Kim Ye Jin (’18, Business Administration) is the creator of the YouTube channel Podo World. Podo World is an English educational channel that aims to help children have a friendly first encounter with English through interactive activities. Kim works with Lee Hyo Lim (’00, Seoul National University) and Jeon Min Pyo (’18, Korea University) well as Korea University’s (KU) CJ Creator Library (CCL) to create her videos. Kim hopes to further expand her channel to inspire and educate children all over the world.
Interview with Kim Ye Jin
GT: When and how was Podo World established? Please be as specific as possible.
Kim Ye Jin: Our channel Podo World officially launched on March 6, but our ideas for the channel date back to around November of 2019. All of us were actually attracted to the YouTube platform for a long time. Min Pyo had dreamt of creating a vlog channel, Hyo Lim had passion and talent for film and editing, and I had been interested in younger level English education. I guess our areas of interest naturally combined to become Podo World.
GT: Is there a reason why you chose to become a YouTube creator in a new field rather than in your own major?
Kim Ye Jin: Before starting Podo World, I was a weekend teacher at an
English kindergarten and had been for three years. I even devoted my holidays to creating curriculums and working in similar areas; naturally, I began to realize the importance of the related productions. I wondered how I could incorporate such experiences with my major and started working on the idea of Podo World.
Collecting ideas to create educational materials is rather easy because of the endlessly accessible online resources about phonics and grammar. However, it is always up to the teacher to turn it into a digestible activity-based class to teach children. I realized this was an opportunity to create a teaching manual for teachers, or even a manual for parents of home- schooled children. To take it one step further, the material could be used by parents who want more English exposure for their children in a nontraditional, educational and fun way.
GT: Who has what role in the production of the content uploaded to Podo World?
Kim Ye Jin: I am responsible for the ideation of the theme and plot of the videos. After I write up the script, Hyo Lim uses it to visualize the filming structure and completes the storyboard. At the filming site at CCL, I act, and Min Pyo films. Then Hyo Lim edits our raw clips and Min Pyo finalizes the finished video. We work and communicate through Dropbox.
GT: Tell us about any interesting episodes during the planning and production process of Podo World.
Kim Ye Jin: We usually film at CCL, but it had closed due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak. So we reserved and used an outside studio instead to shoot one of our videos. We did not know at the time we made the reservation, but when we arrived, it turned out to be a studio where many celebrities visited to shoot commercials and music videos. But there we were, not knowing how to use the lights and microphones, and not even having an SD card on us. The owner looked a bit surprised, to say the least. He later showed up with coffee to find me wearing a rabbit headband, jumping up and down to film an unusual English video. He looked surprised from the beginning to the end of the shoot. This definitely lasted as a funny episode for us.
GT: How do you plan to manage your channel in the future?
Kim Ye Jin: I plan to run Podo World even after I graduate. I think that accumulating a lot of videos and raising the channel’s awareness is an important process to move on to the next stage, so, in the meantime, we will be diligently filming, editing, and running our channel all while managing our school classes. We all agreed to shoot every other Friday and set our schedules accordingly. We film in Week 1 and upload our video on the Friday of Week 2. Other than that, we are proceeding with the editing and scripting procedure on our own free times.
GT: Have you had access to any of KU’s or other organizations’ support programs for student creators?
Kim Ye Jin: We would not have been able to even start this channel if it were not for CCL’s help. CCL offers free rental for its studios as well as for its cameras, SD cards, lighting, and wireless microphones. We are able to choose the studio type according to the scenario, make reservations in advance, and of course use them to film. Other than CCL’s operational help, we work independently on our remaining tasks. COVID-19 has delayed the opening of the CCL studio indefinitely; however, in the meantime, we are dealing with it by using an external studio.
We also received a lot of theoretical and practical help from a course called Campus CEO, which Min Pyo and I took together. It was very meaningful to learn about the various facilities that schools provide to students. We are especially thankful for Professor Shim Kyung-soo’s advice.
GT: Do you have any advice for readers who also want to be YouTube creators?
Kim Ye Jin: We run a small channel with only four videos so far, but it still feels very rewarding to be producing our original content. If you actively make use of CCL and start-up classes provided by KU, I am sure you will be able to get a lot of help. Being a creator takes a lot of work and it can be especially difficult to pursue as a student, so it may be good idea to use your spare time during the semester and on the weekends.
GT: Please share any remaining comments you have.
Kim Ye Jin: As I started the channel, I became curious about many aspects such as the complicated trademark registrations. I knew that other facilities and universities such as KU are providing support regarding these procedures, but it was hard to get information. I hope there is more information available so that students can approach it more comfortably and have access to more support in the future.