We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hyunjun Park. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hyunjun below.
Alright, Hyunjun thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
About 15 years ago, a Korean F.O.B. (Fresh Off the Boat) flies from South Korea over to the United States to attend a renown college after his parents’ wishes and graduates from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a GPA of 3.8 and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. As the son hands over the certificate of education to his father, we see two characters with completely different emotions: a father with an extremely happy smile on his face and his son with more of an uncertain, anxious, and bittersweet smile on his face.
Born and raised in a conservative Asian family in Korea, I happened to live under the roof and within the boundaries of my parents. My parents’ investment on early education and various extracurricular activities have always put pressures on me to excel in class and move closer to “their” dream of becoming a lawyer, doctor, or marketer, not of my own passion.
After I graduated from UCLA, my parents wanted me to come back to Korea immediately and resume building my occupational career as a Marketer or Businessperson with all the advantages that I had as a graduate from a renown school and business connections that my father had. But, I was hesitant to go back to Korea because I knew how suffocating it would be to live and work in Korea and, for the first time in my life, I wanted to find a purpose of life that is driven by something within me, a passion and motivation of mine, not of others. So, I convinced my parents that I would return to South Korea after finishing 1-year of OPT.
As soon as the OPT started, I started looking for what truly motivated and excited me. Videography and Editing were one of a few hobbies that I enjoyed the most and knew I had great styles and knowledge of, so I joined a Korean advertisement and commercial production company in Los Angeles where I worked as a Production Assistant and an Assistant Editor. Although it was an unpaid internship opportunity for the whole duration of OPT, I gladly accepted the offer and had one of the most memorable, beneficial, and valuable time in terms of my personal and occupational growth in what I do today.
With OPT year almost nearing to its end, I saw a countless number of opportunities for growth in Hollywood and I desperately wanted to stay. Long story short, I found a fashion company who valued my potentials and I applied for a H1B visa green card sponsorship with this company as a Cinematographer, Producer, and Editor for all the fashion films, lookbooks, and social media videos that they needed to brand and market their products and I worked with this company for about 6-7 years before I got my green card.
After obtaining my status, I quit my job at the fashion company and attended New York Film Academy in Burbank where I could learn more about Filmmaking but also made lifetime connections and networks. I have produced, filmed or directed 30+ shorts and commercials with Cinematography being my biggest strength and passion, with a lot of them winning awards from various film festivals. 4 months after I graduated from NYFA, I did my first feature film as a Director of Photography in a thriller called “White Vinniga” where I met an amazing and charismatic Director/Producer and a lifetime friend, Yvonne Winfrey. I am currently working full time as an Associate Producer on pre-production for a mystery/suspense feature film called “The Protocol” with an award winning director Ali Atshani from Iran. And, I am working on short films on the weekends to keep meeting new filmmakers and share my knowledge and skills in various positions: DP, Gaffer, and Key Grip. I already have two other feature films that are lined up as DP, planning to shoot some proof of concepts in the upcoming months and a commercial for Mercedes Benz to be shot sometime this year.
Yes, film industry is a tough industry, a competitive and physically draining one for sure. My days and weeks are bombarded with countless number of working hours, creative workflows, and networking and working with new people on every set, which often put me in exhaustions and burnouts. However, I truly enjoy every single second and minute of my work and feel genuinely happy about what I am doing. And, more importantly, I do realize that I am progressing fast toward achieving my goal of becoming a great Filmmaker and Cinematographer with style and great eye that everyone is fond of working with. I see a rapid, unstoppable growth and momentum in myself.
To revisit and answer the question, “What it takes to be successful”, I think the first thing is to take a brave decision to find what you truly enjoy, even if it means moving away from a safe zone (which in my case was to follow my parents’ guidance to work in business and marketing side, probably earning six figures easily after some years of hardwork and persistency). Once you find your passion, then, I think the next step to becoming successful is to implement what you enjoy to serve a purpose, whether it’s a service, contracted job, part- or full-time job of any sort. Success should come with the work that you can spend 12+ hours every day for months and years and don’t hate doing the job but rather enjoy them.
Of course, there are certain universal elements of success which cater toward more chances of success when an individual applies to his/her everyday routine: consistency, punctuality, humbleness, and so forth. Frankly, who I am now also definitely comes from the way my parents raised me with a focus on determination, politeness, and self-discipline and I am very grateful of. However, I believe that the elements and factors of success should be subjective to every individual and vary from one another, always reflecting what he/she enjoys doing and what he/she can do to serve the community, audience, or client.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Hyunjun Park. I was born and raised in South Korea and spent my adolescence in the Philippines. Currently residing in Los Angeles, California, I am a full-time Director of Photography in Films and Commercials with 10+ years of professional experience. My job is to bring the Director’s vision into reality, involving creative implementations of lighting and camera techniques. Simply put, I create visually appealing and inspiring aesthetics for digital media, whether it is a film, commercial, documentary, or a music video.
What I feel most exciting about my job is that I become a creative decision maker when it comes to particular cinematography that I bring into life. There are millions and billions of other ways to create a shot. Yet, putting together my knowledge and skills to create a coherent mix of mood, tone, color, and shapes of light along with limitless choices of camera angles, compositions, and movements is my passion that drives me beyond the horizon. Also, I just love operating and becoming one with a camera that we are using to capture the one-and-only moments during productions.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best sources of new clients (whether it be Producer / Director looking for DP’s or any important crews to work with) are (1) Words of Mouth and (2) Online Hiring Platforms.
More than 80% of the films, commercials, and interview shoots that I’ve done as a Director of Photography, Camera Operator, or Gaffer have come from words of mouth via all the personal and business connections that I have established over years. In the film industry, every production needs to be built with the most optimal combination of different crews coming from different backgrounds, knowledge, and skills. Sometimes, you have to work with completely new crews that you have no idea of their work ethics and capabilities. That is why many heads of the department always work with their own crews that they spent years with and/or work with people who get referrals from their trusted sources. Thus, building relationships and networking is one of the utmost priorities working in this industry, as the famous saying goes, “Film industry all about WHO you know rather than WHAT you know”.
Another source that I find helpful is to find new projects and clients via online hiring platforms, such as Mandy, Backstage, or Staffmeup. After graduating from NYFA, I found my first feature film gig as a Gaffer/AC via Mandy platform. You see daily updates and posts about different projects and using these user-friendly platforms will help getting new jobs and clients for you.
Not to mention, LinkedIn and IMDb is another source that can be massively helpful if you keep a good track of your work for public audience (or potential employer or producer) to see your profiles of. I got my first feature film as a DP via a message from Director/Producer on LinkedIn.
Any advice for managing a team?
In any organization, a good leadership is needed to boost teamwork and high morale to achieve a bigger outcome. And, there are multiple forms of leadership, such as Authoritative vs. Democratic, implemented by every head of department and management within an organization.
Personally, I think that any kind of leadership that entails humbleness, willingness to help others (or, selflessness), and punctuality is what I vision as ideal to produce the best performance and outcome of a given organization. Coming from a multitude of cultural backgrounds, including a conservative Asian family, an authoritative military experience, international school experiences, and etc, I have experienced different kinds of leadership in every possible organization. What worked best was a leadership style that cares everyone’s opinions and boosts self-esteem of all the team members to achieve a synergetic effect.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: hyunjun.la
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/junla/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@junla6504
- Other: I also own an Equipment Rental business in Los Angeles. Please reach out to me at [email protected] and I will get you better prices than ANY other vendor in Los Angeles!
Image Credits
Kushagra Jain