Undergraduate and master’s students enrolled in the Department of Korean History of the Catholic University of Korea have teamed up and won the Encouragement Award at the “9th Content Creation Contest Utilizing Traditional Archives” for university students. Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korean Studies Institute, the contest was to compete on students' planning and devising ideas using traditional materials provided by the Korean Studies Institute's services. Let’s meet the four honorable recipients!

Q) Please introduce Team Horan Dojeon.

Team Horan Dojeon was brought together to participate in the Content Creation Contest Utilizing Traditional Archives. The team consists of four undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Korean History at the Catholic University of Korea. Team members include Ji-wu Song (Team Leader, Senior), So-yun Lee (Junior), Ha-eun Bae (Master’s Course), and In-jun Kang (Master’s Course).

△ Mentor Tae-sik Kim (CEO of Mediabay Productions), and Korean History Department’s team “Horan Dojeon”

 The name “Horan Dojeon” means “Let’s challenge the public’s perception of Byeongja Horan (Qing’s Invasion of Joseon).” To achieve this, our team applied for the idea category among the available categories and planned a room escape entertainment content called “Ho Countdown.”

Q)  You won the Encouragement Award this year. Please tell us in detail what you have prepared.

 After entering the finals, we went through five months of mentoring and planned a five-episode room escape entertainment content under the theme of re-examining Byeongja Horan. We prepared for the contest in two main parts, “Drafting a Proposal” and the “Pitch Deck.”

1)  Drafting a Proposal

 In drafting a proposal, our team first contemplated what kind of message we should convey to the public and what we should use as the main subject. To do so, we searched countless historical sources related to Byeongja Horan and monitored related content numerous times to transform it into entertainment. By using the reinterpretation of Byeongja Horan as our main subject, we decided to convey to the public that there were hidden efforts during Byeongja Horan.

 After deciding on the purpose of our project, we proceeded with the essence, devising the “content and composition,” which we worked on the longest. Among them, “How should we start the first episode?” was the team’s most discussed topic of conversation. We discussed a lot about how to travel to the Byeongja Horan period and make it realistic, which was the core of our entertainment, to give a historical experience. Our biggest concern was, “How can we make the public keep up with the content's element of entertainment with the same pace as the cast?” For that, we decided to use invitations with written reasons for participation and included quizzes in them. The participants were to solve these quizzes in order to gather at the designated location.

 Later, based on the contents of Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, which reads, “The king decided to flee from the royal palace after the messenger dispatched by the Yusu (local government official) of Kaesong arrived in Hanyang (Seoul),” we gave the cast the role as messengers and completed an episode by designing a hypothetical situation from the time. To add elements of suspense, we planned to enrich the content by including important supporting characters, such as Mafuta and Yusu of Kaesong. Moreover, in addition to entertainment elements, such as arriving in Hanyang faster than the Qing army by horse, we also incorporated a narrative for the development of the episode, allowing the audience to enjoy the content in a more diverse manner.

Episodes 2 to 5, aside from episode 1, were summarized in keywords in the proposal.

In addition, we devised a commercialization strategy to ensure that "Ho Countdown" would be successful in both domestic and international markets, and prepared a proposal based on this plan.

2) Pitch Deck

If the proposal was a means of showing everything our team wanted, the pitch deck delivered the essence of what we wanted to convey to the judges on the day of the final promotion.

The core focus of our team's pitch was to ensure that the content of the first episode's "messenger" story was well structured in detail in order to deliver the sense of "vividness" effectively. That was our biggest goal for the pitch. We set the vocal tone and atmosphere for each scene to enhance the vividness of the presenter. We also inserted voice actors’ dubbing, background music, and sound effects to bring the presentation to life. Furthermore, we also prepared interactive games to allow the judges to become the cast and feel as if they were participating in this entertainment content.

After the second training on pitch decks, we also envisioned our stage movement and lighting to be used on the stage. To do this, we made a PPT storyboard and delivered it to the stage director and our pitch deck mentor.

Q) Undergraduate and master's students of the Korean History Department worked together to achieve good results. Please introduce the Department of Korean History at the Catholic University of Korea.

 The greatest pride of the Department of Korean History at the Catholic University of Korea is that our professors are passionate about guiding students. Our professors are making various efforts not only in lectures but also in providing employment programs for students and searching for contests so that students can find their interests and proceed in the respective direction for their future. Moreover, the professors actively engage with students, whether it’s answering their questions or assisting them in preparing for extracurricular activities

 Another aspect I’m proud of is how our curriculum is designed to build upon the history learned in high school and broaden the perspective.  Professor Tae-koo Huh’s “Early Modern Korean History” lecture allowed our team to break the conventional understanding of the Byeongja Horan and view it from a new perspective.

 I believe that our team, Horan Dojeon, made it to the finals and won the award because of these advantages of the Department of Korean History.

Q) Last but not least, we’d like to hear each of your thoughts on receiving the award.

Ji-woo Song: I felt that a systematic plan that focused on what we were aiming to achieve was essential for a long competition at every moment. The most important thing, I believe, is not giving up and seeing it through to the end. I sincerely want to thank my team members for going through hardship and sticking with me until the end despite my shortcomings as a team leader. I’d like to thank our mentors, Tae-sik Kim and Won-jun Ha, and professors, Kyoung-ryang Ki and Tae-koo Huh, for giving us much help. Based on the experience of this contest, I will strive to become an individual who will actively take on challenges in each moment in the future.

So-yun Lee: The contest was a meaningful activity as I gained knowledge and experience in new fields through it. Thanks to our team members, we achieved good results in the final promotion. I’d also like to thank professors Kyoungr-yang Ki and Tae-koo Huh for their support in the contest.

Ha-eun Bae: Given the scale of the competition, there were many challenges along the way, which made sense of accomplishment in completing and presenting our work all the greater, not to mention receiving the award. I was very proud that we received the Encouragement Award in the pitch deck criteria. We dedicated almost two months to preparing for the pitch deck during the contest period, and it felt like the results of our efforts were paid off by the pitch deck award. And I’d like to thank our professors in the Department of Korean History. They introduced the contest to us, gave us advice for planning, and even participated in our pitch deck rehearsals. Lastly, a huge thank you to our Horan Dojeon team members who worked so hard over the past six months!

In-jun Kang: I think it was a meaningful time when we realized how much potential “history” has in the content market, and can go beyond the confines of the classroom. I look forward to the creative challenges and achievements of students of the Catholic University of Korea and students in the Department of Korean History!

△ Ji-ho Kwon, Director of the Korean Studies Promotion Headquarters of the Korean Studies Institute, and Korean History Department’s Team Horan Dojeon