Joo Won 주원 [Drama- The Midnight Studio/ 야한(夜限) 사진관]

[airplanegirl]

Just to get the discussions going, I decided to do a comparison post.

 

With Ivy, her voice is great and all, but it seems she's so focused on belting out all the notes that she forgets to blend her voice with Joo Won's. It's said that the female vocal range for this song is Bb3-G5, and it would be impossible for Joo Won to hit those notes if Ivy was singing in the original key. Anyway, for this song in particular, the male singer is merely the back-up singer.
Ivy is such a special case. She is a pop singer turned musical actress, which might explain why her techniques might seem off to trained ears. I tried to go listen to her Wicked stages and the jury is still out on her vocal techniques.

Joo Won's voice is so crisp, but Ivy is a little choppy. It's like there's a lack of proper breath control and she's making up for it by belting out through her nose. Joo Won does suffer from lack of breath control at times too, but that usually happens when the song calls for him to belt, and we know that's his weakness. 

I think she's extremely talented though. She just needs to improve her breathing techniques, so she doesn't sound too choppy.

 

Now Joo Won and Ji Yeon's version of 'three little words' is what I'd call musical theatre heaven! Both their voices are crisp and blends together beautifully. I'd say that Joo Won and Ji Yeon have very similar vocal ranges. For the female voice the notes range from G3-G5, which means Ji Yeon is an Alto. 

Nothing much to say about Jiyeon's vocal technique. Both Joo Won and her are both from the musical theatre world, so they both know how to pace each other vocally and all that. 

Going by this video alone, Joo Won might be a tenor, but at the same time I wonder if he might also be a countertenor? Just because he is able to hit those high notes easily, but tends to struggle with the lower notes that a tenor shouldn't have problems with.

The vocal range in this song alone is extremely amazing! A song like this requires the singer to have extreme control of their voice and a vocal range that is high enough to reach the notes without sounding like he's screeching. 

I would put down Joo Won as a tenor, since a majority of his OSTs are in that tenor range. But at the same time, I wouldn't write him off as a countertenor. I think his vocal range is huge but since he isn't exactly super active as a musical actor anymore, we can only go by the videos on YouTube.

[kittyna]

Thanks for this, @airplanegirl! I'm in the middle of preparing my own long-ish "new topic" contribution to try to revive this (it's this week's Throwback Thursday), but you're a step faster than me, and I'll take what I can get.

10 hours ago, airplanegirl said:

 

 

With Ivy, her voice is great and all, but it seems she's so focused on belting out all the notes that she forgets to blend her voice with Joo Won's. It's said that the female vocal range for this song is Bb3-G5, and it would be impossible for Joo Won to hit those notes if Ivy was singing in the original key. Anyway, for this song in particular, the male singer is merely the back-up singer.

 

I wouldn't have been able to put it in such technical terms, but I also noticed that JW and Ivy's resonance and tone were different when their parts overlap. In layman's terms, I found his voice was warmer whereas hers was brighter or more forward. In other words, as you put it, she's belting and projecting her voice forward, whereas JW's resonance seems to spread outwards in all directions. Interesting that we can hear this from an audio recording and computer speakers

10 hours ago, airplanegirl said:

 

 

Now Joo Won and Ji Yeon's version of 'three little words' is what I'd call musical theatre heaven! Both their voices are crisp and blends together beautifully. I'd say that Joo Won and Ji Yeon have very similar vocal ranges. For the female voice the notes range from G3-G5, which means Ji Yeon is an Alto. 

 

 

 

Nothing much to say about Jiyeon's vocal technique. Both Joo Won and her are both from the musical theatre world, so they both know how to pace each other vocally and all that. 

 

I didn't give much thought to Park Ji Yeon's range, although I personally think her voice is a little bit bright/light to be what I usually associate with alto - maybe she's mezzo? That's really common in musical theatre nowadays, isn't it?

 

Anyway, when I first heard this song on YouTube, during the "A Song For You" interview, a number of people commented that Park Ji Yeon sounded like a Disney princess - which I thought was cute.

I bring that up because of your observation here:

10 hours ago, airplanegirl said:

 

 

Going by this video alone, Joo Won might be a tenor, but at the same time I wonder if he might also be a countertenor? Just because he is able to hit those high notes easily, but tends to struggle with the lower notes that a tenor shouldn't have problems with.

 

 

 

The vocal range in this song alone is extremely amazing! A song like this requires the singer to have extreme control of their voice and a vocal range that is high enough to reach the notes without sounding like he's screeching. 

 

 

 

I would put down Joo Won as a tenor, since a majority of his OSTs are in that tenor range. But at the same time, I wouldn't write him off as a countertenor. I think his vocal range is huge but since he isn't exactly super active as a musical actor anymore, we can only go by the videos on YouTube.

 

My guess is that either JW is a tenor with greater versatility in the higher notes or someone on the lower part of the countertenor end of the spectrum - because it is a spectrum, I imagine, and many people don't fit neatly into the "proper" range for a particular voice type.

 

The most recent showcase of his higher range right now would be "I Believe", which he spends almost entirely in his higher register - and singing in a way that I rarely have heard guys sing. (Video for a reminder, but I imagine many won't need it).

 

What stands out to me isn't so much how high JW goes in a good chunk of this song, but how comfortable he is up there. A number of other singers can get up that high, and have even made that their thing; for instance, I've heard Kim Jong Kook get up there in the OST he did for "Good Doctor", Sung Si Kyung does it often in his ballads, and 2PM's Junho's OST for "Level 7 Civil Servant" sounds so eerily similar to JW's voice that I initially believed it was JW when I first heard it. But sometimes you do get hints of strain in KJK or SSK's work in that range (SSK commented on 1N2D that he has to strain out the high notes), and 2PM's Junho is noticeably belting notes that JW wouldn't belt (it's the forward vs. all directions resonance that's cluing me in once again).

 

JW, on the other hand, is perfectly capable of controlling his voice in this higher register. Either he's got a really good falsetto or his comfortable range goes up really high. Point is: when he's up there, he can sing really powerfully if he wants to - but so can belters. What stands out here is his ability to sing softly while going up so high, and for it to feel light as a feather without strain (he has such a moment in his OST for "Nae Il's Cantabile", too).

 

I've been doing some thinking about how I would describe JW's voice - ever since your bucket list for musical roles a few days ago, @airplanegirl. He's got the (counter)tenor range, but his voice is really bright/light compared to a more operatic or classical tenor, which makes him more suitable for contemporary-style pieces like "Grease" or "Ghost". Yet, as you pointed out, his voice isn't "pop" either, because that's a style that's based on belting, and that's not what he does. He does, though, do a good job with the more retro styles: 50's rock in a Western context (e.g. "Grease"), and trot in a Korean context.

 

Seeing the comment about Park Ji Yeon sounding like a "Disney princess", though, made it finally dawn on me how I personally would describe JW's voice. Childish and amateur as it sounds, I would say he sounds like a Disney prince. My knowledge of musicals is quite limited, and mostly features the ones I grew up with - mostly the stuff by Andrew Lloyd Webber or Claud-Michel Schönberg (the composer for "Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon")...and Disney. And the more I think about it, the more JW's voice reminds me of the male leads from shows like "The Lion King"

 

 Finally, regarding "Judgment Day" - I'm always blown away by the live version of this song, because it really shows that JW can get really powerful on his own. That's obscured a bit in the OST version due to the sound-editing (which was done to give it more of a hard rock vibe, I know).

[lavender2love]

 

 

Soompi update / enhancement exercise is terrible. Got blocked out by EXO code and the senseless " loading " symbol which doesn't load and it drives you nuts..... really nasty one. I lost too many posts, was exhausted from the frustration so I steered away from it.

 

 

 

Anyway this thread is doing so nicely. Kudos peeps.... you kept the thread humming. Excellent discussion. I can't backtrack ,,, the loading menace kills page turning. I'll catch up later. Oh can't tag too unless post and then edit. .

 

Edit and tag now. In appreciation @kittyna, @airplanegirl, @Ma OO @sagaseed, @hibiscus23 @flutterby06

 

So many of you are discussing things now. What a wonderful way to keep this thread alive until JW comes back and prove once again his acting or singing talent.

 

 

 

I will announce the 4 and a half million views mark  once we arrived. We are almost there. When I came on I took note of the number... 4,431,481. Today it's 4,491,492.  Shall we go for the 5 millions ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hibiscus23]

 

 

@lavender2love thx for tagging me i hvnt been here & got busy on another thread but yes imagine almost 3,000 & counting on JW thread that speaks volume! hello to all here and what are you guys watching?

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

am watching Man to Man my other idol Park hae jin! as i said bef i feel like am cheating on JW hahaha bc of not coming here often! PHJ is also awesome and charismatic so i hope you guys u/stand if you don't see me here, am over on his thread helping that thread to be alive & well LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kittyna]

 

 

Yay - @lavender2love is back! Missed you, like, A LOT. At least now I know why - I guess wonky spacing is the least of our worries with Soompi's update. I literally just ran into the "EXO" error code just now, but found the cause (trying to tag people) and a workaround (mention without the symbol, then go back in and fix it later). Personally, I don't mind hang-ups, as long as I can figure out how to make things work despite them

 

As I'd promised @airplanegirl, I'll pop back tomorrow for Throwback Thursday. This one is the biggest one I've put together yet (it's with pics instead of a YouTube video), so I'll have to save my time and energy towards that for now.

 

 

[airplanegirl]

[sagaseed]

Awww.. his first instagram post since enlistment! I thought my eyes were tricking me when I refreshed my IG. Looking forward to seeing more photos from the army festival in Oct

 

Anyway, I just saw on instagram that his korean fans are doing another mural for his 31st birthday. How sweet! 

(sorry if this has been posted, my memory is failing)

 

 

First mural in 2016 here - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kittyna]

@sagaseed Aw...that mural project is such a sweet idea, and the chibi art style is just up my alley, too. I hope pictures of the finished product end up online as well.

 

Speaking of cuteness, that's also the theme for my Throwback Thursday post this week. I'm thinking a bit outside of the box this time around - so rather than sharing stuff from JW's past as I've usually done, I'm having fun with the "childhood photo" aspect of the Throwback Thursday game by looking at the various childhood counterparts to the character's he's played.

 

Or, if you want a cute but cheesy name for it: Joo Won's "Mini-Me"s (Yes, I literally call the child actors "mini me"s of the adult ones )

 

Just a bit of background: I am always impressed by the child actors that show up in Korean dramas. Not only are they adorable, but a lot of them show great acting potential that make me curious about how they will act in adult roles when they're older (of course, whether they continue with acting once they're adults is their own business, though). And while I don't know what exactly goes into casting directors' process in choosing child actors to play the younger versions of their main adult leads, I do notice that oftentimes, there will be some sort of similarity in appearance or vibe between them. Do they cast actors who resemble each other, or do both actors (child and adult) work together to create a similar "look"? I don't know - but point is, I'm usually more sold on the transition from child to adult than not.

 

That got me thinking about the fact that with the exception of "Level 7 Civil Servant", JW has had a "mini me" in every single one of his dramas. ("Level 7 Civil Servant" did feature a single baby photo, but I don't know if that was, say, an actor or staff member's kid, or possibly even JW himself - either way, I'm not counting that right now.) Not only that, but each time, the child actor has been someone different. So I thought of this idea to do a compilation of all of them.

 

Note that it took me quite some time to track down all the child actors' names, and I'm still not 100% sure if I'm right in one instance ("Ojakgyo Brothers"). And then there's finding screenshots (I tried to find ones that either had similar expressions/emotions or similar compositions) and editing things together...yeah, this took me a while.

 

What I loved about doing this was finding that every single one of these child actors, in my opinion, resembled JW in some way or another - but each one picked up on something different.

 

1. Gu Ma Jun from "King of Baking: Kim Tak Gu" - Shin Dong Woo

 

I chose this screenshot for mini Ma Jun in particular, because when the video clip from that scene was played during KBS's "King of Baking: Kim Tak Gu" Chuseok Special, the reaction cam shown in the corner caught JW mouthing along with Shin Dong Woo's lines at this point. And I thought that was really cute

 

2. Hwang Tae Hee from "Ojakgyo Brothers" - Hong Hyun Taek OR Kim Soon Jung (Thanks @ecs707a for the tip!)

 

To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure if the kid here is Hong Hyun Taek. I couldn't find the name of the child actor who played little Tae Hee on any of the sites I frequent for drama cast lists. However, when I just Googled "Ojakgyo Brothers Child Actor", his was the only name that showed up that seemed to match: some fans had put "Ojakgyo Brothers" in his filmography, and his age at the time of filming (5 years old) would be right. The only other child character I know of in this drama would be Guk Soo - and he's older than 5.

 

However, if I did get this wrong and you happen to know the child actor's real name, please correct me!

 

3. Lee Kang To from "Gaksital" - Kim Woo Suk

 

It took me a long time to find this actor's name, too - I only succeeded by looking at the Korean version of Wikipedia and trying to use my very limited knowledge of hangeul to figure out where it might indicate a child version of a character in the cast list. Fortunately, I did succeed on that front - unfortunately, though, I couldn't find anything on this actor in English, so the name here is a self-Romanization.

 

4. Park Si On from "Good Doctor" - Choi Ro Woon

 

Can I just say really quickly that I LOVED Choi Ro Woon's take on Park Si On here? We talk a lot about how JW excelled at such a physically demanding role - but seeing a child actor who was only 6 years old at the time pull it off just as well? Yep, this kid is going places, should he stay with acting for the long run

 

5. Cha Yoo Jin from "Nae Il's Cantabile" - Choi Kwon Soo

 

Don't have a whole ton to add, except that this was also a child actor whose name I had to trace from the Korean version of Wikipedia. At least there are English-language sites with his name, so I know I'm spelling it correctly

 

6. Kim Tae Hyun from "Yong Pal" - Jung Yun Seok

 

I think that out of all the child actors in this set, this one is the one I've seen the most often, in a broad range of projects. For instance: he was one of the child patients in "Good Doctor".

 

7. Gyun Woo from "My Sassy Girl" - Jeon Jin Seo

 

Here...I have to thank you guys here on Soompi - more specifically, those on the "My Sassy Girl" thread. This is another one of the child actors for whom I initially couldn't find his name - it's not mentioned on the English-language drama wikis I frequent. However, once I did find it, courtesy of you guys, I found a really easy way to remember - he also plays the younger version of Lee Min Ho's character in "Legend of the Blue Sea", and THAT'S really easy to search up. Such is life....

 

So what do you guys think? For those who have watched some or all of these dramas, do you have a favourite Joo Won "Mini Me"? Please feel free to share your thoughts!

[lavender2love]

WOW ...... !! @kittyna  That's fantastic piece of work. You are amazing..... having the patience and resourcefulness to search through huge amounts of material to produce a delightful MINI ME. Kudos girl !!! You have the patience of a saint.

What more with Soompi maddening door keeper MR EXO CODE ... a very powerful force. ( drama speak style haha )

That boy actor in My Sassy Girl is so adorable. Now only i know his name Jeon Ji Seo. What did the parents feed these pecocious children to get such talents apart from imparting the acting genes to them ?

 

 

Awwww @hibiscus23 don't feel the betrayal guilt. We understand .You're not " cheating " . It's fine . Do drop in occasionally to say hello. We would like that. When you first came on you contribute a good bit. So thanks.

@sagaseed..... the mural is so cool. Thank you for sharing .

 

 

 

JW MAKES SUCH A HANDSOME BRIDEGROOM.

 

 

[kittyna]

1 hour ago, lavender2love said:

That boy actor in My Sassy Girl is so adorable. Now only i know his name Jeon Ji Seo. What did the parents feed these pecocious children to get such talents apart from imparting the acting genes to them ?

 

That's Choi Ro Woon in the GIF you included But, yes, he's amazing at what he does.

 

And I just saw this show up on Allkpop: Which male stars are netizens most eagerly waiting for their military discharge?

 

Nice pic, by the way (For those who can't read hangeul, it's Lee Seung Gi)

 

 

But...JW got left out again, as usual And I quote:

 

Quote

Online platform 'Tillion Panel' conducted a fun survey with the fun question. A total of 2,400 male and female participants between the ages of 20-50 participated. After all the votes were tallied, singer/actor Lee Seung Gi took the No.1 spot with 42.9% of the vote for the most awaited military discharge.

 

Enlisted in the army back in February 2016, Lee Seung Gi is looking forward to his discharge from his mandatory service on October 31. He has been receiving numerous love calls even while in the army. Currently, he's  considering the role for new tvN drama 'Hwayugi'.

 

Other popular stars in the ranking include actor Ji Chang Wook who came in second with 18.3% of the votes. In third was ZE:A's Siwan with 16.8%. 

 

Oh, well - maybe he's fourth...? A fan can dream, right???

[airplanegirl]

39 minutes ago, kittyna said:

 

But...JW got left out again, as usual And I quote:

 

Oh, well - maybe he's fourth...? A fan can dream, right???

To tell you the truth, his Korean fans don't really care too much about popularity polls. Even in Korean articles where they compare Joo Won with a hallyu star, they don't bother to comment and just let the hallyu star's fans battle it out themselves. 

 

I remember when MSG was airing, there would be a new Korean article every single day pitting Joo Won against Song Joong Ki and Ji Chang Wook, and that their Korean fans were busily fighting amongst themselves in the comment section. I think Joo Won fans would much rather stay out of battle polls like this.

 

If they HAD to vote, they would much rather spam votes on stuff that would ensure him an award in the end of year award shows. 

 

It's 3.30am now... I'll post more later.

[sagaseed]

12 hours ago, kittyna said:

 

So what do you guys think? For those who have watched some or all of these dramas, do you have a favourite Joo Won "Mini Me"? Please feel free to share your thoughts!

 

You are very creative to come up with this post @kittyna ! 

 

I checked back to JW's real life old photos and compared to your list. Seems like they all looked very different from wuri little JW in this pic. Closest maybe mini Hwang Tae Hee in OB? 

 

I have watched all the dramas above but it's hard to choose one favourite. All of them are very impressive, and I will say born talents as they could act out tear-jerking scenes at such young age. It's also amazing how the casting teams managed to find little actors that could fit the required roles so well. Definitely no lack of talents in the korean entertainment industry despite the country's low birth rate lol. Choi Ro Woon as an autistic kid left the deepest impression in me and he grew up even cuter and more dimpled in My Sassy girl. I believe he will be the next Yeo Jin Goo very soon.  In terms of looks, I like the mini JW in Nae Il's Cantabile because his sparkling eyes reminds me of JW s. JW said his eyes are his best features too

 

 

10 hours ago, airplanegirl said:

To tell you the truth, his Korean fans don't really care too much about popularity polls. Even in Korean articles where they compare Joo Won with a hallyu star, they don't bother to comment and just let the hallyu star's fans battle it out themselves. 

 

I remember when MSG was airing, there would be a new Korean article every single day pitting Joo Won against Song Joong Ki and Ji Chang Wook, and that their Korean fans were busily fighting amongst themselves in the comment section. I think Joo Won fans would much rather stay out of battle polls like this.

 

If they HAD to vote, they would much rather spam votes on stuff that would ensure him an award in the end of year award shows. 

 

 

Yes, I too gave up on these popularity polls. We talked about this previously - As compared to other hallyu actors, JW's fans are not as competitive because we like JW for his acting and we know he doesn't care about such popularity polls. I think editors of various entertainment news portals such as allkpop, soompi etc have their own bias too so their articles will tend to be more favorable towards their bias. Often, popularity increases when more news articles are written to stir interest and I think the artiste's management agency can influence / play a part in the later. Undeniably, more news articles on Lee Seung Gi are released now because he is the next well-known one to be discharged. Im Si Wan was the latest to enlist and JCW's enlistment was quite recent too. I can only pray that JW's agency HYB can be more proactive to generate public interest towards the end of JW's enlistment. 

[kittyna]

16 hours ago, airplanegirl said:

To tell you the truth, his Korean fans don't really care too much about popularity polls. Even in Korean articles where they compare Joo Won with a hallyu star, they don't bother to comment and just let the hallyu star's fans battle it out themselves. 

 

I remember when MSG was airing, there would be a new Korean article every single day pitting Joo Won against Song Joong Ki and Ji Chang Wook, and that their Korean fans were busily fighting amongst themselves in the comment section. I think Joo Won fans would much rather stay out of battle polls like this.

 

If they HAD to vote, they would much rather spam votes on stuff that would ensure him an award in the end of year award shows. 

 

5 hours ago, sagaseed said:

Yes, I too gave up on these popularity polls. We talked about this previously - As compared to other hallyu actors, JW's fans are not as competitive because we like JW for his acting and we know he doesn't care about such popularity polls. I think editors of various entertainment news portals such as allkpop, soompi etc have their own bias too so their articles will tend to be more favorable towards their bias. Often, popularity increases when more news articles are written to stir interest and I think the artiste's management agency can influence / play a part in the later.

 

Well, that's an eye-opener for me - I didn't know that about his fans in Korea. The thing about being way on the other side of the world is that it's usually just the loudest stuff that trickles over, and that includes the most outspoken fan networks. Plus, with liking Korean stuff still being on the fringes rather than the mainstream where I am, I suppose it's something that fans will either downplay (I'm one such example) or get REALLY vocal about (e.g. trying to bring their love of K-pop or their bias into any conversation possible).

 

But after seeing both of your comments...I honestly think JW's fans are wiser for their silence. Like you're saying, we appreciate him for his acting, singing, and character - and that's something where so long as we know and he knows (e.g. the really sweet messages people leave JW on Twitter or Instagram, or the messaging service now where you can write to soldiers)...there's no need to be super in-your-face about it.

 

I suppose, knowing that JW's not really a "hallyu star" that I thought his Korean fans would try to defend him or promote him to get him to that level of popularity - but turns out I was wrong, and that there's really no need to, based off what you're saying.

 

I also think these fans maybe take after JW himself in this way. I remember on "Healing Camp" that JW was asked for his reaction to articles that try to pit him against other actors in his age group (he refused to say who, but probably at least some are the "hallyu stars" we tend to think of):

 

Kim Je Dong (Main MC): Among the actors who are acting around the same time [i.e. actors in his peer group], have you thought, "Ah, why is this person's acting good? Why is this person so popular?" Is there a person like that? A person who makes you jealous?

 

JW: Ah, yes, there are. Many of them. Because of that, I had an extremely hard time, once. So I even consulted [Yu] Hae Jin hyung about it.

 

Seo Jang Hoon (Secondary MC): Who is it?

 

Hwang Kwang Hee (Secondary MC): Hyung, you're too direct!

 

SJH: I think I know. It's not one person, but several people, right?

 

JW: Yes, there are several.

 

SJH: Can you just reveal at least one? Even just the initials?

 

JW: (laughs, then coughs - he's pretty flustered) I received so many of these questions at once point before. "Joo Won-ssi, pretty much most of your work did well and ratings were also very high. But you seem a little different from actors that are similar in age?" I received so many of these questions at a certain point. "We haven't seen you much in CFs, too." Questions like that? They asked me those questions so directly. Then, too, when I received all these questions, my style is to always listen sincerely to all questions and answer back sincerely. At that time, too, I thought about it very sincerely. I answered that to me, they are... Although my path is still uncertain, but I may walk the same path [i.e. popularity and CFs] in the future, too. But at this time, for now, it seems my path may be different. First, at this time, I think I am only walking the path of acting. I remember I answered this way at that time. Also, at that time, what I've decided was, "Okay, I am going to act until the day I die - let's see who is still around at that time." I had that sort of thinking at that time. [Jung] Woong In hyung said this to me, "Have the pride of an actor being on stage." I debuted as a musical actor, and also acted in plays. "Other actors also want to be on stage, but can't." I have a lot of pride towards this: that I am able to stand on stage.

 

So it seems that even for JW, it's about the acting, and he's here because he loves acting - popularity and celebrity status are a bonus. And that's something that, given your comments so far, I feel that his fans in Korea - who are usually the targeted group for such polls - love about him.

 

To be honest, so do I. Although I'd talked about not finding, say, JW-related merchandise while I was in Seoul, the more I think about it...the more I realize that even if there was, I wouldn't buy it. Why? Because I'm not the sort of fan who wants to display my feelings towards him in that way. Instead, I bring it up through more subtle means - choosing his dramas over others to watch, talking with fellow fans like you guys, hoping and praying that he stays pure and doesn't get into trouble or a scandal...that sort of thing.

 

5 hours ago, sagaseed said:

I checked back to JW's real life old photos and compared to your list. Seems like they all looked very different from wuri little JW in this pic. Closest maybe mini Hwang Tae Hee in OB?

 

lol - That's one thing I know I am definitely curious about: who will these child actors look like once they grow up?

 

I also love that childhood photo of JW, by the way - every time I see it, I find myself wondering if he was a very serious child.

 

5 hours ago, sagaseed said:

All of them are very impressive, and I will say born talents as they could act out tear-jerking scenes at such young age. It's also amazing how the casting teams managed to find little actors that could fit the required roles so well. Definitely no lack of talents in the korean entertainment industry despite the country's low birth rate lol. Choi Ro Woon as an autistic kid left the deepest impression in me and he grew up even cuter and more dimpled in My Sassy girl. I believe he will be the next Yeo Jin Goo very soon. 

 

The thing about child actors, in my opinion, is that they're not self-conscious in front of the cameras. A lot of kids are shy to begin with and don't necessarily like being seen or filmed in this way, but for those who are fine with it...there aren't many other inhibitions. There isn't, for example, the same pressure that young adult actors face to "look good" while acting - which JW claims is a reason why a number of actors hold back a bit when doing crying scenes, for example. Instead, these kids just go all out the way they would feeling those same emotions in real life.

[Ma OO]

17 hours ago, airplanegirl said:

To tell you the truth, his Korean fans don't really care too much about popularity polls. Even in Korean articles where they compare Joo Won with a hallyu star, they don't bother to comment and just let the hallyu star's fans battle it out themselves. 

 

I remember when MSG was airing, there would be a new Korean article every single day pitting Joo Won against Song Joong Ki and Ji Chang Wook, and that their Korean fans were busily fighting amongst themselves in the comment section. I think Joo Won fans would much rather stay out of battle polls like this.

 

If they HAD to vote, they would much rather spam votes on stuff that would ensure him an award in the end of year award shows. 

 

It's 3.30am now... I'll post more later.

 

Regretting Joo Won's fans don't care about any polls, the reason is simple. Avoiding conflicts.Actually there is a reason why fans are like that. Joo Won used to have official Korean Club Act One Start One.( Something like that) But an argument broke out back in 2012. Although the reason is unknown to most international fans, the fan club was closed officially by Joo Won himself due to this reason. Then he shared his disappointment with fans over that. Fans then realized that he hate any source of conflicts and his way of handling can be extreme.(To close his own fan club over an argument between fans says a lot about his character isn't it? XD)

 

There was also one time, Joo Won wrote fan letter back in early 2013 regretting the "fan war" with other actors' fans.Nothing really much happened or vigorous  enough for other fans to care but Joo Won's fans then learnt that their actor,as much as he doesn't involve in those conflicts,he wants his fans to do the same too. 

 

This is the reason why his fans are extremely laid back now. Because they respected him. Instead of wasting time on fan wars and polls, they showed their love through different medium. He has a Forest, a star "named" after him, 2 murals and hell tons of donations done by fans under his name.

 Joo Won is an extremely low key person. He is not mysterious like other stars who will disappear after doing a movie or drama. Rather, he will only share certain things with fans which doesn't really  create hype or attention. Something like a "family" member will do. So we too often feel that we don't need an opinion or attention from an outsiders (aka Media).

 

 

Fun Fact : Joo Wn admitted in 2013 interview that he likes to read fan websites,forum,blogs,thread etc. He wants to know what fans really think about him and often find our interaction interesting. He said that included English  ones too. Back in 2012 - 2014, this thread was quite popular and moving as fast as 2 to 4 pages per day. Hence, many old members joked(and believed) that he read this thread too. Of course, now we have other social media and such.I doubt if he "still" come here and read.  But. I am quite sure he check his Instagram comments.

[kittyna]

Oh, wow... @Ma OO, I had no idea about any of this - thanks for filling in new and/or international fans like me.

 

I did know of the existence of Act One Scene One, because JW did mention it in passing on 1N2D, but not that it's since been closed, why, or by whom. Like you said, the fact that JW cares enough about maintaining peace among his fans that he'd shut down the club himself...that's impressive, and would definitely make a statement.

 

I am glad to see, though, that JW's fans have respected his choices thus far - even if he asks for fans not to get into fan wars, for instance, there's no guarantee they actually won't. Some people just get really passionate, or are new enough to the group not to know this history or what to do.

 

But seeing all the stuff that you, @airplanegirl and other older fans are saying...I'm really starting to get it now. And can I say that I love you guys - JW, JW's fans in Korea, and JW's fans abroad - for that?

[Ma OO]

1 hour ago, kittyna said:

Oh, wow... @Ma OO, I had no idea about any of this - thanks for filling in new and/or international fans like me.

 

I did know of the existence of Act One Scene One, because JW did mention it in passing on 1N2D, but not that it's since been closed, why, or by whom. Like you said, the fact that JW cares enough about maintaining peace among his fans that he'd shut down the club himself...that's impressive, and would definitely make a statement.

 

I am glad to see, though, that JW's fans have respected his choices thus far - even if he asks for fans not to get into fan wars, for instance, there's no guarantee they actually won't. Some people just get really passionate, or are new enough to the group not to know this history or what to do.

 

But seeing all the stuff that you, @airplanegirl and other older fans are saying...I'm really starting to get it now. And can I say that I love you guys - JW, JW's fans in Korea, and JW's fans abroad - for that?

 

New Fans,Like some of you and even me want to protect him.Promote him.I used to argue a lot too at some news site.But You can feel the calmness right? Over a time,I just gave up. XD

 

We had tons of discussions about him in this forum and very interesting information too. But they are hidden deep in this 2k plus pages.Some information are quite blurry for me now as it has been years.

 

If Joo Won's Korean fans are laid back, international fans are way too detailed and critical.Especially here.Because we used to get less information,we will take in any info, analyse it and write out our opinions.

 

I thought I was doing research papers on autism when Good Doctor was airing. XD

[kittyna]

11 hours ago, Ma OO said:

New Fans,Like some of you and even me want to protect him.Promote him.I used to argue a lot too at some news site.But You can feel the calmness right? Over a time,I just gave up. XD

 

I think that by the time I became a fan of Korean dramas in general - and JW in particular - I had already learned that it's easier to just not get so worked up about things like this. So I often stay more on the down low myself. This forum is the most vocal I've ever gotten about JW, and no matter what I say here, I always remind myself that he is a real person who has his own goals and agendas that I, as a fan, need to respect.

 

As a consequence, I get really confused at some of the more crazy-sounding comments from fans I see online (whether it's fan wars, or stuff like, "I want to marry Oppa!" "My ovaries just exploded!", "He's so cute, I want to kidnap him" etc.) Seriously, what is up with that stuff? It comes so close to sexual harassment - how can that possibly be proof that you love your oppa?

 

Yeah. I just want to stay out of it.

 

So, yes, I can definitely "feel the calmness", as you put it. One reason why I find JW's fandom so welcoming is because I feel like being more toned down is normal here. We can, of course, discuss and analyze to our hearts' content ("doing research papers on autism", or my own recent blog post on "Gaksital"), but there's something about doing it the way we do here rather than going to sasaeng-level hyperness feels...right? More respectful to JW as a person? I don't know. I can't really put that feeling into words.

 

I suppose the best way to put it is like this: it's like I'm in a really crowded and busy area where everyone's running around, talking at the top of their lungs, and getting really excited about something that I just don't feel or understand. But then, I look around the room and see one other person who looks just as confused as I do, and we happen to make eye contact and smile in our shared befuddlement.

 

That's how it feels like to be a JW fan in the world of Hallyu fandom overall.

[kittyna]

On 9/14/2017 at 5:13 AM, sagaseed said:

Anyway, I just saw on instagram that his korean fans are doing another mural for his 31st birthday. How sweet! 

(sorry if this has been posted, my memory is failing)

 

 

First mural in 2016 here - 

 

 

You know, coming back to the mural project for a sec, I had originally thought that the 2016 mural looked familiar.

 

Then, this morning, it hit me as to why. I had seen photos of said mural while scrolling through JW's Instagram a few months ago.

 

 

At the time, I had just thought it was cute fan art by his fans - but now, thanks to you guys, I know the full story.

[airplanegirl]

Just dropping by to post some #throwback videos from his Spring Awakening days...

 

 

 

 

[ecs707a]

On 9/8/2017 at 1:31 PM, airplanegirl said:

A new never been released BTS pic from Good Doctor

 

Source: Joo Won DC.

Man, I don't want to be picky, but I definitely have a (slightly) better version of that (terrible! sorry, sleepy, overworked Joo Won haha) photo from the Good Doctor days:

Spoiler

Not sure how it's unseen since I recognized it immediately.  Perhaps just forgotten   (and maybe better that way?  I remember being sad when I saw it the first time...he just looks totally worn out)

 

And I am glad soompi seems to be behaving a bit better these days   Except for the next page thing, which is annoying.

 

I don't know what to add to the discussion about what role he should take next.  Anything he is genuinely excited about.  I'd prefer darker, but funny's all right too.  (Of the recent things he's been in, Overtime/Clocking Out has been the biggest hit with me, lol.)  And I'll leave it at that.

 

@kittyna I like your compilation of child actors!  But *psst* I checked dramawiki and all of them are listed there on the various drama pages so that could have saved you some legwork Except for little Tae Hee, but since your post made me curious, I checked the credits of one of the episodes he appeared in.  I don't know for sure either, but my guess is that little Tae Hee was actually Kim Joon Sung (this one), not Hong Hyun Taek, based mostly on resemblance, since I can't confirm it either.  They were both in the show, but I don't know who played whom.