The Life Aquatic: An Interview with Jeehun Hwang
Written by Jonathan Shearon
April 2, 2005

James Cameron is no stranger to films taking place on or in the water, but in his latest epic he’s abandoned rusty ships and science fiction stories for a host of amazing creatures and places at the bottom of the ocean, as well as some speculative computer generated visions of other worlds not yet seen by human eyes. When it came time for a score for his new documentary, Cameron chose Korean-born Jeehun Hwang, a ten year veteran of video game, television and independent film scoring.I recently got the chance to speak to Jeehun about his experience on Aliens of the Deep and his slightly unusual career path.

Music on Film: It’s my understanding that your music career began with a fortunate twist of fate. Could you explain how you got into this business?

Jeehun Hwang: I left college during my senior year to take a stab at doing music professionally for a while. I figured I’d never have the opportunity to pursue it once I graduated and gotten a job or gone to graduate school to further my studies. I was a singer/songwriter most of my life until then so I moved to Los Angeles and proceeded to record a record through a development deal as I pursued my frustrating search for the perfect band. I got a job at Activision as a production assistant, making ends meet while I continued looking for other musicians. I was a part of the team working on a big up-and-coming title called MechWarrior 2. When they were having trouble getting the music they wanted, I put together a bunch of music at home and played it for them. I was immediately asked to stay home and finish writing the music for the game. When the game was released, it became a best seller and received ‘Best Music of the Year’ awards from several game publications. Activision gave me a multi-project contract to continue writing music for their products and I ended up scoring a wide range of titles. This ‘accidental’ launch of my scoring career eventually led to film & tv when my focus shifted.

MOF:You have a very broad musical background that includes both an interest in classical music as well as playing in rock bands. What skills and musical tastes do you draw on more when creating a film score?

JH: Every project is unique in the sense that what works for one project may not be at all appropriate for another. For that reason, I try to approach every project with an open mind- with a blank slate. After reviewing the material and hearing the director’s vision during the spotting session, I start to think about what approach would work best. I think my background and interest in a wide range of musical genres actually allows me to have a lot of options open to me at all time, although this isn’t always a good thing for making decisions. Once I’ve decided on the musical palette with which I will be scoring the project, I start to experiment freely within that realm. So, I would say that I draw on everything I have and not just a particular style when I approach a film.

MOF:Most composers say that they are dependent on the narrative of a film to provide a cohesive skeleton on which to craft a score, but video games and documentaries don’t always have this kind of traditional narrative. Does your compositional process change when working on such projects where there may not be a conventional linear story or defined characters to drive the music?

JH: Even in video games and documentaries, there is always a story, albeit not always conventional or linear. If there exists a story that ties together the experience as a whole, it’s not difficult to find themes within that structure. Also, even if there isn’t a defined character from a more conventional cinematic sense, the subject matter, the setting, the visuals, etc. can be just as compelling characters from a narrative stand point. For this reason, the way I would approach a video game or a documentary would not be that different from how I approach a feature film.

MOF:Do you prefer composing for video games or for film?

JH: That’s a hard question to answer especially since it’s been so long since I’d scored a video game. I do remember wanting to get into film scoring while I was busy working on video games, but that probably had a lot to do with the fact that I was exclusively scoring video games and wanted a change. The two mediums are very different and yet very similar, depending on the aspects you evaluate. I think I enjoy the freedom in scoring video games since I don’t have to be confined to the length of a scene or the pacing of the cuts when I’m creating the music, but equally gratifying, if not more, is creating music that works in conjunction with what is playing out on the screen, and enhancing or accenting the visuals and the narrative appropriately.

MOF:How did you make the connection with James Cameron to do Expedition: Bismarck and now Aliens of the Deep?

JH: I had worked on a TV pilot with Randy Gerton, who has been the music supervisor on all of Jim Cameron’s movies since The Terminator. He then went to work on Bismarck and thought of me for the project. I submitted a wide range of musical styles for the project and was then asked to write some music specifically for the show. At that point, it was my understanding that it was down to only a handful of composers. I wrote a piece and sent it over, and got the call that I had gotten the job the same day. I developed a great working relationship with Jim during that project and was thrilled to have another opportunity to work with him when I was asked to score Aliens of the Deep.

MOF:James Cameron is a notorious perfectionist on set with an almost obsessive attention to detail, particularly in regard to his waterlogged epics like The Abyss and Titanic. Did you find him to be a demanding director with regard to the kind of score that he wanted for Aliens of the Deep?

JH: I’m sure everyone’s experience is different, but for me, rather than finding him to be a demanding director, I simply found him to be a director who knows exactly what he wants. That style of directing actually made things a lot easier for me. Whenever you have to do a lot of guesswork trying to understand what the director wants, you often have to try out many different ideas even for a single scene, in order to get it right. Jim usually has a very clear vision about the music and is very thorough in explaining the emotions he wants conveyed by the music. Even getting into specific details such as the types of sounds he wants or doesn’t want, he commands a very extensive musical vocabulary that is unambiguous. That doesn’t mean he is rigid; as long as the music does what he wants it to do, he is always open to suggestions and experiments.

MOF: Was he present during the scoring sessions, or did he give you free reign?

JH: I was pretty much given free reign. Since Jim had already heard and approved the mock-up versions I made of the orchestral cues, he trusted that anything I did with the orchestra would only make everything sound better, and he did not come to the session. It was a big deal for me since it was the first time I ever got to record with a live orchestra, and the trust placed in me made me work that much harder to make sure that the recording went smoothly. It was like having a crash course in orchestra recording and there were a few moments when I had to improvise to make things work, but it was a great experience.

MOF: Aliens of the Deep is an IMAX film, and in 3D on top of that, which means that it is presented to the audience in a very different fashion than a traditional film. Did this have any effect on the way you scored the film?

JH: It was certainly something I kept in mind throughout the process. The IMAX sound system is a bit different from a traditional theatre surround-sound in that there is no sub-woofer and that there is an extra speaker referred to as the ‘God speaker.’ The extra speaker is located above the screen and certain sound elements such as narration are heavily concentrated there. Aside from compensating for the lack of sub-woofer, however, the process was not drastically different than writing for a normal 5.1 setup. Some techniques were utilized in the dub, where we moved some of the music to the back speakers when the sound was muddied in the front and we needed to clear it up for dialogue and sound effects.

The 3D aspect didn’t have much of an influence on the writing process. The video I referenced while scoring was in 2D since it would have required a lot of equipment for it to be viewed in 3D. Not only that, the 3D rendering process was being implemented until the very last minute so it would have been impossible to have a final version of the film while I was writing. As it was, I was getting new cuts until a few weeks before the dub. Having said that, if there was a clear need to view it in 3D in order to augment the experience, I’m sure we would have figured out something. The sound placement to enhance the 3D experience was mostly a sound design issue so I didn’t have to worry about it much. I just had to focus on getting the right mood established for each scene.

MOF:Your score for Aliens of the Deep seems to feature three main components: a kind of beat-driven techno for the “action” scenes, menacing “discovery” music with an almost avant-garde sensibility and melodic, ethereal, more traditional underscore to match the wonder and beauty of some of the amazing creatures seen in the film. Could you explain your motivation for these musical choices?

JH: Since the bulk of the film has a serene, atmospheric, and often haunting tone to it, I wanted the “action” scenes to sound drastically different in order to clearly distinguish the moods. Another factor in my sound choices was the budget I was given with which to record the orchestra and other live instruments. I knew going into the project that I couldn’t afford to have a back-to-back orchestral score, so I started making instrumentation choices very early on. The use of the electronic percussion and sound patches seemed to be the right choice since, whatever I couldn’t record with live instruments, I wanted to make sure that I had ultimate control and had access to infinite possibilities in sound manipulation. My dear friend and oft collaborator Bon Harris (from Nitzer Ebb, programmer for Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson, etc.) helped me with some synth programming and drum editing for the action sequences.

The rest of the score was designed in the way I felt most appropriate for each scene. The average layman doesn’t listen closely enough to the score to notice what was recorded with an orchestra and what wasn’t, so I didn’t feel that there was much pressure to make more music orchestral. There were a few scenes I felt definitely needed the orchestral flare, such as the climactic final scene, and I wanted to add organic flavor to the scenes showing various life forms at the bottom of the ocean. Aside from a few obvious choices, I freely combined synth-driven music, choral music, orchestral and non-orchestral acoustic music, etc., to complete the score.

MOF:Was the score purely synthesized or were there some acoustic instruments used as well? I often found it difficult to tell.

JH: A significant portion of the score was recorded with a live orchestra at the Warner Brothers scoring stage. I wrote, performed and recorded the rest of the score in my studio using various synthesizers and samplers. I recorded additional live instruments such as guitars and hand drums in my studio, although I usually played the guitar going through processors instead of mics. In completing the score, I sometimes layered some of the orchestral recordings with my own samples and synth sounds where I felt necessary.

MOF:Did you have any particular direct musical influences for your score for Aliens of the Deep?

JH: Not really. Because I’m not a student of film music as a genre, I rarely watch scenes and recall music from other movies that may have had a similar visual content or narrative development. Having said that, if there were any influences, it would probably be the use of the choir in 2001: Space Odyssey. Jim and I independently felt that the style of dissonant choir melodies used in that film (Ligeti) would work nicely for some of the bleak, desolate sequences both under water and in space. I auditioned a few Ligeti pieces before I started writing to get a feel for that style. Of course, since I didn’t record a live choir, the music I put together only using various choir samples was probably quite different.

MOF: What’s in heavy rotation in your CD player (or perhaps your IPod) these days?

JH: I recently purchased an iPod Shuffle and, because I don’t listen to the radio much, I dug up all my old CDs and started listening to them a lot on it. Some of the artists I have on regular rotation at the moment are The Police, The Doors, The Cure, Stevie Wonder, Radiohead and Nirvana. A bit more obscure CD I’ve also revisited is the soundtrack to the musical The Man of La Mancha. Gary Jules’ version of Mad World from the Donnie Darko soundtrack and Damien Rice’s The Blower’s Daughter from the movie Closer are probably the two most recent songs I added to my library, and I’ve added two relatively new albums: Hot Fuss (The Killers) & Absolution (The Muse). I know that’s a lot, but that’s pretty much all the music in my iPod, constantly being shuffled.

MOF: You’re bio says that you are in a band now. What’s the band’s name? What sort of music are you playing with them?

JH: My current band is brand new and we don’t even have a name for it yet. We are focusing on finalizing the style and content of our play list at the moment and we’ll probably think of naming the band once we establish the sound that represents us. I’ve written so many different styles of music over the years that we’re narrowing them down to those that are similar enough in feel and style to be played together. In addition, we’re writing new songs to see what kind of sound naturally evolves from our unit. It’s always hard to describe a type of music accurately, but I’d say it’s an infusion of rock, pop, funk, and experimental.

MOF: Do you plan on pursuing a commercial career through your band in addition to film scoring?

JH: I started my career as a singer/songwriter, so I probably will never stop performing live and writing songs. But in my mind, as long as I have a career in music, the format and the medium is a secondary issue. Writing and playing any type of music for any outlet as a career is a blessing and I plan to pursue music in any form that can be gratifying at the end of the day.

MOF: Do you have any upcoming projects in the pipeline that you can tell us about? Where do you want to go next?

JH: I have a few potential film and television projects but it’s too premature to discuss any of them at this time. I’m writing some songs for artists domestic and abroad as well. I haven’t scored a video game since the late 90s and I think it might be fun to get involved in a title if it’s the right project. As far as where I’m headed in general, I’ve always been interested in blending different genres of music and using instruments in ways they’re not often used. I’d like to continue exploring these techniques in whatever medium that may be appropriate.

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