Invincible Youth is a korean television program about girls coming from different top Kpop girl groups doing actual farm work in a certain rural area in South Korea. its a half reality, half variety show. after seeing one episode, i got hooked. i managed to watch until episode 32 earlier this week and im looking for episodes 33 onwards. its difficult to find a subbed episode after episode 32 because the cast members that are also part of Girls Generation (SNSD) left after episode 32 (so the subbers of the program stopped subbing it unless there's an episode involving members of SNSD). i need to find fansubs of other Kpop groups to find the latter episodes (aaah, fansubs and their fansubbers. our modern day copyright infringers and the "enemy" of profit-sensitive corporations. from anime to manga to Kpop. i should have used this topic for a legal research paper)
the primary shooting location is a typical rural house in a farming village. they personally built the restroom in the first episode (i think the girls didnt use it after the first episode since its only a soy sauce jar buried in the ground. in a latter episode, a cast member asked that the prize for the game be the privilege to use any restroom in the farming village). this house serves as the "set" for the program which visitors can visit during non-shooting days. they only shoot the program for one whole day (i think. based from my observation. it starts very early in the morning and ends late in the afternoon, sometimes evening). usually, a day's filming is equivalent to one episode. there are no scripts (except a few lines used for the opening part or ending part) so they just need to shoot continuously for the entire day, collect all the footage and edit it.
the cast members are members of top Kpop girl groups (this is what caught my attention to watch the program, obviously). there's seven of them from 6 different girl groups, one for each group except SNSD which has two representatives (hence seven). it makes use of a multi-camera set-up (same as How I Met Your Mother. but if i remember correctly, How I Met Your Mother takes 2-3 days to shoot for a half an hour program. or it takes 2-3 days to edit the footage?). i think they usually use at least 14 cameras simultaneously. some cameras are used for multi-angle shots while others are used to follow the members as they go around the shooting location.
the cast members are given tasks involving farm work (planting lettuce, planting rice, grafting eggplants, harvesting crops, etc) and other rural livelihood activities (raising livestock, making tofu, making kimchi, selling their produce, applying for a loan, etc). initially people would think its scripted and "fake" but after seeing many episodes, it can be seen that the cast members do the actual work and the multi-camera set-up is useful in showing this (the edited footage can sometimes show that the cast members did the actual work from start to finish). of course the opening lines and themes are scripted but everything else in between arent. the crew just keeps shooting the cast members wherever they go and after getting a lot of footage, they edit it. thats why some cast members dont get much air time because their footage arent good enough for broadcast (which also became a running joke for the cast members). the program isnt just reality TV, its also a variety show. so its not about just performing the task (which became an initial complaint since some cast members do a lot of work and its not even shown in the broadast), its about performing the task in an entertaining manner or having quotable lines. so the show's hosts (which also perform the tasks assigned for each episode) always joke that the program is becoming a documentary when they realize everyone is too busy working or too involved in the task. in order to make it more entertaining, they insert games or gags while working. they also do games on who gets ownership of the livestock or a particular farm produce. some cast members have the knack of working in an entertaining manner, some dont. so it took some time for some cast members to the concept of half reality, half variety show and how to get more air time.
another thing i like about the program (what i like about it most is that it involves members of girls groups, not only SNSD) is that it promotes the lifestyle in the rural area. i think the show also gave upon itself the project of making the farming village a venue for hands-on farming for tourists and visitors. it doesnt only inform the viewers how to properly do farm work (one cast member even had to apply for a license to operate farming equipments) but it invites them to visit the area and experience some of the farm work themselves. well, i think. i havent reached that far in the episodes. i really dont know what happened after members of SNSD left the program. im still looking for the latter episodes. i think a program like this would be a lot of help here. im not talking about just farming. i think its still debateable what kind of industry the Philippines should focus on. once that's been determined, programs that entice people to work under such industry should be made to promote it. programs that promote self sufficiency and employment.
this video basically sums up what i just said (credit to uploader auradreamer):
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