K-Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix | Credit: Netflix
BEVERLY HILLS, CA -(February 26, 2026)- In the high-stakes intersection of digital artistry and global music culture, Sony Pictures Imageworks has managed to pull off the ultimate crossover. At the 24th Annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards, the team behind the breakout hit K-Pop Demon Hunters didn’t just walk away with hardware—they validated a new cinematic language where the frame rate is dictated by the metronome.
The film was the night’s animated titan, securing Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature, Outstanding Effects Simulations, and Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature for Rumi.
Speaking with us exclusively just after their win, the creative leads revealed that the film’s visual DNA was inextricably linked to its soundtrack from the very first storyboard. For Joshua Beveridge, the film’s Animation Supervisor, the challenge wasn’t just making a character move—it was making them “vibe.”
“That was something that went hand-in-hand throughout the entire project,” Beveridge told us, noting that the music was being refined in tandem with the visuals. “As soon as we actually started animation… that was the first thing we locked. While the music was still being worked on, we agreed at least the BPMs (beats per minute) are locked”.
This rhythmic foundation allowed every department to stay in sync, even when working in isolation. “Every department had their own little way of making sure the BPMs were visual on screen,” Beveridge explained. “In animation, we had just a little bouncing ball to sort of represent that”.
While the technical precision of the choreography—influenced heavily by the specific flow of K-pop—provided the film’s “visual rhythm,” the team believes the audience connected with something more human. Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee, the film’s Character Supervisor, highlighted the immense effort from the “very, very big team” at Imageworks that brought the lead character, Rumi, to life.
When asked about the visual “hook” that has resonated so deeply with a global audience, the team pointed to the film’s emotional duality.
“I think it’s the range,” Beveridge remarked. “I think the fact that we were able to balance sincerity with ridiculous—that is a little bit spicy. We snuck in a little bit of sincerity with a lot of entertainment. I think people were caught on their heels by that”.
The success of K-Pop Demon Hunters at the VES Awards signals a shift in how music-driven animation is produced. By treating the BPM as a rigid technical constraint—similar to a camera’s focal length or a light source—the team created a seamless immersion where the particle effects and lighting tracks functioned as a visual extension of the bassline.
As they stood on stage, the feeling among the group was one of overwhelming “mind-blowing” excitement. For a project that required learning the nuances of a global music phenomenon while simultaneously inventing the tools to animate it, the win was a clear “shout out to all the asset departments and everybody” who turned a rhythmic concept into a digital reality.
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