To celebrate the imminent release of their Korean zombie series, All Of Us Are Dead, Netflix has released a behind-the-scenes featurette of the making of the highly anticipated series. Before the show drops in a matter of hours, Netflix invited followers to draw back the curtain and see exactly how everything pulled together to bring the apocalyptic show to life.
In the seven-minute short, we hear from the show’s director, Lee Jae-kyu, who explains a bit about the plot. Described by Jae-kyu, All Of Us Are Dead is based in a small town, specifically a high school, where one student’s zombie infection turns deadly for the rest of the community. Trapped in the school with nowhere to go, the living students must fight for their survival. The director describes the takeaway of the series as the character’s “struggle to keep alive and keep who they are.” The teenagers will need to fight against friends and loved ones as they make a push for safety.
Jae-kyu acknowledges that there have been countless amounts of content made about zombie outbreaks, but says this series will be different because it focuses on a young cast of characters stuck inside high school — which is already hell, even without a zombie apocalypse bursting through the doors.
Cinematography and colors played a huge role in the making of the show. Jae-kyu tells audiences to pay attention to the color change of the character’s surroundings from beginning to end. As audiences enter the story on a bright, color-popping note, it slowly gets darker as the zombie spread takes hold. The creative team used colors to shape feelings of “intensity” and drama throughout the episodes. To help audiences get to know the main characters, Jae-kyu also did a deep dive into several of the series regulars played by Park Ji-hoo, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun, Park Solomon, Yoo In-soo, and Lee Yoo-mi.
Most of all, the director set out to make this story as “realistic and lively” as possible, including installing a four story, hundred meter long school in a studio for shots in and around the building. To further accomplish the genuineness of the zombie takeover, several of the scenes were done in one shot, forcing the actors to do countless hours of choreographed rehearsals.
All Of Us Are Dead premieres on Netflix on January 28. Check out the full featurette below: