Kyongbok Palace is pretty interesting to visit. Founded in 1392 by (태조) 太祖 – 이성계, the palace is one of the most popular destinations for sight-seers in Korea. Last week, I was watching as a local production crew was shooting a promotional commercial for tourism in Korea yesterday at Kyongbok Palace and it was amusing to watch how the production crew worked to get their shots in. While the assistant director slaved over getting the footage of the haegum player just right, the director sat off to the side, going over previous shots, using his Macbook Air to review the footage that was stored on the large portable drives used on the shoot. Comparing the storybook with the footage, the director will already have and idea as to how to edit the footage before he leaves the site. Directors work on several things at one time so as to get finished within the shortest time possible.
The crew uses a portable power generator in the back of their truck to power everything. This day was was also the perfect day to shoot since the peonies are in bloom. Often when advertising shoots are done, the whole production crew gets involved in deciding how to set up the shot, arguing back and forth over how to set it up. Often shooting for commercials can take hours of waiting with only minutes of actual shooting.
While we were there shooting, we saw an elaborate procession take place. Each day the palace is open, a re-enacted royal procession is performed and is quite well done, with great dignity and many visitors were delighted to have their picture taken with the royal procession in the background.
Production staff hard at work to capture the shot just right.
The royal procession.
The peonies in bloom.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
R. Elgin,
Can you post when the finished commercial is online? I’d love to see it!
Aw c’mon man, “Kyongbok”?? “King Daejo”?? I expect better from *you*, after all this time…
Yeah, I hate trying to figure out how to fit Hangul 소리 into the #*! alphabet world, so . . .
I suppose you also think Jamsil is better than Chamshil?
sanshinseon, I mean.
“better” in what sense, Linkd? the J on “Jamsil” produces more accurate pronunciation, but the the si is inferior to shi on that score… (the h after s if before i really shoulda been kept, i’ve always complained to them!). If you mean on some ‘how the word looks’ criteria, i take no position on that.
But my actual point to Eljin was that any person intereseted in seeing this fine palace will seach on their map, street-signs etc for “Kyongbok” in vain, so he’s just causing them misleading-pain-&-confusion; it’s now spelled Gyeongbok (might look funny but superior for pronunciation all thru) universally — even on Wikipedia etc — only some bitter-holdout western academics continue using the clumsy M-R system.
And “King Daejo” isn’t a correct rendering of Taejo Yi Seong-gye in ANY of the Romanization systems!
are you serious?
you think 꼐옹복 & 쬄씰 are closer sounding to the original than 굥복 &참실 ?????
I’m neither and I continue. The new romanization was the worst butchering of a otherwise OK language system I’d ever come across.
I think if the bitter Western academics continue to hold on, it might give impetus to the Koreans to do something about it as they already hate the stupid 짜장 vs 자장 arbitrary change brought about by the “morons” at the Language Institute and are petitioning for a revert back to the old system.
True, if you’re a tourist looking at maps and signs then consistency is vital. Personally, when I’m wandering around some foreign country with a map in my hand, I’ll ask someone “Where is blah-blah?” figuring most people will understand my question and point. If that doesn’t work, THEN I’ll point to my map. Same thing with a taxi, I’ll say it before pulling out the map. I’m sure you’ll agree that a driver here would grasp (spoken) Chamshil faster than Jamsil. As for King what’s-his-name…never heard of him.
Hey, i wasn’t tryin’ to revive the same-ol’ debates, just tryin’ to give Eljin a hard time…
Hmmmm, i follow the map myself, before asking anybody.
Really, you never heard of “Taejo”?? it’s a title, not a name…
Yup, consistency in spelling is vital for tourists, businessfolk, shipping, government, military, students, writers… everybody, i’d say.
Yuna, no i don’t think 꼐옹복 & 쬄씰 are closer-sounding to the original, and don’t think that many, if any, would pronounce that way if reading the new style; why do you assume they would? I deal with newbie-foreigners (from many nations) all the time, and they don’t usually make those kind of errors… The new system is “friendly” for them, easier to learn than the old, and leads to better pronunciation.
OK, i’ll revise” “only some bitter-holdout western academics and Yuna (et.al.) continue using the clumsy M-R system.”
I thought the founder of the Chosun Dynasty was referred to as the Taejo, posthumously.
“And “King Daejo” isn’t a correct rendering of Taejo Yi Seong-gye in ANY of the Romanization systems!”
I concur.
Okay, so I replaced the founding king’s name with the Hangul. I’m sure that would impress the cab drivers in Seoul too.
> I thought the founder of the Chosun Dynasty was referred to
> as the Taejo, posthumously.
Yes, it’s a posthumous title, and Joseon Dynasty people in casual conversation might well have referred simply to “Taejo” and ‘in context’ all would’ve known who was being spoken of. But we modern berks also have Taejo Wang Geon (and even Shilla’s Muryeol & Munmu, i think) as possible objects of that referrance… I’ve never yet seen a “Taejo Park Chung-hee” reference, but just wait to see if that appears some day!
As has been expounded on numerous occasions its a “romanisation” system to represent korean sounds, not an “anglicisation” or “americanisation” system.
It fairly consistently represents the hangul in a romanised equivalent, which can be converted back to the correct hangul.
A system based on “americanisation” would assist only americans, english, french, czech, polish, spanish etc would all pronounce the words differently.
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