WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:01.404 Hi, my name is Tony 00:00:01.405 --> 00:00:03.017 and this is "Every Frame a Painting", 00:00:03.018 --> 00:00:04.771 where I analyze film form. 00:00:05.001 --> 00:00:07.042 There's actually a lot of great videos on the internet 00:00:07.043 --> 00:00:09.001 analyzing movie content or themes, 00:00:09.002 --> 00:00:11.342 but I think we're missing stuff about the actual form - 00:00:11.343 --> 00:00:13.071 you know, the pictures and the sound. 00:00:17.900 --> 00:00:19.506 Anyways, the movie I want to talk about today 00:00:19.507 --> 00:00:21.812 is a fantastic example of craft and art. 00:00:21.901 --> 00:00:24.901 This is Bong Joon-ho's film "Mother", from 2009. 00:00:24.902 --> 00:00:25.900 If you haven't seen it, 00:00:25.901 --> 00:00:27.902 it's kind of a wrong man murder mystery, 00:00:27.903 --> 00:00:29.203 and if you don't know Bong Joon-ho, 00:00:29.204 --> 00:00:30.404 he's awesome. 00:00:30.405 --> 00:00:31.905 Dude is seriously the best. 00:00:31.906 --> 00:00:34.905 Be forewarned, there are major spoilers for the whole film. 00:00:34.906 --> 00:00:37.906 If you don't want to be spoiled, stop watching this and go watch the movie. 00:00:37.907 --> 00:00:39.307 Ready? Okay. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.538 So there's two techniques, combined, that I want to bring up today. 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:50.972 The first is shooting important story moments in profile. 00:00:51.373 --> 00:00:53.702 The second is doing that with a telephoto lens. 00:00:54.303 --> 00:00:57.093 So normally, you shoot an actor, you want to see their face. 00:00:57.094 --> 00:00:58.718 If you bring the camera around to the front, 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:01.687 it's generally a better way for us to empathize or to see their emotions. 00:01:01.688 --> 00:01:03.930 If you play something off the profile of someone's face, 00:01:03.931 --> 00:01:05.447 it's a little bit stranger. 00:01:05.449 --> 00:01:06.947 It has a starkness to it. 00:01:06.948 --> 00:01:07.848 Like this. 00:01:09.856 --> 00:01:11.044 Versus this. 00:01:12.700 --> 00:01:14.899 God. Stop. Oh god! 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.164 Now here's the weird part. 00:01:17.165 --> 00:01:18.798 You throw on a telephoto lens, 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:20.068 and that compresses space. 00:01:20.069 --> 00:01:22.059 We do it all the time in movies for close-ups. 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:23.115 It's more flattering 00:01:23.116 --> 00:01:26.117 and it blows out the background, it gives this nice little bokeh. 00:01:26.150 --> 00:01:27.245 But when you do it in profile, 00:01:27.246 --> 00:01:28.811 it's not really a beauty shot. 00:01:28.812 --> 00:01:29.912 It hides something. 00:01:29.913 --> 00:01:31.500 Add a little camera operator shake, 00:01:31.501 --> 00:01:33.740 and it's like we can barely keep up. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.189 A lot of the major events in this film are shot 00:01:36.190 --> 00:01:37.637 telephoto, in profile. 00:01:37.672 --> 00:01:39.357 Actually if you watch the movie again, 00:01:39.358 --> 00:01:40.962 you'll see that Bong very subtly 00:01:40.963 --> 00:01:42.515 gives away the important plot points 00:01:42.516 --> 00:01:44.262 versus the red herrings. 00:01:45.600 --> 00:01:47.198 So when Mother meets the junkman, 00:01:47.199 --> 00:01:49.175 who will turn out to be very important, 00:01:49.176 --> 00:01:50.176 watch the lens. 00:01:51.457 --> 00:01:52.947 Before that, when Mother goes to apologize 00:01:52.948 --> 00:01:54.048 to the dead girl's family, 00:01:54.049 --> 00:01:56.029 watch how this important moment plays. 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:03.343 There's actually a nice hidden cut in there. 00:02:03.344 --> 00:02:04.344 Check that out. 00:02:05.688 --> 00:02:07.853 If you're wondering whether this is a particular quirk of Bong's, 00:02:07.854 --> 00:02:09.901 the answer is: kinda. 00:02:09.902 --> 00:02:11.756 This is the big Act I turning point 00:02:11.757 --> 00:02:13.557 in his monster movie "The Host". 00:02:13.608 --> 00:02:15.528 Again: telephoto, profile. 00:02:16.033 --> 00:02:17.932 But here, you can kinda understand why. 00:02:17.933 --> 00:02:19.968 This is a point of view shot of another character, 00:02:19.969 --> 00:02:21.683 and there's actually a nice visual rhyme. 00:02:22.041 --> 00:02:22.741 Head on. 00:02:23.425 --> 00:02:24.125 Head on. 00:02:24.950 --> 00:02:25.650 Profile. 00:02:26.438 --> 00:02:29.198 And I don't wanna suggest that it's unusual to shoot things like this. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:30.099 For example… 00:02:35.373 --> 00:02:36.617 Man, that's awesome. 00:02:36.618 --> 00:02:39.064 But it's still really weird to use it in "Mother". 00:02:39.065 --> 00:02:40.504 I mean, who's watching? 00:02:40.505 --> 00:02:42.924 Why's the director playing so many big moments 00:02:42.925 --> 00:02:46.493 of his lead actress at right angles to the camera, in close-up? 00:02:48.288 --> 00:02:49.322 Then you get to the climax. 00:02:50.256 --> 00:02:51.463 Big spoilers ahead. 00:02:51.464 --> 00:02:52.970 We find out that the son, 00:02:53.723 --> 00:02:57.140 Do-joon, who we've spent the whole movie believing is probably innocent? 00:02:57.141 --> 00:02:59.067 Well, he actually did commit the murder. 00:03:02.506 --> 00:03:04.255 The only witness is the junkman. 00:03:04.256 --> 00:03:06.351 His mother kills the guy. 00:03:07.715 --> 00:03:09.221 And then she tries to clean up the blood. 00:03:10.505 --> 00:03:11.580 Oh hey, look at this shot. 00:03:12.417 --> 00:03:15.311 So that's why he shot those big moments telephoto, in profile. 00:03:15.312 --> 00:03:17.864 It puts us slightly further away from the characters. 00:03:17.865 --> 00:03:20.530 It reminds us that we don't know everything in the story; 00:03:20.531 --> 00:03:21.820 that a lot is hidden from us, 00:03:21.821 --> 00:03:24.367 or it's far away and it's hazy to see. 00:03:24.368 --> 00:03:26.930 It turns us into witnesses who can't do anything about it. 00:03:27.747 --> 00:03:28.634 But once we do see it, 00:03:30.406 --> 00:03:31.743 we know what we saw. 00:03:32.590 --> 00:03:34.546 In fact, that's kinda the great thing about this film. 00:03:34.547 --> 00:03:37.720 You start the movie watching a character you've never seen before 00:03:37.721 --> 00:03:38.852 dancing in a field. 00:03:38.853 --> 00:03:39.971 You can see her face, 00:03:39.972 --> 00:03:42.507 but you don't understand why she feels this way. 00:03:42.508 --> 00:03:44.697 You just trust that the movie will explain it. 00:03:44.898 --> 00:03:47.066 Then at the end, you see her dancing again. 00:03:47.067 --> 00:03:48.967 Telephoto, in profile. 00:03:48.968 --> 00:03:53.321 And you don't really understand her any better than you did at the beginning. 00:03:53.322 --> 00:03:55.860 For two hours, the biggest bedrock of this movie 00:03:55.861 --> 00:03:58.506 is that we know, for a fact, that she loves her son. 00:03:59.158 --> 00:04:02.848 And at the end, we see all this has brought on her. 00:04:04.146 --> 00:04:07.302 If you can't tell, I'm a big fan of this movie and of Bong Joon-ho. 00:04:07.303 --> 00:04:09.620 I also really wish more mainstream directors 00:04:09.621 --> 00:04:12.503 would be ballsy enough to shoot their big plot moments 00:04:12.504 --> 00:04:13.311 like this. 00:04:16.022 --> 00:04:17.139 Instead of like this. 00:04:19.255 --> 00:04:22.192 Agh. God! I gotta get a drink.