A Monster in Broad Daylight, Crossing the 50 Billion Won Threshold

Hollywood Shies Away from Daylight Creatures
Why Na Hongjin Took the Challenge Head-On

Movie still cut from the film 'Hope'.

There is an unspoken calculus in creature features. To reduce the cost and risk of computer graphics (CG), monsters are often kept in the shadows. The less light there is, the less detail needs to be rendered, and flaws are easier to conceal. This also translates to significant production cost savings, which is why even big-budget Hollywood blockbusters abide by this norm. Director Na Hong-jin's "Hope," however, defies this logic. The 3D creatures appear in broad daylight. Nearly every scene plays out under the sun, making it a rare action thriller set mostly in daylight. What appears to be a reckless choice is not simply a push powered by CG alone. It is backed by meticulous pre-production and live-action shoots, with actors physically performing in front of the camera.

Live-Action and Pre-Production

The harbor village set for the film, Hopohang, was actually built in Namchang-ri, Bukpyeong-myeon, Haenam-gun, South Jeolla Province. From October 2023, the lead actors stayed on-site for about three months during filming. Since the entire village panorama had to be recreated, the Busan Film Studio meticulously scanned the site in 3D. High-resolution data produced by XR Tech Lab's RIEGL VZ-400i scanner formed the basis for the CG work. This approach is called Virtual Production (VP): the elements that will later be created with CG—such as backgrounds and monsters—are prepared in advance and checked in real-time on set. In the past, actors would perform before a green screen, only able to see the finished product months later. VP eliminates this time gap.

The forest sequence unfolds differently. The scene in which Seonggi (played by Zo In-sung) is chased on horseback by aliens was shot in Retezat National Park in Romania. This allowed the filmmakers to capture natural primeval forest terrain and authentic lighting unobtainable in Korea. Cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo made the most of natural light, preferring it over artificial sources. Even the scene in which Zo In-sung jumps from a horse onto a moving car was done with real stunt work instead of relying on CG. The filmmakers' choice to push for live-action in scenes that would have been far easier to handle with CG underpins the film’s overall sense of authenticity.

Movie still from "Hope".

However, CG was absolutely necessary to bring the alien creatures to life. Hollywood actors like Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander performed these roles using both motion capture (to record physical movement) and facial capture (for expressions). The creature form was layered over the actors’ motion and facial data. This technology enabled the creation of a chase sequence with visual special effects on a scale never previously attempted in Korean cinema, and the results were fully exposed on screen in broad daylight rather than shrouded in darkness.

The Weight of 50 Billion Won: Achievement Beyond Controversy

This daring approach came with clear constraints. The production budget for "Hope" is reported to have been around 50 billion won. While this is an unprecedented amount for a domestic film, it’s still modest compared to the budgets allocated to daylight creature CG in Hollywood blockbusters. Another challenge proved just as limiting. Director Na Hong-jin explained, "When we shot on location in Haenam, the coastal weather constantly changed, with sunlight and cloud cover varying even within the same sequence." These fluctuations disrupted the baseline settings for CG compositing with each shot. In contrast, the Romanian forest scenes were less susceptible to such changes, allowing the creature CG to blend more naturally into the live-action footage. Director Na even remarked, "Making aliens run around under the sun was my mistake," highlighting how finishing quality varied depending on shooting conditions—even for the same creature.

The team responded to these challenges in specific ways. Instead of a completely digital background, they combined real sets with digital graphics to situate the creatures within live-action footage. This ensured the creatures didn’t simply look pasted onto the screen, but rather appeared rooted in the filmed villages and forests. Achieving this level of integration on a limited budget is an accomplishment worthy of recognition in itself.

Still cut from the movie "Hope".

Even after the film’s first unveiling at the Cannes Film Festival in May, work to improve its quality continued. The team went back to tweak lighting (composite light effects), sound, and color grading. Rather than reshooting scenes or recreating creatures from scratch, they layered additional compositing steps over the existing data to enhance texture and atmosphere. In the final release, the creature VFX grew noticeably more natural, and new dialogue was added for monster-to-monster interactions. Instead of reshoots, they made up for shortcomings through post-production compositing.

From pre-production through the final stages of post-production compositing just before release, "Hope" overcame the limits of its budget in new ways at every turn. The creature CG may not be perfect, but its imperfections are a trace of the bold attempt that was made. Simply by deciding to place monsters in daylight, "Hope" has broadened the horizons for the next generation of Korean cinema to make even braver creative choices.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.