Answer: < Hong Gil-Dong(Hong Gildong) > (Shin Dong-heon, 1967)

The first Korean feature-length animation film is < Hong Gil-dong>, released in 1967. Director Shin Dong-heon, the older brother of cartoonist Shin Dong-wu who published the hit series in the mid ‘60s, < Lucky Adventurer, Hong Gil-dong>, and also a renowned director of animated commercials, directed this lengthy animation. This film exceeded 100,000 audiences in the first four days and ranked 2nd in the box office records of that year.

< Hong Gil-dong>, the animation, holds many different meanings in the history of Korean animation. It deals with a traditional subject matter, brought on a new light regarding the importance of music in animation films by recording with orchestras and choirs, and developed independent filming techniques that were almost impossible at the time.

< Hong Gil-dong>, the animation, was made using the cell method. Cell animation is the most traditional animation production technique where drawings on paper (original drawings, animated drawings) are moved to transparent celluloid films, colored in, and then placed on completed background settings before they are recorded on film. Nowadays, most films use 3D animation techniques supported by computer programs, the cell animation technique is still widely used because it allows a great division of labor where many people divide up to work on different cells.

There is a unique behind-the-scenes story about the production of . It used the celluloid films made for military purposes. After the Korean War, the US army carried out regular aerial surveillance operations and used giant celluloid films to develop the photos they took in the sky. Some of the film used by the US Army leaked out to the private markets in Korea and the production staff of collected these films, cleaned them with lye, and used them instead of ordinary celluloid films. The production staff also had other difficulties to resolve while making the first feature length animation film. They independently invented the double exposure technique to express shadows, and used the audio-video synchronizing method for the first time to match the voices with the animation. It is unbelievable that just 10 people who had no prior knowledge about feature-length films were able to invent these techniques on their own through trial-and-error and complete the animation. What is even more surprising is that the quality of the film was surprisingly high, considering the unfavorable conditions at the time. Having ascertained that the 16mm film was preserved at a private archive in Osaka, Japan in 2007, the Korean Film Archive collected it but found that the film was a Japanese dubbed version. Fortunately a 35mm negative sound film in Korean was found to be preserved at KOFA. Afterwards, restoration work was carried out rapidly. The 16mm film collected from the Japanese archive was enlarged to 35mm by development. Then, the enlarged film was matched to the sound negative film preserved by the Korean Film Archive, and finally ‘Hong Gil-dong’ was successfully restored to almost its original film in April 2008.