One of the most pretentious comments I often see in a fan’s review of a drama is “I love the cinematography!” To me, unless the fan can explain her usage of the word, she’s merely showing off that she knows a six-syllable synonym for “landscape,” “view,” and “scenery.” Cinematography should mean so much more than pictorial beauty.

I want us in this blog to get into the habit of looking at an image and discerning what the cinematographer wants to communicate with it. Just like screenwriter uses words to tell the story, a cinematographer uses visual elements for storytelling.

What are these visual elements? To list a few tools of the trade, there’s camera shots, angles, lighting, shadow, staging (or positioning of actors), color, and composition. All these visual elements create the atmosphere and subtext of the story, as well as establish the characters’ state of mind.

Let’s take for instance the scene when BaWoo walked on the beach to cool off after their fight. He spotted SooKyung at the stone cliff. She was staring out at sea.

What do you think was the cinematographer trying to do here? He filmed SK in the middle of a rock formation, and angled the camera in such a way that the stone appeared to be a monolithic wall (like a backdrop), instead of merely ground under her feet.

To me, the cinematographer was saying that this woman was hewn out of rock.

She might have been a pampered princess before, but she was strong-willed and strong-minded. She was tougher than BW imagined. He shouldn’t underestimate her. She could be his rock and fortress.

Next, there was a scene when Bawoo arrived home after everybody’s gone to bed. He didn’t enter his room, but sat on the pyeongsang (or wooden platform) in the courtyard.

Here, he went over the day’s shocking event: his mother and sister were captured by the guards. Then, he gazed at the moon.

SooKyung broke his reflection.

SK: Is it because it’s the middle of the month? The moon sure is bright.
BW: (standing up) Haven’t you slept yet? You must be tired, drawing all day.
SK: I was planning to go to sleep after seeing you return, but I missed the timing.

I think she meant that she waited for him to come home, but he arrived so late, it was past her bedtime.

SK: (continuing) The night air is better than I expected.

BW didn’t know what to add to that. He wasn’t feeling up to small talk, anyway.

SK: Let’s sit down.

They sat down together. She glanced at him, then looked up at the moon. He glanced at her, then looked up at the moon. They stayed there staring at the moon in the quiet yard.

What’s the cinematography trying to tell us here with these images?

I don’t know about you, but to me, he was saying three things:

1. BaWoo’s dreams of the future are like the full moon. They were remote and unattainable.

2. Their worldly burdens (i.e., her work, his family) were like invisible walls in their small courtyard. They isolated and hemmed BaWoo and SooKyung in, so they feel trapped inside. They could only look up.

3. But having someone beside them in the darkness made these dark days bearable. That’s why if you observe it, the moon was bigger and brighter. It seemed closer, and reachable, than it had been when he was looking at it alone.

🙂

The following morning, BW burst in on the family while they were eating breakfast. He seemed energetic.

Chunbae: What? It seemed you came back late. Did you already wake up?
BW: I actually had my first decent night’s rest in a long while.

He kept his eyes down on his bowl of rice, while SK smiled at him. This tells us that their quiet moment together did him a lot of good.

These two scenes are what I loosely call the “staring scenes,” meaning they were staring at the distance, or were staring at the other person from afar. If you go back in Episode 1, the staring scenes began there. We had two moments when they were staring.

One was when SK was staring at the birds in the sky.

To me, this calm setting and balanced composition gave us the illusion that she was at peace with her world. That is, she had accepted with grace and serenity (but some would say passivity) the fact that she was going to be shut in — separated from the world like the monks — for the rest of her life.

Although she didn’t verbally express a wish to fly away like the birds, her question, “Don’t they appear so free?” voiced a subconscious envy for the freedom of the birds.

The other staring moment was when SK chanced upon BW in the field.

As I wrote before, he didn’t seem to notice her presence near him because he was lost in his world. But she definitely recognized him, and joined him in staring into the wide, open space.

I commented on the cinematography back then:

When I look at this scene, I’m not just seeing a landscape but a portrait of the characters’ future. The terrain is a metaphor of their mental and emotional outlook. The leafless tree, the brown grass, the lonely path, and the drab vista: all these represent their cheerless and depressing life ahead of them. While Princess SooKyung recognizes BaWoo as the man in the market who caused a ruckus, she feigns ignorance. Silently, they stand together like two stoics enduring their pain and solitude on their own.

Now, I understand better why location was chosen. It was to indicate BaWoo’s state of mind. He believed that he was a dead man walking. He lived like he was dead emotionally, and dead socially. He was like a leafless tree or brown grass. He felt desolate.

Do you see the difference between this wilderness scene in Episode 1 and the pyeongsang scene in Episode 10?

1. Both times, BW must have looked lonely and pitiful. But in Episode 1, SK couldn’t approach him because they were strangers. She just stood behind him and stared into space, too. By Episode 10, however, she could approach him and sit under moonlight with him.

2. They found in each other kindred spirits. They were dead people.

lol.

3. Staring at the moon was a more optimistic pastime than staring at dead grass. Although their dreams were still out of their grasp, they could strive to attain them.

Do you see how the cinematography helps with the storytelling?

It’s not merely about the camera panning over fields and mountains and impressing us with sceneries. It’s how the cinematographer uses these visual images to guide our understanding of the plot, and to shape our emotional response to the story.

There were more “staring scenes.” In Episode 8, I mentioned the seascape. I said the sea mesmerized her because it represented freedom.

I wrote that this meant that she was no longer trapped. She gained her freedom thanks to BaWoo’s accidental bossam. He had stolen her away, and given her new life.

Hmmm…I guess Buddha heard her prayers to send down a fairy’s celestial robe in the form of her widow’s garments.

Another staring scene was in Episode 4, after he rescued her from her watery grave. They rested on the sand. He stared at her. But she ignored him, and looked at the heavens.

To me, the close-up shot of a single tear sliding down her face was well-done. This was a strong emotional moment, and shooting it up-close drew the viewers in and made her despair more personal.

Then, the camera panned out to show the two of them lying on the sand. They were staring into space.

You have to wonder why this shot?

and not this shot?

Do you see the difference?

With the 2nd shot, BW and SK looked like they were merely lying on a bed of sand. They seemed to be resting. This picture had a calming effect on the viewers. And this effect would be contradictory to what the director was aiming for.

With the 1st shot, however, BW and SK looked like they were standing on their heads. They were upended. This rotated shot disoriented the viewers. Psychologically, the viewers could feel and relate to their confusion and upheaval. This was the effect the director wanted.

The director wanted us to think, “What now? How should they go forward from here?” And sure enough, ChaDol came running up to them, and forced them to take a new direction. Although they felt like dead people, they must not kill themselves. They had to find a way to live on for themselves and for others.

Now, do you see why I get irritated whenever “cinematography” is used to gush about a beautiful landscape? The shallowness does the cinematographer’s craft a disservice.

One final example.

I have to point out that great cinematography isn’t just necessary for these big scenes and dramatic events. Sometimes it can be used for subtle moments like this insert shot.

The empty bowl caught a falling raindrop. Bawoo had been like an empty bowl himself until he caught himself a princess wasting in the background.

This was taken in Episode 9 during the leaky roof scene. This insert shot of the bowl ended that scene.

So why this shot?

To me, this bowl captured the essence of the scene. ChunBae thought SK was crazy for enjoying the situation.

BW: Is this also one of your first experiences?
SK: Perhaps. It may be another elegant experience.

The simplicity and functionality of this old bowl make it elegant. Similarly, finding laughter and joy in the simplest things makes life sublime.

Gotta run now.