Dartmouth has been featured in various forms of media in the past, from headlines in the national press to the 1978 cult classic "Animal House." Less frequent is the College's current center-stage role in a documentary whose primary objective is to showcase the individuality and exceptionality of the institution. Since early September, a film crew from the South Korean television channel tvN has been on campus to produce a Dartmouth-exclusive documentary for home viewers, especially parents and college-bound students, according to the project's producer Jong Hyung Lee.
Created as a joint venture by Fox International Channels and CJ Media a Samsung subsidiary and one of South Korea's prominent media companies tvN has a domestic distribution of more than 14 million households and offers a range of programming from dramas to variety shows.
The program on Dartmouth will be the first documentary to air on tvN, Lee said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The filming team consists of Lee, tvN videographer Dong Been Kwon and Los Angeles-based freelance producer Caleb Yang, who also served as Lee and Kwon's interpreter and guide during their visit in Hanover.
The crew arrived in Hanover on Sept. 7 to film members of the Class of 2014 during their Dartmouth Outing Club Freshman Trips and Orientation. Once the academic year began, the three focused on capturing all aspects of student life, according to Lee.
The documentary was in the pre-production stages when College President Jim Yong Kim was inaugurated as the College's 17th president in July 2009. According to Lee, Kim's appointment as the first Asian-American president of an Ivy League institution was an important driving factor behind the documentary, but not the only one.
"We wanted to reveal what makes Dartmouth students tick," Lee said. "We wanted to show Dartmouth's distinctiveness because, even though the school isn't very well known yet in South Korea, interest in Dartmouth has increased since President Kim assumed his post."
Dartmouth was made aware of the project last spring when the CJ Company approached the College with the idea, according to Bonnie Barber of the Office of Public Affairs.
Lee said he hopes to step away from conventional approaches and create a program that feels young and personal. To add an unfiltered element to the documentary, the crew had students carry around hand-held cameras throughout the day to record their daily activities.
"Having students create their own footage using handheld cameras was a very conscious decision," Lee explained. "We hoped that allowing the students to give us a glimpse of their every day life would keep the documentary from becoming cliched or too formal."
The team has run into difficulties capturing an accurate depiction of Dartmouth students that goes beyond merely documenting their schoolwork. Lee explained that it has been surprisingly difficult to convince students to take the hand-held cameras to places on campus beyond the libraries and dining halls footage of which Lee believes would only reinforce viewers' assumptions and preconceived notions about Dartmouth.
"Showing more shots of students with their books propped open would present a very narrow and limited view of what is actually a very vibrant campus," Lee explained. "What we'd like to capture is what students do outside of class, whether that may be participating in performance groups, conducting research or even hanging out at their fraternity or sorority."
Lee noted that, although several students have informed him about how much they enjoy Greek life at Dartmouth, they have simultaneously shied away from inviting the film crew into their respective houses.
While Lee said the crew would never film without permission, he nonetheless hoped for increased participation from the student body in the production of the documentary.
The film crew recently returned to South Korea, but plans to return on Oct. 20 for 11 more days of filming, Lee said.
Before departing after the first round of filming, the team conducted an official interview with Kim, whom Lee described as "incredibly energetic."
"He encourages Dartmouth students to go out there and change the world, which is a message that carries so much faith," Lee commented. "We've been brainstorming title ideas for our documentary, and we're thinking of borrowing his words."
The still-untitled documentary is currently scheduled to air on Nov. 26 on tvN.
