Free Web Novel“The camera as... part of the corps?”
The unusual remark caught the attention of the dancers nearby.
“When I watch ballet dancers, the angles of their limbs and the speed of their spins align perfectly even when they aren’t looking at each other. How do they synchronize so well?” freewebnøvel.com
“Well... when you focus, you can feel it...”
“Even without looking?”
“Yes. In the early stages of practice, we synchronize by watching each other, but later on, it’s more about sensing the energy around us...”
The ballerinas listening nearby nodded in agreement.
“If you can memorize the movements of dozens of dancers in a group performance and sense their energy, then being aware of marks or camera positions shouldn’t be too difficult. You just haven’t gotten used to it yet.
If you’re nervous, don’t think of the camera as the audience. Think of it as part of the corps building the scene together with you. Maybe that’ll help ease the tension.”
The depth of Yoomyeong’s understanding of ballet, and the respect he held for it, were evident in his calm explanation.
The ballerinas, tense from the unfamiliar environment, felt ‘accepted’ through his warm advice.
“I didn’t really realize it until I started studying it, but ballet is such a fascinating and beautiful art. It’s a shame it has such a limited audience. Everyone, please relax and show the beauty of ballet to as many people as possible.”
As the tension visibly eased from their faces, the assistant director quietly said to the director,
“Is he really twenty-four years old? It’s impressive enough that he can act like that at his age, but how does he manage the atmosphere around him so naturally?”
“I’ve seen a lot of prodigies come and go in the film industry, but he’s one of a kind. It’s not just flashes of brilliance; there’s depth to him. Every time I see it, I’m amazed.”
“I feel the same way. I’m really looking forward to his scenes.”
“Don’t just stand there gaping. A director’s job is to expect even more from a talented actor and draw out an even higher level of quality.”
“Is that so...?”
The afternoon shoot went much more smoothly.
Everyone’s expressions were noticeably more relaxed than they had been that morning.
Seryeon in particular looked much more natural. Rather than trying to imitate Hwaran, the advice to simply express Seryeon’s own emotions had proven immensely helpful.
And so, cut by cut, the scenes were completed one after another.
Finally, the day came to film ‘Behind the Stage.’
“It looks incredible...”
The set replicated the backstage area of a grand theater.
Dim lighting. Stage equipment piled here and there. Costumes hanging carelessly. Props that gave off an eerie atmosphere.
To depict moonlight filtering into the space, the set had been built with a high ceiling and small windows.
Fitting for a place where reality and unreality intersected, sharp red ballet shoes resembling blood and purple tutus had been strategically placed throughout the set.
Phantom never appeared on the brightly lit practice stage or anywhere within people’s direct line of sight.
The theater’s blind spots were his domain.
Under the glow of moonlight, he appeared only in the shadows behind the stage, before a ballerina who, despite her talent, had been consumed by overwhelming ambition and driven into despair.
“We’ll start with a long take. Slate, please.”
“Eight, three, one—”
Clap—
Scene 8, Cut 3, Take 1.
The encounter between Hwaran and the Phantom.
Trapped in the practice room at night and overcome with panic, Hwaran searches for a way out and ends up backstage, connected to the stage itself. In the eerie backstage at night, she screams, and a shaft of moonlight falls at her feet. Then the Phantom appears.
“Ready — Action!”
The Phantom, half his face concealed by a mask and dressed in a tunic as white as moonlight, extended a hand toward the hesitantly seated Hwaran.
“Ah, you’re one of the children performing the Swan Dance. What was your name again?”
“Yoon... Hwaran.”
His voice was sweet, almost like a song.
Though he stood against the moonlight, there wasn’t a trace of shadow on his face thanks to the front lighting.
Yet, in harmony with the mysterious atmosphere, his face seemed to emit light of its own.
“After Swan Lake, the next performance will be Giselle.”
Before the audience could even register the ominous undertone hidden beneath his gentle words—
Ding—
The clock struck twelve, and the music, which had begun almost inaudibly, gradually swelled in volume.
As the staff fell silent enough to suppress even their breathing for the live recording, every gaze fixed on Yoomyeong as he began to dance.
“Ah...”
The ballerinas watching swallowed their gasps.
It was Albrecht from Giselle.
Of course, he couldn’t execute the vibrant leaps or dazzling pas like the professional ballerinas.
However, the movements of his upper body, where expression mattered more than technique, were astonishingly beautiful. It was hard to believe he wasn’t formally trained.
Ra— Raa—
As the music reached its crescendo, a series of pirouettes followed.
Watching him, the male dancer serving as Yoomyeong’s stand in doubted his own eyes.
At first, while turning halfway, his gaze faced the camera, but in a split second he snapped his head around and found the camera again before his body had fully completed the turn.
He had mastered the precise eye control needed to maintain balance through multiple rotations.
Not just one spin, but two, three...
His body maintained astonishing stability all the way through the final pirouette.
How could someone who had only studied ballet for three months do this...?
As the turn ended and the Phantom’s first dance came to a close, he continued smiling down at Hwaran with a dazzlingly bright face.
Stumbling over her words, Hwaran asked, freewebnøvel.coɱ
“Are you... the angel of ballet?”
“Hmm...? If that’s what you believe, then perhaps. Would you like to dance with me?”
With a mesmerized expression, Hwaran took the hand he extended. The close up of their hands marked the editing point.
“Cut — Okay!”
It was the fourth day of filming.
That was the first one take okay Director Ki had called.
At once, the silence broke as applause and cheers erupted from every direction.
“Looks like it.”
The assistant director clicked his tongue as he monitored the footage.
For the visual effects technique known as Head Replacement, where an actor’s face is composited onto a body double, facial angle was crucial.
Especially in dynamic scenes like dancing, seamlessly combining an actor’s face with the body of a dance double was far from simple.
But what if the actor could perform while dancing?
Even if it was limited to upper body shots, anything framed from the waist up could be preserved if the ballet movements were reproduced this accurately. Even in full body shots, the compositing difficulty would decrease dramatically.
“Are you sure he wasn’t originally a ballet dancer?”
“Not at all. Even during casting, it was hard to believe it was his first time because of how naturally he handled the ballet movements, but back then he couldn’t do spins. Seryeon really did ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) work hard teaching him, but they say following along to this extent as a beginner with only three months of experience is practically impossible. Apparently he has an extraordinary physical sense.”
“The dancing is one thing, but the acting before and after it...”
“Exactly. How can a theater actor standing in front of a camera for the first time deliver such a natural performance?”
Theater acting and film acting were fundamentally different.
In film acting, the actor was an ‘observed object.’
Meanwhile, theater acting involved fully ‘expressing’ oneself to the audience.
Film, however, operated on the premise that the audience was observing the natural life of a character through the camera.
And because the camera captured everything down to pores and tiny furrows in expression, directly transplanting theatrical acting onto film could easily come across as exaggerated.
Yet that actor, seemingly unaware of such distinctions, delivered a performance that perfectly adhered to the camera’s presence.
Cinematographer Choi walked over to the monitor.
“Wow. What in the world is he?”
Even he, who consistently spoke formally and used honorifics with the director on set, momentarily forgot his manners and asked with a bewildered expression.
Director Ki merely glanced at the two of them and shrugged.
“Just look at him.”
Except for the ongoing unresolved debates whenever the lead actor and actress met.
“Sister, Phantom is obsessed with Hwaran too.”
“He’s the god of ballet. Why would a perfect being be obsessed with anyone?”
“Only Hwaran sees him as a god. When Phantom starts guiding another ballerina while leaving Hwaran behind, there’s clearly emotion there stemming from his awareness of her.”
“He’s just searching for his next disciple. Hwaran disappointed him.”
“Isn’t disappointment itself rooted in emotional discomfort?”
Director Ki cautiously interjected.
“Well... since the film is mostly told from Hwaran’s perspective, adding a more human side to Phantom might enrich the story.”
“Ugh... Fine.”
Seryeon adjusted her posture.
“I’ll put my biases aside and listen, so try to convince me. If you can’t convince me this time, we stick to the original screenplay, okay?”
At her words, Yoomyeong flashed a sly smile.
“Deal. Now watch, sister.”
Yoomyeong stood and positioned himself in front of her.
“This is Scene 87, right after Hwaran witnesses Phantom teaching another ballerina. Originally, Phantom stays nonchalant here, while Hwaran grows restless out of jealousy and eventually speaks up, right?”
“Yes.”
“During the lesson, let’s add subtle glances from Phantom whenever Hwaran isn’t looking.”
Yoomyeong demonstrated, placing Director Ki in Hwaran’s position.
Phantom taught expressionlessly, only casting brief, subtle glances whenever Hwaran turned away. A gradual tension began to build.
“And when they argue afterward, we keep everything the same. He still appears cold and firm, an absolute authority figure, which makes her feel angry and wronged.”
Hwaran nodded in agreement.
“After that, Phantom rebukes her for speaking nonsense, and they practice the pas de deux. Director, can you capture this?”
At that moment, Cinematographer Choi, who had been lingering nearby after lunch, shamelessly chimed in.
“I’ll shoot it.”
Excited, he hurried off and returned with a sub camera.
The two began their pas de deux.
Having practiced every day for two months, the dance flowed effortlessly.
As soon as the dance ended, they huddled together and replayed the footage on the spot.
“Ah... Phantom’s gaze.”
Unlike social dance, ballet is performance dance, so the dancers’ gaze is often directed toward the audience. Seryeon also mostly looked toward the camera, only making eye contact with her partner when necessary.
But Phantom’s gaze...
It looked down at her with painful intensity.
As a pirouette turned her back toward him, his expression immediately turned cold again the moment their eyes met. But as the pirouette carried her away once more, Phantom’s lingering gaze followed after her.
Within that expression existed countless untold dramas...
Even Seryeon became curious about the untold story behind Phantom.
“What do you think? Hwaran can still continue believing, as she always has, that Phantom is a perfect being. This would just add another subplot for Phantom.”
She had been certain she wouldn’t be convinced, but...
In the end, she nodded.
Exhausted, Yoomyeong sprawled out across the studio floor while Seryeon headed into the attached shower room, saying she was going to rinse off.
Even after filming began, the two still visited the studio whenever they had time to practice both ballet and acting.
Just as Yoomyeong, exhausted, was about to drift off to sleep—
Vrrr— Vrrr—
His phone vibrated noisily across the floor.
It was a message from the cinematographer.
[If you’re done practicing, come over. The director and I are drinking at Samsong Fried Chicken across the street.]
The pompous Director Ki and the easygoing Cinematographer Choi made for an oddly compatible pair. Smirking, Yoomyeong brushed back his hair and relayed the message to Seryeon as she emerged.
“The director and cinematographer are having chicken and beer. They asked us to join them. What do you think?”
“Ah~ Beer! If I drink one right now, I can die happy. Let’s go!”
Throwing both hands up enthusiastically, she welcomed the idea, and the two left the studio together.
It was mid April.
On the clear spring night, cherry blossoms in full bloom swayed gently in the wind as if waving to them.
They quickly crossed a few alleys and arrived at the chicken restaurant.
“Over here—”
A hand shot up above the partition inside.
Though the greeting was warm, by the time the two reached the table, the men were already immersed in a discussion about filming and didn’t even glance up.
“Two 500cc beers, please.”
After ordering their beers, Yoomyeong and Seryeon joined the ongoing conversation.
“Phantom’s emotional arc has become a subplot now, but the starting point of those emotions still isn’t clear.”
“As Yoomyeong said, I think viewers can naturally understand why Phantom, who lurks in the corners of the theater and thinks of nothing but ballet, would become obsessed with Hwaran even without additional explanation.”
“That’s because we know the story already. From the audience’s perspective, it might not be so obvious. There needs to be a visual hint.”
“Well...”
“Besides, Phantom must have guided countless ballerinas over the years. There should be a reason he becomes particularly fixated on Yoon Hwaran.”
“True... We need something that signifies her ‘uniqueness.’ There should be a scene that justifies it.”
Hearing that, Yoomyeong thought of the cherry blossoms they had passed on the way there.
“What about outside?”
“Outside?”
“One of the things confining Phantom isn’t just darkness, night, or moonlight. It’s also the interior of the theater itself. What if Hwaran is the one who brings him outside for the first time?”
Ah—
Director Ki’s expression brightened with realization.
He immediately began scribbling furiously across the back of a storyboard beside him.
“Let’s see... between Scenes 38 and 39 would be perfect. We’ll make it Scene 38.5...
After the lesson, Hwaran suddenly grabs the hand of the Phantom as he’s about to disappear. ‘Don’t you feel suffocated staying inside all the time? Let’s go for a walk together!’ While the other students only saw him as frightening and intimidating... Phantom is caught off guard by Hwaran’s playful attitude. After hesitating, he steps outside, touching the ground beyond the theater for the first time.
Hwaran’s laughter bursts forth like a flower in bloom, and he experiences the unfamiliar freshness of the outside air.”
As the pen raced across the blank paper, Yoomyeong enthusiastically added,
“If we set it beneath nighttime cherry blossoms, wouldn’t it create an even stronger atmosphere? The practice room and theater are both filled with rigid, square backgrounds, so having a single scene with a dreamlike, surreal atmosphere would create a nice contrast.”
“Oh— Great idea! A pas de deux beneath the cherry blossoms!”
What finally stopped Director Ki’s furiously moving pen was—
“Let’s go shoot it right now! Today’s peak cherry blossom season!”
Director Choi’s even more excited voice, his cheeks flushed red from several glasses of beer.
