Review (sort of): The Making of Full House DVD

I really don’t know if this should count as a review because it’s Full House and I can never be objective when it comes to Full House. I do have some comments, though; hopefully they are enough for this write-up to pass as a ‘review’.

First off: the packaging and extras.

The set comes in a sturdy box which holds all three DVD cases (one for each disc), plus an extra box which holds the bonuses: a set of postcards, a cloth poster which I truly, madly, deeply love, and a flyer which took me by surprise when I pulled it out of the box:

I pulled this one out and I was like, “Jerry Yan?? What the hell???” I was contemplating on either throwing it away or giving it away to any Jerry Yan fan who would want it. However, one side of the flyer had the ad for I’m A Cyborg But It’s Ok and although I don’t really care for that one, either, it still has Rain on it so I kept it.

Each DVD is securely enclosed in a sturdy semi-transparent plastic case which is a far cry from the one that 24 Hours - The Day had because the disc kept popping out on that one (yet another reason for me to conclude that save for the eating-kamote-in-Berlin footage, 24 Hours is a waste of money).

On to the actual contents of the DVDs:

DVD 1 had individual features for each of the key actors in Full House: Rain, Song Hye Kyo, Kim Sung Soo and Han Eun Jung, in that order. DVD 2 showed some key scenes and how they were filmed, details of which I will tackle later. Disc 3 had production notes and the top 5 favorite scenes. There are about 75-80% previously unseen footage, and majority of those that we have seen before are either a few seconds longer or were taken from another angle.

One thing I noted while watching the DVDs is this: I now know why this drama gives a good feeling to practically everyone who has seen it. The production might have experienced problems and difficulties as any production would have experienced, but Full House crew sure was one happy lot. Laughter erupts after every scene was filmed, even after multiple NGs (for which Rain is almost always the culprit ) and even while filming very dramatic scenes (can you imagine laughter erupting in between filming the scene where Young Jae’s dad beat him up?). I have seen one too many behind-the-scenes stuff from Rain’s projects, and let me tell you, I’ve never seen him as happy as he was when he was filming Full House. The guy sure laughed a lot, and he was really playful, too. Take this scene with Han Eun Jung, for example:

Han Eun Jung was trying to be serious here, but Ji Hoon decided to play by putting some ice on his mouth, faced HEJ and played the ice with his mouth. HEJ was trying her darndest best not to laugh, but she wasn’t able to control it.

I’ve mentioned that most of the NGs were caused by Rain. Not that he’s intentionally doing it, but I guess it couldn’t be helped whenever him and Song Hye Kyo would look at each other and they’ll just burst out laughing. There were two scenes shown on this collection where Rain had to face the other way just so Hye Kyo could finish her scene without laughing.

But this scene is the one which had me rolling with laughter along with Rain and the rest of the crew. Remember this scene?

Lee Young Jae was waiting for Han Ji Eun outside the house, and then when he saw her coming he ran towards the door and slipped on the front porch.

I remember this scene vividly when I first saw Full House because Rain rubbed his butt when he got up and I was thinking, maybe the slip wasn’t intentional. He really fell down by accident and PD Pyo just decided to keep the scene as is.

I’m not too sure if my interpretation of this scene on the Making of… DVD is correct because there are no English subs, but I think my original hunch was correct. I think Rain even asked if the scene will become an NG, but when they reviewed it on the monitor (and I really love how they said the word “PLAY” ) they loved what they saw. They certainly laughed a lot after seeing it. But what really made me laugh was, the scene started off with dramatic music and all and then BOOM! LYJ slipped. I know it sounds incredibly mean but please forgive me, I grew up with that kind of slapstick comedy.

But the big winner in terms of being playful on the set has got to be Kim Sung Soo. It might come as a total surprise because he seems to be a very serious person, but he cracks jokes a lot (I assume they were jokes because everyone laughed) and even teams up with Rain sometimes. We have seen some of them in previously released BTS footage, but there are still more hidden gems from KSS on this DVD.

Err… do I still need to explain what KSS was doing to himself on this screencap?

As for Hye Kyo, I think the only other time I’ve seen her laugh a lot while filming was when she was doing My Girl and I, and it should be expected because her co-star in that movie was the big joker named Cha Tae Hyun.

Speaking of Hye Kyo, I gotta give mad props to this woman for being able to maneuver the steep inclines of the streets of Korea while running in high heels. I know how difficult it is, because I tried maneuvering those streets in running shoes and I can’t even walk straight. (And I just realized, I could be doing that again in about two-three weeks, so I better get in shape ASAP.)

After watching this DVD set, I’ll never wonder again why Rain keeps on including his Full House family in his album credits (I’m assuming this will show up again on the new one). I really felt the love while watching the BTS scenes. The chemistry is not just on the cast but also on everyone else in the production. No wonder Hye Kyo teared up after the last scene was filmed. But it’s not just her. There is one part in this DVD where after a lady staff member closed the car door on PD Pyo who went off to edit the final episode, she suddenly burst into tears. I don’t know exactly why she was crying, but I think it was because she had a realization that filming was really over. I got that vibe, anyway.

Above pic is a cap of the entire crew watching Episode 5 of Full House on LYJ’s big TV. Hye Kyo was somewhere at the back.

And since I touched on this scene, check out Rain’s face while watching the scene where Han Ji Eun sang Gom Se Ma Ri for the first time:

Which brings me to the “Notes From Agent P” portion of this so-called review. (What a segue, huh ) Honestly? I only have two complaints about this DVD set and one of them is that there weren’t that many “kilig” BiKyo moments. Although for all I know, this DVD could have three full hours of nothing but BiKyo moments and I still would be craving for more. I don’t know if it’s because there weren’t anything more aside from what we’ve already seen, or because the remaining unseen footage reveal more information than necessary. My Agent P self picks the second one, although I think it’s more of the first one. There were a few that made me feel giddy, though.

One: This was capped after they filmed the scene where Han Ji Eun caught Lee Young Jae hiding inside her closet and she beat him up. The weather was incredibly hot then (they even showed the crew literally dripping in sweat) and Hye Kyo was fanning herself. On the way out of the room, she suddenly did this to Rain:

She gave a lil’ back rub, which looked like she was checking if his shirt was wet and needs to be changed because he might catch pneumonia.

Two: The first Lee Young Jae-Han Ji Eun scene on the plane. This cap was taken when they were rehearsing the part where Ji Eun got scared of turbulence, so she grabbed Young Jae’s arm.

I don’t know if it’s evident on this screen cap, but if you look closely at Rain’s face on the video, he looked like he was thinking, “omigad, Song Hye Kyo touched my arm…”

Three: rehearsing the first kissing scene.

This was during rehearsals when they were being coached on how to position their heads for the kissing scene. At one point, I was acting silly and egging Ji Hoon to go ahead and kiss Hye Kyo. I think Kim Sung Soo teased him about it, too, although I could just be imagining that part. The amusing thing was, at one point while they were filming the kissing scene, I heard some little shouts of “yihee!” in the background. Or maybe that’s just me.

Yeah I’m interpreting these scenes too much and imagining the rest of the story but I just can’t help it. That’s exactly what Agent P is known for in the first place.

But this one is not imagined. I personally think this one is the cutest part of the entire set.

Hye Kyo coaching Rain on the choreography for Gom Se Ma Ri. How cute is that??

Verdict: It would’ve been great if this set has English sub-titles (or if I knew Korean or Japanese). Other than that, just seeing Rain, Hye Kyo and the rest of the Full House family on my screen again and getting a new perspective of how my favorite Korean drama was created is worth my money.

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