In the age of AI, handcrafted detail is having its moment

The trademark of Christopher Nolan, widely regarded as one of the defining filmmakers of his era, is the real thing. His insistence on authenticity was on full display in "Oppenheimer" (2023), where the nuclear explosion sequence was achieved not through computer-generated imagery but through actual chemical reactions and practical pyrotechnics.

His new film "Odyssey," opening Wednesday, continues that philosophy. A project Nolan has nurtured for more than two decades, the film strips away digital artifice as much as possible, staging the epic journey of the hero Odysseus against the wrath of the gods on sets and locations drawn from the physical world.

In an era dominated by AI and CGI, the appeal of the handmade — the "hand feel," as Korean creators call it — is reasserting itself across the content industry. This goes beyond one director's personal preference; it has become a broader trend. The visceral immediacy of live-action photography and the painstaking detail of artisanal craftsmanship are carving out a distinctive presence precisely because digital tools have become so ubiquitous.

Human hands and creative ingenuity, combined with the latest CGI technology, are producing a synergy that was not possible before. The trend runs through Hollywood's leading auteurs — Nolan, Denis Villeneuve of "Contact" (2016) and the "Dune" series, and George Miller of the "Mad Max" franchise — and extends to the Korean content industry as well.

"Odyssey," which set a record for the biggest opening in Nolan's filmography and swept global box offices, is a blockbuster adaptation of Homer's "Odyssey," considered humanity's oldest epic poem.

Guided by his belief that "the most important thing is to use the real world," Nolan shot the film entirely on location — beaches evoking the fall of Troy, caves, the underworld of Hades, the mythical islands of Calypso and Circe, and Odysseus's homeland of Ithaca — across Greece, Italy, Iceland, Scotland and the United States. Finding the right locations reportedly required months of scouting trips.

The 10.7-meter Trojan Horse — the instrument that ended a decade of war and the starting point of Odysseus's trials — was physically built for the film. The ship carrying Odysseus and his crew was constructed to be fully seaworthy.

"The elements that draw audiences to theaters — overwhelming sets, breathtaking locations, thousands of cast members — remain just as compelling today," Nolan said. "We wanted to take the classic filmmaking approach, where in-camera spectacle — what you capture through the lens, without CGI compositing — was everything, and layer modern visual effects on top to bring the fantastical elements to life."

This trend is not confined to Hollywood. "The East Palace," the Netflix series that has drawn wide attention for its fusion of occult horror and sageuk drama and has held a top spot in global viewership rankings, follows the same logic. The show renders its spirit world through intensive CGI, while the real-world Joseon palace — gripped by a curse — was brought to life through artisanal craftsmanship, resulting in a space that feels both luxurious and visually alive.

The red characters blanketing the ceiling and walls of the room where the spirit Gucheon is imprisoned — which viewers assumed were CGI — were in fact painted by hand by calligrapher Lee Jeong-hwa, who spent five days and nights brush in hand, writing each character one by one. Lee posted a video of the process on Instagram with the caption "moments I nearly became a ghost myself while trying to keep them out," and it went viral.

Viewers responded with disbelief: "I can't believe something this grueling was done entirely by hand," wrote one commenter, while another quipped, "At that level, even ghosts that don't exist would show up just to see it." In an age when digital technology is treated as all-powerful, the most analog approach of all became the biggest talking point.

The handcrafted quality of "The East Palace" goes beyond calligraphy. Behind the digital work that built the show's spirit world lies the meticulous design of specialists in art and color. The shrine set for the court-lady ghosts, for instance, was finished by the production team physically carving into the walls to achieve an authentic texture.

"Rather than simply relying on post-production, I wanted to express real texture," said Lee Mok-won, the show's art director. "We physically carved into the walls, applied a scorched paint finish, and installed LED lights inside so it looked as though the wood was continuously burning from within."

The supernatural creatures in "The East Palace" were designed to reflect the distinctive characteristics of Korean folklore and traditional imagery as closely as possible, and the color work separating the palace — the real world — from the spirit realm was executed with the refined sensibility of specialists. The spirit world was rendered hot and intense through finely calibrated layers of fog, sand and ash textures, while the real world was kept cool and rational by contrast.

Screen Rant praised the show, saying "'The East Palace' particularly shines in its creature design," and noted that the combination of outstanding makeup and special effects delivers visceral horror in the best possible way.

Eom Tae-sik, CEO of U5K Imageworks, who handled color grading for "The East Palace," said color correction is no longer the final step in post-production. "The perception is shifting — it is now recognized as a creative process that must be designed together from the planning stage," he said.

Some in the industry credit Netflix's long-term production investment with making this level of detail possible on "The East Palace," arguing that capital is ultimately what determines a work's quality. Netflix invested more than 1 trillion won ($699 million) in Korean content from its market entry in 2016 through 2021, and in 2023 announced plans to invest an additional $2.5 billion over the following four years.

Cultural critic Jung Deok-hyun called "The East Palace" a clear demonstration of the evolution of K-production. "The details that used to be overlooked have accumulated over time, and that accumulation is what has driven the current K-content wave," he said.