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These filmmakers know exactly how to get you hooked on bizarre one-minute dramas

BBC News·@Bbc·2 months ago
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"More anger, more anger, please!" Director Kang Mi-so shouts across the set at an actor playing the role of the "wicked" aunt. The camera rolls to the woman. Face scrunched up, she lets out a torrent of abuse: the kind that you would never hear in a Korean soap. But this is not the usual K-drama - this is a "micro-drama", the viral ultra-short format that has been shredding attention online. A single episode can last as little as a minute, but there can be more than 50 of them in a series. They are made vertically, for your phone and your TikTok, Instagram or YouTube feeds. "We need spectacular moments to snatch their attention in one stroke," Kang, the director, explains. Unlike streaming or TV, where viewers are "ready and willing to give up their time," micro-dramas are competing with the allure of scrolling. So, they serve up an array of the outlandish - mid-scroll, viewers stumble upon a lover's fight or a menacing standoff.…

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