Tell us about your background! How did you get into music composition and make composing your career choice?

I grew up in a very musical family. My parents loved classical music, and my uncle is one of Korea’s most prominent choir conductors, so music was always around me. I started piano at four and briefly studied violin, and composing was something I enjoyed even before I formally studied it.

I was actually torn between visual art and music when I was younger, but I eventually chose music and went on to study composition at Seoul National University. There, I received rigorous training in contemporary classical music.

After graduating, though, I realized that what I was good at was not necessarily what I wanted to pursue professionally. I came to film music almost by accident, and later explored game music as well. Once I did, it clicked. I have always drawn inspiration from many different art forms, so working with stories, images, and larger creative worlds felt very natural to me.

You’re quite versatile in the styles of music that you write and your ability to combine palettes! Can you tell us more about your work? Especially your ability to combine orchestral elements with textures?

My foundation is in orchestral and contemporary classical writing, and orchestration has always been one of my strengths and something I genuinely enjoy.

At the same time, I wanted to broaden my skills, especially because there are not always many opportunities to use a full orchestra. I spent time studying contemporary production techniques, including K-pop production, synths, electronic textures, and sound design.

Film music has also changed so much that orchestral writing is no longer the automatic default. Over time, those two sides of my background naturally began to meet. I did not consciously set out to create a hybrid style, but combining orchestral elements with electronic production and texture gradually became part of my musical language.

Your work as a composer has garnered impressive industry recognition; congratulations for being selected for the prestigious Spot the Composer program at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival! What was this experience like for you and what were some of your takeaways from being at Cannes?

Being selected for Spot the Composer still feels a little surreal. Our cohort was the first after the program resumed following COVID, and we became genuinely close. We still celebrate one another’s birthdays and support each other’s work.

Being invited to Cannes itself was incredibly special, but the biggest takeaway for me was confidence. Before that experience, I think I still lacked some belief in myself as a composer. Because the program selected us based on our music, being chosen made me feel that my work had truly been seen and valued.

I was also surrounded by peers who had already achieved a great deal in their careers, and being included in that group gave me a stronger sense that I belonged there too. More than any specific lesson, the experience gave me momentum and greater confidence in the path I had chosen.

When working on films, like your recent work on The Other Side of Winter, how do you approach finding the right musical palette? What does that collaboration with the filmmakers look like for you?

For me, the palette comes from the film as a whole, not just the script. I respond to the color, cinematography, mise-en-scène, texture, and overall emotional atmosphere.

With The Other Side of Winter, winter itself felt like part of the film’s emotional language. I wanted the music to feel cold, lonely, and restrained, while still carrying a subtle Korean emotional sensibility.

It was also my first experience creating an official OST song for a film, working with Hoya, who is both the lead actor and an experienced singer. That required balancing lyrics, melody, and the emotional world of the film.

Ultimately, film music is less about melody or instrumentation by itself and more about what you feel when the music meets the image. This director trusted me greatly, which allowed me to take a more proactive role and think not just like a composer, but more like a filmmaker.

You’ve also worked as orchestrator on huge projects like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and The Naked Gun. What’s been most valuable about working as an orchestrator or what lessons did you learn when working on these projects?

One of my most memorable experiences was observing a James Newton Howard recording session in London while assisting Pete Anthony, who has been both my teacher and my boss. Hearing James’s music, Pete’s team’s orchestration, and some of London’s finest players all come together in the room was unforgettable.

Orchestration has taught me that the job is both artistic and highly technical. Recording time is expensive, players are sight-reading, and an orchestrator has to anticipate problems before they happen.

I have also become very interested in how to achieve a larger, fuller sound with limited resources. There is a kind of practical judgment that only comes from experience—knowing what reads well, what slows a session down, and how to make the ensemble work efficiently. I think that expertise can sometimes be overlooked, but when live orchestra is involved, it can make an enormous difference.

You recently added music editing to your list of many skills with your work on the Korean feature film HOPE which has it’s North American theatrical release coming up this September! What was it like working as music editor for this film? Do you think it will affect the way you approach composition moving forward in your career?

HOPE was an incredibly ambitious production, and it was a real honor to support Michael Abels’ music on a film of that scale. What made the experience especially valuable was how closely I was able to observe the creative process around the score—the decisions, revisions, communication, and coordination required to bring music into a large production.

It made me realize even more clearly how many people and layers are involved in making a film, and how music has to function within that much larger structure.

I think it will definitely affect the way I compose. I now think less about a cue in isolation and more about what the director needs music to do within the larger architecture of the film. It also gave me a deeper understanding of how to interpret a director’s vision and what role music is meant to play within it.

In addition to all your work for film, you’ve also composed for games like Guild Wars 2 and Ground Zero. Do you approach your game work differently from your film music? What’s your process look like when working on games?

Definitely. I discovered game music later than film music, but I have become deeply interested in it.

In film, music is one of many elements, and sometimes the absence of music can be more powerful than having a score. In games, music often plays a more continuous role in maintaining immersion, tension, and the player’s experience. A combat cue, for example, may need to stay much more present and energized than music typically would in a film.
My experiences with Guild Wars 2 and Ground Zero were also very different. Guild Wars 2 already had an established musical identity, so the challenge was to contribute something fresh without straying too far from that world.

With Ground Zero, Kati Falk-Flores and I were given much more freedom to build the musical world from the ground up. That trust made the project especially creative and rewarding.

You’ve mentioned that writing so much music for Ground Zero deepened your interest in building the sonic identity of a story and the world it lives in, whether that’s in games or films. Can you tell us more about this and why it’s important to you? How do you see that affecting your compositional voice in the future?

When we finish a film or a game, what stays with us is often surprisingly abstract. We may forget details of the story, but we remember a color, a texture, a mood, or simply the feeling of having been in that world. Music helps create that memory.

Earlier in my career, I was more focused on writing “good music” and having a recognizable personal sound. I still think a composer needs a strong point of view, but my thinking has changed.

I am now more interested in recognizing what is already unique about a project and bringing that quality forward. I do not want to apply the same musical identity to everything I work on.
For me, a strong compositional voice can also mean having the taste, craft, and sensitivity to understand what a project could become and helping it become more fully itself.

As one final, fun question — if you could write music for absolutely any story or project what would it be and why?

There are many directions I would love to explore. I love filmmakers like David Fincher, so I would be excited to work on something psychologically intense with a darker, more electronic and textural palette. I would also love to score a fantasy project that genuinely calls for the power of a full orchestra.

But recently, I am less attached to a specific genre. What excites me most is the idea of working on something immersive, where music plays a meaningful role from beginning to end.
That could be a film, a game, an exhibition, or something else entirely. I would love to work on a project where the audience, player, or visitor can become completely absorbed in a world, and where music actively helps shape that experience.

Interview by Kati Falk-Flores

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