(Note: Click the photo above to view or download a much bigger copy.)
From Wikipedia: “My Name” is a South Korean streaming television series written by Kim Ba-da and directed by Kim Jin-min. The cast is led by Han So-hee, Park Hee-soon, and Ahn Bo-hyun. Genre: action, crime, noir, thriller.
The series revolves around a woman who joins a gang to avenge her father’s death and then goes undercover as a cop. Three episodes out of eight were screened at 26th Busan International Film Festival in the newly created ’On Screen’ section, on October 7, 2021. It was released on Netflix on October 15, 2021.
As of October 17, 2021, “My Name” is ranked 4th in Netflix’s top ten dramas worldwide. Caution: This drama has numerous explicit scenes of violence.
How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers
1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.
2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.
3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 2, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.
4. I followed this structure all throughout, except for Ep. 8 (Finale) where I included spoilers. Reason — most people want to know if the drama has a good/happy ending or a sad ending before they invest the time in watching it.
Episode 1
Yoon Ji-woo is a 17-year old girl who’s bullied in school; she’s also hounded by two police officers, who are looking for her father Yoon Dong-hoon, a gangster.
Ji-woo sees her father being gunned down, but the police fail to identify her father’s killer. Overwhelmed by guilt, she seeks the help of Choi Mu-jin, who is her father’s close friend and the leader of “Dongcheon,” an organized crime syndicate.
Ji-woo distributes posters offering a five million won reward for anyone who can give information about her father’s killer. One night, she gets a call from a man who claims to know who the killer is. Bringing the reward money, she meets the man on a deserted street. But the man and two other thugs take the money from her and beat her senseless.
When Ji-woo regains consciousness, she finds herself inside the trunk of a car, with her hands bound by a zip tie.
Episode 2
| Ep. 1 recap:
The police officer asks Ji-woo what she said that made her father go back home, giving the hooded man the opportunity to kill him. Jiwoo thus blames herself for her father’s death. After rescuing Ji-woo from the thugs, Mu-jin takes her to a gym on the docks where the gang’s members and recruits are trained in hand-to-hand fighting. There, she meets Do Gang-jae, who has been training for the last two years. But being the newest recruit and the only female in the group, she is bullied and sexually harassed by the other recruits. After training Ji-woo how to fight, Mu-jin motivates her not to win but to kill. Ji-woo thus trains hard, sometimes imagining herself fighting against the hooded man who killed her father. In the free-for-all fight among the recruits, Gang-jae and Ji-woo become the only ones left standing. |
Tae-ju, who worked under Yoon Dong-hoon, warns Ji-woo that just like her father, she doesn’t belong in the gang. But Ji-woo refuses to leave the gang.
Mu-jin tells Ji-woo that her father was killed by a police officer. He gives her identification papers with the name “Oh Hye-jin” and orders her to enter the police force to find her father’s killer.
Five years later ... As a corporal in the Violent Crimes Unit, Ji-woo follows a murder suspect. She orders her partner to call for back-up, and she goes into the building. But her partner is snatched from the street by men in a van, and she stumbles upon an illegal drugs transaction.
Mu-jin is doublecrossed by Bae Jun-goo (the CEO of a shipping company) whom he has worked with in the illegal drugs business for ten years. As his men kill Bae Jun-goo, he calls up Ji-woo.
Episode 3
| Ep. 2 recap:
After being defeated by Ji-woo in their fight, Gang-jae tries to rape her. Mu-jin cuts Gang-jae’s face and expels him from the gang. Mu-jin gives Ji-woo the gun used to kill her father. Not knowing that the drug transaction was actually a sting operation with narcotics officer Jeon Pil-do posing as the supplier, Ji-woo crashes into the transaction by breaking the glass window with a chair. Later, she is transferred to the Narcotics Bureau under Captain Cha Gi-ho, who was the hooded man who tried to contact her after her father was killed. During their meeting in a secluded place, Mu-jin tells Ji-woo how her father saved him from his enemies. He also gives her his knife and tells her to kill her father’s killer immediately once she verifies his identity. Later on, however, he’s warned by Tae-ju that they cannot trust Ji-woo. He replies that he trusts in the power of Ji-woo’s desperation. Despite Pil-do’s protest, Captain Cha Gi-ho assigns him as Ji-woo’s partner. During an operation to catch and bring in a big time drug supplier known as “Mango,” Ji-woo overpowers Mango and his men all by herself. |
After learning from Ji-woo about a new kind of drugs that the Narcotics Bureau is focusing on, Mu-jin wonders if Bae Jun-goo’s death emboldened a new crime syndicate to fill the void in the supply of illegal drugs. He goes to the docks to inspect his new factory (formerly owned by Bae Jun-goo) while his executive assistant deals with a Japanese businessman regarding a drug called “Diamonds.”
As one of Bae Jun-goo’s ships has arrived in Korea from Thailand, Captain Cha Gi-ho mobilizes the Narcotics Bureau officers and their backup police officers. Ji-woo learns that the operation’s target is Mu-jin, but she can’t warn him because her cellphone and those of the raiding team have all been sequestered for operational security.
The raiding team boards the ship where the drugs are being manufactured. In the ensuing chaos, Ji-woo plants somewhere in the ship the gun used in her father’s murder.
Episode 4
| Ep. 3 recap:
Tae-ju becomes suspicious of Ji-woo, but Mu-jin thinks that there’s a mole in his syndicate. Ji-woo finds out that Captain Cha Gi-ho is on a personal vendetta against Mujin because of the death of a young Narcotics Bureau officer. She warns Mu-jin that surveillance cameras have been planted in his hotel. As Captain Cha Gi-ho becomes suspicious of his own officers, he goes to the National Forensics Service and has the gun examined. But Ji-woo follows him. Gang-jae is now the leader of his own crime syndicate, which supplies the new drug that the Narcotics Bureau is focusing on. He leads his men in a brutal and bloody attack on the Dongcheon recruits at the gym on the docks. He leaves a message on the floor, in blood, saying, “I’m back!” |
Ji-woo warns Mu-jin that Mango’s release is a trap; meanwhile, despite Tae-ju’s warning that they have to lie low for a while, Mu-jin orders him to mobilize all of Dongcheon’s affiliates for a counterattack he’s planning against Gang-jae’s syndicate.
On her motorcycle, Ji-woo watches Captain Cha Gi-ho on the street. After noticing someone taking pictures from afar, she goes to see who it is, but she runs straight into a trap.
Captain Cha Gi-ho becomes suspicious of Ji-woo because the intel about the activities of the Narcotics Bureau has been leaking since she joined the Bureau. Meanwhile, Ji-woo warns Mu-jin that she saw Tae-ju in a meeting with Captain Cha Gi-ho.
Episode 5
| Ep. 4 recap:
Tae-ju falls for the trap set for him. From the forensics report, Ji-woo finds out that the gun used in her father’s murder belonged to Song Joon-su, a Narcotics Bureau officer; according to Captain Cha Gi-ho, Song Joon-su was killed by Dongcheon. Later, she becomes confused when Mu-jin says that Dongcheon doesn’t kill police officers and that Captain Cha Gi-ho will use or fabricate anything to get him. Ji-woo and Pil-do follow Mango into a junkyard. But it’s a trap; Gang-jae has found out from Mango’s surveillance cameras that Police Officer Oh Hye-jin is none other than Ji-woo. Meanwhile, Mu-jin is attacked by Gang-jae’s assassins at his favorite eatery. |
The Police Commissioner orders Captain Cha Gi-ho that all Narcotics Bureau officers must carry firearms as they conduct an intensive search for Gang-jae; meanwhile, Tae-ju tortures one of Gang-jae’s men who attacked Mu-jin at the eatery.
Afraid that Gang-jae could blow Ji-woo’s cover if the police captures him, Mu-jin orders his executive assistant to get Ji-woo out of the country. But at the Narcotics Bureau office, the police officer who handled the investigation of Yoon Dong-hoon’s murder five years ago recognizes that Officer Oh Hye-jin is none other than Ji-woo.
Gang-jae sees his pictures splashed on TV screens, with news reports saying that he’s wanted for being a major drug lord and for murder. He calls up Captain Cha Gi-ho and offers to set up Mu-jin for him.
Episode 6
| Ep. 5 recap:
Ji-woo finds out from the police officer who recognized her that Captain Cha Gi-ho ordered that the investigation into Yoon Dong-hoon’s murder be covered up. The police officer who recognized Ji-woo has been in Mu-jin’s payroll all along; he’s killed and dumped into the river on Mu-jin’s order. As Captain Cha Gi-ho and the Narcotics Bureau officers watch, Mu-jin’s and Gang-jae’s gang members attack each other with knives and other bladed weapons. Ji-woo shoots Gang-jae and tells Mu-jin to escape. Captain Cha Gi-ho catches up with Mu-jin, but Tae-ju rescues Mu-jin. Gang-jae sees Pil-do approaching and says that he’s surrendering. When he’s about to blurt out that Ji-woo is working for Mu-jin, Ji-woo shoots him dead. |
Ji-woo is shocked when she receives a picture of her father wearing a police uniform with the name tag “Song Joon-su.” After getting a call from Mu-jin, she hurries to see him.
Mu-jin tells Ji-woo that her father was an undercover police officer sent by Captain Cha Gi-ho. When her father changed his allegiance and actually became part of Dongcheon, Captain Cha Gi-ho killed him.
Sensing that Ji-woo is wavering, Mu-jin orders Tae-ju to kill Captain Cha Gi-ho.
After turning off the CCTV at the guard house, Tae-ju sneaks into Captain Cha Gi-ho’s apartment and stabs him repeatedly.
Episode 7
| Ep. 6 recap:
Gang-jae sent to Ji-woo the picture of Yoon Dong-hoon wearing a police uniform. Ji-woo becomes conflicted over who between Mu-jin and Captain Cha Gi-ho is telling the truth about her father’s death. As Captain Cha Gi-ho bleeds profusely, he’s stunned when Ji-woo reveals herself as the daughter of Yoon Dong-hoon ("Song Joon-su"). He gives Ji-woo the evidence that Song Joon-su didn’t betray the Narcotics Bureau and a letter that her father wanted her to get in case something happened to him. Flashback ... Mu-jin finds the bug planted in the cigarette lighter that Yoon Dong-hoon gave to him. With Gang-jae standing guard, he searches Yoon Dong-hoon’s apartment and finds the intel reports detailing Dongcheon’s activities. Using her car’s cigarette lighter, Ji-woo burns off the Dongcheon tattoo on her chest. |
Pil-do and the other officers find out that Mu-jin is hiding in the temple. But as they rush out of their office to go to the temple, they’re stunned to see Mu-jin arrive to turn himself in for questioning about Gang-jae’s death.
After Ji-woo talks with Mu-jin in the interrogation room, Pil-do asks her how she knows about the mole in the Narcotics Bureau. Later, the other narcotics officers find the CCTV footage of Ji-woo’s car near Captain Cha Gi-ho’s apartment. Pil-do also gets the report that Captain Cha Gi-ho previously ordered for the call logs of Ji-woo’s official phone.
Ji-woo goes to the evidence room and takes the knife that Mu-jin used to stab Gang-jae.
Episode 8 (with spoilers)
| Ep. 7 recap:
Before dying, Tae-ju tells Ji-woo that Mu-jin himself killed her father. Ji-woo escapes from the police headquarters. With the evidence against him now gone, Mu-jin walks out of the police headquarters. Later, after finding out that Ji-woo killed Tae-ju, he realizes that Jiwoo got him out so that she can kill him. After the Narcotics Bureau officers find the link between Officer Oh Hye-jin (Ji-woo) and Mu-jin’s Dongcheon criminal syndicate, Pil-do goes to the cemetery on a hunch; after a brief chase, he arrests Ji-woo. |
Captain Cha Gi-ho tells Pil-do who Jiwoo really is and how Mu-jin deceived and manipulated her.
Pil-do rescues Ji-woo from Mu-jin’s men and takes her to a beach house. He convinces her that they should follow the proper procedures in arresting Mujin.
On the way back to the police headquarters, Mu-jin kills Pil-do. Rather than turn herself over to the police, Ji-woo takes Pil-do’s gun and goes after Mu-jin.
Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information
A. “My Name” has numerous excellently choreographed fight scenes involving Ji-woo, the main character (played by Han So-hee). To its credit, the drama does not use the “shaky cam” technique that has been the bane of Hollywood movies.
Director Kim Jin-min is certain viewers who watch the first episode of his upcoming Netflix series, “My Name,” won’t be able to stop until they finish the rest of the show.
“Most of the action scenes are done without a stuntman or stuntwoman. I avoided using computer graphics as well. I am sure that the viewers will be fascinated by the brutal raw action moves by the cast,” Kim said in an online press conference on Tuesday.
From Here Are The Extreme Methods Han So Hee Used To Prepare For Her Role In “My Name” (Koreaboo)
During the press conference, it was also revealed that while the cast attended an action school for two months, she stayed and practiced for an extra month to safely do the stunts and scenes.
We always use guns and knives. I always carried a knife so that I could get used to it." — Han So Hee
From Han So Hee reveals spending months in action school, gaining 10 kg to prepare for role in ’My Name’: Han So Hee revealed that she spent almost three months in action school and gained around ten kilograms after working out to prepare for her intriguing role in revenge-driven drama “My Name.”
From Han So Hee Talks about Turning Down Stunt Doubles to Perform Dangerous Scenes in Her New Netflix Series ‘My Name’ (Zapzee)
The first thing she prepared was “action.” “The director told me to prepare for action scenes even before I read the script. I think he said that because he thought I would lack the ability to interpret the script if I didn’t prepare the action first. I had prepared action first, so by the time I studied the script, my body had already become Ji Woo, so it wasn’t that burdensome.”
The most difficult action scene was the scene where she went to see Moo Jin in the latter half of the drama. “Starting from the hotel lobby, the sequence moves onto the stairs, the elevator, and then to the fight with Moo Jin.
B. The action school referred to in the articles cited above is the “Seoul Action School.”
From “Seoul Action School (Martial Arts Center)”:
Seoul Action School, located in the artist village of Heyri in Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, started out as Stunt Academy. The school was founded on July 1, 1998 by Kim Yeong-Bin (director and screenwriter) and Jeong Du-Hong (actor and martial arts director), who believe that revitalizing action film is one way to contribute to and develop the film industry. Seoul Action School is the only action training institution in Korea that teaches not only acting, but also action techniques that can be used in a variety of film genres to help performers become even more marketable in the ever-globalizing film industry.
From “The centerpiece of the Stunt Action In Korea, Seoul Action School”:
Seoul Action School was built in 1998, and settled down as a mecca of the stunt action. Martial arts center was constructed for all kinds of actions; for example, its structure, a wire action is possible in every corner of the center. Moreover, the ceiling blocks ultraviolet rays by covering the ceiling with ultraviolet-proof film, which disturbs a martial arts training. Aside from this, this center has 4 rooms, shower rooms for both men and women and all the amenities for the members. Based on this facility, Seoul Action School has a various programs such as training stuntman and actors, teaching martial arts, action as well as supports to a stunt directing and shooting. Furthermore, they also conduct projects like international exchange and training international trainee.
“Arirang Prime - Ep218C04 Seoul Action School”
Seoul Action School (no English subs)
I stand to be corrected, but the knife fighting techniques may have been inspired by FMA (Filipino Martial Arts, aka Arnis, Eskrima, or Kali). The video below shows Supreme Grandmaster Diony Canete of the Doce Pares style giving a seminar in Korea in 2019; the knife fighting techniques are shown at the 1:22 mark. Doce Pares has a long history in Korea; another FMA style that is active in Korea is the Lapunti system.
Lessons in photography from “My Name” with in-depth analysis of its cinematography
I. In-depth analysis of this drama’s cinematography
A. Besides the excellently choreographed fight scenes, which mostly involve knives, the thing that stands out the most to viewers is the drama’s use of the colors red, brown, and black in a lot of the scenes. These colors, comprising the so-called the “revenge color palette” (plus their harmonious colors), heighten the emotional and physical tension in the scenes and underlie the drama’s revenge plot.
Examples of shots with the so-called “revenge color palette”:
Relevant resources on color schemes and uses of colors in K-dramas:
From “K-drama color: The power of the palette” (Dramabeans):
But dramas also drain their color sometimes, or use more “outdated” tones for flashback sequences or to mimic a color palette from the past — think Hyeri’s shabby, precious neighborhood in "Answer Me 1988."
Sometimes, color palettes can even become such a strong element that a network’s entire body of productions fits into a tonal schema and almost becomes a part of their brand. A good example of this is OCN productions and their now-unmistakable dark and gritty look.
From “The Power of Koreanovela Color Palettes in Storytelling” by Jess Convocar (May 2020):
You might have noticed it too, how colors have a huge impact on communicating the story to the audience. It’s not just in K-dramas, films in general use color to externalize the internal. To create meaning without words. Since humans’ eyes are
designed to react to different light waves, filmmakers maximize the use of colors to help tell their story, and in turn, the colors greatly affect our viewing experience.
The author states the uses of color and illustrates them with examples from K-dramas:
- Color Sets the Atmosphere
- Color Shows Time
- Color Directs Attention
- Color Helps Tell the Story
The author cautions, however, that “while color helps further the story, it must do so without calling too much attention to itself.”
B. This drama has numerous excellently choreographed and well acted fight scenes. As discussed in the “Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information” above, the actors, especially Han So-hee, probably learned stunt fighting in the Seoul Action School. In the Arirang video, the head instructor of the school explains the difference between stunt fighting in Western dramas and movies and in Korean productions.
A tracking shot is any shot that physically moves the camera through the scene for an extended amount of time. Tracking shots often follow a traveling subject, though they can be used to simply show off the scene.
In the past, tracking was a term reserved specifically for lateral camera movement that almost exclusively took place on dolly tracks. A camera would “track-right” or “track-left”, while forward movement was referred to a ‘push-in’ or ‘dolly-in’ and backward as a ‘dolly-out’.
These terms are still used, but the vocabulary has changed along side technology. A dolly shot is now simply any shot that takes place on a dolly, which means a dolly shot can travel in any direction.
Furthermore, tracking shots can be captured using any means of camera movement including 3-axis gimbals, vest stabilizers, drones, handheld, or any other tool used to physically move the camera body.
What does a tracking shot do?
- Physically moves through the scene
- Often follows a subject or bounces around
- Plays in the edit for an extended amount of time
Note: The GIF program that I use has a 30-second limit per GIF; thus, for some scenes, I had to cut them into two or more GIFs.
Tracking shots in Ep. 1 (classroom fight between Ji-woo and the bullies):
Part 1 of 3
Part 2 of 3
Part 3 of 3
Tracking shots in Ep. 1 (Ji-woo is bullied in the gym):
Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2
Tracking shots in Ep. 2 (no-holds barred fight between Ji-woo and Gang-jae):
Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2
Two separate tracking shots in Ep. 2 (when Ji-woo goes into the casino to get Mango and bring him in for questioning):
Not all fight scenes, however, are shot with long takes; some fight scenes, instead, use cuts while others use a combination of tracking shots and cuts as you can see in the GIFs below.
Ep. 1: The thugs take Ji-woo’s reward money and beat her senseless.
Ep. 6: Ji-woo and Pil-do are led into a trap in a junkyard, and they have to fight off Gang-jae’s thugs. Despite the fast cuts, we can still see that the actors (Han So-hee and Ahn B0-hyun) are the ones doing the action scene, not stunt doubles.
Ep. 7 (fight scene with jump cuts): Ji-woo fights off in the bathroom three of Tae-ju’s men.
Ep. 8 (jump cuts): The fight between Ji-woo and the Taekwondo guy uses jump cuts, instead of tracking shots.
Ep. 7 (knife fight between Ji-woo and Tae-ju using tracking shots and jump cuts):
Part 1 of 3 (tracking shot ends after Tae-ju tries to front kick Ji-woo)
Part 2 of 3 (tracking shot begins when Tae-ju side kicks Ji-woo)
Part 3 of 3 (fast cuts with the fight ending when Ji-woo side kicks Tae-ju and then stabs him to death)
Ep. 8 (fast cuts and slow motion): This segment of the fight between Ji-woo and Mu-jin is perhaps the only time slow motion was used, interspersed with fast cuts to make the fight more visually exciting.
B. This drama sometimes uses tracking shots or long takes in scenes that do not involve fighting. One example is the scene in Ep. 1 when Ji-woo distributes posters asking for information about her father’s killer.
Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2
C. Creative camera movements and great editing
Explanation of the terms “push in” and “push out”:
The article “Types of Camera Movements in Film Explained: Definitive Guide” (Studio Binder) defines what a push-in shot is: “A push-in moves the camera closer to a subject typically with a dolly camera movement or Steadicam. Push-ins can draw the audience’s attention toward a specific detail. Filmmakers also push-in toward characters to try and infer what is occurring internally. This can be a reaction, thought process, or internal conflict.”
Push in shots are used to “create subtle intimacy, tension rising, and importance.” From “The Push-in” (YouTube video): “The Push-In, sometimes called the Character Dolly, is a camera move where the camera dollies forward toward the subject of the shot. A short push-in is like an exclamation mark. A long, slow push-in builds drama and heightens the emotional meaning of the scene. The push-in is a powerful cinematic tool for heightening tension and dramatizing a revelation, and it’s one of the fundamental techniques of the cinematographer and layout artist.”
From “The Effects of a Push in vs. Pull out” (Cinematography): “When the camera pulls out from a character to show empty space around them, it creates a feeling of isolation and loneliness, abandonment, or rejection.”
Ep. 1 (pull out and cross dissolve): The camera pulls out as Ji-woo holds on to her father, who has been shot to death. As the camera continues to pull out, the shot then cross dissolves into the image of the portrait of Ji-woo’s father, the flowers, and Ji-woo (frame right in the foreground) during the funeral.
Ep. 2 (push in and pull out, camera shake): Ji-woo sobs and cries as she tries to put back together the broken urn that contained her father’s ashes.
Part 1: The camera slowly pushes in on Ji-woo as she picks up the paper wrapping that contains her father’s ashes and puts it into the wooden box; she then picks up from the bed the box’s cover.
Part 2: The camera pulls out to show Ji-woo picking up the broken pieces of the urn and trying to put them back together. Realizing that it’s impossible to put the broken pieces together, she sobs, collapses with her hands and head on the box, and slightly falls back.
To reinforce this emotion-filled scene, the camera shakes or wobbles a bit as it pushes in or pulls out.
Ep. 4 (push in, camera shake): Ji-woo asks Captain Cha Gi-ho of Dongcheon was involved in the death of the Narcotics Bureau officer named Song Joon-su. Notice that the camera pushes in on Captain Cha Gi-ho as he confirms that Dongcheon killed Song Joon-su. The next shot shows Ji-woo, who’s stunned by Captain Cha Gi-ho’s answer. She’s shot in an extreme closeup, with only one eye in focus; the camera also slightly shakes or wobbles to reinforce her confusion.
Ep. 6 (push in): Ji-woo is surprised to get a mail and to see who sent it to her. (We find out several moments later that the mail came from Gang-jae and that it contains a picture of her father wearing a police uniform with the name tag “Song Joon-su.”)
Ep. 1: The shot starts with a reflection on the ceiling of a rotating and flashing image of Ji-woo and her father. The camera (probably on a jib) then slowly tilts down to show Ji-woo on her bed listening to music.
Ep. 1 (transition between shots, high angle POV): Ji-woo is sullen because she fought with the bullies in school and was chased by the police officers looking for her father. From a bird’s eye point of view, the camera moves forward with the shot being momentarily being blacked out. As the camera continues moving forward, the shot then shows Ji-woo’s father at a phone booth trying to contact her.
C-1. Arc shots
Ep. 6 (arc shot, push in, pull out): After killing Gang-jae, Ji-woo begins to have nightmares. To depict and reinforce her emotional agitation, the camera pushes in and pulls out as it arcs around her.
Ep. 1 (arc shot, tracking shot): As Mu-jin teaches Ji-woo how to fight, the camera tracks them and arcs around them.
Ep. 2 (arc shot): As Mu-jin acknowledges Ji-woo’s victory against Gang-jae by raising her hand, the camera arcs around him and Ji-woo, who seems confused about everything that’s happening.
C-2. Other push in and pull out shots:
Ep. 7 (longest push in shot in the whole drama, around 32 seconds?): Mu-jin’s men ask his permission for them to kill Ji-woo, but he tells them that Ji-woo will definitely come to them.
Ep. 7 (pull out from a low POV OR dolly zoom and zoom out?): Mu-jin goes into a room and walks towards something or someone. It’s only at the end of the shot that we see Tae-ju’s dead body.
Ep. 5 (push in): Ji-woo returns home from the hospital; the camera pushes in on her as she contemplates on what to do next after her close brush with death in Gang-jae’s hands.
C-3. Camera shake to heighten the emotional or psychological tension
Ep. 8 (camera shake and being in focus and out of focus to heighten the emotional and psychological tension): As the camera focuses on Ji-woo, it noticeably shakes or wobbles; Ji-woo is also sometimes in focus and sometimes out of focus.
Ep. 5: Ji-woo challenges Gang-jae to a fair fight, but Gang-jae responds by stabbing her right leg.
D. “Visual cues” are explained in an excellent series of articles from “My Drama List” written by someone with the username “3GGG.”
Popular Visual Cues found in K-Dramas, Part 1: visual ways to establish a conflict, division, or fight between two or more characters
Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 2: boxing to establish a character’s vulnerability, solitude, or fear; comfort and respite; change; danger; showdown
Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 3: Dutch angle
Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 4: Interpersonal cues (using cues simultaneously or one after another)
These MDL articles on visual cues will help you better “read” K-dramas. (I prefer, however, the term “framing” instead of “boxing.”)
Ep. 3: Ji-woo decides to bring with her to the office the gun used in her father’s murder. It was only after the failed raid on Mu-jin’s drug lab that we come to know that she brought the gun with her, thinking of planting it somewhere so that the investigation into her father’s death could be reopened. Notice that she’s boxed in by the frames of the cabinet where the urn containing her father’s ashes is placed.
Ep. 3: Captain Cha Gi-ho surveys the officers in the Narcotics Bureau as he begins to suspect that one of them is a mole for Mu-jin. His dilemma and emotional tension are depicted the way he’s boxed in by the frames of his office windows.
Ep. 6: After seeing Ji-woo shoot Gang-jae, Pil-do becomes suspicious of her. Notice that he’s boxed in by the frames in front of and behind him.
Ep. 6: Captain Cha Gi-ho and Pil-do have some drinks at a bar. When two or more people are boxed within a frame, they could either be in unity or in conflict, depending on the context.
Ep. 7: Pil-do goes to the jail cell to confront Ji-woo. Notice that they are boxed in by the bars in the foreground. When two or more characters are boxed in together, it could mean unity or confrontation, depending on the context.
Ep. 6: Mu-jin has ordered Tae-ju to kill Captain Cha Gi-ho; notice that he’s shot with a Dutch angle.
Ep. 6: With a knife in her hand, Ji-woo stands over Captain Cha Gi-ho, who’s bleeding to death. Notice that she’s shot with a Dutch angle and boxed in by the wooden frame behind her.
Ep. 5 (rack focus and visual cue): Mu-jin becomes worried that if the police arrest Gang-jae, he might reveal that Officer Oh Hye-jin’s real identity as Ji-woo. Thus, he orders his executive assistant to get Ji-woo out of the country. But Ji-woo refuses to leave.
Rack focus: The shot begins with Ji-woo (background) in focus, with the urn containing her father’s ashes (foreground) out of focus. As Ji-woo becomes out of focus, the urn becomes in focus.
Visual cue (boxing in): Ji-woo is boxed in to heighten her dilemma about leaving the country or continuing to search for her father’s killer.
E. Rack focus: A K-drama isn’t a K-drama if it doesnt have rack focus shots.
In a rack focus shot, a character (or object) in the foreground is in focus while a character (or object) in the background is out of focus. As the character (or object) in the foreground becomes out of focus, the character (or object) in the background becomes in focus. Or vice versa.
Ep. 3 (rack focus in successive shots): The Narcotics Bureau officers and their backup police officers raid the ship where Mu-jin’s syndicate is manufacturing their illegal drugs. In the first shot, as Ji-woo becomes out of focus, her gun (foreground) becomes in focus. In the next shot, as Pil-do becomes out of focus, Ji-woo (background) becomes in focus.
Ep. 1: As Mu-jin (foreground) becomes out of focus, Ji-woo (background) becomes in focus.
Ep. 1: As the knife (foreground) becomes out of focus, the framed picture of Mu-jin and Yoon Dong-hoon becomes on focus.
Ep. 2: As punishment for trying to rape Ji-woo, Mu-jin slashes Gang-jae’s face. As Gang-jae (foreground) becomes out of focus, Mu-jin (background) becomes out of focus.
Ep. 4: Mu-jin and his men (background) become out of focus as Ji-woo (foreground) becomes in focus.
Ep. 8: Mu-jin (foreground) orders his men (background) to snatch Ji-woo from the hospital. As he becomes out of focus, his men become in focus As his men walk away, they become out of focus as he becomes in focus again.
Ep. 5 (rack focus, tracking shot): Pil-do (foreground) watches Ji-woo (background) as she lies on her hospital bed recuperating from her injuries. As he becomes out of focus, Ji-woo becomes in focus. The camera then tracks him as he enters the room and comes near Ji-woo’s bed.
Miscellaneous observations:
1. Recurring images: In several episodes, the drama shows the framed picture of Mu-jin and Yoon Dong-hoon. Why did Mu-jin keep this framed picture on his desk even though Yoon Dong-hoon turned out to be an undercover police officer? (In Ep. 8, Finale, that picture finally gets torn during the deadly fight between Mu-jin and Ji-woo.)
Those of you who with backgrounds in psychology or who are more articulate than me can best explain why Mu-jin kept that framed picture on his desk.
2. Conceptual photography:
While recuperating from her injuries (Ep. 5), Ji-woo dreams about her father. Through a peephole on a door at a beach, she watches as her father walks deeper into the ocean despite her shouts. These evocative images remind me of “conceptual photography.”
From “Conceptual photography or the art of representing the abstract”:
Conceptual art emerged at the end of the sixties, bringing a new meaning to photography that transcends its use for portraiture, landscapes and snapshots. Rather than two-dimensional, soundless images, conceptual photographs are full of meaning, using creativity to evoke abstract ideas and emotions like love, nostalgia, loneliness and the passing of time to arouse a reaction from the viewer.
One of the main features of conceptual photography is the fact that artists design the scenes and prepare them meticulously to accentuate their messages. This sometimes involves including impossible or exaggerated components or manipulating the piece with digital editing for high impact.
These images — the door, the ocean, etc. — reflect Ji-woo’s experiences with her father’s life and death. But is there a deeper meaning in how these images are juxtaposed?
3. My continuing rant against eyeline mismatch in K-dramas
Ep. 7: Mu-jin is frame right and looking to the left (from our POV). We would naturally expect the person he’s talking to (Ji-woo) to be frame left and looking to the right (from our POV) so that they would be looking at each other. But Ji-woo is frame right and looking to the left (from our POV).
Ep. 7: Pil-do is short sided; he’s frame right and looking to the right. But Ji-woo is center frame and also looking to the right.
II. Lessons in photography from “My Name”
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| Conveying depth through overlapping forms |
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| Low angle shot, Dutch angle, natural frame |
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| Bokeh (aesthetic quality of the blurred areas of a photograph |
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| Sidelighting, background blur |
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| Establishing shot |
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| Foreground blur, out of focus highlights |
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| Quality and direction of light |
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| Background blur, shooting against the light |
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| Natural frames |
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