Unexpected combinations
In 1999, at the Singapore International Animation Exhibition, Nelson Shin, a 60-year-old Korean-American producer, met Kim Kyung, the leader of the North Korean delegation.
In the 1980s, Nelson Shin brought advanced American animation technology back to South Korea and founded AKM Studios, which has since undertaken long-term outsourcing production of American television animation, including "The Simpsons", "Batman", "X-Men", "Special Forces" and so on.
▲ The Simpsons
Although outsourcing has been done well, Nelson Shin has always wanted to make a story about his own nation.
When he met Kim Kyung, he was preparing to shoot an anime adaptation of a North Korean folk tale, Queen Shen Qing, but because the animation was a self-funded project, he needed to reduce costs as much as possible.
Kim Kyung, who has residency and a company in Singapore, saw new possibilities for Nelson Shin, and through Kim Kyung's channels, he got in touch with the SEK studio in North Korea and eventually reached a partnership with SEK. SEK has a total of 500 employees involved in the painting of "Queen Shen Qing", while Korean animators are mainly responsible for the pre- and post-production work.
During this time, Nelson Shin traveled to Pyongyang 18 times to implement the project, staying for about a week or so each time, "They are very good, they are like geniuses." ”
▲ Nelson Shin
After seven years of joint cooperation, "Queen Shen Qing" was launched in Korea and South Korea on August 15, 2005, which coincided with the 60th anniversary of Japan's end of rule on the Korean Peninsula.
Although the box office of "Queen Shen Qing" is not too high, it is a major milestone for animators in both countries.
▲ Poster of "Queen Shen Qing"
Of course, what is surprising is not that North Korea actually has animation companies and also cooperates with South Korea across borders, but that North Korean animation companies are also helping French, German, Spanish, Italian and even American companies produce animation.
According to Kim Kyung, not only "Queen Shen Qing", Nelson Shin will outsource part of the American animation projects he receives to North Korea, as for how many, "many, many, I alone participated in 7." ”
But Kim didn't reveal the names of the American animations, "If the names of these American companies are exposed, they're going to be in big trouble." In his view, these American companies "only care about the delivery and quality of the products, and don't ask where they are made." Nor is it obligated to tell them that they only want the copyright of the work. ”
Apparently, in Nelson Shin's view, Kim Kyung's remarks were too "big mouthed", and he immediately denied these claims: "I only know that there are some French and Italian animations produced in North Korea, and I have not heard of any American animation in North Korea." ”
So Nelson Shen "sold" these European countries?
Almost all of these orders from Europe and the United States ended up in the hands of SEK Studios, because North Korea only has this one animation production unit.
SEK (Success Engage Korea Studio) is just their external name, and inside North Korea, SEK's official title is 4.26 Animation Film Studio.
In 1957, when North Korea's supreme leader Kim Il Sung visited the North Korean National Film Studio, he suggested that a special animation production unit should be established, so the "North Korean Children's Film Studio" was established.
In the 1980s, Kim Jong-il visited the studio and renamed it "4.26 North Korea Children's Film Studio" on the date of Kim Jong-il's first visit. In November 2014, North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, made his first visit and renamed it "North Korea's 4.26 Animation Film Studio."
▲Kim Jong-un visits SEK4.26 Studio (KCNA)
In 1962, April 26 produced North Korea's first animation film, "Fields of Vitality", and the animation industry in North Korea officially began.
The animations that 4.26 first produced were simple children's stories, but in the 1970s, the content of the animation began to shift to enlightening content such as scientific principles, moral education, and common sense of life, and many animations were broadcast in South Korea.
During this period, 4.26 animation technology also improved rapidly, and when Kim Jong-il visited 4.26 in the 1980s, he believed that the level of North Korean animation production was relatively mature, and if the animation could be exported, it should bring considerable foreign exchange income.
The first North Korean animation to appear on the international market was "Smart Little Fox", an animation with the theme of science education exported to South Korea and other countries, Kim Seong-zhe, who worked for more than 20 years in April 26, said: "Many countries have bought "Smart Little Fox", including South Korea. At that time, we weren't oeminaries, we exported our own animations. ”
North Korea's level of animation production quickly attracted the attention of producers in other countries.
In 1985, the French were the first to throw an olive branch to North Korea, allowing them to participate in the production of "Ganda Starman", which later received a huge response.
Subsequently, France outsourced the production of several animations to the 4.26 studio, including Corto Maltez, which was also well received.
Then, orders from Italy, Spain, and other countries also began to arrive.
As a result, the shadow of North Korea's SEK studio began to appear in many famous animation works, such as "Arabian Night", "Lion King Simba", "Transformers", "Pinocchio", and even Disney's "Stranger in the Wind" - of course, the United States will certainly not admit that There are North Korean animators involved.
Because of the production of the Italian "Lion King Simba", the Internet has always been rumored that the 1994 "Lion King" animated film also had the participation of North Korean animators, but it has not been confirmed.
▲ The words SEK Studio shown at the end of the European animation
However, orders from the United States tend to be a little more complex, and these orders are first sent to European countries such as Italy and Spain, then subcontracted to Switzerland through these countries, and finally subcontracted to North Korea through complex indirect orders.
In an interview with the Beijing News, Xu Yingzhe, a representative of the 4.26 studio's representative office in Beijing, described the entire cooperation process in detail, "Foreign countries make animation films to North Korea, they provide scripts, software, and then North Korean technicians draw animations according to their requirements, but the dubbing, sound effects, and post-production are the responsibility of Europe and the United States themselves." Mainly in the animation TV series is more. ”
As for whether the Americans know it or not, only they know it.
From 1985 to 2014, Studio 4.26 produced more than 250 outsourced animations, with an annual production capacity of 8,000 minutes and a weekly production capacity of 153 minutes. According to Jin Chengzhe, between 1996 and 2003, the net income generated by the completion of overseas orders by the 4.26 studio was about 208 million US dollars, of which 5% was paid to the 4.26 studio, excluding the construction costs of various units, and the rest was the remuneration of 1500 employees.
For North Korea, which has experienced a "difficult march," the $200 million is particularly valuable. And for people in the 4.26 studio studio, such a job can be called a "golden rice bowl", Kim Young-zhe said in an interview: "Working here, you may not get a particularly high political status, but it is definitely a very decent job." At least you work here alone, and the whole family won't go hungry. ”
Of course, it's not so easy to want to work here.
The staff of the 4.26 studio are selected from the central and local academies of fine arts in North Korea, and about 300 students are selected every year to be assigned to the 4.26 work. At the same time, the 4.26 studio will send thirty or fifty young people to France and Italy and other countries every year to learn the most advanced technology, and then return home to teach others.
As for why so many animation companies in Europe and the United States outsource their projects to North Korea, in the words of the BBC, it is "good quality animation, always able to complete on time, and talented artists." ”
That's right, good quality.
When Kim Young-zhe joined in 1996, his first project was "The Lion King Simba", "I was directly involved in the production of this animation when I could only draw, and I was scared silly. ”
▲The Lion King Simba
For newcomers, the first job of entering the project is to eat the script thoroughly, and there is a requirement: the script should be read 100 times, "reading 100 times may be a bit exaggerated, eating the script thoroughly is the most basic and necessary thing." ”
Not only that, but the production standards of North Korean animation are also higher. Professor Jeon Yong-sun of the Institute of Unified Humanities at Konkuk University in South Korea said, "Almost all North Korean animation productions use the standard of 1 second and 12 frames or higher, that is, more than 12 pictures constitute 1 second of animation. Compared with South Korea and Japan, which often use 1 second and 7 frames, the animation of North Korea is more coherent and vivid. ”
Of course, there is a more important reason, that is, the cost of North Korean animation production is lower, less than half that of Europe and the United States, which is why Nelson Shin wants to work with North Korean animators.
Paul Tiga, founder of dutch GPI consultancy, once said: "North Korea's animation industry is one of the best quality animations in the world, and its low cost makes it more attractive." ”
However, such frequent cooperation began to cool as the international situation developed, especially after North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006, and the amount of such cooperation began to decrease rapidly.
In 2009, 4.26 Studio participated in the production of China's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" animation, and in 2014 participated in the Shijiazhuang International Comic Exhibition, but the cooperation with Europe and the United States and other countries has almost disappeared, leaving only the Pororo series of animation films cooperated with South Korea.
▲The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which North Korea co-produced
However, North Korea's outsourcing industry is far more than animation.
Paul Tiga released a report in 2012 titled "Inside the Hidden State: North Korea's IT Industry and Outsourcing."
The north Korean IT industry, which originated in the 1980s, was already 10,000 people working in related fields and had degrees, and hundreds of IT organizations emerged, the largest of which was the North Korean computer center KCC (Korea Computer Center), founded in 1990, with 1,000 employees. The customers of these IT organizations are all over Europe, India, South Korea, Japan and other countries and regions.
These outsourcings range from building websites and building enterprise resource management systems to developing e-commerce applications, and even developing a bank management system for a bank in the Middle East.
Of course, many American and European customers do not know that their systems are developed by the North Koreans, because they are usually done by middlemen, and as for the reason, it is mainly because the work is good and cheap.
In addition to the lower pay of North Korean IT staff, tariffs on these outsourced activities are also very low, and hiring an experienced North Korean engineer costs only a few hundred dollars a month, which is lower than the offers from India and the Philippines. Take the quotation given by European and American customers to find a North Korean engineer, is not it profitable?
Paul Tiga mentioned that some of the work of the United Nations and the International Red Cross was outsourced to North Korea's IT agencies through Switzerland.
It seems that Switzerland really likes to make spreads.
Service industries like animation and IT outsourcing are relatively stealthy, so few people know about it, but some of North Korea's other exports are very conspicuous, even a little publicity.
In November 2005, two Germans flew to Pyongyang, North Korea, not for diplomatic activities, but for business.
The Germans are preparing to rebuild the Frankfurt Mythical Fountain, a group of statues built in 1910, which ended up being melted by the Germans during World War II because of a shortage of metal... Now they are holding a set of old photographs, ready to look for suitable artists and craftsmen to rebuild the statues.
A year ago, Klaus Clemp, deputy director of the Museum of Applied Art in Frankfurt, discovered the Mansudae Creation Society in North Korea and admired its craftsmanship style: "This is a purely technical decision, and Germany's first-class artists have stopped engaging in realist creation; and the Koreans have never experienced the long evolution of modern art, and their skills are basically stuck at the level of the early 20th century, which coincides with the creation of the mythological fountain sculpture group." ”
Mansudae Statue Studio
The most important thing, of course, is that the offer of the Mansudae Creation Society is very cheap: the reconstruction of all the statues, plus the cost of assembly and transportation, totals only 200,000 euros.
The Technique of the North Korean Artist proved impeccable, but the Germans were still a little dissatisfied: the statue of the goddess by the fountain had a bold and resolute expression, and her long hair flew in the air, like a heroic and fearless warrior. "The women in the statue have hairstyles like cement bricks, but this is not an irreparable problem. We explained to the head engraver that the socialist realism style was not popular in Frankfurt in that era. He was extremely perceptive and softened the appearance of the statue as we asked. ”
▲ German sculpture "Mythical Fountain" reconstructed by Mansudae
However, orders for conspicuous products such as large statues come from developing countries such as Africa.
In the 1970s, Mansudae Creators established an international branch called Mansudae Overseas Development Society, with customers in Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cambodia, Chad, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia, Senegal, Syria, Zimbabwe, through these orders, Mansudae Overseas Development Society earned tens of millions of dollars.
The most famous of these is the African Renaissance Monument, unveiled in 2010 on the outskirts of Senegal's capital, Dakar. At 50 meters tall, taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Statue of Jesus the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Senegal's then-President Abdoulaye Wade said at the unveiling: "The message of this monument is that Africa has stepped out of the darkness and bid farewell to 500 years of slavery and 200 years of colonial rule." ”
As for why I want to find North Korea to build it, because "only North Korea can build this monument for me, I don't have the money." ”
▲ African Renaissance Monument
Namibia, on the other hand, is a die-hard North Korean fan, having asked North Korea to build a military museum, an independent museum, a hero's cemetery, and a new presidential palace.
In December 2015, the Angkor Museum, built by North Korea in Siem Reap, Cambodia, was also officially opened.
▲Angkor Museum
For many, North Korea is often associated with words such as closed, backward, and nuclear testing, and few would have thought that the back of these labels is animation, IT, sculpture, and the seemingly mysterious country's connection and communication with the world is far more frequent than people think.
And North Korea's outsourced industries also give people a sense of time and space dislocation.
On the one hand, most of them compete with labor at low prices, just like China used to do, and have become a secret distribution center for outsourcing in the world. On the other hand, these outsourcing fields are concentrated in the cultural and digital fields that are close to the frontier such as animation and IT, for example, Chinese animation people are also outsourcing work to Japan and other places on a large scale.
This can't help but make people know how far North Korea will develop if there are more opportunities.
In 2005, in front of the Germans who came to visit, the staff of the Mansudae Creation Society proudly told them: "No one in the world can compete with us." ”