Syncing Up Music And Choreography In An Animated Movie Is Apparently ‘Torturous,' And The KPop Demon Hunters Directors Told Me Why
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There are tons of reasons why KPop Demon Hunters had me wide-eyed and in awe while watching. From creating a totally unique animated world like Spider-verse did to its incredibly catchy pop music, there's a lot to love. However, one of my favorite elements of this film is how almost every choreographed moment, whether it be a fight or dance, is perfectly synchronized with the film's original music. So, when I had the chance to interview the directors of this 2025 Netflix release, I asked how they did that, and they detailed the 'torturous process.'
While interviewing KPop Demon Hunters' writers and directors, Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, for CinemaBlend, I asked them to walk me through the process of syncing music with animation. They both quickly laughed while saying that it's a very arduous process. However, it's one they nailed through a workflow with their editors that Appelhans explained here:
It's a horrible, torturous process [laughs]. No, I mean, I think what we had was a great editor, and then within our editorial department, a guy named Oren Yaacoby, who's a really incredible music editor. And so he's a musician and an editor at the same time. So our picture editor, Nathan [Schauf], could create [a] great rhythmic picture thing, and then Oren could reverse engineer the song, trim bits and pieces. He'd go to Nathan and say, 'I figured it all out, but I need eight more frames here to make this tick.' So it was this math problem that was also a story and entertainment problem, but having people who could do that was the key.
Well, that does sound like a 'torturous' process. However, that detail-oriented frame-by-frame approach paid off big time. Throughout all KPop Demon Hunters, I was in awe as the demon hunters and demons danced like the pop stars they are, while also literally fighting to the beat.
To that point, after Appelhans described the work the editors put into making sure everything was synched to perfection, Kang spoke about how their team animated the musical moments of this new streaming movie. Explaining that they used their own sort of metronome in the form of a 'bouncing ball' to track the rhythm, she said:
The music always comes first, because the music was also part of story. It was so integrated into storytelling…And then they used kind of a bouncing ball to really track the rhythm and then to match animation beats to the music.
I figured this process had to be strenuous, but actually hearing it spelled out tells me it's ten times more intense than I had originally thought. It adds an entirely new appreciation to the film for me, too.
So, with that in mind, I asked the directors what it was like to hear the songs for the first time. They told me they were in 'tears,' and when I asked which moment specifically in the film caused said reaction, Maggie Kang said:
Oh, I mean, I think even the version of 'How It's Done' that we're hearing, I think that really was like, 'Okay that this felt -- [we hit the level] of coolness, and the lyrics kind of suggesting that they were more than what meets the eye and not just idols, but we're also warriors.' And all of those ingredients just felt like they came together, and it was like, 'This is it? This is our song.'
It's so cool to hear that, because 'How It's Done' sets the tone for this story. This scene is the first time we see the girls fight, sing and dance, and it highlights all their skills in a visually stunning way. It's also an epic example of how this project times its action-packed moments to music. Featuring both fight choreography and dancing, it shows off everything we talked about here, and you can watch it below:
Did you see that? She literally caught a coffee pot on the beat! The weapons were flying in time with the music! The way the shots cut, it was on beat too. It's honestly mindblowing, and I'm even more impressed now that I know just how much work goes into pulling off sequences like this.
Now, to go watch this project on the 2025 movie schedule and take in all this musical perfection, you can stream KPop Demon Hunters right now with a Netflix subscription.
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