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This interview was conducted in September 2022.  Alex Myung (@alexmyung) walks us through the production of his award-winning short film, “Arrival”! Alex, we're so glad you got to share this story with the world! So, first off, tell us little about yourself and what you do! Hi! I’m Alex Myung (he/him), a filmmaker working in the animation industry in LA! I directed “Arrival”; a short film about a young man struggling to come out to his mother and how it affects his relationship. “Arrival” has been shown in 20+ international festivals and viewed by over 4 million people on YouTube since it debuted in 2016! The film took over 3 years to complete and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on it. What were some of the first steps you took in the process of making “Arrival”? I first set out to make sure that the story was given the most care and attention and that meant having someone to bounce ideas off of. My producer, Amy Benaroya, was incredibly important to that process. When a project is this personal, it’s easy to want to micromanage everything but she challenged story flaws and it’s better because of her. She kept me organized while also opening me up to new ideas. After we locked the writing/storyboards, I worked on backgrounds and the animation while we had the music composed. On larger productions, it’s hard to change things after you hit specific milestones, but we were able to keep it a very organic process since we weren’t beholden to a specific schedule. What did the process of working with a composer look like? Upright T-Rex of ‘Two Dots’ fame created the 13-piece sweeping original score essential to giving the characters voices in a dialogue-less movie. They started with rough compositions based on the animatic. We met near-weekly at the height of the production to identify areas where we could finesse timing and emotion. I also made sure I was flexible, letting them explore moods/sounds I couldn’t have imagined on my own. Now, at the final stretch of production, what were those last few steps you had to take? The final stages were a lot of tweaking and rewatching. I’ve probably seen this film hundreds of times and could re-board it shot by shot from memory. (Thanks to Shelley Low (@sheliloquy) for helping me ink this scene!)  After wrapping the film, what were you hoping your key takeaways would be from the experience?
I went into the process hoping for growth; I had experienced a particularly devastating breakup at the time, so this was my version of dying my hair blonde (haha). I wanted to heal and find closure in something that felt unresolved. I wanted to transcend that moment in my life. I like to think I achieved that goal. I learned where I excel and where there’s still room for improvement. That’s what makes filmmaking really exciting to me; knowing I’ll come out a different person on the other side. Animation takes time and can be really frustrating. My skills developed as I was working— I kept wanting to redo things because I was getting better. But when I think about it, that’s what makes it so beautiful. I get to watch “Arrival” and literally see how I improved over three years. It’s such a gift and I feel honored to have experienced making this film. Stay up to date with me at www.alexmyung.com and @alexmyung on IG! Check out the finished film “Arrival” on YouTube. Writers: Jordan (@deadswampsofsadness) | Point Person: Gaby, AIA Team Comments are closed.
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