. . cf making of Pizza-La . .

Professional As Always

17th Feb 2005, 1:00 pm Samseong Dong studio.

Bae Yong Joon had just landed in Korea last night from Australia;
he was there for the shooting of a condominium commercial for KyeongNam.
His schedule in Australia was also very hectic, he must have been very tired from an entire day's filming on a yacht. But, Bae Yong Joon did not stop to rest, and he started the shooting for Pizza-La today. By right he should have at least taken a respite, a short break. But because the movie April Snow had already started filming, he did not want to disrupt the team's shooting schedule due to his own CF commitments.

Bae Yong Joon was already at the studio an hour ahead of the scheduled time.
Whilst going through the CF concept with the director to confirm the story and the contents of the CF, he was also asking questions so as to grasp his role in the CF as quickly as possible. During this process, his eyes were steady and serious;
the intensity of his gaze somehow added a little tension to the shooting site.
As per his usual self, he seemed to place a lot of importance on the process of the shooting, perhaps even more so did he mind the eventual results of the CF.


The Meticulous and Thoughtful Pizza-La Team

Today, the team responsible for filming the CF is the team from Pizza-La;
they're known in Japan for their unique and delicious pizza.
In Japan, Pizza-La has always been the top most recognizable brand in its own field,
and it has never lost its top position. But what's really surprising is that they've never before engaged a celebrity from the entertainment field for promotion purposes.
Only recently they've gotten a well-known sports star to front the brand.
However, this time around, Pizza-La has chosen the Korean Wave star, Bae Yong Joon.
The representative from the company also perceived this instance
of engaging a Korean actor to be its model to be an exception rather than the norm;
Bae Yong Joo's unusual and red-hot popularity is evident from this endorsement deal.

Bae Yong Joon is someone who enjoyes his pizzas...
And because of this, the team also specially despatched Pizza-La pizzas
to the filming crew at Samcheok in Kangwon Do, where Bae Yong Joon is currently filming his movie. The supper came just in time for the crew there, who were both cold and tired from the long hours of filming work.
While I'm not certain if the pizzas tasted exactly the same as those made in Japan,
Bae Yong Joon and the entire team were very touched by the gesture.
Not only did they think of Bae Yong Joon, but the entire filming team as well;
the Pizza-La team was indeed very thoughtful and considerate,
and of course, they spared no effort.
The staff who had gathered at the studio today appeared somewhat nervous and tensed. Other than the 'surprise pizza' that were presented, they had to complete two TV commercials, as well as print photographs.

Bae Yong Joon Transformed into Photographer

The studio used for filming was arranged on the fourth level.
However, as the sets and props occupied more space than initially expected,
they had no choice but to limit the number of staff entering the studio.
Even the client, Pizza-La, could only send four of their staff into the studio.
The lighting used for shooting was strong and bright, heating up the indoor temperature.
Even the screen used for photography was soaked from the strong lights.
Bae Yong Joon looked very uncomfortable as he tried to wipe at his perspiration whilst filming.
Not only that, he also had to say some Japanese lines in the CFs.
And Bae Yong Joon, ever the perfectionist, took much effort in practising and perfecting his lines. Even when he's in the changing-cum-makeup room set up specially for the shooting, Bae Yong Joon was checking and confirming his position for the photographs and CFs.

After changing, Bae Yong Joon went up to the fourth level with a camera in his right hand. He started using his camera to capture the staff who were checking the lighting set-up and moving the shooting lines for the cameras. After hearing about his passion for photography, it was indeed a stroke of good luck to witness him clicking away with his camera. The way he took turns to take the pictures of each staff, adjusting his camera settings, clicking away at the shutter, indeed left a deep impression.

Wearing the Serialised 'Team Bae Yong Joon' T-shirt

On the day of the shooting, what immediately caught the eyes
was that the filming team for Pizza-La were all wearing the same shirt.
I sighted fifty-one T-shirts with the words 'Team Bae Yong Joon' printed on them,
some in white and others were in black that's the uniform for that day.
The only difference was that each of these T-shirts were serialised, running from the numbers 1 to 51. And of course, T-shirt No. 1 belonged to Bae Yong Joon.
Perhaps it's because this gave the feeling of everyone as one, that it's a team at work, Bae Yong Joon was very happy when he saw the T-shirt. In fact, he looked as happy as a little boy.

The first order of the day was to shoot the photographs for the print media –
the magazines and newspapers.
He was donned in white suit, something that seemed quite representative of his image, and Bae Yong Joon was transformed into a gentleman with a touch of romance.
In his hands was a box of Pizza-La, and it looked as if it was specially prepared for his loved one, adorned with pastel-coloured flowers just like a present.

As the shots required various changes of wardrobe, different images and expressions,
the photographer was, at one time, a little worried. But although Bae Yong Joon was still feeling rather lethargic and had not fully recovered from his hectic schedule,
he accommodated to every demand and request that the photographer made, including changing images and expressions, and the photographer was very pleased and satisfied with the outcome. Even the staff working with them all could not help but say "Fantastic" profusely. All these.. thanks to his professionalism. The photography session was completed ahead of schedule, and they could start working on filming the CFs before the scheduled time.

Two Types of Pizzas - Bae Yong Joon's Dilemma & Choice

The contents of this CF was about Bae Yong Joon holding two of Pizza-La's most popular items, Italiano pizza and teriyaki chicken pizza, and asking, "Which do you want?". In the CF, two Bae Yong Joons would appear, each holding one type of pizza
and they both would walk towards the front on a red carpet. They needed to shoot the two Bae Yong Joons separately and then combined them together. One image was of a classy Bae Yong Joon in a black suit, and the other was of him in a refreshing and breezy white suit.

So for both takes, Bae Yong Joon had to walk at the same pace, wear exactly the same expression, basically to shoot the same thing twice. In order to grasp the beat and beat precisely, they had prepared the instrument used for counting beats in performances and concerts. Bae Yong Joon paced himself with the help with that instrument and walked to the exact same spot at the same speed to face the camera.
The difference between the two timing was less than 0.1 second. Of course, even if it’s the same person taking the shots, there would be some actions or body movements that differed. So in order to correct each difference, they had to go through it more than ten times. But Bae Yong Joon kept his smile throughout and gave every take nothing but his best. So, the precious filming that captured the Bae Yong Joon twins in black and in white was completed.

Pursuit for Perfection, Excellent Effect

When the TV CFs began its run on 12th March, it started with the line "There are two most popular pizzas in Pizza-La". And this time, there were quite many lines in Japanese. "I like Pizza-La", "Pizza-La for you", etc, so he had to practise and "digest" all these Japanese lines. Although the lines were not long, but a perfectionist such as Bae Yong Joon, he would practice repeatedly, tens of times for each time, by himself. And he even consulted the Japanese present to say the lines for him before he would start the filming.

The staff had all thought that the shooting would continue till the next morning,
but the entire session was wrapped up in slightly over twenty four hours.
Bae Yong Joon shook hands and thanked all the staff, took a bite of the pizza that was used as a prop for the shooting, and left the studio.

[:: credits - http://www.baeyongjune.com ::]