by Team AllYourVideogames | Oct 5, 2022 | News |
Arriving like nothing on the streaming service, the South Korean series Round 6 Netflix has become one of the main recent highlights and one of the biggest hits on the platform. Also known as Squid Game, the production has nine episodes that are available on Netflix.
Learn more: Netflix action movie: The 20 best to watch
Round 6 Netflix Sinopse
Round 6 Netflix is an original production by the streaming platform that follows a group of people desperate for money due to their debts. Thus, they all receive an invitation to participate in a mysterious game inspired by children's games. Even without knowing anything about it, hundreds of people accept the invitation and go to the indicated place to participate in the game. But how many will manage to win the promised money, as the stakes are high and deadly?
Round 6 Netflix Curiosities
Due to its great success, it is interesting to check out some curiosities about this great production that conquered the world on the streaming service. Then see some curious information about Round 6 Netflix. It is worth mentioning that among the trivia we have spoilers about the series, so read at your own risk.
Learn more: Recommended Netflix Movies: Our 30 Favorites
1. Round 6: What does the series name mean?
In our country, the Korean drama became popular under the name of Round 6, however, in the original, the series is called Squid Game. The national name is a reference to the number of games that players need to win to survive and reach the promised prize, that is, there are six games that can be divided into six rounds.
The name Squid Game, on the other hand, can be translated as the “Squid Game”. This is a very popular joke among South Koreans, and it is explained at the beginning of the series. In this children's game we have two separate teams, where one will defend and the other will attack.
The objective is to prevent the opponent from reaching the final destination decided previously. The player who steps onto the end line first can be considered the winner. Although we don't have this game in our country, we do have a similar game, which is better known as flag pick.
Hwang Dong Hyuk, the showrunner and director of Round 6 Netflix, explained the meaning of the series name: “I used to play this game in the schoolyard and on the neighborhood streets when I was a kid. So, this name is because the series tells the story of people who used to play this game in childhood and now need to go back to playing children's games even as adults. Because Squid Game is a more physical game and my favorite, I thought it would symbolize, among children's games, the society we are living in today”.
Learn more: The 20 best series of our country on Netflix
2. The most difficult scenes to record
Image: Netflix / Playback
Round 6 Netflix is full of tense and even difficult moments to watch, and we can imagine that some scenes were quite complicated to record. Actor Lee Jung-Jae, who gives life to the protagonist of the story, spoke about two scenes that for him were the most complicated at the time of recording.
One was in the second game, when he needed to highlight a drawing that was on a cookie, but without damaging the image. And another was during the fifth game, where participants have to go through a glass track without falling and choosing the correct option so the track doesn't break.
“In one of the scenes, my character has to lick the cookie to make the image stand out, and I remember wondering if I should be licking so much. Already in the game where we had to cross the glass bridge, the tempered glass we had to jump on was positioned 2 meters high. The entire crew told me it was completely safe and that I could run and jump without worrying.”
He goes on to say, “But I was sweating a lot so my feet kept slipping on the glass. In the beginning, the gap between the windows was also very big, so it was difficult to run. The team had to rearrange most of it, but some sections couldn't be moved, and that made it very difficult."
3. It wasn't supposed to have a sex scene
During one of the episodes of Round 6 Netflix, we had a sex scene between two players. One is South Korean acting veteran Heo Sung-Tae, who plays a feared and violent gangster in the series. Although this was the only sex moment in the entire drama, it shouldn't have happened.
Married since 2010, the actor had promised his wife that he would not do sex scenes in his works, no matter what amount was offered as payment. During a 2022 interview with radio station SBS, the actor said: "I'm forbidden by my wife to record sex scenes, that's the line she drew."
He still says that his partner doesn't see problems in nude scenes and that he could do it without worrying, but sex scenes are something she would never tolerate, like seeing her husband in bed with another woman.
4. What is the meaning of symbols?
Image: Netflix / Playback
The circle, triangle and square symbols have marked the series throughout its nine episodes, but what do they mean? These figures are present on the card that serves as an invitation to the game, and the employees in pink, who take care of the organization of the games, have these symbols on their masks.
These symbols are a reference to Playstation controllers, but that's not the answer we're looking for. In reality, the three symbols are more directly linked to the Korean alphabet and the original name of the series.
The circle means the letter O (ㅇ), the triangle is the letter J (ㅈ) and the square is the letter M (ㅁ). By combining the three, we have the sequence OJM, which are part of the word Ojingeo Geim (오징어 게임), which is a Korean abbreviation for “Squid Game”.
5. Completion of the script
During a press conference about Round 6 Netflix, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed that the script for the series began 13 years ago, having started in 2008 and being finished in 2009. He also revealed that at that time he was heavily in debt. , as well as the characters on the show, which made him think that if a game like this really existed, he would participate.
The person in charge of the program also revealed that he had a lot of difficulty finding actors willing to play the characters and investors for the drama, as at the time the series' genre and narrative were considered too brutal by everyone for a story to be adapted for TV.
However, time ended up changing entertainment and the way consumers see productions. So, more than a decade later, the script that was once seen as brutal, had come to be called intriguing and identifiable. The director then went back to work and expanded the script, until in 2022 Netflix agreed to bring the creator's vision to life.
Learn more: The 60 best horror movies to watch on Halloween
6. The delay in writing the first episodes
The first two episodes of the series took two months to write, making it clear how much the creator and director was concerned with the details and development of the story. So, we have practically 1 month for each of the first two episodes.
7. Doubt about work
It was not only the producers and actors who doubted the work and development of Round 6, but the acquaintances and even people close to Hwang Dong-Hyuk questioned the quality of the script when they read it.
8. The definition of uniforms
Image: Netflix / Playback
Definitely, green and pink are the colors that can be used to define Round 6 Netflix. The director chose the color green for the participants to wear in their gym clothes as it reminded him of the uniforms Korean high school students wore in his day.
Because of this, it was necessary that the soldiers, that is, the other side of the story, had a color in their uniforms that generated a good contrast, so the color hot pink was chosen, since in the color wheel, this is the color directly opposite green.
This was an option that not only fits visually, but also makes it clear that the two groups are on completely opposite sides of the same coin. This option was also chosen so that it can show fear and make it visible on screen. It is worth mentioning that the corridors of the dormitories and the gaming arena are also pink.
The use of opposite colors also serves to maintain an individuality and identity of the two groups, which added to the use of numbers instead of names by the characters, leave the element of anonymity present in a more striking way. That is, by calling soldiers and participants by their numbers, it ends up being a metaphor for the system stealing the people's identity.
9. The anthill-shaped structure
The hierarchy of the show's antagonists follows an anthill format, where everyone has their roles clearly distributed, but from the outside, they are all the same. The director confirmed that he was inspired by this to create the characters' uniforms.
All soldiers wear the same pink clothes, but the designs on their masks are different, ranging from circles, triangles and squares. Workers are represented by the circles, soldiers by the triangle and managers by the squares. They only carry out the functions they are given, and whoever disobeys ends up being killed.
10. The paintings on the walls
One of the main questions players had while waiting was to know what the next game would be. At the beginning of the series, the dormitory had 456 beds, one for each player, however, as each one died, the beds became smaller, and the walls became more and more exposed.
In the end, there were only three participants and three beds left in the room, which left the walls well exposed. It is possible to see figures that looked like children's drawings on the walls, and although no player noticed, the figures were clues that could have guaranteed the players' victory, as they showed what each of the games would be.
Learn more: Horror series: the 26 most recommended
11. The inspirations for the stairs scenery
In the first episode, we can see a scene that shows the entire staircase that connects the game rooms seen from above, and we see that they are disorienting. The creator of the drama also revealed that the staircase is inspired by a lithographic print, more specifically by Dutch artist MC Escher. Entitled “Relativity”, this is one of the artist's main works, illustrating a world in which the laws of gravity are completely different.
12. How many people participated in the first game?
Image: Netflix / Playback
As said before, the game started with 456 participants in the Round 6 Netflix series, and obviously everyone was present for the first game. However, did you know that 456 actors were actually cast to participate in the game? In other words, we didn't have any computer graphics to fill the space of other participants.
13. The familiarity of music
It is common for productions with a more violent theme and approach to have a more dramatic soundtrack, however, this does not happen in Round 6 Netflix. The drama's music director, Jung Jae-il, preferred to use softer and comforting music, thus creating a contrast to the chaotic and violent world that the characters are in.
Among the most famous songs that are part of the soundtrack, we can highlight The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II and Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra. These songs are manipulated to cause a feeling of terror, in the same way as the children's games in the plot. In some moments, a recorder is also used during the games, thus generating restlessness and agitation in the players' emotions.
14. The name of the number 001
One of the main players in the plot is 001, who goes by the name of Oh Il-nam. If we translate the name literally, we will get the result “man number one”, that is, the character's first name is linked to the number he received for the games. This is the director's way of showing that player 001 is the brains of Round 6.
He is not only the first player and participant, but he is also the first when it comes to riches and power. Another hint of this is right in the first episode, during the first joke. While the doll surveyed the crowd with an eyeliner, player 001 did not appear with this eyeliner.
15. Allegations of plagiarism
With the great success and attention, it is to be expected that at some point Round 6 Netflix would be involved in some controversy. The series was recently accused of plagiarizing the Japanese film As the Gods Will. The 2022 feature is directed by renowned Takashi Miike.
Both productions have a very similar plot, as the film revolves around high school students who, in order to survive, are forced to play childish pranks and win, otherwise they die. Fans of the film's director's work also noticed some visual similarities between the two stories.
Learn more: 16 drama series to watch on Amazon Prime Video
16. Is it Netflix's biggest hit?
Ted Sarandos, Netflix's head of programming, spoke about Round 6 during a keynote at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, confirming the great success the production has had. He claims that if the series' numbers remain high, Round 6 could end up becoming the most successful production in Netflix history, being the most watched series on the platform.
The streaming service measures the success of its series and movies based on the number of hits on different accounts, the more different accounts accessed a program, the greater the number released. As of this writing, the most successful series on Netflix is Bridgerton, which in its first season had 82 million viewers.
Despite this great success, the director and creator of the Korean series has stated that he does not intend to continue the story in a second season. For him, this great reach was unexpected, and making a new year would be too tiring, so don't expect news about a renewal. But still, Round 6 could become the service's most watched series with just the first season.
17. The telephone number
The card received by players before the games, to decide whether or not to participate, has a phone number, and this number is real. The owner even stated that she is having a lot of problems and headaches because of it, suffering from non-stop prank calls and prank calls.
18. The place where Gi-hun is caught
The protagonist is caught in a place in the very first episode, and in the last we see a homeless person freezing to death in the exact same place. Many fans did not realize that these locations were the same.
19. The direction of the episodes
In addition to creating, writing, and serving as the showrunner for the series, Hwang Dong-hyuk has also taken on the responsibility of directing the series' 9 episodes.
20. Problems with recordings
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Round 6 Netflix suffered from problems finishing its recordings, having to deal with delays in deadlines. In August 2022 filming was interrupted due to the pandemic, but in September of the same year they returned and so everything was finished.
Learn more: 20 Action Movies on Amazon Prime Video
21. The number 456
One number is present during the entire production, and that is 456. There are 456 players participating in the games, the protagonist is identified by the same number, the cast of the series has 456 people and the prize of the competition is 45,6 billion Won , currency used in South Korea.
22. How much is the prize in reais?
But how much is the prize of 45,6 billion Won worth, in reais? Converting to the currency we use here in our country, the game's prize would be approximately R$208,653,000.
23. Little use of CGI
Another point where Round 6 Netflix stands out is the little use of computer graphics during its episodes. All the sets were actually built, surprising even the main cast during the recordings, all the actors were really in the scene, no puppets and CGI were used. In addition, whenever possible practical effects were used.
24. The participation of foreigners
Image: Netflix / Playback
Last but not least among Round 6 Netflix trivia, we have the presence of Indian actor Anupam Tripathi, as one of the main characters, playing Pakistani Adbul Ali. This is interesting because, in South Korea, the presence of foreign actors is very rare in national productions.
Learn more: Anime Online: Where to watch the best productions
