“ENHYPEN was exuding the kind of vibe only they can—one that says ‘vampire’ is ingrained deep inside them.” So said Yu Kwang Goeng, the director behind the concept trailer released on May 1 for DARK BLOOD, ENHYPEN’s fourth mini album. It was the first time he’d ever met the boys. A self-stated super fan of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1932 film Vampyr, Yu saw his opportunity to collaborate with ENHYPEN as destiny: a chance to “incorporate everything I ever felt from classic vampire movies” into a project. His intention was to make the DARK BLOOD trailer its own distinct work—one that would deviate from the conventions of vampire stories so readily familiar to us all. “As I got started, I set two goals for myself,” Yu said. “One was to tell a story that ENGENE would understand and appreciate, and the other was to craft a narrative that would instantly hook even people who aren’t ENGENE.” The idea behind SUNGHOON growing wise to his own destiny and rebelling against the vampiric fate before him to sacrifice himself for the heroine was, Yu said, intended to catch viewers by surprise with unexpected twists and turns that “betray their expectations,” and added that he wanted to explore it all in a new format that would “keep the story fun and moving along.” 

Yu decided the path forward was to stay true to the initial impression he received when he first met ENHYPEN. The result was a concept trailer whose theme entirely encompassed the director’s interpretation of ENHYPEN’s unique take on the vampire tale—a modern interpretation of classic beauty that suggests “the kind of vibe that vampires of the past might give off if they were still around today.” Case in point: The Prada 2023 S/S Leather Collection the boys wear in the trailer answers the question, “What kind of clothing would vampires wear if they were around in the present day?” explained Sae Ryeun Heu, lead professional of BELIFT LAB. Yu gave another example—one that not only captures the idea that resonates throughout the trailer but that also reveals his distinct interpretation of character: the shot where JUNGWON rides a motorcycle. “It would’ve been boring to have one person on a horse chasing another, also on a horse,” he said. Instead, “JUNGWON, on his stylish red motorcycle, gives chase” with a modern and yet still classic sensibility. This is what makes the concept trailer distinct from ENHYPEN’s original story DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR. They share similar ideas and a similar title, but they take entirely different directions. Sooha, the story’s heroine, decides to share her powers with ENHYPEN’s characters, the seven vampire lords, and send them far off into the future. The album’s concept trailer, however, takes a bold departure from the foundations of the comic’s premise. Yu summed up the story like this: “What if all the group members make up their minds to travel to the future, and only SUNGHOON refuses?” He described how SUNGHOON resolutely defies his own fate and makes an escape with the heroine while the other members, their own goal standing in conflict with SUNGHOON’s, chase after them to try and persuade him otherwise. “SUNGHOON’s deeply determined, but if you look closely you’ll notice that the other members aren’t really intending to harm him in the way it might appear.” This adds another layer to the story, showing how, despite the apparently antagonist dynamic among the group in the trailer, they’re still fundamentally on the same team. The voiceover plays a pivotal part in driving home the punch the trailer gives, captivating its audience and creating a complete cinematic experience. The speaker in the opening comes across as a spiritual being who “can see everything that happens in the future,” Yu explained. The words, “It’s right that all power and authority return to you,” become a particularly key recurring message in the trailer, serving as both an understanding of the present and a prophecy for the future. In this way, the words we hear overtop the trailer offer clues about future events, enhance our understanding of the current situation and convey the core essence of DARK BLOOD.

“The most critical aspect of the concept trailer was to bring to the fore unexpected and as yet unseen characters,” Heu at BELIFT LAB emphasized. It was imperative that they bring ENHYPEN’s distinct vampiric vision to life through new stories and new characters, all the while considering each ENHYPEN member’s individuality so as not to deviate completely from who they are. Each of them was given specific ideas tailored to their personal strengths so that they could embody their characters fully and effectively. As a former figure skater, SUNGHOON was given action sequences that would accentuate his graceful movement. JUNGWON, skilled in taekwondo, was able to showcase his prowess through quick-fisted fight scenes. And NI-KI, with his talent for dancing that even saw him working on the choreography for “Bite Me,” was made to resurrect with zombie-like moves. Heu described how the ENHYPEN members’ unwavering enthusiasm and determination led them to “strive constantly toward improvement” and how it was a fantastic opportunity for them to dig deeper into their latent potential and to cultivate a sense of self-reassurance. The way they move in the trailer is pure performance art: a way to evoke images of vampires with each and every one of their movements—all without the need for words. According to Yu, this kind of vampire was built from the ground up after raising fundamental questions that allowed them to deviate from the established norm. “I wanted to avoid the mundane imagery that everyone’s already seen so much of, like fangs, blood, and bloodsucking,” the director said. “What would their frame of mind be like if these vampires have been around for such a long time? I imagine in their minds they’d be more like kids than old men.” This also explains why the boys come across as so playful as they dance in the opening of the trailer and “joke around about who has to do what rather than making any serious plans for the task at hand.” This can be seen as a reverent attempt by the director to convey his admiration of silent film—an era when it was left up to the actors’ movements on screen to deliver the entirety of the story. It also bridges the gap between the classic and contemporary: Director Yu adds a hint of classic elegance to ENHYPEN’s trendsetting image by introducing images that transcend time itself, allowing the trailer to evoke the cinematic world of the old. The scene early on in the DARK BLOOD trailer where HEESEUNG ascends a flight of stairs is reminiscent of the trailer for Psycho (1960), where director Alfred Hitchcock personally details a murder scene while he climbs up a set of stairs. Likewise, the pile of canned pineapples serves as an expression of the woman’s intentions “to eat up every last bit of canned food she’s collected and resolve to leave,” as was the case in Chungking Express (1994). 

The use of light and color in the concept trailer, along with other expressive techniques that serve as indirect expressive devices, evoke a sense of the “ineffable.” Yu was able to achieve a wider range of expression than ever before with this project by blending three elements—red aura, darkness, and light—that are closely associated with vampires. “I figured that JUNGWON would be incredibly shocked to see SUNGHOON attacking him,” he elaborated. “So if you look closely at JUNGWON, you can see there’s a hint of surprise on his face. He never could have imagined that SUNGHOON would take a blade to him in such a way, and I wanted to express that moment of shock with the color red.” As the director explained, this emphasis on the color red reflects the intensity of the rising emotions, while removing color from a scene can go a long way to illustrate just the opposite: The black-and-white shots were intended to convey “emotion fading away—a feeling of nothingness, and a determination to work exclusively toward your own goals.” Drawing such contrast serves an important storytelling function for the trailer and allows the director to drop some hints for the viewer. When SUNGHOON is trying to comfort the heroine, “one side of their faces are in the light, while the other is in darkness,” Yu explained, “highlighting how there’s love present, but also a darkness, that is their separation and acceptance of fate,” casting a sophisticatedly dramatic light on standing at a crossroads between love and destiny. The use of 16mm film here reaffirms the idea that everything we see was ultimately chosen for how it would contribute to the overarching concept of ENHYPEN’s version of vampires. By seeking to “film ENHYPEN, a modern icon, using the small film and small sensors that were used in the early days of cinema instead of simply relying on digital cameras,” the trailer seeks to capture the group’s unique essence by “giving them a modern yet classic feel,” per its intention.

Yu crafted the scene where the other members merge into JUNGWON’s body in a flash to be a robotic fusion—his unique vision even extended to “putting some robotic sounds in there.” The classic yet somehow mysterious sound of the wordless background music also goes a long way to highlight the themes and mood of the trailer. As NI-KI mentions in the group’s reaction video to the DARK BLOOD concept trailer, Yu personally wrote the music and created the sound effects to allow viewers the pleasure of “feeling the rhythm” as they watch and listen along, providing them a top-tier cinematic experience within a short film. The director made clear the amount of commitment that went into creating the trailer when he recalled how he recruited the help of Bluecap to work on the sound design so they could “give ENGENE the sound they deserve” by “asking them to clear their schedule the second the project came in.” And “even the sound of each step on the stairs is more than a simple footstep sound,” he said. “The final sound is the result of layering multiple sounds together.” Special attention was also given to the sound design for the scene where the members connect together. Even these nonvisual elements exemplify the classic–modern dichotomy, adding to the intense dilemma the ENHYPEN members face at the border between reality and destiny, all the while subtly foreshadowing the heartbreaking end of an unsustainable love.

Yu sought to leave plenty of room for interpretation when it came to the ending, but still provided some hints. “In the final scene, when SUNGHOON says, ‘Bite Me,’ you can check for yourself whether or not he was bitten if you look very carefully,” the director said. “To give you a hint, you can hear a biting sound whenever someone else is bitten.” He also offered another behind-the-scenes tidbit: “Since they’re all connected, I devised it so that all six characters have to die for them to actually be dead,” and so, as long as one remains alive, “they don’t die.” It’s left up to the fans to fill in the remaining gaps. ENGENE is given full rein to come up with their own interpretations for the trailer, uncover the hidden meaning, expand their understanding of ENHYPEN’s world and complete the story however they see fit. As people seem to agree, the trailer truly captures the essence of ENHYPEN’s unique vision. Everything—from the storyline to the action sequences, the color, and the music—comes together seamlessly to reinterpret the classic vampire narrative in a manner perfectly suited to ENHYPEN. “Seeing the fans complete the story makes me happier than anything else,” Yu said, “because there were parts that I left unfinished.” And as lead professional Heu said, the trailer has generated “anticipation for the upcoming story in the next album.” As the first part of the BLOOD series, DARK BLOOD “leaves enough open threads for the upcoming chapters to develop.” The vampires will be back, and they’ll be bringing with them a new story that will leave listeners shocked once again.