in post-production, he released the bat and ran out of frame, and Jung Yu-han, watching on the monitor, called out.
"Okay. Cut!"
Jung Yu-han, who had been watching, felt strongly that they had gotten it.
Yeon-woo approached the field monitor again, and Jung Yu-han displayed both the footage of Jung Do-jin swinging the sword and the recently filmed baseball bat scene at once.
He lowered the opacity of both videos to overlay them on one screen, slowed down the speed, and pressed play.
Then "White Blood's" 'Jung Do-jin' and baseball uniform-clad 'Ryu Yeon-woo' began moving together in slow motion.
The beginnings were clearly different.
The shoulder movements were different, and the heights of the baseball bat and sword didn't match.
But when the baseball bat passed waist level, Yeon-woo in the footage released one hand, and suddenly the bat dropped to the same height as the sword and began moving in sync.
From that point on, every body movement matched so perfectly that it looked like a single scene.
The staff watching the monitor let out gasps of amazement at this magical transformation.