Chae Kyoung-Sun

For many films and television shows, the thematic elements of the story will sometimes dictate the Art Direction and Production Design and those themes can help decide the artistic language overall. However, in the case of a television show like Squid Game, where contestants compete in a series of deadly children’s game and fight to survive, the Production Design went in a unique direction.

Director, Hwang Dong-Hyuk and Production Designer, Chae Kyoung-Sun, wanted to develop an entirely new visual language that had never been attempted in Korean content. From well-known paintings to Korean photographers, a multitude of concepts and ideas were taken and used to develop the architectural fabric that exists in Squid Game.

In an exclusive Interview with Interiors, we spoke with Chae Kyoung-Sun, who is the Production Designer for Squid Game.

INT: First off, we were curious how the opportunity to do the television show, Squid Game, came about? What was it about it that made you want to work on it?

CK: I had already worked on multiple films, such as Silenced, Miss Granny, and The Fortress, with Director Hwang Dong-Hyuk and he handed me the Squid Game script saying that this time, we could actualize a creative space that never before existed in Korean content. After I first read the script, I thought that this show had me thinking deep and hard about people. I felt a swirl of emotions watching grown ups become selfish and competitive as they played children’s games from the 70s and 80s with their lives at stake. Also, I imagined the gaming arenas in my head and felt the urge to give a different identity to each arena, so visual-wise it came as a new challenge to me. 

Our goal was to depart from the conventional genre element associated with survival games and death games and create completely new visuals. Daring imaginations filled my head upon reading the script and I really wanted to visualize something unique. Director Hwang explained to me how this script was written at a rough patch in his life and how self-reflective it is. As I was aware of this backstory, I wanted to understand what was in the Director’s head in as much detail as possible and translate that entirely to the set design.  

Director Hwang emphasized that whereas production design in Korea is largely centered on reproducing existing spaces, for Squid Game, he wanted new creative spaces and visuals that never appeared in Korean films or series before. One thing that he mentioned to me before I read the script was that he wanted to portray the evening glow that fell on the alleyways when he was playing with his friends as a child. On this note, the backdrop for Episode 6 (Gganbu) became the alleyways from the Director’s childhood, brought to life on the borderline of real and fake.  

INT: The Production Design for the show masterfully balances familiar motifs and symbols with an entirely new visual language. How did you try to achieve this balance and what specific things did you and your team do to make sure it didn't feel too conventional? 

CK: The very first image that came to mind after reading the script became the main inspiration for the show’s art. It was an image of a man blankly staring at a broken ladder leaned against tall walls surrounding him. This illustration deeply inspired me, and I referenced it as the theme for Squid Game. The illustration seemed like a sad fairytale and the man who was left behind, unable to climb the social ladder amidst intense competition, was thought-provoking. 

As we prepared for Squid Game, the entire art department studied various references in photography, architecture and art, while sharing a lot of conversations over wine and tea to think out of the box. What we paid the most attention to was the color scheme. We wanted to divert from the stereotypical visuals of the survival game genre and bring to life something like a fairytale; a uniquely Korean fantasy. The light pink and light green used in the sets and the vivid pink and green tracksuits respectively worn by the masked soldiers and the contestants were selected to create that vibe while visualizing a contrast of colors symbolizing the hierarchical structure. 

INT: You've mentioned in previous interviews how important color and shapes were to the various sets and how closely you worked with other departments to create the overall vision for the show. Are there any sequences or scenes in particular from Season 1 that required a collaborative effort between various departments? Were there any specific challenges with any of the sets at all?

CK: For Squid Game, we had endless meetings with the cinematographer from the very start of pre-production. It was our first time actualizing a set like this so we talked it over, and rented three to four large studios to start building sets about 2 months before filming. The maze-like staircase was one of the trickiest because it had to be large enough to accommodate more than 100 people so we came up with various design options such as intricate corridors and uphill-slash-downhill versions. But at the end of the day, we were inspired by M.C. Escher’s ‘Relativity’, which led to creating a staircase that is deeply disorienting. It doesn’t seem as if people are walking up nor down, and they lose their sense of direction. During shooting, the cinematography team had to install their equipment and tracks along the narrow hallway so we paid extra attention to building a safe, sturdy set. Also, we consulted the cinematography team closely on where to install the cameras to better capture the space and the VFX team also played a pivotal role by adding depth to the staircase set so that it would seem like the climb was never-ending. 

Another tough job was to make the giant piggy bank. It was very challenging to create a sphere that was 2 meters wide. We thought it was too dangerous to make it in glass and also hard to create the piggy bank shape. So it became an acrylic piggy bank that weighed more than 500 kg when filled with cash. Creating the ceiling from which the piggy bank should hang was also very difficult. The piggy bank was so heavy that the set technicians put in a lot of effort to make sure that the set was safe and ready for shooting. Also, acrylics collect a lot of dust and since the piggy bank had to be transparent, staff members had to empty the cash bit by bit so that we could wipe the dust every time we had a shot of the piggy bank. I’d have to say that the piggy bank was born out of the teamwork of the production design team, props team and special props team. 

INT: Squid Game contains so many incredible references and themes. Were there any specific references (Architecture, Literature, Cinema) that you took from as you were planning the overall aesthetic?

CK: For the 70s and 80s alleyways, I looked up a lot of photographer Kim Ki-chan’s work. I also referenced M.C. Escher and Judy Chicago’s works, and was inspired by realistic, down-to-earth places like bridges across the Han river and tunnels. Originally, we included a utility pole in the Red Light, Green Light arena but it turned out to be way too simple and less of an impact. At that point, there was a tree in the overall backdrop along with the reed field, blue sky and roofed houses. I got rid of all the leaves, turned it into an eerie, sinister tree and replaced the utility pole with it. As a matter of fact, the very first game was inspired by René Magritte’s ‘Empire of Light’. This hyper-realistic picture with trees and houses consumed by darkness under broad daylight seemed to me like the psyche of the contestants in Squid Game. Is this place real, or fake? If I were to explain the production design of Squid Game in three phrases, they would be: scary fairytale, broken ladder, and lastly, hyperreality—the blurred line between real and fake. 

Also, the key phrase for the large dormitory space is ‘people abandoned on the street’. The raised platform in the middle is designed to look like a tunnel entrance and we used white tiles, commonly used in a tunnel, for the walls. As I looked at goods stacked up to the ceiling in large supermarkets, I thought it would be interesting to stack the beds up against one another just like a warehouse. I had always been curious about how the item at the very top is brought down, and wanted to incorporate this idea into the dorm so that it would embody a society gradually losing sight of the dignity of humanity.

Chae Kyoung-Sun is a Production Designer and has worked on various Films and Television Shows.