Part 1's generously translated by CNBlackYong @ http://cnblackyong.tumblr.com/post/19217872366/trans-heartstrings-guidebook-interview-yh-part1
-Yonghwa, when you're dating someone, are you also as gentle as Shin?
YH: When I'm dating, I tend to show how much I like her as much as possible. But because I'm a Busan guy, I'm not quite good at doing "events". I'd like to at least tell her all that I can. So I try to express my feelings as best as possible through words.
-Shin is in an unrequited love with an older woman--in real life, how do you feel about dating an older woman? Between Yoonsu and Gyuwon, which one's your type?
YH: I haven't fallen in love with someone older, but I don't really care about age. My principle is that it doesn't matter as long as I like (the person). As for YS and GW--it'd be nice to mix half of each: YS's feminine and cool character, GW's always lighthearted and positive way of working hard on everything. If these two are perfectly combined....though, it'd be hard to meet someone like that.
[Participation in composition of OST. Song completed in 30 minutes]
-There were many scenes in the drama where you had to play instruments. Wasn't it difficult to prepare for those scenes?
YH: It was really difficult because unlike real performances, I had to repeat the same part over and over in the drama and I also had to practice new songs for which only parts were aired. To add, the drama was almost shot live from the midpoint. Since I'm the main character, there were many lines to memorize, and on top of that, I had a new song for every episode so I was always rushed to prepare everything.
-But you always held the guitar in your hands between shoots, playing CNBLUE's songs and such. I thought you must really love the guitar.
YH: I do. Whenever I hold the guitar, I feel secure. There were many times where I just played the guitar mindlessly. When there is a scene for me to play the guitar, I never let go of it from my hands. Usually when I shoot a drama and can't play the guitar for a while, my skills tend to rust. But while filming this drama, my skills got better. I'm really grateful for the drama "Heartstrings".
-You participated in the composition of "Because I Miss You". How did you write that song?
YH: We needed a song to sing when (Shin) missed his father. When Mr. HSH was writing the song, I was sitting on a sofa listening to it and thinking, "I have a feeling I'll be writing the song." In my mind, I had an idea of how I would like the song to be. When he went to the restroom, I recorded the melody that came up on my mind. After coming back from the restroom, he heard the melody and asked, "What is this?" I said, "I tried my hand at it. Please give it a listen." He said, "You did a good job. Then I'll write the lyrics." So this is how it turned out (laughs). The song was finished in 30 minutes. He wrote the words, I composed the music. The best combination! (laughs) The head of our drama's production company told us, "Yonghwa and Mr. Han are geniuses." Hahaha.
-How was the recording process? Was it smooth?
YH: No. After the song was completed, I recorded it all night. Because it's not a song where I shout out my voice, it was unexpectedly difficult, giving me quite a hard time.
But as long as it took, I was very satisfied with the end result. The script made it easy for me to immerse my feelings into the song as well. While singing, I thought of the father in the drama. I reminded myself, "'Because I Miss You' is a song that allowed a son, whose real father appeared for the first time in 20 years, to share feelings with him over music."
-Were there any other parts where your ideas were incorporated?
YH: There's a song that I sing to console Gyuwon through the school radio. I told Mr.Han "A song that sounds like a low whisper would be nice" and he wrote that song. I recorded the song the night it came out. Such things happened often (smiles).
[In the midst of tight schedule, he enjoyed shooting and never stopped smiling]
-I heard the filming schedule was very tight and it was quite hard for you physically.
YH: The most difficult time was when I had to be awake for 3-4 days straight. I didn't even have time to go get IV. It was quite tough. Usually, getting an IV takes about 2 hours, so if I have that much time off-shoot, I can go. One time, that wasn't even possible, so I got the 2-hr IV in 1 hour. Getting it too hastily made my face get all puffed up (smiles bitterly).
-Though it must have been hard, you kept a bright character at the sets.
YH: Yeah. Even if it was hard, I tried not to reveal it. I wished everyone who saw me would feel good. The atmosphere at sets was very lively. I thought, everyone's tired and has a hard time so it won't do good if I put on a tired face... Thanks to this, even though there were many trying times from episode 1 to 15, I learned to persevere (smiles).
For me, as long as I have 1 or 2 things that make me feel good, all the stress goes away. I'm not someone who keeps all the pent-up stress.
-Kang Min Hyuk, who also stars in the drama with you, said you helped him a lot.
YH: It was a hard time for MH, too. His real personality's not like that of JH, but he still had to act it out. It seems like he felt quite a pressure. I tried to care for him so that he would feel less burdened and relaxed when acting. I think he did a very good job.
-Song Chang Eui and So Yi Hyun are your seniors. How did they help you?
YH: From the beginning, CE was so friendly to me. He told me many things. He would always say, "As long as it's memorable to you, the rating doesn't matter." Yi Hyun also encouraged me, "Don't worry about the surroundings. Just have fun filming at the shoots." The two of them are very experienced and were at ease on site, so I learned much from them.
-Your fans supported you through sending you snacks, etc.
YH: During the shooting of "You are Beautiful", Geun Suk's fans had ordered on-site buffet. I was so amazed when I saw it and thought, "Wow...the fans would even order on-site buffet, that's incredible. GS's is very popular indeed." (Pointing at a picture in the YAB Guidebook) Yes, this was it. Look at this face! (laughs)
-Looks like you think the food is great anyway (laughs)
YH: That's how I felt back then. But now that my fans order on-site buffet, I felt much more responsibility than before. I thought, I really need to take initiative and work harder. Honestly, I do get mad when I'm tired. But I thought to myself, "I must never show any sign of that and I need to work very, very hard!"
That's why I was never angry during the shoots. The more (tired I was), I joked around with the director.
It's all thanks to the fans. They give me great strength. I thought, all I can do to repay them is to work hard at what I can do, and give all I have at shooting the drama. I was happy to receive much support, aside from the rating.
[The script for the last episode went under much editing with SH]
-The location of the filming was mostly the Seoul Institute of the Arts. How was it like filming at a college?
YH: At the beginning, people would yell "It's JYH!" and make a fuss. The college students would come to watch us. But in the middle, it turned to "Ah..it's JYH" and "Now it feels like he goes to our school." I even borrowed their shower stall (laughs).
It was fun playing catch with MH on the school's lawn, drinking coffee and eating sandwiches. I enjoyed filming at the college than the studio shoots.
-Towards the end, Shin says goodbye to GW and sends her off to England. Did you sympathize with that decision?
YH: No. I didn't quite understand. I thought, "1 year's not that long a time..." If it was me, I wouldn't say goodbye. I would have simply said, "See you in a while." It's not like the injury won't heal forever either. He could say, "By the time you come back from England, I'll be healed." But Shin was different. While reading the script I blurted out, "Hey, what? Why would you say this?" (smiles bitterly).
Originally, Shin was crying throughout the entire episode 15. So we changed quite a few lines after discussing it with SH and the director. SH even wrote lines for me. The episode 15 almost needs to credit SH under the "author" title. She did a very good job. She needs to become a writer (laughs). I didn't know how to fix things, so all I did was say "That's good!" (laughs).
-What was the most memorable scene?
After breaking up with GW once, we meet again in front of our houses and I receive the LP record that I had asked her to keep. That record is the most important thing to Shin, the memento of his father. Upon receiving it back, he must have felt complicated emotions. They were apart for 1 year, but neither of them had forgotten one another. Shin still likes GW, but he couldn't say anything... I liked how these feelings came together nicely.
-Lastly, could you say something to the viewers?
"Heartstrings" leaves many hidden stories, like the encounter of Shin and Yoon Su and the moment GW and Shin began to like one another, to the viewers. Please be imaginative when you watch. This drama isn't only about what you see (laughs). The relationships are quite complicated too, so before watching, please take a look at the graph that explains them (laughs). Lastly, I think you'll enjoy this drama more fully if you pay attention to the colorful cinematography and the various thematic music for each episode.
