Mongrels - Part 2: Friendship, Filmmaking And Feral Canines

Jerome, thanks for chatting with us! We’re dog lovers at Filmable, and we gotta know - what inspired you to create this film? Was there a specific event or story that sparked the idea?

Jerome Yoo, Director, Photographed by Brian Van Wyk at the Filmable Portrait Studio

Jerome Yoo (JY): My cute Pomeranian, Kumi.

Honestly, I can’t really say for sure what the spark of the idea was, but the story inspiration feels like some strange woven tapestry of my quirky interests, and my family’s story and experiences. A personal tribute of sorts to my time here in Canada since my family immigrated here back in the mid-90s. The idea manifested as this heavy sensation that kept growing in my chest, that kept growing heavier in weight over time, until I knew that I couldn’t move on with my career until I made this as my first feature film. I’ve never felt that way about any of my previous films, but this one held a tight grip on my heart.

The first image that came to my mind was a fractured, broken family roaming a new world, like lost dogs. They are not often seen or acknowledged by society, misunderstood, and take up as little physical space as possible not to disrupt the normalcy of life. I imagined this family, animalistically howling and barking as if that was the only way to release the pent-up pain in their hearts, as if to say “We’re here, existing. We’re here searching for our place of belonging.”

Dogs have always been such an integral part of my life, and I often find myself having more empathy for animals than humans. In the highest and lowest points of my life, my pet dogs have always been by my side, and perhaps it’s my deep love for them that drives my peculiar curiosity and exploration towards humankind’s bond with these cuddly creatures.

Cuddly creatures indeed! One of the great gifts of humankind is collaboration. Tell us more about the humans you worked with.

Still from Mongrels

JY: Every filmmaker dreams of the day they have the privilege and opportunity to make their first feature film. Of course, I yearn to make an impactful film, but most importantly, I wanted to have an unforgettable set experience with creatives I could consider family. The summer of 2022 felt like I was a child all over again, attending a crazy arts camp with friends, playing, laughing, and at times crying through all the highs and lows.

Nach, Tesh, Jaryl, Derek, Adriana, Tammy, Lawrence, Jude, Tae-Young, Sharon, Matt & Dave – they’re the best, and to have a piece and layer of their creative vision and energy in the film will forever be a blessing. I’m grateful and proud of what we’ve made together.

Filmmaking is art camps for adults! I think this business needs to be rebranded. But everyone needs to work off of a script. Can you describe your process for writing the script?

JY: Mongrels was my first feature length script. Having only written shorts in the past, I found it incredibly daunting to keep track of character arcs, story, etc. through a higher page count. It’s a lot less forgiving since a poorly written short film will end quickly, and the audience can move on… So I ended up turning a blind eye to any of my fears or deep thoughts about story structure and wrote a vomit draft just to feel the sense of accomplishment of filling out 100 pages.

I’m always seeking a way to enter a new story, and for Mongrels it all started with the final scene. It was a powerful and poetic visual that kept lingering in my head. I often begin with a scene-by-scene outline, but I skipped it this time. I jumped straight into writing the scene as I immersed myself in the visual, and then built backwards from there. I’m often keen on my first instincts and follow the temptation of writing what most excites me. It’s often messy and unrefined, and I’ll overwrite it to a point where it may not even be of service anymore towards the plot or character, but later when I revisit it, it will often help drive my brain toward another idea. I’ll write too much, cut back by a process of elimination, and then reinforce what needs to be filled in between. The process is akin to putting together a puzzle, especially as I would describe the story to be more of a character exploration rather than plot-driven.

Another profound part of the process was the script and dialogue translations into Korean. Although my Korean fluency is enough to get by, I needed translation help with some of the more poetic or metaphorical expressions. Tone consistency in the dialogue of each character was also a challenge, as the Korean language has many different dialects depending on which region a person is from, as well as two distinct ways of formal and informal speech. In the end, after translations, we did a final pass with the actors to make sure dialogue felt comfortable for them, and we would often be making last-minute revisions during camera rehearsals.

I have a love-hate relationship with script writing in general, as when it’s going great, it’s complete bliss; yet when facing a block, my soul burns from the emotional agony – a kind of creative hell.

Writing is heaven and hell on earth… I wonder who many writers would agree. Tell us about your cast! How did you go about casting the actors for your film? Were there any specific qualities you were looking for in the actors?

JY: I absolutely despise uncomfortable and cold audition rooms. My personal hope is to always get a sense of an actor’s essence and their natural charisma, rather than seeking out the best performances. Audition performance is important, but I think it’s only part of the equation. I like to try and have casual conversations with the actors whenever the opportunity allows.

Which reminds me that in-person audition sessions weren’t happening back then in Canada due to COVID. We ended up casting the lead father and son roles in Seoul, South Korea, with the help of AB Casting. It was amazing to be in the room with actors again, and it was here I met Da-Nu Nam, who was just finishing up high school at the time, getting ready to audition for art colleges. His role as the teenage son, Hajoon, needed to appear both tough yet tender and kind-hearted. Malleable, just like his mind. I thought Da-Nu portrayed this well.

Meeting Jae-Hyun Kim, who was cast as the father, Sonny, felt like fate. After numerous auditions, I didn’t gravitate towards anyone in the audition room, and a notable Korean actor had taken an interest, only to suggest an older actor he knows who retired from the industry and lives a strange, lonely life in the countryside. The description already felt like the character, as I was seeking someone who personified a vicious, lost stray dog. When I finally met Jae-Hyun over a video call, I instantly knew it had to be him and no one else. I’m grateful he gave us the chance to bring him back on the screen.

Finally, for the role of the youngest daughter, Hana, we approached the casting search by putting up posters in Korean-populous neighborhoods like Lougheed and Robson St. I was quite surprised by the volume of submissions for this role, as after a nationwide search for the other lead roles, I knew the Korean talent pool in Canada was limited. However, this is how we found the incredible Sein Jin. You’d never believe she is a first-time actor when you watch her. She made me understand the saying, “the camera loves you.”

We worked with local casting director Monika Dalman, who brought together the rest of the Mongrels incredible ensemble, including Sangbum Kang, Jedd Sharp, Morgan Derera, and Candyce Weir.

Truly an international search. Going back to your inspirations, which filmmakers or films have influenced your work the most?

Still from Mongrels

JY: My first exposure to some of my favorite directors has been on VIFF’s screens.

Koreeda Hirokazu’s Nobody Knows and Andrea Arnold’s American Honey have been major influences on my work. Koreeda has an incredible ability to convey the intimate, fragile bonds within a family with a nuanced sensitivity that feels almost invisible yet captures your heart. His attention to the smallest human interactions and the way he portrays the delicate nature of relationships is something I’ve always hoped to weave into my own storytelling.

On the other hand, Andrea Arnold's American Honey has influenced me with its raw, unfiltered portrayal of its characters and their lives. Arnold is fearless in presenting imperfect, unpolished realities, and her ability to draw out such authentic performances from her onscreen talent is extraordinary. There’s a certain unashamed realism in her films that resonates with me. The characters feel so alive, full of contradictions, which makes them so wonderfully human.

Together, these filmmakers have shaped my cinematic sensibilities in creating complex, multifaceted characters and stories, where both emotional depth and strangeness can coexist.

Well I’m sure they’ll be adding Jerome Yoo to their list after seeing Mongrels. Filmmaking is always a journey of discovery. What is the most important lesson you've learned from making this film?

JY:

1. Lock in your script as much as you can before pre-production.
2. Voice and fight for choices that you believe deep in your soul.
3. The first week might feel like a walk in the park, but don’t let that fool you.
4. Try to get good sleep every night.
5. Mosquitoes belong in hell.

We one thousand percent agree with that last one. Thanks Jerome for the deep insight into your process. Let’s turn our attention to the maestro of light, Director of Photography, Jaryl Lim.

Jaryl! Let’s dive right in. How did you develop the visual style for the film, and what influenced your choices?

Jaryl Lim, Director of Photography, Mongrels

Jaryl Lim (JL): I worked very closely on the visual style for Mongrels with our director, Jerome, from the very beginning. It helped that we were already friends and collaborators from before, and shared a similar love of filmic, textured images with saturated color. We based our early cinematography discussions off of films such as Yi Yi, Chungking Express, and Waves.

We tried our best to strike a balance between the drama and surrealism of the story, presenting some scenes as truthfully as possible, so they felt grounded and hard-hitting; and other scenes deliberately obtuse, open to interpretation. For realism, we employed reactive handheld camera work with wider lenses, which we found provided a more guttural, visceral experience. For surrealism, we employed a combination of meandering Steadicam shots, step-printing and zooms, which enabled us to modify the tone of those scenes at will.

We also made sure that each of the 3 main characters inhabited their own visual worlds that were distinct, yet not entirely dissimilar. Jerome had a strong vision of wanting these worlds to be separated by aspect ratio, and we landed on a horizontally claustrophobic 4:3 for Sonny’s segment, vertically limiting 2.39:1 for Joon’s, and finally the most “open” feeling 1.85:1 for Hana’s segment. Her segment allowed us to be more creative with framing to represent her slightly more innocent perception of the world, with ultra wides and subjective, lower camera angles to match her POV. To maintain consistency, we used the same lens package for each segment.

What completed the visual style of Mongrels was the fantastic work of our production designer, Adriana Marchand, and her team, and also beautiful finishing touches from colourist Dave Tomiak.

How do you approach lighting design for different scenes?

JL: I like to make sure that all my lighting choices are strongly motivated by the scene's location and what options for quality and color of light are available by extrapolation. Using this philosophy as the genesis for any lighting design works well for me, since it streamlines my options and has the added benefit of grounding even the most extreme scenes in a form of reality. However I try not to be too pedantic about realism because I think cinema is a form of elevated realism; something that transports the audience into a world we choose, anchored by things that are universally relatable, like human emotion or the physics of lighting.

One of the ways we imbued more color in a scene was to control, within reason, the time of day a scene would occur, so we could augment the warm amber and yellow tones of sunlight coming through, or the deep silvery blue tones of moonlight. We would enhance "ugly" fluorescent fixtures with tones of green and yellow to make a scene or area feel uncomfortable, and have warm, dimmed lamps to create areas of refuge. We shot a fair amount of day exteriors for Mongrels, where we didn't have full control over lighting. My strategy there was to prioritize shooting around the sun position wherever possible, and control contrast with textiles as best as we could. This allowed us to still have some control over the mood and tone of most scenes.

We also had a select few scenes that demanded we use a day-for-night approach because of scheduling and scale reasons, which I was initially apprehensive about. After some initial testing with colourist Dave Tomiak, we generated a LUT that allowed us to preview while on set the moody, dark vision that Jerome was hoping for these scenes, while still preserving the maximum latitude that the sensor provided. We then fine-tuned in color, where we had lots of flexibility thanks to the preserved latitude, arriving at a subtle result we were all very happy with.

This combination of pragmatism with the freedom to creatively apply color to enhance storytelling has been a workflow philosophy I've refined over my career and I've found it to be very effective in the way that I relate to stories and the visual medium in general.

Sounds like it! I’m looking forward to seeing it all come to fruition on screen and think about the amount of intention you put into every frame. What was the most difficult shot you had to capture for the film, and how did you achieve it?

JL: Toward the end of Joon's chapter, he clashes with Sonny as he returns home late, and the scene is meant to be a violent confrontation that leads uncomfortably to a form of catharsis for both of them. Jerome's vision for the scene was one that was bathed in the soft blue light of early morning, our characters in shadow, with a standout shot being a long uninterrupted handheld take of the entire fight sequence.

The challenges here were numerous. Our schedule demanded logistically that this scene had to be shot in the middle of the day, but even if we could have shot at blue hour, the scene was far too long and complex with stunt choreography to be shot in that time. Even if we could have shot at blue hour, the ambient light levels would probably have been too low, and would have resulted in a very noisy image. The scene needed to be as visceral as it gets, and the planned camera moves were all wide-angle handheld shots. This meant that in almost every shot, we saw a lot of the set, including out the windows, which would have made it difficult to light from outside. In addition, this was an extremely taxing, performance-heavy scene, and I didn’t want to cut into their time.

We decided in the end on day-for-night, which ended up working really well. We chose a time of day where the living room set would not be hit by direct sunlight, then covered the two large windows with shears, which essentially became our upstage key. Depending on the shot, we augmented keys with smaller LED soft sources wrapping from inside, and controlled contrast where needed with negative fill. The challenge was balancing the ever-shifting ambient light levels, but it meant lighting was quick, and this allowed our actors to really move in the full space of the living room for the fight choreography and their performance.

Since we monitored on set with our day-for-night LUT, the contrast ratios we needed for a night look were achieved on set, and in color it was simply an issue of fine-tuning levels and dialing in the perfect blue tone. I’m proud of how the scene turned out, and I think we made the best of a difficult scenario.

And people say filmmaking is easy… or do they? Maybe you just make it look easy. How did you work with the director to translate their vision into visual reality

JL: I worked very closely with Jerome from the script stage of Mongrels. We were sharing reference films and stills fairly early on, which helped lay the groundwork of mutual understanding for when we officially entered pre-production. Also, being friends and collaborators from before really reinforced the trust of our working relationship.

We hit the ground running once pre-production started, getting deep into a high-level script breakdown and moodboard where we interpreted scenes together and hashed out ideas for tone and style, shots and blocking, lighting and camera movement. This stage is always exhilarating to me, getting to experience raw creation with few limitations. It’s at this stage that we defined each character’s visual world, camera language and aspect ratio.

Armed with ideas and thoughts for every scene, we then went back and forth with shot-listing and location scouting, fine-tuning our coverage and approach as locations were locked or changed. The shot list worked as a loose bible of sorts, anchoring us to our original ideas while making it possible for me to plan scenes with overheads or shot references. These, combined with our moodboard and references, made it simple to communicate lighting and camera movement ideas to Jerome, making sure we were on the same page.

On set, we had an incredibly tight schedule that left no room for much discussion, so we developed a sort of short-hand as we went along, very much in sync about how a scene was working or if lighting needed to be tweaked. I’m thankful for the trust that Jerome had in me to execute his vision, even in the most stressful of situations.

Finally, we collaborated one last time in the color grade at Elemental Post, with our friend and excellent colorist Dave Tomiak. It was a wonderful culmination of everyone’s work, and it was a joy to watch Mongrels turn into a visual reality.

Beautiful! Any last shout outs?

Still from Mongrels

JL: Wanted to give a quick shout-out to my fantastic crew, without whom this film would not have been possible. Just a few names among many: 1AC Shiun Okada, gaffer Jessie Doucet, key grip Krystal Chan, steadicam op Doug Armer, 2nd unit DOPs Karina Jesson and Rachel Chen. Also a huge thank you to the support we all got from producers Nach Dudsdeemaytha and Tesh Guttikonda. The best laid plans and all that only go as far as a good team, and that can’t be stressed enough!

Thanks Jaryl, this has been a highly illuminating conversation. But enough about light and lenses! Let’s talk threads and fashion. Tammy Joe, costume designer extraordinaire, how did you use costumes to help develop and define the characters in the film?

Tammy Joe, Costume Designer, Mongrels

Tammy Joe (TJ): After reading through the script and discussing the characters with Jerome, I felt that it was important to use different tonal colour stories to visually represent their characters. As individuals within a family, each character is in a different life stage which is reflected in each chapter of the film. Sonny’s character is full of the weight of life, and I felt the layers in his story tied him deeply to the earth and the environment around him, so I chose a muted, earthy palette for his costumes. Continuing in this direction, Joon‘s character embodies movement and a state of transition and flux; his element became water, so hues of blue were naturally dominant in his palette. With Hannah, there is innocence and hope; she is the antithesis of Sonny, the foil to his weightiness. She is curious and light and this is reflected in the playful range of saturated colours she wears, a deliberate juxtaposition to the muted tones of Sonny and Joon.

What kind of research do you conduct when designing costumes for a period piece? Or how do you stay current with fashion trends while maintaining the film’s aesthetic?

TJ: When designing for a period piece, research is the initial and often most rewarding step in the creative process, and fortunately, I connected with this story on an even deeper and personal level: I grew up in this era and had first hand experience as a child of Korean immigrant parents. The characters of the film and their milieu were so familiar to me that I was able to draw upon personal experiences for the inspiration of many of the costumes.

Nothing like being old enough now to realize that the fashions of our youth are now considered… of a certain period. What was the most challenging costume you designed for the film?

TJ: Often the most challenging costumes are the ones that quietly reflect a character and are less stylized and arresting. Sonny is a complex character, and I wanted to do justice to his many layers without being too deliberate. I knew that Sonny’s character was suffering from the crushing hardships life had thrown his way and I knew that he was also a proud man who wanted to put on a brave face for the world and his children. However, he is unable to contain his pain all of the time, and I wanted this to be glimpsed through his costumes. For instance, I feel that the subtle breakdown of his innermost layer, his undershirt, symbolized his essence: worn, threadbare, and barely hanging on.

I get that feeling. How did you work with the director and actors to ensure the costumes support the story?

TJ: The process of developing characters is truly a collaborative effort. After discussing the script and the characters with the writer/ director Jerome, I formed a better understanding of their unwritten histories and hidden motivations. Working with the actors in fittings is another crucial step to discovering how the actors feel in their costumes and how this helps them connect to their characters. The entire process is dynamic.

Glad to hear it! Which costume did you enjoy working on the most?

TJ: One of the costumes I enjoyed working on, unfortunately, didn’t make it into the final cut of the film. It was for a period-traditional Korean hunting look for which I was able to work with some incredibly talented people. I sourced material in Korea and was able to use a skilled cutter in a remote Korean village to recreate this historic piece. Being able to recreate a piece of history with makers who are skilled in traditional methods was a rewarding experience.

We demand a recut! We must see this piece! Alas, the cutting room floor is sometimes a popular place for the details of a film we love the most...

Lawrence, as the editor, sounds like some tough decisions had to be made. How did you approach the storytelling aspect of editing, and what techniques did you use to enhance the narrative?

Lawrence Le Lam, Editor, Mongrels

Lawrence Le Lam (LLL): I used the tried and true technique of throwing shit on the wall until it sticks. It was a micro-budget indie and not everything was captured as intended, but I was excited by the challenge and freedom of going off-script and playing and experimenting with scenes.

We appreciate your candidness! How did you determine the pacing of the film, and what factors influence your decisions?

LLL: For me, it's a combination of elements. The material tells me a lot: the acting, the cine, choices around sound design or music, the rhythm of the moments, and then it's the sensibility of what I like and what the director likes. It becomes a balancing act and feeling things out, but it’s interesting how pacing can feel right one day and wrong the next, depending on how you come to it, how many times you’ve seen it, how big your monitor is, etc. Ultimately, the choice of pacing is whatever feels right and makes me feel the most.

Instinct and intuition, an editor’s greatest friends. What is the most challenging aspect of the editing process, and how do you handle it?

LLL: Staying sane was the biggest challenge. How do I handle that?… Exercise probably would’ve been good idea… It’s 5/6 months of being in a dark room, so pacing myself and doing my best to not burnout was important… I was going through a tough time with some bad heartbreak and depression that year, and the work of editing Jerome’s first feature was an honour and also a good distraction… for a period of time. At some point, I really had to deal with my personal shit. Sometimes I was just horizontal in bed on Saturday and Sunday all day, I only went a little insane, but talking to friends and going to therapy was helpful, addressing heartbreak and trauma, having a little cry, and exercise to get my mind right. I had to be healthy to be a good creative and collaborator.

Sorry you had to go through all of that! How closely did you work with Jerome throughout the editing process?

LLL: Jerome is a dear friend who has been a collaborator since my first short out of film school. I first met him when he auditioned for my final student film, which he got the role and was great in. I made him dance for his audition, and he thought I was a silly man. I’ve witnessed and been alongside his journey from being in front of the camera to making his first feature and commercial work, and I’m proud and lucky to have him as a friend and collaborator. The friendship can have its pros and cons for the process, but ultimately, it was for the better. We discussed each scene a lot and sometimes… or a good amount of times, we’d have some disagreements. A lot of times I realized my own stubbornness and biases getting in the way, and whenever I tried something Jerome suggested that I didn’t think would work, it often did. I sometimes think you could make mostly anything work in editing, it’s just a choice to be made.

Vulnerable collaboration is a gift that few get to receive! And the film likely benefited from that trust between you. Thank you for sharing!

Last but not least, Sharon Tseng and Matt Drake, wizards of sound, let us hear you roar! Here’s an easy one, how did you create the soundscape for the film, and what were the key elements you focused on?

Elemental Post: We focused a lot on the realistic outside world, with its nostalgic 90s rural Canada summer vibe, as well as the more surreal inner worlds of the characters—Sonny, Joon, and Hana—along with the transitions between them. For Sonny’s chapter in particular, there were a few moments where we wanted the audience to hear the dogs through his ears, to sense his struggle as he tries to desensitize himself from the dogs, building tension accumulating into an overwhelming torrential rain of sounds and emotions, until it eventually subsides into a state of numbness. We put a lot of thought into how the sound elements and dynamics worked together during the transitions in these moments.

Sounds like it! What was the most challenging aspect of sound design, and how do you address it?

Elemental Post: Finding the right vocalizations for the mongrels was the most challenging, especially when we needed them to reflect a specific character or evoke a certain mood. Dogs weren't actors we could just bring in to record ADR with. We had to sift through many sound libraries to find the right sound. When I was auditioning all the dog whines for the mongrel killing scene, I had to go through so many unpleasant sounding dog cries to the point that our neighbors knocked on our doors to express their concerns. I had to switch to headphones.

That sounds horrifying! Who knocks on doors these days? We kid, but honestly, you must often confront discomfort to find the authenticity. How did you work with the director and other departments to integrate sound seamlessly into the film?

Elemental Post: From day one, Jerome has been discussing with us what he wanted for the film, what the sound challenges were, and how we might go about solving them. We had in-person sessions where Jerome would bring up creative ideas he'd like to experiment with. We'd try them out to see what worked and what didn't, and then we would let it sit until the next session in order to give the ideas some space. Thus we had a several-month collaboration and refinement of all the sound elements until we reached the final stage of sound designing, where then Lawrence the Editor would sit with us and give feedback as we finalized all the elements for the mixing stage.

With the score being a huge and crucial part of the film, Jude and Tae-Young were very important collaborators. There were a few key moments where picture, music, and sound design had to work seamlessly together to create an impact, so constant communication between us, Jerome, and the composers was vital. Jude and Tae were exceptionally attentive and diligent with sending us their latest work so we can review it with the latest picture and sound design.

Final question, we promise, What was the most enjoyable part of the design process?

Elemental Post: I thoroughly enjoyed designing the cartoon sounds and commercials for all the moments when the TV was playing in the background. Brainstorming sound ideas while revisiting numerous 90s cartoons and advertisements for reference brought a strong sense of nostalgia, especially as a 90s baby.

We love our 90s nostalgia! Thank you all for opening up and sharing deeply about your experience. It’s relatable, inspiring and compelling. Enjoy all your well-earned success!