Director Young Man Kang visits Septimius Awards and Die Seriale 2022
Young Man Kang @ Septimius Awards 2022 Amsterdam
Young Man Kang @ Goethe Haus 2022 Frankfurt & Die Seriale 2022 Germany
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Saturday, September 06, 2014
Young Man Kang, Kimchi Warrior animation series Interview - Animation Magazine EU
Interview with Young Man Kang,
director of Kimchi Warrior animation series
by DANIEL TODORAN-RARES on Mar 20, 2013 •
Young Man KangWhat experiences do you have in animation? What does this art mean to you, Mr. Young Man Kang?
As a filmmaker, I have made it a priority to have experience in both live-action & CG animation, as even live-action films need CG effects. So one has to understand both CG and animation to direct a successful movie.
My first experience with animation was during my college years in Seoul, Korea. I concentrated on the meticulous art of clay animation. My graduation project was created using various clay materials and was shot with a 16mm Bolex Camera. The Bolex camera has the ability to shoot in stop-motion frames.
There were no CG effects around at the time.
My second animation experience was in 2005, when I directed a 6-minute trailer using 3D animation in Chennai, India. I stayed in Chennai for about 6 months and had an amazing experience working in a completely different culture.
I had the opportunity to work with close-to 60 Indian animators who helped me better understand the new culture, as well as, have a stronger grasp on CG technology. Most specifically, I was able to learn the painstaking process of creating digital creatures.
Preproduction and ADR (Audio Dialogue Recording) took place in Hollywood, California. Soon after, all of the pre-production materials were brought to India.
There, the whole creation of the film’s cinema graphics occurred. Under my direction, the India team completed the film that was then transferred into 35-mm film.
Overall, this experience was very valuable for my future film endeavors that also required CG animation. Moreover, it allowed me to better understand the whole process as a filmmaker.
Kimchi WarriorWhat can you tell me about Kimchi Warrior? Is it an animation series exclusive for the Internet? Where can we see Kimchi Warrior? How many episodes are in this series? Who produced it? What animation techniques were used for this production? What kinds of difficulties did you encounter in creating Kimchi Warrior?
Kimchi is one of the world’s top 5 healthiest foods. It is believed it even prevented the outbreak of SARS in South Korea. Kimchi’s probiotics protect the body against even the worst viruses and bacteria.
So when I was developing a new character for my animation, I wanted to promote Kimchi and Tae Kwon Do into the world of entertainment. This was the birth of the Kimchi Warrior superhero.
Based on the premise of Popeye, Kimchi Warrior obtains supernatural powers by eating Kimchi. He strives to defend our health from the world’s most notorious diseases like Swine Flu, Mad Cow Disease, Malaria, SARS etc.
Kimchi Warrior has received international recognition and is currently live on YouTube with 15 episodes. You can find episodes of Kimchi Warrior atwww.KimchiWarrior.com or just search “Kimchi Warrior” on YouTube.
The animation’s production company, YMK Films of Los Angeles, and Young Man Kang, the producer/ director, has also received many awards.
With only a limited number of animators in both Los Angeles and India, the team was still able to produce 15 episodes within a year. The animation uses 2D animation with Flash, Photoshop, and After Effects. Only one character, the giant robot Onggi Bot, is in 3D. He was created by the very talented Christopher Nadolski, an animator who recently received an Academy Award for his visual effects in The Life of Pi.
We cast all voice-over actors in Hollywood. One noted voice-actor was Tim Colceri, the door gunner in Standley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.
The biggest difficulties of production were the extremely low budget and short time constraint. Still, with only $100,000 USD and a year of production, we made 15 episodes.
I really would like to thank to all of the voice-over actors and artists who graciously worked within our low budget restraint.
The Kimchi Warrior superhero saga continues on as a book series written by Cristina Ducu, a talented actress who also has experience in Korean culture.
The Onggi Bot animation will be screened at the biggest Onggi Festival in Olsan in May of 2013. “Onggi” are traditional earthenware vessels that store key fermented ingredients in Korean cuisine. Onggi vessels are porous with tiny holes that allow air to penetrate inside while still preserving ingredients for long periods of time.
Also, Canal Plus, a TV station in France will put Young Man Kang’s recent film activities and footage of Kimchi Warrior in their documentary. The documentary narrated by “Antoine de Caunes” introduces Korean culture to the French community and will air this May.
Monday, August 11, 2014
batteryPOP Adds New Child-Friendly Content - The Kimchi Warrior
batteryPOP Adds New Child-Friendly Content -
The Kimchi Warrior is a unique blend of martial arts, comedy, and the promotion of good health. Based on the premise of Popeye, our hero obtains supernatural strength by consuming the most prominent Korean dish to defend mankind from the world’s most notorious diseases (i.e. Swine Flu, Mad Cow Disease, Malaris, SARS etc.) Each episode a new “disease character” is summoned by Evil Lord of Disease to wipe out mankind. Under the tutelage of the clairvoyant Kimchi Master, The Kimchi Warrior is sent to fight and ultimately annihilate the disease with a different “ingredient weapon.”
Monday, April 28, 2014
Kimchi Warrior is the spiciest superhero of them all
http://www.koreatimesus.com/?p=10986
Kimchi Warrior is the spiciest superhero of them all
April 25, 2014
He prowls the streets, defending humanity from diseases with the power of kimchi
Kang Young Man’s web series received three honors at L.A. Web Fest in March
The design of the show itself is rooted in Korea, from his headband inspired by Silla Dynasty warriors’ headgear and the red marks of pepper on his cabbage-green costume to his base on the ever-controversial Dokdo Island. (Kimchi Warrior screen cap)
Creator Kang Young Man
By Tae Hong
Have you heard of the Kimchi Warrior?
He’s a bit greener than the Hulk, a bit fiercer than Batman and a lot spicier than the whole lot of superheroes combined.
He prowls the streets, defending humanity from diseases with the power given to him by — yep, you guessed it, kimchi — and does it with the help of his sidekick, Pepper Girl.
And he’s now headed to the Toronto Korean Film Festival in May after receiving three honors — Best Animated Series, Best Cinematography and Best Score — at L.A. Web Fest in March.
Young Man Kang, creator of the web series, says he’s glad the series is helping foreigners take interest in Korean food.
A film director of 20 years, Kang moved to the U.S. from Korea in the mid-1990s and worked for a production company in Los Angeles to shoot commercials for local businesses, from restaurants to cars to specialty stores for shoes, clothes, suits, glasses and blankets.
“I made a lot of commercials,” he laughs. “Almost 100. You go, you shoot, you edit.”
He had majored in graphic design at Hongik University and found the fun in both animation and in traditional filmmaking. Still, what interested him was new technology and new methods of making content, and he’d needed the money in order to explore them.
In 2000, Kang was among the first to embrace what other filmmakers had not: digital cameras that came at a cheaper price tag than traditional gear and Final Cut Pro, a popular video editing software that was then in its first stages.
In Kimchi Warrior, a new disease is introduced as a villain in each episode, sent to destroy humanity by the Evil Lord of Disease. The warrior defeats each disease — among them swine flu, malaria and SARS — with the power of kimchi and by wielding weapons like turnip ‘nunchucks’ or kkakduki blades. (Kimchi Warrior screen caps)
With $980 and the cheaper digital equipment, Kang made a world record — complete with a Guinness World Record certificate — with “Cupid’s Mistake,” the lowest-budget feature-length movie to receive a theatrical film release.
By 2010, with four additional feature films and a documentary in the works under his belt, he’d come to realize that the Internet had become the primary means through which people watch content.
Creating a web series was a different challenge for Kang. He recruited actors he had worked with to do voice acting, among them Tim Colceri from “Full Metal Jacket,” and launched the self-designed series on YouTube that year.
“On the Internet, people don’t want to watch a long piece. They want to watch short pieces. They want to like something fun,” he says.
The inspiration for the series came as he found himself missing his mother’s homemade kimchiafter long years away from his countryside home in South Chungcheong Province.
He had always had an affinity for Spiderman-esque superheroes as well as American pop culture icon Popeye, who famously loved and promoted spinach.
Why not combine all three elements into a Korean superhero, he thought.
“Instead of spinach, it could be kimchi,” Kang says. “And I gave him superpowers.”
In Kimchi Warrior, a new disease is introduced as a villain in each episode, sent to destroy humanity by the Evil Lord of Disease. The warrior defeats each disease — among them swine flu, malaria and SARS — with the power of kimchi and by wielding weapons like turnip ‘nunchucks’ or kkakduki blades.
The series’ main purpose is to promote Korean culture and the health benefits of kimchi to people around the world, he says.
“In Korea, everyone knows kimchi. I don’t need to tell them about it,” Kang says. “I want other countries to know. I wrote all the stories in English.”
The design of the show itself is rooted in Korea, from his headband inspired by Silla Dynasty warriors’ headgear and the red marks of pepper on his cabbage-green costume to his base on the ever-controversial Dokdo Island.
In the series, he occasionally dons a gat, a Korean hat worn by the aristocracy during the Joseon era. His robot, Onggi-bot, is made of traditional Korean pottery called onggi.
“Feature films have some limitations, but with animation, you can make whatever you want,” he says. “That’s why I love it.”
Kimchi Warrior was recently picked up by FightTVPlus Mobile, a content distribution company that will make the series available via Video on Demand on smartphones. Kang also signed a new deal to have the series become the new face of a test-market kimchi from an L.A. factory, Ha Sung Jung Kimchi USA.
Eventually, he wants to see the project grow into a franchise, with a TV show and feature films.
But for now, having kids from around the world tell him that they started eating kimchi after watching the series gives him fuel, he says.
“I want them to discover kimchi and eat it and be healthy,” Kang says.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Young Man Kang Web Series Win 3 Awards at LA Web Fest - KBS Global News
- Korean American's Web Series Win 3 Awards at LAweb Fest
- [2014-04-01, 16:00:11]
- An animation series by a Korean American director has won multiple awards at the LAweb Fest, the world's largest all-web series festival.
Kang Young-man won three awards for his martial arts comedy animation "Kimchi Warrior" in his debut at the event.
The LAweb Fest Facebook page says Kimchi Warrior was named "outstanding animated-series" at the award ceremony on Saturday.
Kang was also honored for Best Cinematography and Best Score.
Kimchi Warrior is about a hero who rides a robot made out of pottery and fights off malaria and swine flu through the power of kimchi, a popular Korean side dish of spiced fermented cabbage.
Around 500 entries were made to this year's festival. Three-hundred of them were showcased at the festival that ran from Wednesday through Sunday.
Kimchi Warrior Web Series Trailer
김치워리어 웹 씨리즈 트레일러
Episode 6. Kimchi Warrior meets Obama
김치워리어와 신종플루, 옹기봇, 오바마 대통령
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