[DB] 스위트홈 시즌1 크리쳐 디자인 Sweet Home Season1 Creature Design

 

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프로틴 Protein

Since the monsters humans turn into are based on their deepest desires, the protein monster, also known as the steroid monster, came from the desire to be stronger. Though its human self is unknown, many assume that he was a bodybuilder. And just like its muscular appearance, the protein monster is immensely strong, much more so than other monsters in the story, even killing and eating some of its own kind like the blind monster.

 

Due to its size, the Protein Monster wasn’t controlled by any model or animatronic. Instead, an actor would have to put on a special makeup and prosthetics or motion tracking suit before acting out the action sequence.

Here are some shots of the face of the protein monster for Sweet Home Netflix. Blocked the face in and I got to do the refining and texturing, these are all in progress shots but loved working with this design.

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연근이 Lotus Root

Following the death of his family in an accident, loner Cha Hyun-soo moves to a new apartment. His quiet life is soon disrupted by strange incidents that start occurring in his new building. As people turn into monsters which take the form of their hidden desires, Hyun-soo and other residents try to survive.

Originally a resident of the Green Roof Apartment, he turned into a blind goblin-like creature due to his desire to kill his boss. This monster used to possess eyes, but the top half of its head was sliced off in a fight with Jayhun, a resident who wields a Korean martial arts sword, revealing a lotus root-looking head, giving it its other moniker, “Lotus Root Monster”. The monster’s body compensated by increasing its sense of hearing, causing one of its ears to grow larger.

 

As the directors wanted the monsters to look half-human, they hired choreographer Kim Seol Jin to work with their visual effects supervisor and performed as the blind monster. Kim Seol Jin had to put on hours' worth of special effects makeup before covering the exposed upper half of the monster's head.

They then used green tape so they could edit the top of his head to look like a lotus root.

Aside from the special effect make-up and post-production visual effects, the production crew went ahead and made life-sized models and animatronics that controls the facial movements of the monsters to help human actors visualize better on set.

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거미 Spider

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혓바닥 Tongue Monster

The tongue monster was the 2nd monster many of the survivors encountered when they investigated why the lobby is locked up. It is tall, with a large forehead. When hunting, its lower jaw, throat, and the upper chest opens up to reveal a long tongue, which it uses to fight, sucking the insides of whatever creature it is attached to, monsters and humans alike. 

 

In the show, the monster is seen sticking its long tongue through the metal grills of the lobby’s main entrance to get to its victims before sucking the life out of the residents. 

 

This was filmed with an actor donning special effects makeup. As the creature has a wide range of facial movements, the SFX for each scene was different. When the scene called for the monster to show its large mouth, the makeup for its open mouth would run from the top of the actor's mouth down to his chest. There were then green squares running along the inside of the monster's mouth so they could use computer-generated imagery on it later.

When it is time to film the tongue of the monster, the crew uses a green rod to go through the metal grids before editing it in post-production.

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촉수 Tentacles Monster

This monster was also known as the Spider Monster for its ability to move dexterously through vents and climb walls while chasing its prey. To capture the monster’s movements exactly how he wanted it, Director Lee Eung Bok enlisted the help of Troy James, a contortionist, and professional creature actor. 

 

Onset, Troy was often clad in a green suit. He would have to run up and downstairs with his back bent over, or swing around while being tethered to the ceiling. Being able to push his body to the extremes really helped give the Tentacles Monster its form.

Out of the green suit, Troy’s movements were also recorded to be used for reference.

’We didn’t want the monsters to look too human or monstrous, so we had to strike a balance with the visual effects and make-up,’’ said director Lee at a virtual press conference on the creation of Sweet Home’s monsters.

 

‘’There are hardly any scenes without computer-generated imagery. This kind of series with many computer-generated imagery sequences is very rare in South Korea, and we had a lot of fun experimenting with the visual effects, even the failures. We had several VFX teams which even came all the way from Hollywood.’’