Meet Min Soo Park | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Min Soo Park and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Min Soo, what makes you happy? Why?
The biggest reason for me to keep shooting is my pursuit of happiness. Through filmmaking, I connect and collaborate with people from different backgrounds, learn their stories, and capture beautiful moments together. The process of filmmaking makes me really happy. It makes me feel connected.

In terms of style, I love the improvised style of filmmaking especially when I do documentaries. I love to shoot with minimal plan and figure things out as I shoot, learn about the subject’s story. I also love to shoot handheld. When I’m shooting handheld, using intuition and camera as primary tools, I finally feel like I’m living in the moment. During this moment, I only care about capturing a beautiful image, nothing else. Also, in the moment, I am both a doer and an observer. It’s a great feeling.

I am actually heading to Switzerland this month to shoot a documentary about happiness. To find a bigger meaning in happiness for me. As much as it is a personal film, I hope it reaches out to more audiences.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I don’t like to consider what I do is running a business yet. The way I approach a project is still too personal and sometimes I lack confidence. Sometimes, I am even too frustrated to take projects regularly. I think a professional’s approach to a project would be much more systemized and focused. Currently, I’m working on systemizing my workflow for efficiency for this reason.

I think a challenge for me when I first started out was not being confident in myself. I didn’t really go through a traditional director or cinematographer’s route. I didn’t like the energy of working on a set that took hours to set up for a shot. Everything so intense. To me, it seemed dull and energy draining. I wanted to go outside and live in the moment. So, I started to shoot by myself with a mirrorless camera. Luckily, I was blessed with 4k mirrorless cameras that helped a lot of one man videographers. However, in a long run, this new and better technology didn’t necessarily help me improve.

When the size of the shoot increased, I became less confident in myself because I was not used to it. There was no other option than to just do it. I had to fake it sometimes (although I still do sometimes). After some moments of embarrassment, regret, and negative feedback, I took my lessons as gold. These experiences made me a better communicator, and just made me more confident.

Till nowadays and on every shoot, there are times when I get lost. However, I try to bring supportive and creative people with me on a shoot. It keeps me centered. The best part about that is once they know more about me, they’ll know when I am burnt out or lost. They would give me suggestions when I am lost. That really boosts up my energy and creativity during a shoot.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Currently, I’m living in Brooklyn. I think Nowadays is a great place to have fun. I’d recommend a night there if somebody wants to go clubbing and is looking for a new experience. It’s got a great camping vibe in the backyard, and the indoor dancefloor is fun too. I usually take my friends there when they visit New York. The music they play is always good. I always meet new people when I go there, and they are mostly artists who live in Brooklyn. It’s a great place to connect with new people.

For food, My number one place is Raku. I usually go to the one in East Village since it’s closer. Their udon is so good. I always get Niku which is udon with beef and tripe. It’s my favorite restaurant in New York at the moment.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am extremely grateful that there has been a lot of support along my filmmaking journey. My family has always been supportive. At first, my parents were a bit concerned for me that I was going into film but now I think they are happy that I found something for myself.

Also, there is a book that has impacted me a lot. It is Zorba The Greek. To me, it’s a book about true happiness. In the book, Zorba is portrayed as an intuitive person who is happy and free. Since the reason for me to keep shooting is to put myself in situations where I need to be intuitive, to be happy, the book really resonated with me. I learned that when I utilize Intuition learned from experience, that is the best way to approach a project for me.

There is also Vincent Moon, a French filmmaker, whose works have influenced me a lot. I watched a lot of his videos on La Blogotehque. What I love about his style of work is the adventurous and intimate feeling I get from watching his works. I always try to be that way in my films too.

Website: https://www.minsoopark.me

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miiing___

Image Credits
Yuseol Kim, Edward George Gomez, Neo Jo,