日本語・日本文化学類とは？
What is "Nichi-Nichi"?

A Study on the Influence of the Place Identity of ‘Film Street’ in Jeonju on Film Culture

郭 孝民（韓国外国語大学校大学院 グローバル文化コンテンツ学科）

Overview

“The place” refers to certain space where particular activity or event takes place. The city of Jeonju has named the street that intersects the Cinema Tower located at Jeonju Five-way Intersection (which is located between Paldal-ro St. and Chunggyeong-ro St.) and Jeonju Cine Complex. The area has built its image as a film city as this area has the largest theater concentration in the country, has history as the center of film industry in the 1950s, and holds the annual festival called Jeonju International Film Festival every May. Later on, the film culture has emerged in various ways as many of film-related organizations have relocated or newly established along ‘Cinema Street’, resulting in formation of a variety of film cultures There are sharing culture, that includes film festivals and DVD-watching and criticism culture, that tries to spread the critiques through magazine, social media, and book. Lastly, there is production culture which is about the film production education and film production.

Keywords: Jeonju, Cinema Street, Placeness, Film Culture

１．Preface

Entering the 21st century, the view towards cities has been shifting from an economic perspective to a cultural perspective. This shift mainly comes from the place and its placeness. Indeed, placeness is not fixed and thus variable depending on human activity.

Edward Relph[1] and Yi-Fu Tuan[2] consist of symbolic meanings of the place in the small environment where any relevant activities take place. As well, it is asserted that natural·artificial environment and human·cultural identity are manifested through human experiences within the physical environment.

In case of ‘Cinema Street’ in Jeonju, the film industry developed successfully in the 1950s. Thus, in perspective of small environment (which considers its physical aspects), the street turned out to have symbolic meaning as the nation's largest theater district was established here. As well, it also has its own significance since film festival, film critique, scenario education, and film production take place in Jeonju, which directly relates to the human experience.

Korean Film Council presents various supporting projects and policies regarding film cultures[3] so that the citizens can enjoy the film culture not only just by watching the film but also by various programs provided along 'Cinema Street" in Jeonju.

According to François Roland Truffaut, "the first way of loving the film is to watch the same film twice, second way is to leave critiques about the film, and the last way is to produce the film.”[4] The study will demonstrate the film culture by 3 analytical categories, which are sharing, criticism and producing cultures. like to explain cultural framework, divided by culture, cultural criticism through the sharing of culture analysis.

２．The Placeness of ‘Cinema Street’ in Jeonju

The first theater, Jeonju Cinema, opened for the first time in 1925[2]. Later, it has been renamed as “Jeguk Cinema” in April 1936. Jeonju had experienced relatively less damage during the Korean War in the 1950s and had plenty of resources and supplies such as rice as the area had lots of flat land.

The film industry was developed mainly by wealthy local farmers. At the moment, the majority of film industry staffs have gathered in Jeonju to avoid the war centered around the alley of the Wansan Health Center. The street where these people gathered together later became 'the cinema street'. Since then, "the film industry has been vitalized as number of theaters started increasing. Later, as more theaters have opened along 'Cinema Street', the 'sharing culture' has settled down in the area.

“Jeonju has designated the ‘Cinema Street’, which starts from the Cinema Tower to Jeonju Cine Complex. Afterwards, the surrounding region has become the area where theaters were concentrated. As of the 1980s, a large number of small theaters (about 20 theaters), including Myunghwa Theater, had been operating around Gosadong for about 30 years from the 1950s to the 1980s." This shows that its placeness has been formed over a long period of time.

３．Film Culture

"The first way to love a movie is to watch the same movie twice, the second way is to write a movie review, and the third way is to make a movie," said Francois Roland Truffaut. This culture can be divided into three words: sharing culture, criticism culture, and production culture.

1. The “Sharing” culture- the movie

   Francois Roland Truffaut said that the first thing you have to do is watch the movie twice if you love movies. The act of reproducing or providing a video or related information so that it can be viewed several times over and over again is a part of sharing culture.

   [Fig 1. Analysis of Cinema Street in Jeonju, based on the analytic frame of sharing culture] is made in order to analyze sharing culture. According to Fig 1., It is considered to be part of upper part when public institutions run film festivals, movie theaters, archive and DVD reading rooms, while it is included in the lower part when non-public institutions run them, Movie theaters are at the center because film festivals and DVD reading rooms tend to be operated where places and spaces are provided.

   According to this frame, the first is the festival. The film festival differs from commercial films in its fundamental characteristics. Second, movie theater. The Digital Independent Theater located on the fourth floor of the Jeonju Cine Complex is operated by Jeonju City is run for independent films.

   

   [Fig 1. Analysis of Cinema Street in Jeonju, based on the analytic frame of sharing culture]

   The third is archive and DVD-reading room. Jeonju Cine Complex is operated by public institution and its first floor offers such facility. Jeonju movie museum is operated by non-public institution and there are 7 systems that provides DVD reading service Here, DVD reading is freely available, as well as books and magazines. The existence of archiving and DVD-reading room shows that there are demands from people eager to watch certain films again. This system is significant and very fundamental unit for film industry, since it is made for the better criticism.

2. Criticism Culture: Critiques on the film

   There are number of groups that watch movies and share their thoughts and comments with others. 'Amur', the group which is making movie magazine, published a magazine with the support of Jeonbuk Content Korea Lab. "Cinemont" is uploading contents via SNS in cooperation with Jeonju Cine Complex. As well, 'Jeonbuk Critics Forum' publishes the book every year with the support from the Jeonju Film Commission. In the past, the criticism was mainly done by words since it was hard to record. Though, nowadays, it is much easier to record things, resulting in the formation of criticism culture. Criticism needs a link institution when it is to be written by an individual and delivered to the audience or readers. The content of criticism can be circulated in magazines, SNS, and books.

   Criticism Culture

   Magazine	SNS	Books	Formation (outcome)
   Amor	Cinemont	Jeonbuk Criticism Forum	Group for criticism
   Jeonbuk Contents Korea Lab	Jeonju Cine Complex	Jeonju Film Commission	Volunteer Group

   [Fig 2. Analysis of Cinema Street in Jeonju, based on the analytic frame of criticism culture]

   Based on the analytic framework of criticism culture, Amor published magazines and books with support from Jeonbuk Content Korea Lab. Cinemont is an audience club and belongs to Jeonju Film Festival. Every month, members watch releasing films in advance and upload critiques via SNS. The Jeonbuk Criticism Forum published the book composed of critiques, with the support from the Jeonju Film Commission. The Jeonju Film Commission is located at suburb area of Jeonju, but it is focusing its attention on local video content-building projects. It means that audiences want to share various ideas and influence production again because it does not end up just watching movies.

3. Production Culture: Production of Independent Film.

   The reason why education culture is included in production culture is that it is often done simultaneously with production. The process of recruiting and educating people to produce independent films rather than commercial films are all considered as production culture. To produce a short film, the production cost is needed, but it was made to analyze where the production cost is provided and where it is not supported.

   

   [Fig 3. Analysis of ‘Cinema Street’ based on production culture analytic frame]

   It is meaningful that the production culture was shaped by the demand by citizens who want to produce their ideas into movies and put them on the screen. Public institutions are trying to support various programs, so it is meaningful that there is an effort to make 'Cinema Street' as a place where film culture can be shared and enjoyed by everyone.

４．Conclusion

Jeonju City started changing its placeness starting from 1925 and became a theater-concentrated area as of the 1950s, resulting in the formation of Cinema Street today. It has been verified that sharing and production culture have been fairly well-developed along the Cinema Street in Jeonju. However, in case of criticism culture, there are three related organizations but only one of them is in operation in independent level even without base. In order to maintain and improve the placeness of 'Cinema Street' in Jeonju, not only theaters but also related organizations that develops the joy of film culture should continue its expansion.