Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1544392
www.postmagazine.com 23 POST MAR/APR 2026 we are also very much inspired by — they go more of the 2D route, but they're a comic book and we are not, so we felt like doing a 3D style was more suitable to us. I'm also inspired by The Simpsons, Looney Tunes, so that kind of comedy and zaniness." The directing team looked to a multitude of specific influences and references throughout the visual development process. "On the lighting front, we both are huge fans of less conventional animation inspiration — so things like editorial photography, 'Vogue' covers, music videos, concert lighting," Appelhans recalls. "We took a lot of inspiration from that, and we really pushed our art department and our lighting department to incorporate that stuff. That's not normally what they get to do. The best part of this movie was, every time we brought that kind of new point of view to the crew, they were so up for it. They're like, 'Cool, I get to do a music video? I get to do a fashion cover?'" Drawing from these unconventional sources of inspiration led to a challenging animation workflow. "We had to develop new tools and some new ways of thinking about color and light and shaping of characters, but the movie really needed it," he continues. "We told everybody, this film lives in the K-pop world. It needs to hold its own when it gets there, so it can't look like the animation version of K-pop. It needs to be just as sleek and glamorous and stylish and high level." Blending the dramatic realism of live-action dance and the fantastical exaggeration of anime was no easy feat. Beveridge and the Imageworks team developed a custom modular system known as the "Chibi Face," which embedded greater artistic control into the animation pipeline. This groundbreaking network of interchangeable facial features gave animators the freedom to overlay manga-style faces onto 3D-animated characters, pushing them beyond the boundaries of real- istic expression. Acting as a dynamic facial rig library, the system allowed animators to create 2D expressive language within a 3D pipeline. The animation team also engineered a new lighting system dubbed "Motion-Blur Spheres," a localized blur control system that gave animators the ability to keep characters sharply defined in the midst of ultra-soft, dreamy lighting. The film is packed with brilliantly-choreo- graphed dancing and fighting sequences, all portrayed in a mesmerizing animation style. The directing team worked closely with dance and martial arts experts to bring authenticity to these action-packed sequences. "We had to do a lot of K-pop choreography, so we actually went to the K-pop choreographers for inspiration and reference," Kang notes. "We worked with a choreographer named Ling Zhang and also Jam Republic — Nain was a choreographer that we worked with there. Also, this group called K-Tigers that really mix Taekwondo fighting with pop dance and modernize it. It was really cool. "We would shoot reference videos with them and we would hand it to our animators," she con- tinues. "The team would sometimes be inspired by the moves exactly. But a lot of times they were actually creating choreography themselves — things that needed a bridge between two shots, or if we forgot to get the reference for this part. So they would come up with ideas inspired by what they were seeing. Some of them were actual dancers, and they would record themselves doing the moves." With inspiration being such a core principle of the film's production, we asked the directors to share words of wisdom that inspire them creatively. Appelhans tells us, "I wanted to share a quote that I love and that I use for all the development of my films. It's by François Truffaut, who talked about what makes a great film. He said, 'A great film has truth and spectacle,' and that is something I've al- ways looked to in terms of checking my ideas and my stories — whether or not they have something fantastic and entertaining and original to offer. And also, do they have something true to say about the world or the way we are or the way we feel? And if you're doing both those things and mashing them up, then I think audiences will always respond to those kinds of films." Kang shares, "A quote that I remember a lot is actually from my dad. He is a huge cinephile and I get my love of storytelling and movies from him. He told me it at a time when I felt very kind of lost and a little insecure about making a movie that would represent Korean culture. I felt like it was a lot of pressure on me. He said, 'As a director, you have one job. You can only tell the story that you can tell.' And so I try to remember that a lot when I'm directing." We also asked the team to recommend an underappreciated piece of art or an artist who in- spires them. Appelhans recalls a favorite film from the early 2000s: "I'm going to shout out a Korean rom-com that everyone should watch if they ha- ven't. It's called My Sassy Girl. It's really funny and the leading duo are amazing. It was my first time kind of falling in love with Korean cinema a long, long, long, long time ago…because I am old." Kang recommends the work of an iconic figure in cinematic history: "One of my biggest inspira- tions is Charlie Chaplin, and I think young film- makers really don't know him too well. What's so great about him is he does all his storytelling through pantomime and acting. So I've personally learned so much from him about comedy, posing and how to storyboard, because he's so expres- sive with his movements and his facial expressions — and to only have to rely on your physical body to tell a story and convey emotion. It's what we have to do a lot in animation, so I highly recom- mend his work." A sequel to KPop Demon Hunters is now officially in development, with Kang and Appelhans both back on-board to write and direct. The choreography incorporates elements of Taekwondo. Lighting was inspired by concerts, photoshoots and music videos.