K-Content News
- July 16, 2019
“A warm look at the younger generation”,
Video production by .FACE
Slime can be cut with scissors. It can also be poured into an animal mold, embedded with beads, or stretched apart with your two hands until it tears. Slime can also be sprinkled with sand and mixed with colorful glitter
By guest reporter Kim Tae-hwan, kimthin@mtn.co.kr
On the surface, it appears to simply be another slime video—which is all the rage these days—but in actuality, it is a video that explains the Korean Constitution. To express the idea that there are various discourses within the Constitution, the video’s producer takes slime embedded with beads and stretches it out. To explain the many issues and discourses surrounding Constitutional amendments, he cuts and tears slime and even re-shapes it using plastic figures.
The video, titled ‘I Didn’t Think I Could Feel So Smart After Watching a Slime Video,’ produced by .FACE, has had 2.5 million views on Facebook and over 450,000 views on YouTube as of the end of June. Viewers have showered the video and its producer with unending praise, posting things like, “This is so easy to understand,” “I loved this completely new presentation,” and “the producer of this video deserves a raise.”
Creating a new reality for millennials
FACE is a media startup established 3 years ago under the slogan, ‘We create a new reality for the millennial generation.’ The startup was created by a group of young people who felt keenly aware of the limitations of traditional media and wanted to plan and create a platform where their voices could be heard.
Even though there are many young journalists in the media today, their views often get softened or removed at the editing desk. Their fresh take on life gets reprocessed through the eyes of the older generation, and the edited content is what gets presented to the public. Although the editing process is not what is wrong, it is still a fact that what is presented at the end of the day is different from the viewpoints expressed by the younger generation. There are many cases in which young people aren’t able to express what they truly want to say.
Another obstacle is that traditional media has to cover every subject, from politics and the economy to culture and the arts—it doesn’t miss a single sector. However, while the range of subjects is wide, platforms for coverage are limited, and there is a constant lack of personnel. If there are 100 subjects and only 70 can be covered, the remaining 30 are deemed ‘not as important’ and simply disappear. Debating a story’s importance is unavoidable and in the end, metadiscourses on national concerns and problems, such as those involving large companies, are the ones that get coverage. The reality is that the minority can’t help but be ignored.
.FACE tackles stories from the point of view of the younger generation, especially those in the minority. .FACE usually tackles areas often neglected by mainstream media, such as sexual minorities, feminism, and animal rights. Even when covering the same issues as traditional media, .FACE takes on the role of supplementing stories that lack factual or relational explanations.
.FACE initially made itself known by covering issues related to feminism and sexual minorities. It set itself apart by putting stories on its front page that couldn’t be found in mainstream media.
.FACE producer Lee Sun-wook says, “Even now, we always ask ourselves when we decide on a subject, “What will it mean and how will it help our friends’ generation if we tell this story?” Lee added, “We never forget to ask ourselves this question when we discuss a matter.”
From 1 minute 30 seconds to 10 minutes…Video content optimization
In its early days, .FACE produced videos that were only 1 minute, 30 seconds long and used Facebook as its main platform of exposure, since shorter videos had a higher frequency of exposure. As time went on, video channel trends completely shifted to YouTube, and videos themselves started to change. On YouTube, video length is virtually unlimited, but many viewers still don’t have a long attention span. Through the process of trial and error, .FACE established a method of squeezing all of its main points into a 10- to 15-minute video.
As .FACE grew in influence, its video coverage began to lead to societal change. While tackling the issue of the nation’s worsening find dust situation, .FACE pointed out that the Korean government’s standards were looser than those of the OECD, which led the Korean Ministry of Environment to revise its fine dust standards. Last fall, .FACE took on the issue of abortion, and Korea’s anti-abortion law was subsequently ruled unconstitutional.
The revenue structure of .FACE is largely divided into branded content and funding. First, branded content is produced and provided by .FACE to companies, the government, and institutions to promote their policies and/or products. However, .FACE doesn’t simply accept all branded content to meet their huge production budget. They always select and produce branded content that reflects .FACE values. They even recently set a policy that provides its own membership service through branded content.
Funding is also used to produce content. .FACE used to utilize external websites like Tumblbug but recently got selected for Google funding. The content funding platform provided by Google has helped .FACE create a new media revenue model. .FACE and Maeil Business Newspaper were the only two companies based in Korea that were selected for Google funding.
A scene from ‘Five Facts You Need to Know About Fine Dust,’ a video that intuitively explains fine dust using chocolate snacks
1. A scene from ‘I Didn’t Think I Could Feel So Smart After Watching a Slime Video.’
2. A scene from ‘Yakiniku’, the first episode of Soul Food
Support from KOCCA helpful in amassing internal know-how
In addition, .FACE was selected in the New Media Category of Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)’s Broadcasting Support Program to receive funding. The New Media Category is comprised of web documentary and web entertainment domains. .FACE considered itself part of the web documentary domain and thus applied for support.
Producer Lee Sun-wook explained, “We needed a lot of manpower and production funding for the Soul Food Project.” Lee added, “We wanted to produce a sequel to the Soul Food Project and, while figuring out how to obtain funding, decided to apply to KOCCA’s program.”
Producer Lee said, “We were able to successfully produce the content with the support of KOCCA. There wouldn’t be a Soul Food special without their support.”
The term “soul food” originates from the food African-Americans used to eat in their hometowns and has the connotation of being unforgettable food that is infused with memories of the past. The Soul Food Project sheds light and explains the soul food of a class of people experiencing alienation. Each episode has garnered 200,000–500,000 views and caused quite a stir.
Producer Lee elaborated, saying that the KOCCA’s support program helped a lot because it not only provided production funding, but consultation during the production process as well.
He explained, “We didn’t have a lot of experience or expertise, which made things difficult, but we gained a lot of knowledge through the consultations provided by KOCCA during production. Our method of production changed a lot during this program. The down side of a startup like .FACE is that there is no one with seniority that can offer guidance, but the support we received from KOCCA helped compensate for this weakness.”
INTERVIEW
A startup company that experiences much ‘trial and error’ but also the ‘rewards’ of contributing to societal change
.FACE Producer Lee Sun-wook
How did .FACE come about?
We initially got together in the planning stage to create a social platform—not a news platform—in which people could participate. We thought of creating an application where people could submit their news reports and a service to provide feedback on the submitted reports. But while we were preparing this service, the desire to produce our own content grew stronger. In 2016, there were 4 pioneering members and other members and I joined these 4 original members, and that’s when we formally pushed through with the video media business. We received investments in September 2016, got incorporated, and here we are.
What were you doing prior to this?
I was looking for employment as a current affairs producer at a broadcasting station. I studied and submitted applications for almost 2 years, but I wasn’t able to find employment. Even though I was trying to get a job in broadcast media, I wasn’t watching a lot of TV, so I wondered if I could create good programs.
So, you didn’t immediately join .FACE? Can you tell me more about your previous experiences?
I realized that a new ecosystem had emerged with the birth of social media like YouTube and Facebook. I thought it would be fun to go that route, so I quit my press licensure exam and started a YouTube channel with like-minded friends. We initially dealt with educational content for elementary school kids. We had some success in the 6 months that we ran it, and even won an award in a CJ E&M competition. The experience helped me learn more about the short video format, which was unlike the 50-minute video format that I learned while studying to be a producer.
What challenges do you experience when covering your stories?
It’s hard to explain the work that we do at .FACE. I think that as a startup, there’s a lot of trial and error. Also, .FACE doesn’t keep an archive of its stories, like traditional media and seasoned companies do. Personally, I think that’s regrettable. Another challenge is the strong minority and progressive image that .FACE has. Our reporters respond positively when we cover minority issues, but because of our image, sometimes I’m unable to even make contact with reporters of differing opinions. There are pros and cons to having a certain image
What makes your job worthwhile?
It’s so rewarding when a subject we cover leads to societal change. Some things probably weren’t decided based solely on a .FACE video, but I’m certain we’ve had influence. I’m reminded of the time when the Constitutional Court ruled our country’s anti-abortion laws to be unconstitutional after we tackled the abortion issue last fall, and the time the Ministry of Environment increased its fine dust standards after we covered the fine dust issue