For several days, I listened to the three songs we planned to shoot music videos for and analyzed what kind of emotions they carried.
The three songs composed by Zetais’s main vocalist, Kim Jaehyeon.
“Morpheus,” “Black Poodle,” and “Butterfly.”
“Morpheus,” which marked the beginning of this trilogy.
In the description of that song, it was written like this.
[The sweet proposal given to boys who want to spread their dreams.
During our trainee days, we wanted to express the dreams we truly dreamed while hoping for success.]
Morpheus was the god of dreams from Greek mythology.
The lyrics plainly revealed the image of someone agonizing over what to do about the proposal he had received from him.
‘Yesterday, the voice of him who stirred the dream I dreamed.
In the end, I made a promise.
I don’t know where it will lead me.
But that doesn’t matter.’
These lyrics were talking about Kim Jaehyeon’s dream, but at the same time, they were lyrics that pierced through me.
Because I, too, had accepted a god’s proposal, and all I had done was accept that proposal.
“Hmm…”
The composition of this music video was easier than I expected.
The dream where I met the god of movies.
What if I simply recreated the atmosphere of that scene exactly as I had seen it?
With that thought, I began drawing the storyboard based on the dream that remained in my head.
Before meeting Morpheus, I would direct it in black and white. After meeting the god called “Morpheus,” I would add color and direct it lavishly in a way that made the contrast of color clear.
Since scenes that showed performances here and there were also necessary, properly controlling the pacing was essential.
[Black Poodle]
The next song sounded cute, but once you dug into it, it was a fairly interesting theme that could also hit the tastes of foreigners.
[After the dream Morpheus created ends, the boy returns to miserable reality and meets Mephisto, making a contract with him.]
A song that referenced Goethe’s Faust.
The story of a boy who has his wish granted by the demon Mephisto in exchange for his soul.
The fact that he eventually even makes a contract with a demon was the core of the narrative for this three-part music video.
It was, so to speak, very fast-paced music, full of poison, as if properly revealing the desire of a trainee who had turned dark.
And then “Butterfly,” which would finish the end of this trilogy.
‘This song is the most difficult…’
The title was the most ordinary, but the contents were the most complicated.
The subject of a butterfly was often used as a metaphor, in the sense that there is nothing gained without pain, since it becomes a beautiful adult insect only after enduring the hardship of being a chrysalis.
But Kim Jaehyeon’s “Butterfly” was different.
His butterfly seemed to be taken from Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream, showing a will not to distinguish between dream and reality.
The reality brought about by the contract with Mephisto, and Morpheus’s dream.
It was a song that ultimately tied the previous two songs into one piece of content.
“Hmm…”
If you dug deep and savored it, it was excellent music with excellent material.
But in terms of content, I thought it would be difficult for Westerners to accept.
Even so, I could be certain that Kim Jaehyeon’s music was enough to shake people’s hearts.
Because it was not filled with the lyrics of some mass-produced idol pretending to be cute like what was coming out these days, but with lyrics that truly tried to show something.
But in the end, what mattered was that it could not be something people watched once and forgot.
It needed visuals that would make people seek it out a second and third time, like delicious food whose flavor deepened the more you chewed it.
Looking at the photos of the four Zetais members on my laptop, I kept thinking endlessly about what kind of charm I should give each of them in the music video.
Since they were a group produced by Go Jinhun, their mass appeal was certain.
The members were handsome as a basic premise, and on top of that handsomeness, each of them showed off a different charm.
Kim Jaehyeon, the leader, main vocalist, and someone with quite outstanding ability in composition as well.
His eyes stood out, to the point that they gave off a slight sense of madness.
An Siho, the sub-vocalist who dreamed of becoming an actor.
Since his dream was indeed to become an actor, if he properly equipped himself with acting ability, he looked like he could transform into an excellent actor.
The main rapper, Jung Hoyoung, had a face full of rebelliousness, but when he smiled, he could show a surprising reverse charm.
Lastly, Bang Hajun. The main dancer and sub-rapper. Deer-like eyes that seemed moist with tears.
When I searched for one more video related to Bang Hajun, my mouth fell open.
“Oh…?”
Bang Hajun’s solo dance.
His solo dance video, where he wore a sad expression and showed passionate movements, was at a level that made me lose myself for a moment.
Where on earth did they bring in a kid like this…?
It was not only Bang Hajun. The performance abilities of the other members were also incredible.
If there was only directing and story that could make their abilities stand out even more…
There might be a possibility of making people curious about who Zetais were.
One short film woven together from three music videos.
If this could make Zetais succeed in the world…
Then being Korean would no longer act as a disadvantage in Hollywood.
A few days later.
Zetais member An Siho was absorbed in practicing “Morpheus,” one of the new songs they were going to shoot a music video for this time.
“Whew…”
“Hyung, that’s not it. Don’t dance it all connected together. Cut it off sharply. There’s no strength.”
Bang Hajun, the main dancer who had been watching intently from behind.
As if he was not satisfied with An Siho’s dance, he spoke with a slight frown.
“Ah, this isn’t it?”
“Ugh… Then would it be that? Watch. Like this.”
At Bang Hajun’s demonstration, An Siho watched with his mouth open in admiration.
Disciplined movement with perfect control of strength and softness.
Thinking that perhaps it was a difference that came from their body structures, An Siho stared blankly at Bang Hajun’s dance.
“Don’t just admire it. Watch and follow along.”
“Ah, uh…”
An Siho slowly followed Bang Hajun’s dance in separated movements.
“It’s better than before, but… it’s still too lacking. Hmm.”
Bang Hajun looked over An Siho’s recorded video one more time, then directed him.
“Put strength into the end and cut it off. Briefly, about 0.3 seconds. This is difficult, but you can do it. Keep practicing it in those separated movements.”
“Yeah, got it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah!”
It was already twelve o’clock at night.
Because An Siho had spent five hours just practicing dance, he felt as if his body might collapse, but he could not show it.
Even if Bang Hajun grumbled beside him, he did not want to trouble someone who had stuck with him and watched him for several hours.
“Stop there. You’re not going to do everything today.”
“No. I’ll do a little more. You sleep first.”
“Ugh… Fine. That’s how you have to be to be hyung. Then I’m going to sleep first?”
Bang Hajun smiled and left the practice room.
An Siho looked again at the recorded video of Bang Hajun’s dance, then looked at his own dance reflected in the mirror.
It was definitely not a dance he could reproduce in a short period of time.
‘This time, Director Gyeong Chanhyeon is personally shooting our music video too. Just a good performance won’t do. We have to make our fans, no, even people who aren’t our fans, look at us at least once!’
Bang Hajun’s words.
He could not deny them.
He was a younger member who was not even twenty yet, and the youngest in the team, but.
Because he was an extremely ambitious kid, he always wanted to do things perfectly.
Perhaps because of that, it was true that he could be somewhat sensitive, but An Siho did not think that was especially bad.
Rather, he liked that there was someone who would hold him firmly in place.
“Whew…”
But this time, it was definitely difficult. Too difficult.
For the dances of previous songs, it had been possible to get through them by completely memorizing the choreography, but this dance was somehow different.
The choreography definitely seemed as if Bang Hajun and the dance trainers had sharpened their blades to create it.
‘I have to do this well. No matter what.’
An Siho had originally been an aspiring actor, but that path had not been easy.
“Gullnis Entertainment,” which had been blown open thanks to Director Gyeong Chanhyeon.
An idol trainee who had started from that side.
He had definitely aimed for acting, but the agency CEO had said he liked his looks and recklessly shoved him in as an idol trainee.
“Ha…”
At first, it had not been good.
Dancing and singing that did not suit him. But thanks to good teammates, his heart gradually opened.
And he used the cheers of the fans who went wild for him as fuel, throwing himself into practice like a madman.
But there were also many times when the comments he saw now and then bothered him.
-He’s going to leave to become an actor in the end! Don’t harm the rest of the Zetais members and just get lost.
-Is An Siho not practicing? Is the rumor that he only practices acting actually true?
-Isn’t he being way too complacent, relying on his face?
He had been hurt by comments like these, but he had to endure.
The time he had spent was far too precious to collapse because of posts like that.
For the sake of that time, he had to move even more crazily.
“Uaaah! One more time!”
“What, uaah? You’re not sleeping?”
“Huh…?”
An Siho jumped in surprise and turned around.
Kim Jaehyeon entered the practice room with the members, holding a plastic bag in one hand marked with the logo of a famous chicken franchise.
Bang Hajun, who was behind him, showed an expression as if he had been forced to follow them and said,
“This is bad… If we get caught with this…”
“What do you mean, this is bad? Are you some old man in a kid’s body? Everything makes you worry.”
At the main rapper Jung Hoyoung’s words, Bang Hajun frowned.
“What are you talking about? No, what day is it today? Jaehyeon-hyung, who usually only lies down when he rests, suddenly comes carrying chicken…”
At Bang Hajun’s grumbling, Kim Jaehyeon grinned and said,
“My younger brothers are working hard, so I got worried.”
“Hajun is always dropping hints for you to buy us chicken. Hyung, why are you so clueless?”
“Ah, is that what this was?”
At Jung Hoyoung’s words, Bang Hajun shouted.
“That’s not it!”
“Enough. Siho, eat and then do it. You’ll die at this rate. How many hours are you going to practice dancing…?”
“I have to work hard.”
“You work too hard. Take care of your body while you’re at it. You’ll suddenly go down like that.”
Kim Jaehyeon said that and set down the bag.
At the sight of how rather heavy it looked, An Siho naturally swallowed.
And the oily smell spreading faintly through the air.
It was a publicly known fact that late-night snacks turned into fat, but it was also a publicly known fact that if you ate something deliciously, it had zero calories……
“I have to work hard… Everyone else is trying too.”
“Hajun, just how much nagging did you pour on him to make Siho-hyung like that?”
“I didn’t say much, okay?”
Kim Jaehyeon smiled faintly as he watched the younger members bicker, then bit into a chicken leg first.
“Kheu… As expected, chicken never disappoints us.”
As if bewitched, An Siho sat down and bit into the chicken.
The oil flowing out between the crispy fried coating.
As if moved by that thrilling taste, a smile naturally appeared on his lips.
“Ha, hyung, that expression just now was seriously an ad. If a chicken ad came in, their sales would probably explode.”
“…”
“Excuse me. Could everyone eat while talking a little?”
Jung Hoyoung let out a sigh as he watched the team members tear into the chicken without any reaction.
“Yeah. Let’s eat first. We do all this so we can eat and live.”
A few minutes later.
After finishing all the chicken, they glanced at one another and looked at the empty boxes.
“If we throw this away in the bathroom here, it’ll be obvious, right?”
At Kim Jaehyeon’s words, Bang Hajun asked,
“You didn’t buy trash bags?”
“Yeah.”
“Ha…”
An Siho smiled warmly as he watched Bang Hajun, who looked like he was about to cry.
“I don’t want to hear the manager-hyung nag…”
“You grow by hearing nagging like that.”
At Jung Hoyoung’s words, Bang Hajun frowned and said,
“What are you talking about, you punk?”
“You’re calling your hyung a punk?”
“With my early-year birthday, age-wise we’re the same.”
“Ha, I was born in January.”
“I’m March.”
Seeing the two bicker, Kim Jaehyeon gave a small laugh and said to them,
“Hey, you two hold hands and go buy some trash bags. If we get caught with this, we’ll be fasting for two days.”
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