The short drama 'Father's Home Food' produced by director Lee Jun-ik will meet audiences at Lotte Cinema on the 9th.
This is an opportunity to watch 61 episodes with a running time of about 2 to 3 minutes at once, with a total running time of 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Although the running time is longer than most commercial films, the story of an ordinary family is captivating and makes the audience laugh and cry.
"It's a story about ordinary people, but I think it's made interesting by taking full advantage of the short form in terms of the structure and composition of the story."
At a press conference held at the Lotte Cinema World Tower on the 3rd, director Lee said, "The short story unfolds in an interesting way within a duration of about two minutes," and pointed out that the characteristics of the short form made the long running time interesting.
'Father's Home Cooking' is the story of a wife, Soon-ae (Lee Jeong-eun), who has been cooking home-cooked meals all her life to meet the demands of her patriarchal husband, Ha-eung (played by Jeong Jin-young), but forgets the recipe due to an accident. It is a family drama based on the webtoon of the same name by author Gorita.
Director Lee, who has mainly created drama genres such as the movies 'The King and the Clown' (2005) and 'Jasaneobo' (2021), said, "Most of the short-form works so far have been provocative to draw interest in a short period of time," and "I was very worried about whether I could make an interesting short-form."
He expressed satisfaction that the play was structured in an interesting way thanks to writer Shin Dong-seon, who wrote the script for the short form, saying, "The way of writing the scenario (for the short form) was different from that of the movie."
Actress Lee Jeong-eun, who plays the wife Soon-ae, also explained that she acted with care in keeping the audience's curiosity in line with the short form format.
He said, โAs the two-minute episodes were connected, the play ended with a scene that aroused curiosity,โ and added, โI also focused on maintaining curiosity at the end of the episode.โ
Director Lee said that the vertical screen seemed to create a work that focused more on the inner characters of the characters. Short dramas are often consumed vertically on smartphones.
He explained, "Horizontal screens often require multiple shots to show the situation, but vertical screens quickly show the inside of the characters and each person's position, giving the feel of a psychological drama format. Since the characters are connected through editing, the focus seems to be on the psychology of relationships, which increases immersion."
As the range of screen captured by the camera is narrow, the advantage of short form is that it can be produced at a lower cost than a movie. The production cost of 'Father's Home Food', which was completed with a small staff of 33 people, a small camera, and only 14 episodes, was about 500 million won.
Director Lee said, โIf it had been done on a horizontal screen, the production cost would have been more than five times higher,โ and added, โThe strength of the short form is its low cost.โ
'Father's Home Cooking' was invited to the 'Platform Exhibition: Short Form Cinema' at the 30th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival held last July and was premiered in theaters for the first time.
Thanks to the positive response from audiences at the time, the short drama, which was not originally scheduled for release, was able to meet audiences in movie theaters.
Director Lee explained, "Among the movies coming out in theaters recently, there seem to be fewer works that are faithful to family movies or dramas, such as 'Father's Home Cooking,' than there used to be," and added, "I proposed to an investment company to release it because I wanted audiences to see it in theaters regardless of whether the screen was vertical or horizontal."
Director Lee and the cast said that it is a work that the whole family will enjoy and urged people to enjoy it at the theater.
Director Lee said, โThis is a work that not only older people, but also the whole family, including granddaughters and daughters-in-law, can watch together,โ and added, โI hope the audience will enjoy it as if they are getting a close look into our lives.โ
Lee Jeong-eun also said, "My mother watched 'Father's Home Cooking' on her laptop and said she wanted to see it on the big screen. It doesn't have the provocative subject matter of regular short dramas, so a wider age group will be able to watch it."
