At the movies we’ve seen cars that talk, fly, and travel in time. But this time a car actually made a movie. Creative director Nari Moon of INNOCEAN takes us behind the scenes.
What can you do when you invest in advertising for a technically advanced new car, but the target audience shrugs its shoulders? You get innovative, that’s what. INNOCEAN in South Korea took another long look at the car concerned, the Hyundai IONIQ 5, and had an insight worthy of a sci-fi tale: maybe the car itself could become a film-making tool?
The result: Night Fishing, a film shot entirely with the car’s cameras. Creative director Nari Moon tells us how it panned out.
How difficult was it to persuade the client to make a short feature film rather than a conventional ad?
Nari: We first pitched the idea of shooting a short film with the built-in cameras in the IONIQ 5, and to our surprise, the client immediately got on board even though the final result was impossible to predict at that point.
They were intrigued by the idea of positioning the car, not just as a mode of transportation, but as a creative tool. They also felt that presenting the project as a cultural film, rather than a traditional ad, would communicate the brand’s value in a more authentic and natural way.
The client respected the filmmakers’ creative autonomy, and once the film was complete, we worked closely together on how to communicate it effectively to consumers. Overall, it was a genuinely enjoyable and meaningful collaboration.
When and how did the idea of making the film with the car’s cameras emerge?
To develop branded content for Hyundai, we revisited the vehicle specs in detail. As we were going through them, one thought stood out: Are there really this many cameras built into the car?
That sparked a simple idea. If a driver can see the outside world through seven cameras with 360-degree coverage, why not build a short film around what happens outside the vehicle?
The IONIQ already embodies Hyundai’s innovative identity. In most films, cars are used as product placement. But we believed that if the vehicle itself became the filmmaking tool, it could push that innovative image even further.
People have shot films and music videos with smartphones before. But we were confident that using the car’s seven integrated cameras could create a truly original cinematic point of view.
How did you choose the director, Byung-Gon Moon? He seems to specialise in making short films… Plus the actor in the film, Son Suk-ku, is amazing. Why was he chosen for the role?
Son Suk-ku is a widely recognized Korean actor known for both his strong performances and his creative approach to storytelling and content. When we first shared the project with him, he recommended director Byung-gon Moon, someone he had long wanted to collaborate with.
Director Moon, who won the Palme d’Or for Short Film at Cannes, felt like a perfect fit for Night Fishing. Since we were planning a short-form film, his background and sensibility aligned naturally with the project.
From the script stage onward, we worked closely with both Son Suk-ku and Director Moon, and that creative chemistry comes through clearly in the final film.
If a driver can see the outside world through seven cameras...why not build a short film around what happens outside the vehicle?
Was the story carefully planned beforehand, or did it evolve as the filming went on? The film was clearly technically difficult to shoot.
At the first meeting, everyone felt the pressure of one major constraint: the film had to be shot entirely with seven fixed in-vehicle cameras. But we quickly reframed that limitation as a creative opportunity.
By the second meeting, the director, agency, and production team were actively exploring different story directions. After that, Director Moon and Son Suk-ku worked closely to develop the script in greater depth.
Even after the script was finalized, we still had concerns. Would audiences be able to follow the story through such limited angles? Would fixed camera positions make the visuals feel repetitive?
In the end, those constraints pushed us toward new ideas. Because the cameras couldn’t move, we built in a physically intense action sequence in which the actor struggles with an alien figure, adding urgency and tension. After filming, his arms were covered in bruises.
To keep the visual language dynamic, especially in darker settings, we also used moving drone lights to create tension and avoid visual monotony. Through extensive testing and experimentation, we gradually shaped the film’s final cinematic style.
Since there were no clear references for this kind of approach, everyone involved kept asking, “Will this actually work?” But through close collaboration among the director, cinematographer, actor, agency, and stunt team, the project steadily evolved into a compelling final film.
One of the most impressive aspects of the project is the way the film was publicized. How hard was it to get the film selected for Sundance? In the case study it mentions that you had “zero media budget”.
After completing Night Fishing, we wanted the film to be evaluated on its artistic merit and overall cinematic quality by industry professionals.
Its first major screening was in ChefDance, an official program of the Sundance Film Festival, where it received a strong response from filmmakers and actors. (Just to clarify: the film officially participated in the program, but it did not win an award.)
We felt Night Fishing was a fully realized film, and because the concept itself was so original, we wanted audiences to experience it in a new way so we chose a theatrical release. The low-ticket price of just $1 (1,000 KRW) helped spark curiosity, and word of mouth spread quickly. The idea of “a short film shot entirely with vehicle cameras” drew strong attention from both the press and the film industry.
After release, the project generated about 813 media articles and more than 20,000 organic consumer mentions, with an estimated advertising value of KRW 13.7 billion. Search interest among Gen Z also rose to nearly double the average level. Because of this momentum, we didn’t need to allocate a separate paid media budget.
The film later won Best Editing in the International Short Film category and Bronze in Best Asian Shorts at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, and it was also invited to several other film festivals.
