There are tons of the explanation why KPop Demon Hunters had me wide-eyed and in awe whereas watching. From creating a completely distinctive animated world like Spider-verse did to its extremely catchy pop music, there’s quite a bit to like. Nevertheless, one in all my favourite components of this movie is how nearly each choreographed second, whether or not it’s a battle or dance, is completely synchronized with the movie’s authentic music. So, once I had the possibility to interview the administrators of this 2025 Netflix launch, I requested how they did that, and so they detailed the “torturous course of.”
Whereas interviewing KPop Demon Hunters’ writers and administrators, Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, for CinemaBlend, I requested them to stroll me via the method of syncing music with animation. They each shortly laughed whereas saying that it’s a really arduous course of. Nevertheless, it’s one they nailed via a workflow with their editors that Appelhans defined right here:
It is a horrible, torturous course of [laughs]. No, I imply, I feel what we had was an important editor, after which inside our editorial division, a man named Oren Yaacoby, who’s a extremely unimaginable music editor. And so he is a musician and an editor on the identical time. So our image editor, Nathan [Schauf], might create [a] nice rhythmic image factor, after which Oren might reverse engineer the tune, trim bits and items. He’d go to Nathan and say, ‘I figured all of it out, however I would like eight extra frames right here to make this tick.’ So it was this math downside that was additionally a narrative and leisure downside, however having individuals who might do this was the important thing.
Nicely, that does sound like a “torturous” course of. Nevertheless, that detail-oriented frame-by-frame method paid off huge time. All through all KPop Demon Hunters, I used to be in awe because the demon hunters and demons danced just like the pop stars they’re, whereas additionally actually combating to the beat.
To that time, after Appelhans described the work the editors put into ensuring all the pieces was synched to perfection, Kang spoke about how their workforce animated the musical moments of this new streaming film. Explaining that they used their very own form of metronome within the type of a “bouncing ball” to trace the rhythm, she stated:
The music all the time comes first, as a result of the music was additionally a part of story. It was so built-in into storytelling…After which they used type of a bouncing ball to actually observe the rhythm after which to match animation beats to the music.
I figured this course of needed to be strenuous, however really listening to it spelled out tells me it’s ten instances extra intense than I had initially thought. It provides a wholly new appreciation to the movie for me, too.
So, with that in thoughts, I requested the administrators what it was like to listen to the songs for the primary time. They informed me they have been in “tears,” and once I requested which second particularly within the movie triggered stated response, Maggie Kang stated:
Oh, I imply, I feel even the model of “How It is Carried out” that we’re listening to, I feel that actually was like, ‘Okay that this felt — [we hit the level] of coolness, and the lyrics type of suggesting that they have been greater than what meets the attention and never simply idols, however we’re additionally warriors.’ And all of these elements simply felt like they got here collectively, and it was like, ‘That is it? That is our tune.’
It’s so cool to listen to that, as a result of “How It’s Carried out” units the tone for this story. This scene is the primary time we see the women battle, sing and dance, and it highlights all their abilities in a visually beautiful method. It’s additionally an epic instance of how this challenge instances its action-packed moments to music. That includes each battle choreography and dancing, it exhibits off all the pieces we talked about right here, and you may watch it under:
Watch On
Did you see that? She actually caught a espresso pot on the beat! The weapons have been flying in time with the music! The best way the pictures reduce, it was on beat too. It’s actually mindblowing, and I’m much more impressed now that I do know simply how a lot work goes into pulling off sequences like this.
Now, to go watch this challenge on the 2025 film schedule and soak up all this musical perfection, you’ll be able to stream KPop Demon Hunters proper now with a Netflix subscription.