(Following interview ①) Recently among dating show addicts a program has newly spread by word of mouth. The YouTube program 'Ttaettaettae' released '72-hour blind date,' a dating reality program with the concept of a man and woman who meet for the first time in an unfamiliar city traveling together for three days to get to know each other and decide whether to continue their relationship. Blackpaper representative Yu Gyu-seon, well known as Yoo Byung-jae's manager, planned it, and Wonui Dokbaek directed it; it was first released on Sept. 9.
'72-hour blind date' begins 'the longest blind date in the world' by meeting someone you've never seen before in overseas cities such as Fukuoka, Bangkok, Hokkaido, Sapporo and Taiwan. It captures a restrained yet deep emotional line different in tone from existing sensational dating variety shows, and word of mouth has been spreading. OSEN met Blackpaper representative Yu Gyu-seon, who planned the world's longest blind date '72-hour blind date,' to hear about the production.
How did '72-hour blind date' manage to create word of mouth in an oversaturated dating show market? Representative Yu Gyu-seon laughed that 'there are too many dating shows' and said, 'More than 50% at meetings said they had been invited or received a DM from elsewhere to attend the meeting. Some were just recommended through acquaintances, and some were recommended in a very unusual way through cast members. We also did street casting and did everything we could within our means. A few people were confirmed to appear but couldn't go because they couldn't get leave,' he confided.
In fact, these realistic aspects were also captured in the footage. He expressed gratitude, saying, 'Sejin from the Taiwan episode had just changed jobs and had no vacation. We explained the situation to the company in advance and set off, and Hyun-ung said it was his first time using annual leave. If it had been a famous dating show, the company would probably have actively supported it, but because we were an unknown dating show, that was difficult. The cast worked very hard.'
How did they manage to cast such attractive people even through that process? Yu Gyu-seon said, 'In Hyun-ung's case, there was an unrefined charm. And among the people we met, those who like dating shows were certainly more proactive. Hyun-ung is the type who doesn't watch dating shows at all and doesn't even watch TV. He had a very raw feeling,' and added, 'He's handsome in a way I hadn't seen in existing dating shows, and I found that attractive. But he had little dating experience and had never confessed to someone. He seemed pure and like someone who couldn't hide his feelings. I thought he was suitable for our dating show, so we cast him.'
He continued, 'In Beom-jung's case, there were many things he approached very cautiously. He was handsome and delicate-looking but had struggled a lot with his major during school days. That seemed to be something deep in his chest and felt like a twist. He might meet the opposite sex comfortably but is cautious. Rather than a perfect person who finds everything difficult, we tried to cast someone who was a little lacking. And when that lacking person met a counterpart, it seemed to have led to matching. Maybe the lacking parts get filled and they become complete. And first of all, people who make travel fun and who know how to enjoy travel were the top priority. It's a cheesy word, but we tried to cast people who have 'romance,'' he said.
So was the blind date matched one-on-one, or were pairs made among several people? Representative Yu Gyu-seon revealed, 'The first meeting was conducted without thinking about a specific partner. If among them we thought
He said that Sejin and Se-jun from the 'Taiwan episode' were matched. Yu Gyu-seon said, 'Se-jun said in his interview that he wanted to meet a woman who geeks out over something. He liked subculture, and then we interviewed Sejin and she liked anime. When we paired them they matched well. In the video they walked a lot, but the two of them talked about anime for two to three hours,' he shared the behind-the-scenes story.
Perhaps because of that, '72-hour blind date' had a slightly different charm from other camp-style dating programs. It especially had a distinctive mood that ran through every episode, and that succeeded in drawing viewers' immersion.
Representative Yu Gyu-seon said, 'We tried to follow the plot of a romance movie. We prepared the whole thing that way and wanted the editors to make viewers see it that way. In old traditional romance films, the male lead and female lead meet by chance, become close quickly due to some trigger, that turns into love, and then they are thrown into doubt by an incident about whether it is love or not. We tried to follow a romance flow within that, even though the charms and stories the cast members have are different.'
He said, 'Travel is like that. You go to common courses, one place I want to go, one place you want to go. Moving like that made the overall mood similar. Especially for Taiwan and Japan, we wanted to bring out the feel of those countries. We wanted people to feel it like
He added, 'I thought responses like each episode reminding viewers of a movie or drama would come up. For Sejin-Se-jun's episode there were comments saying it reminded them of
Yu Gyu-seon laughed and said, 'Don't people say
[Photo] Reporter Jo Eun-jung, '72-hour blind date' broadcast capture
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