Oldboy Director Shoots Short Film, Paranmanjang, on an iPhone

Park, director of the internationally known “Oldboy,” “Lady Vengeance” and “Thirst,” said Monday that his new fantasy-horror film “Paranmanjang” was shot entirely on Apple Inc.’s iconic smartphone.

“The new technology creates strange effects because it is new and because it is a medium the audience is used to,” Park told reporters Monday.

“Paranmanjang,” which means a “life full of ups and downs” in Korean, is about a man transcending his current and former lives. He catches a woman while fishing in a river in the middle of the night. They both end up entangled in the line and he thinks she is dead.

Suddenly, though, she wakes up, strangles him and he passes out. When the woman awakens him, she is wearing his clothing and he hers. She cries and calls him “father.”

The movie, made on a budget of 150 million won ($133,000), was shot using the iPhone 4 and is slated to open in South Korean theaters on January 27. Park made the 30-minute film with his younger brother, Park Chan-kyong, also a director.

Park Chan-kyong said that a wide variety of angles and edits were possible because numerous cameras could be used.

“There are some good points of making a movie with the iPhone as there are many people around the world who like to play and have fun with them,” Park Chan-wook said. Compared to other movie cameras, the iPhone was good “because it is light and small and because anyone can use it,” he said.

He said the directors attached lenses to their phones and nothing was particularly different from shooting a regular movie.

Lee Jung-hyun, who plays the woman, said the film has a bit of everything.