JOHN PARK Director at THEM 

Director John Park almost didn’t go to film school. "I didn't have the guts to enter film school as an undergrad at UCLA," recalls Park "but eventually I realized filmmaking was my true calling and went to Art Center College of Design for film in their MFA program." Still, Park credits his best education experiences from working production on the set and the director's commentary on behind the scenes DVDs.

Park moved to Korea following the success of a series ultra-low budget viral phone spots done in US: LG Evolution, LG Chocolate Latte, and LG Foreplay.   "All the spots were done through LGAD in Korea and produced by Dancing Toe in Los Angeles," says Park.  "LG Evolution is still playing on the main LG LCD display at Time Square."

However, making commercials in Korea comes with it's own set of challenges.  “Everything happens very quickly for much lower budget in Korea.  It very demanding place to work with fierce competition,” explains Park.  “One has to be very precise in knowing what you want and be able to work things out in very short time period.  As a Korean-American I get the benefit of being able to adapt to both cultures and language.  Korean clients are interested because I bring western visions into the commercials and communicate with English speaking or overseas crews/production with ease.”

But that is not to say that Park hasn’t experienced his own “Lost in Translation” moments during the making of his international spots.  “Even though most overseas productions speak English, some don't speak them well.  While they are eager to say "yes" to my requests, so little gets transmitted during our conversations, and sometimes you find out only later on the set that they didn't understand me correctly. It's really like the scene in "Lost in Translation" where the famous "more intensity" came out from.”

Park’s work is distinguished by its beautiful imagery and strong narrative.  His spots have garnered several awards including:  “Best Transportation category” award for “Korean Air – Relaxation” spot in Korean National Broadcasting Commercial Awards. “Show – Multiply” received top spot in popularity listing for more than a month in TVCF.com which ranks popularity of Korean commercials.