Singapore to release first series adaptation of a Korean short film in 2023

Singapore’s first series adaptation of an original Korean short film will be released mid-2023 on all Mediacorp platforms. 

The series, titled Alienated, is commissioned by Mediacorp and produced by Viddsee Studios. It is based on the viral short film titled Human Form by up-and-coming Korean filmmaker Doyeon Noh, who is also involved in the series. 

Doyeon’s short film accumulated over seven million views globally, with over 90 per cent of viewers being aged 34 and under, according to Viddsee’s audience network insights. 

It follows a young girl in an isolated world where everyone has the same surgically altered appearance, highlighting South Korea’s obsession with plastic surgery.

According to Mediacorp, the Alienated series is a youth-centric social thriller that explores societal issues such as toxic positivity, cancel culture, bullying and social injustice.

The adaptation follows Luna, a 18-year-old schoolgirl, who contemplates ending her life under social pressure and pain but ends up unexpectedly striking a deal with a mysterious entity that enables her to live the life she wants through multiple alternate universes.

Chief customer and corporate development officer from Mediacorp, Angeline Poh said that Alienated was “one of the fruitful outcomes of [its] first Creatives Assembly call for ideas exercise held in 2021”, which sought out the best concepts that merited a commission.

Viddsee and Mediacorp’s previous collaborations include a local shorts-to-series adaptation, Home Is Where The Heart Is, commissioned under Mediacorp’s LIGHTS. CAMERA. SINGAPORE initiative to celebrate local stories. 

The series was nominated for Best Drama Series’ Made for a Single Asian Market at ContentAsia Awards 2022.