Content Report analyzes culturally significant content with a fresh perspective while investigating the current state of K-culture and the cultural industry.
In 1993, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, bid 30 million dollars – roughly 35 billion won – on a single notebook. Upon winning the auction, Gates came into possession of 72 pages of notes by Leonardo da Vinci, written from 1506 to 1510.
The notebook contained writings on astronomy, geology and mathematics, as well as some 360 paintings. Such a wealth of insight from one of the most important thinkers in history is a humbling prospect, but the questions da Vinci left within the book’s pages, which span both science and art, were actually fairly clear and simple: “Why is the sky blue?” “What makes the moon shine?”
This unbiased treatment of wide-ranging subjects was central to da Vinci’s imagination and process. From fly machines, cannons and armored vehicles to iconic works of art like “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper”, it was da Vinci’s ability to collapse the boundaries between fields and forms that accounts for such a rich and varied legacy, and it was this intuition that Bill Gates hoped to learn from by making such a huge investment in such a small object.
He may have passed away over 500 years ago, but da Vinci’s value to the modern world, and to modern thinkers, has never diminished. He continues to inspire the 21st century’s innovators to this day. Perhaps what can be credited for this is his distinctly convergent approach to thought, an approach which today has become more urgent and important than ever.
Are We Ready for “Ready Player One”’s World?
These days it is crucial that companies show the same readiness to think convergently, and it has become difficult for businesses to survive and grow without breaking down boundaries. Consequently, every industry is constantly on the lookout for ways to expand by connecting areas that previously seemed disparate and irreconcilable.
In the manufacturing and information & communications (IT) sectors, this expansion has already begun. As Steve Jobs himself once said, “It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough – it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.” Recently, though, this scope has widened further still. Connection and convergence are actively pursued not only where physical products are developed but also in the content industry, the product of which can be less tangible than phones and computers.
The unexpected spread of COVID-19 in particular has galvanized the entertainment industry to experiment with new ways to combine technology and content at an explosive rate. Cutting-edge technology designed to assist content production certainly existed and was made use of before the pandemic struck, but it would have been hard to argue that innovative content and innovative technology to support it were truly in step with one another in a way that felt organic. Fast-forward to COVID, though, and the entertainment industry found itself with audiences in unprecedented situations desperate to connect with people around the world. Finding new ways to distribute content quickly and effectively in a locked-down world became the number one priority.
With this in mind, the world of Steven Spielberg’s 2018 sci-fi adventure “Ready Player One”, once a faraway fantasy, suddenly seemed just around the corner. When “Ready Player One” was first released, it enchanted audiences with its vision of a world in which people have easy access to a virtual universe in parallel with their own, using bespoke avatars to enter this universe and do everything from play games to peruse economic interests. Audiences were certainly intrigued by the premise, but few would have said the real world felt ready for the fictional technology that gave life to it. Now, the same premise is unfolding before our very eyes and, far from feeling distant and whimsical, it feels inevitable that technology like this will play a significant role in our lives.
Only last September, for example, BTS debuted the choreography version of their “Dynamite” music video in the ever-popular battle royale video game “Fortnite”. Fans from both BTS’s native Korea and from all over the world attended the launch of the music video and danced along with their avatars, and these experiments are not unique to “Fortnite”. Teenagers and young adults regularly use avatars to engage with metaverse platforms like Naver’s “Zepeto”, where there are also opportunities for fans to participate in events hosted by their favorite groups and musicians.
CJ ENM Is Breaking the Barriers Between Space and Time in the Entertainment Industry
CJ ENM, a leading entertainment company in Korea, is leading this transition into new relationships with technology through various projects. Last December, the “One More Time” project, produced by Mnet, brought beloved South Korean hip-hop group Turtle back together for the first time in 12 years. Using AI technology to recreate the voice and appearance of the lead singer and rapper Turtleman – who passed away in 2008 – the group performed new music live together for audiences in what was a moving experience for many fans with fond memories of their music.
That same month, CJ ENM had a similar surprise in store for the BTS fans at the Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS (MAMA), where K-pop devotees were amazed to see BTS member Suga – who was unable to attend the performance due to shoulder surgery – suddenly appear onstage to join in with the performance. Using volumetric technology – which applies 3D structures to projected images for a more viscerally real display from any angle – audiences were treated to the full BTS roster, a huge bonus for those already enjoying a colorful show.
CJ ENM is also making bold attempts to bridge the gaps between entertainment industry and technological innovation. One such case is their partnership with Samsung Electronics to build a virtual production studio. The studio, which will be established in Paju, in the Gyeonggi-do province in Korea, will be the largest-scale virtual production studio in the country, with an area of 212,833 square meters. The Wall, as the project is called, to which Samsung Electronics’ latest Micro LED technology will be applied, is expected to take content creation to new heights. Celebrating the first such studio installation in the world, CJ ENM plans to use this innovative technology to conduct a multitude of new content tests.
First and foremost, The Wall, by utilizing this cutting-edge LED, will eliminate the need for physical studio sets that traditionally require repeated installation and removal. Through this, the huge costs incurred when building sets and filming on location can be substantially slashed.
(Courtesy of Samsung Electronics)
Viewers will be able to watch and appreciate acting with an increased depth and realism thanks to The Wall. Until now, actors have been forced to adapt to directing their performances at green backgrounds when filming computer graphics (CG) scenes, which does not always feel natural. With The Wall, however, these CG worlds will appear before actors with the fidelity of material reality.
“The convergence of humanities and technology is never a moral issue, but rather a matter of productivity,” said Jin Woo Lee, author of “Techno Humanities” and professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology. It was da Vinci’s assiduous attention to the subtle movements of facial muscles that brought to life “The Mona Lisa”’s enigmatic half-smile and secured the painting’s place in history. It follows, then, that the inverse might be true, and that art’s brushstroke, when applied to the field of scientific research, can do a great deal to enhance the efficiency and productivity of technological innovation. The wide range of content we have access to might reap the rewards of this marriage of forms sooner rather than later. As sophisticated, cutting-edge technology paves the way for limitless storytelling and imagination, who knows what new digital wonders might be joining “The Mona Lisa”’s iconic smile in the canon of truly timeless art.
