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From Wikipedia: “Business Proposal” (aka “The Office Blind Date”) is a South Korean television series based on the webtoon of the same title by HaeHwa, starring Ahn Hyo-seop, Kim Se-jeong, Kim Min-kyu, and Seol In-ah. It aired on SBS TV from February 28 to April 5, 2022, on every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST) for 12 episodes. It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions. Average viewership per episode: 1.744 million; Genre: romantic comedy.
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. 12 (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
Kang Tae-moo is the good-looking, new president of GO Food; during the welcome ceremony at the company’s headquarters, he angers his grandfather, Chairman Kang Da-goo, by skipping the ceremony and asking his chief secretary, Cha Sung-hoon, to curtly address the officers and employees on his behalf.
Chairman Kang Da-goo demands that Tae-moo get married, giving him a list of 20 blind dates.
Jin Young-seo is the heiress of the Marine Group. Her father has been setting her up on numerous blind dates, but she doesn’t believe in an arranged marriage, hoping that she’ll meet someone who will sweep her off her feet in a fateful encounter. When her father sets up another blind date, she pleads with her best friend, Shin Ha-ri (a senior researcher at GO Food), to pretend to be her, meet the blind date, and scare him off.
Ha-ri’s family runs a small chicken restaurant; in dire need of 800,000 won [about 600 US dollars], she agrees to go and meet the blind date when Young-seo says that she will pay her.
At the hotel, Ha-ri is shocked to find out that her blind date is none other than her company’s president, Kang Tae-moo. Unable to contact Young-seo, she’s forced to continue on with the date; she acts like a superficial woman who’s only interested in luxury goods and her physical appearance. To turn off Tae-moo once and for all, she pretends to be a woman of loose morals, telling him that they should get a room in the hotel. To her shock, however, Tae-moo agrees to get a room.
Episode 2
| Ep. 1 recap:
At the hotel lobby, a random woman accuses Ha-ri (aka “Young-seo”) of cheating with her boyfriend; Ha-ri uses it to further turn off Tae-moo, claiming that she sometimes sees three or four men at the same time. She runs away from the hotel, with the random woman chasing her. Tae-moo shocks his grandfather Chairman Kang Da-goo and his secretary Sung-hoon by saying that he will marry Young-seo. While celebrating at a “noraebang” with Ha-ri, Young-seo finds out from her father that Tae-moo wants to marry her. Rushing to work the next day, Ha-ri gets into an elevator with Tae-moo, Sung-hoon, and Chairman Kang Da-goo. As she hastily gets out of the elevator, she drops her employee ID, which Tae-moo picks up. At a convenience store, Young-seo meets Sung-hoon and thinks that she has found the love of her life. After Young-seo puts her on a guilt trip, Ha-ri agrees to meet Tae-moo again. At a cafe/restaurant, Ha-ri (aka “Young-seo”) walks out of Tae-moo, saying that she doesn’t want an arranged marriage, especially for business purposes. On the street, Ha-ri sees her friend and crush, chef Min-woo. Not wanting Min-woo to see the way she’s dressed, she runs away but ends up inside Tae-moo’s car. |
When Tae-moo insists that he will marry her, Ha-ri (“Young-seo”) says that she doesn’t like him because he’s cheesy and looks like an archaeopteryx. The next day, Chairman Kang Da-goo happily talks about the venue for Tae-moo’s upcoming wedding; on the other hand, Ha-ri reminds Young-seo to clear things up with Tae-moo once and for all, without revealing that she works for GO Food.
At the Food Product Development Team 1 office, Ha-ri finds out that her officemate is having a fling with chef Min-woo. She spies on her and Min-woo at the cafeteria; on her way back to the office, however, she meets Tae-moo and Sung-hoon at the first floor lobby. She runs away, but Tae-moo chases her.
Through a slight car accident, Young-seo meets Sung-hoon and Tae-moo. As Ha-ri told her to, she tells Tae-moo that she hired a complete stranger from an acting agency to impersonate her during their blind date. When she pleads that she doesn’t want to get married, Tae-moo demands to meet the “fake Young-seo.”
Episode 3
| Ep. 2 recap:
Tae-moo realizes that Young-seo and the woman who impersonated her are actually friends. Later on, as he meets Ha-ri, he finds out that her family owns a chicken restaurant. Ha-ri confesses that she agreed to go to the blind date in exchange for 800,000 won. She apologizes to Tae-moo and promises to help him out in any favor. When Tae-moo asks for her name, she says that she’s “Shin Geum-hui” (the name of the female lead in a current K-drama). After Tae-moo says that he doesn’t want to marry Young-seo anymore, Chairman Kang Da-goo requires him to go on blind dates again. He meets several women in one day, including someone in Japan. Fed up with going on blind dates, Tae-moo tells his grandfather Chairman Kang Da-goo that he wants to marry a woman he had recently reconciled with. Later on, at a cafe station in an indoor children’s amusement park, he offers Ha-ri (“Shin Geum-hui”) 1.6 million won [more or less 1,000 US dollars] everytime she meets with his grandfather. Tae-moo goes to Ha-ri (Shin Geum-hui)’s house-cum-chicken restaurant and presents her with a written contract for their dates. Ha-ri gets out of Tae-moo’s car and runs back to the house. After seeing her brother on his way home, she pushes Tae-moo away. Tae-moo falls to the ground, but he also pulls Ha-ri down with him. |
Despite her reservations about the penalty under the contract prepared by Tae-moo, Ha-ri signs the contract. Tae-moo orders her to study and memorize his personal information and the back stories that Sung-hoon prepared about her and her family. Their first meeting with Chairman Kang Da-goo is set for next Sunday.
At a restaurant, Ha-ri mentions to Young-seo about all of Tae-moo’s achievements. Young-seo replies that she heard the rumor that one of Tae-moo’s relatives was involved in the deaths of Tae-moo’s parents.
During a review session with Tae-moo and Sung-hoon, Ha-ri suggests her own version of how she and Tae-moo met in New York on a rainy night, but Tae-moo disagrees, saying that he doesn’t like the rain.
Young-seo’s father wants her to go on another blind date. When she refuses and packs up her things, her father demands that she return his credit card to him.
The chef that GO Food was supposed to work with on its new campaign is disqualified. When Yeo Ui-joo (Ha-ri’s immediate boss) suggests Min-woo as the new candidate, Ha-ri prepares overnight the presentation on Min-woo’s credentials and his special dish, the white kimchi ravioli. But the next day, Ha-ri’s boss says that, since she hasn’t tasted Min-woo’s ravioli, Ha-ri must do the presentation before Tae-moo and the GO Food executives. When Ha-ri refuses, her boss and her co-employee drag her to the meeting.
Episode 4
| Ep. 3 recap:
Young-seo rents an apartment unit that’s adjacent to Sung-hoon’s unit. Later, when she asks Sung-hoon if they could be friends since they’re neighbors, he rejects her because of the trouble she created on her supposed blind date with Tae-moo. Ha-ri is brokenhearted to find out that Min-woo has reconciled with his girlfriend, Yoo-ra. Chairman Kang Da-goo forces Tae-moo to go with Ha-ri to the concert (using the tickets that Min-woo gave to her). During the concert, as Ha-ri remembers her happy moments with Min-woo for the past seven years, Tae-moo notices that she’s crying. While at a “tteokbokki” stand in a park with Tae-moo, Ha-ri gets hit on the eye with a baseball. |
Young-seo wonders if Ha-ri has forgotten about her fake relationship with Tae-moo and has fallen in love with him; meanwhile, after hearing Min-woo’s ring tone, Tae-moo asks Min-woo if he and Ha-ri are more than just college friends. Remembering what happened at the concert and afterwards, he wonders about the connection between Shin Geum-hui and Ha-ri (whom he knows as a senior food researcher in his company).
After finding out that Saturday is Tae-moo and Shin Geum-hui’s one-year anniversary, Chairman Kang Da-goo scolds Tae-moo and orders him to adjust his schedule so that he can spend that day with Shin Geum-hui.
Ha-ri and other employees from the food production teams go to a farm for a video shoot. But having just visited his commercial farm lands, Chairman Kang Da-goo stops by at the video shoot to see what’s going on.
At the small pavilion where Chairman Kang Da-goo and Ha-ri’s immediate boss are talking, Ha-ri’s cellphone rings. Her boss calls her to the pavilion to get her cellphone, which Chairman Kang Da-goo has picked up. As she reaches out to get her cellphone, Chairman Kang Da-goo notices that she has a call from someone named “Archaeopteryx.” She grabs her phone and runs away to hide in the restroom.
Episode 5
| Ep. 4 recap:
Chairman Kang Da-goo falls into a large basin filled with cabbages and cold water after struggling with Ha-ri over the door knob of the restroom. Tae-moo takes Shin Geum-hui (Ha-ri) to a luxury boutique and buys for her an expensive, one of a kind dress. As they’re leaving, Jo Yoo-jung (Young-seo’s cousin) sees them. Later, they go to a fancy Italian restaurant owned by Chairman Kang Da-goo. Tae-moo learns that Shin Geum-hui (Ha-ri) knows a lot about food. Tae-moo finally finds out that Shin Geum-hui (his fake girlfriend) and Shin Ha-ri (a senior food researcher in his company) are one and the same person. |
Outraged over being lied to, Tae-moo takes his revenge on Ha-ri.
Chairman Kang Da-goo wants to see Shin Geum-hui again, and so Tae-moo tells Ha-ri that they should meet him during the company’s Foundation Anniversary Celebration. When Ha-ri makes up all kinds of excuses not to go, Tae-moo says that he's invoking the penalty clause in their contract.
Young-seo offers some money to Ha-ri to help pay the penalty fee. Later, they sneak into her apartment to avoid meeting Sung-hoon. But they don’t know that Tae-moo is in Sung-hoon’s unit. The next day, Ha-ri sets up the table lamp that Young-seo’s male neighbor gave to her.
At their office, Ha-ri’s immediate boss and her teammates surprise her by revealing that she has won the Mega Hit Award for her Bucket List Fish Proposal. But she becomes deflated and worried because she would have to attend the Founding Anniversary Celebration to accept the award.
After searching the Internet on how an employee can skip company events, Ha-ri carries out her plan to attend the celebration as Shin Geum-hui. But Tae-moo orders Sung-hoon to invite Ha-ri’s parents and brother to the celebration.
Episode 6
| Ep. 5 recap:
Tae-moo rushes to the playground where he finds Ha-ri quite drunk. Thinking that seeing Tae-moo in front of her is a dream, Ha-ri confesses that she and Shin Geum-hui are one and the same person. The next day, Tae-moo releases Ha-ri from their contract, saying that they don’t have to meet each other again. He then immediately goes to the US on a business trip and to erase Ha-ri from his memories. To her surprise, Ha-ri gets a phone call from Chairman Kang Da-goo, who asks her if they could meet for dinner. She calls up Tae-moo, but he refuses to take her call. Young-seo finds the spy camera hidden in the table lamp. On her way to the police station, her male neighbor accosts her and snatches the table lamp and spy camera from her. Tae-moo finds out from Sung-hoon what happened to Young-seo. Ha-ri arrives for her dinner date with Chairman Kang Da-goo, but Tae-moo immediately tells her that her friend Young-seo is in trouble. Ha-ri is shocked when she hears Tae-moo call her “Shin Ha-ri” instead of “Shin Geum-hui.” |
Tae-moo threatens the man who planted the spy cam in Young-seo’s apartment unit.
Tae-moo surprises Sung-hoon by saying that he has developed feelings for Ha-ri; later, he buys an expensive necklace for Ha-ri and plans with the staff of a fancy restaurant on how to make his proposal to Ha-ri memorable. But Ha-ri surprises him, in return, by handing him her resignation letter.
Ha-ri and Young-seo celebrate with Min-woo, Yoo-ra, and their friends Min-woo’s good fortune of appearing on TV as part of GO Food’s publicity campaign. Their friends invite them to Min-woo’s photo shoot scheduled for the weekend, but fed up with Yoo-ra, Young-seo makes up an excuse that she and Ha-ri can’t go with them. When their friends start teasing Ha-ri that she still doesn’t have a boyfriend, Young-seo suddenly boasts that Ha-ri has a very handsome and very rich boyfriend. Yoo-ra becomes deflated when she sees Min-woo’s reaction to the news of Ha-ri having a boyfriend.
Young-seo becomes paranoid about spy cameras in public bathrooms. While in a hurry to go home to relieve herself, she waits anxiously for her bus. Sung-hoon happens to pass by in his car, and he offers her a ride home.
Tae-moo begins browsing through Ha-ri’s social media accounts. Later, that weekend, he goes to Sokcho with Sung-hoon and Chairman Kang Da-goo for the grand opening of a new hotel.
Episode 7
| Ep. 6 recap:
Tae-moo’s plan to propose to Ha-ri that they should start dating with marriage in view fails. Later on, he tears up Ha-ri’s resignation letter, and Ha-ri becomes happy that she gets to keep her job despite everything that has happened. Tae-moo’s planned movie date with Ha-ri goes awry when Ha-ri’s teammates see Ha-ri at the theater lobby and join her in watching the movie. Tae-moo sneaks away from the theater. Having found out what Ha-ri likes from her social media postings, Tae-moo schedules a date with her in Sokcho. But on the way back to Seoul, they get caught in the heavy rain. Tae-moo becomes agitated, remembering his parents’ deaths; he orders Ha-ri to get off his car. Young-seo gets drunk; on the street, she kisses Sung-hoon. At the hotel, Ha-ri is shocked when Tae-moo introduces himself to Yoo-ra and their friends as her boyfriend. |
Despite Ha-ri’s protest and discomfort over a fake relationship, Tae-moo shows off his wealth and his overzealous attention towards her in front of Yoo-ra and their friends.
The next day, Young-seo realizes in horror that she spent the night with Sung-hoon. Meanwhile, in Sokcho, Ha-ri and Tae-moo spend the day with Min-woo, Yoo-ra, and their friends in Chairman Kang Da-goo’s yacht. But Min-woo becomes blunt with Tae-moo, asking him why he’s dating Ha-ri of all people.
While Tae-moo and Min-woo are competing with each other on who can catch the most fish, Ha-ri becomes sick. Later on, back in Seoul, he surprises Ha-ri by saying that he’s doing the things he does because he has feelings for her.
The next day, Chairman Kang Da-goo rushes into Tae-moo’s office and accuses him of cheating on Shin Geum-hui.
Episode 8
| Ep. 7 recap:
Young-seo confesses to Ha-ri that she slept with Sung-hoon but is flustered and embarrassed because she can’t remember anything about that night. Through the group chat, she finds out that their friends know Tae-moo as Ha-ri’s boyfriend. After Sung-hoon confesses to Young-seo that he fell in love with her the day they met at the convenience store, they sleep together again. A week passes, and Ha-ri thinks about turning down Tae-moo because of their difference in status. At the additional photo shoot with Min-woo, she takes over from her officemate who took one calming pill too many. While they’re hiding from Chairman Kang Da-goo, Ha-ri tells Tae-moo that a romantic relationship between them won’t succeed. But when Tae-moo answers that he won’t give her up, she kisses him. |
Ha-ri backs off after kissing Tae-moo, saying that it was a mistake. Later on, after she promises to make up for the mistake, Tae-moo tells her to buy him dinner at a very expensive restaurant.
At a GO Food’s philanthropic event for a hospital, Tae-moo meets Young-seo’s aunt, Director Jin of Marine Group Museum.
The BTS video of Ha-ri assuring Min-woo that her uniform doesn’t have a stain because GO Foods doesn’t use artificial coloring in its sauces becomes viral. But Yoo-ra seethes when she reads viewers’ comments saying that Min-woo and Ha-ri look great together and are probably dating.
On the weekend, Sung-hoon pressures Young-seo to go hiking with him; on the other hand, Tae-moo asks Ha-ri to pay him back for the kiss by spending time with him at an amusement park.
Ha-ri and Tae-moo’s time at the amusement park is cut short, however, when Ha-ri gets a call about her mother being in the hospital. In the hospital, Tae-moo meets her parents.
Episode 9
| Ep. 8 recap:
Tae-moo puts Ha-ri’s parents in a VIP room in the hospital. But Ha-ri introduces him to her parents as Mr. Gye-bin, her immediate boss at the Food Research Production Team 1. Min-woo finds the dating contract between Tae-moo and Ha-ri in Ha-ri’s room. Later, on the street, when he sees and hears Tae-moo asking Ha-ri for a kiss as payback, he punches Tae-moo. Tae-moo finds out about Sung-hoon’s relationship with Young-seo. Chairman Kang Da-goo orders Tae-moo to go on a blind date with Director Jo Yu-jeong (Young-seo’s cousin and immediate boss at Marine Group). At the sports competition among the food researchers, Ha-ri plays hard to win the MVP award because a dinner date with Tae-moo is the special prize. Afterwards, she calls up Tae-moo and asks him to get out immediately of his blind date. They meet on a bridge and kiss. |
Sung-hoon goes to the blind date and tells Yu-jeong that Tae-moo wants to marry someone else.
Ha-ri’s teammates become suspicious that something’s going on between her and Tae-moo.
Despite knowing that Sung-hoon has a girlfriend, Yu-jeong becomes infatuated with Sung-hoon and keeps on texting him. While she and Young-seo verbally spar with each other over seeing someone, Young-seo’s aunt (Director Kim of the Marine Resource Group Museum) watches them from afar; later, she meets Chairman Kang Da-goo and tells him that they should arrange Yu-jeong and Tae-moo’s marriage immediately.
Because Ha-ri won the MVP award during the sportsfest, Tae-moo takes her to dinner. Meanwhile, as Sung-hoon arrives at his apartment unit, he sees Yu-jeong drunk and waiting for him. When she begins to vomit, he brings her inside his unit. But Young-seo arrives and knocks on his door.
Episode 10
| Ep. 9 recap:
Chairman Kang Da-goo finds out that it was Sung-hoon, instead of Tae-moo, who went to the blind date with Yu-jeong. After another mishap in the bathroom with Ha-ri, Chairman Kang Da-goo orders her to write a letter of apology. He also tells Tae-moo that he hates seeing Ha-ri. Young-seo finds out that the man Yu-jeong has been chasing is none other than Sung-hoon. When Yu-jeong creates a scene at the restaurant, she walks out despite Sung-hoon’s attempts to explain things to her. She fails to meet the nun who Sung-hoon calls “Mother.” After the team dinner and drinking session, Tae-moo and Ha-ri plan to take a little walk to get sober. But Chairman Kang Da-goo sees and confronts them. |
Tae-moo promises Chairman Kang Da-goo that he will introduce to him later the woman whom he has been dating. The next day, he and Sung-hoon drive to the orphanage where Sung-hoon grew up in, but unknown to them, Young-seo and Ha-ri are in a taxi following them.
Tae-moo, Sung-hoon, and Young-seo help Ha-ri serve chicken and drinks to about a dozen women. But later, as Tae-moo is changing his clothes in Ha-ri’s room, Ha-ri’s parents arrive.
A private detective reports to Young-seo’s father that she has been dating Sung-hoon, Tae-moo’s chief secretary.
Ha-ri overhears some older employees of GO Foodf talking about how Tae-moo’s parents died in accident during a rainy night. As she and Tae-moo meet that night for a date, it starts to rain.
Episode 11
| Ep. 10 recap:
After finding out more about Sung-hoon from the nun in the orphanage, Young-seo reconciles with Sung-hoon. Tae-moo introduces himself to Ha-ri’s brother as Ha-ri’s boyfriend. Chairman Kang Da-goo finds out from the nun that Tae-moo went to the orphanage with someone named Shin Ha-ri. Later, he meets Ha-ri and orders her not to meet Tae-moo ever again. While rushing to where Chairman Kang Da-goo is meeting Ha-ri, Tae-moo gets into a car accident. |
At the hospital, Tae-moo finally reveals to Chairman Kang Da-goo that he’s in love with Ha-ri. Later on, as Young-seo is giving Ha-ri a ride home, it starts to rain; Ha-ri gets off the car and returns to the hospital.
Dismayed that Min-woo doesn’t want to get married, Yoo-ra posts malicious comments on Min-woo and Ha-ri’s viral video that Ha-ri is two-timing the president of GO Food. Other people amplify the malicious comments, which reach Chairman Kang Da-goo and the officers and employees of GO Food.
Without his cellphone, Tae-moo doesn’t know about the malicious rumors that have spread about Ha-ri. He calls her up from the payphone outside the hospital; he offers to marry her, but his call gets cut off. Going back to his hospital room, he sees Chairman Kang Da-goo, who tells him that he should spend the next two years in their US branch.
The next day at their apartment’s parking garage, as Young-seo and Sung-hoon are about to go their offices, Young-seo’s father arrives.
Episode 12, Finale (with spoilers)
| Ep. 11 recap:
Tae-moo reveals to Ha-ri how his parents died in a car accident because of him. Because the board of directors could possibly force Tae-moo to resign as company president, Chairman Kang Da-goo orders Ha-ri to either transfer to a provincial branch or resign. Ha-ri’s brother tells his parents that the man they thought was Ha-ri’s superior, Gye-bin, is actually Kang Tae-moo, the president of GO Food. At the restaurant, Young-seo’s father tells her and Sung-hoon that he doesn’t object to their relationship. On their way home, Sung-hoon proposes to her. After meeting Chairman Kang Da-goo, Ha-ri walks around aimlessly until she finds herself in Namsan Tower. Tae-moo goes to her, and they spend the night together. |
Young-seo completely breaks off her ties with her father and resigns from Marine Group; she plans to start her own company, with Sung-hoon as her first investor.
Chairman Kang Da-goo becomes very sick, and Tae-moo accompanies him to the US for medical treatment.
One year later ...
Tae-moo returns to Korea and proposes to Ha-ri.
Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information
1. In Ep. 5, Young-seo discovers the spy camera that was planted by her neighbor in the table lamp. In Ep. 6, she becomes traumatized about using public bathrooms. In the Ep. 5 scene where Sung-hoon comes to help her, you can hear her say the word “molka,” which is the Korean term for hidden spy cameras or to images and videos from these cameras.
From Wikipedia: In South Korea, molka are miniature cameras secretly and illegally installed in order to capture voyeuristic images and videos. However, the crime of molka refers to images taken with any kind of camera or smartphone. The voyeuristic images and videos are sold online across various platforms, including popular social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr, without knowledge or consent of those on camera. “Molka” can refer to both the actual cameras as well as the footage later posted online. South Korea’s highly digitized society makes it easy to circulate molka footage and difficult to remove it once circulated.
The rate of arrests of hidden camera crimes has increased since 2011, and such crimes have become a prominent point of feminist protest and #MeToo in South Korea. Women make up the overwhelming majority of victims of hidden camera crimes, while men make up the vast majority of perpetrators. Some critics allege that molka crimes and the lack of action taken towards them are a product of distorted gendered violence against women in South Korea and the flaws in the law enforcement system.
“My life is not your porn” became a slogan popularized in the protest as a response to the prevalence of spy cameras installed in everyday places.
From “South Korea’s spy camera epidemic has women fearful they are watched wherever they go” (ABC):
A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found the widespread posting of sexual images of women and girls in South Korea is having a “devastating impact on the victims.”
The problem is so widespread in South Korea, it even has a name: molka, which means hidden camera.
Women are covertly recorded and the footage is then uploaded to websites visited by men who often pay subscription fees to access them.
Lessons in photography from “A Business Proposal” with analysis of its visuals, cinematography, and editing
Index: A. Short siding; B. Visual cues; Dutch angle or Dutch tilt shots; C. Besides the visual cues explained in the MDL series of articles, the following can also be considered as visual cues: short siding, color palette, and lower quadrant composition; D. This drama is distinguished by lots of dramatic low angle shots, with the most overly dramatic shot in the Ep. 3 elevator scene; E. Miscellaneous observations (“Life of Pi” inspired scene in Ep. 1; heart-shaped bokeh in Eps. 6 and 10; shallow depth of field with one eye in focus and the other eye out of focus; excellent editing in Ep. 1 to show Ha-ri's shock in finding out who her blind date is; various uses of rack focus; dolly zoom)
A. I’ve ranted numerous times against short siding in K-dramas, but several short-sided shots of Ha-ri in Eps. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 were brilliantly executed.
First, let’s have some illustrations and explanations of what short siding (aka “reverse lead room”) is:
Ha-ri with looking room, lead room, or nose room
Ha-ri OTS (over the shoulder shot) with looking room, lead room, or nose room
Ha-ri with short siding
From “Short-siding – How David Fincher and Nicolas Winding Refn Get it Right” by Jason Haggstrom (2013): “short-siding” (i.e., framing a shot so a character looks and speaks towards the edge of the frame that they are most closely positioned rather than across the length of the frame to where their partner in conversation will appear after the next cut).
From “5 tips to instantly improve your compositions”: A short-sided composition means the subject is looking out of the frame, instead of into the frame. And unlike long-sided framing, which allows the audience to see what the subject is looking at, short-sided composition keeps that out of the shot.
Relevant resources:
1. “The Miserable Ugliness of The King’s Speech”
2. “Looking Room, Lead Room & Short Siding” | Filmmaking Tutorials
Why do I hate short siding? It’s primarily because in a short sided shot, the area behind the character is “dead space.” And hit K-dramas such as “Descendants of the Sun” and “Life on Mars” didn’t use short siding. People who like short siding say that short sided shots heighten the tension in a scene by making the audience feel anxious or uncomfortable. But I question this claim:
1. This shot from Ep. 8 of “Sky Castle” shows Suh Jin confronting Soo Im. This short-sided shot doesn’t make me feel anxious or uncomfortable because of the tension; on the contrary, it makes me want to laugh out hysterically, seeing how Suh Jin is tightly squeezed into the edge of the frame.
2. Some tension-filled scenes from hit Hollywood movies didn’t use short siding, relying instead primarily on great acting to convey the tension:
(a) The opening scene from Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Inglorious Basterds”
(b) The restaurant scene from Michael Mann’s 1995 movie “Heat” involving Al Pacino and Robert De Niro
(c) The coin toss scene from “No Country For Old Men” (this film won 76 awards from 109 nominations from multiple organizations)
Okay, having defined and illustrated what short siding or what a short-sided shot is (and that I hate it), I have to say that several short-sided shots/scenes of Ha-ri from Eps. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 that were brilliantly executed. Why? Instead of immediately showing Ha-ri as short sided to depict her anxiety, tension, or confusion, the cinematographer first shows her long sided (that is, with with lead, nose room, or looking room) and then moves the camera (trucks, pans, arcs, or pushes in) to show her as short sided. With this techniques, the short siding has more impact.
Ep. 5: Ha-ri learns that Tae-joo has released her from their contract and that they don’t need to see each other anymore. Notice that at the start of this shot, Ha-ri is frame left, facing towards the right with some lead room. The camera slowly pans to the left so that Ha-ri becomes short sided.
Ep. 6: Tae-moo ties up Ha-ri’s shoe. Ha-ri is in the middle of the frame looking at Tae-moo who’s frame right. The next shot is an OTS (over the shoulder shot) with Tae-moo (frame right) looking up at Ha-ri. In the next (pivotal) shot, the camera pushes in on Ha-ri (from an angle) so that the lead room disappears and Ha-ri becomes short sided. There’s a cut to Tae-moo, and the last shot shows a short sided Ha-ri.
Ep. 7: At the yacht, Ha-ri becomes confused when Tae-moo tells her friends about how he fell in love with her; she thinks that Tae-moo sounds so convincing turning lies into truths. Notice that at the start of the shot, Ha-ri is frame left and looking to the right (with lead room). The camera then pans (?) left to show Ha-ri becoming short sided.
Ep. 8: Ha-ri has decided to accept Tae-moo’s feelings for her, despite what other people may say or think. After getting stuck in traffic, they meet on the bridge. Notice that, at the start of the shot, Ha-ri is frame left and looking to the right (at Tae-moo, who’s off-frame). The camera then trucks (moves parallel) to Ha-ri such that she becomes short sided. Note: I slowed down the GIF to 55% of its normal speed so you see how the camera moves to transition from a shot with lead room to a short sided shot.
Ep. 10 (the flower shop scene): Ha-ri is frame center as the camera trucks (moves parallel) to the left. She turns to her left to lok at the women who passed by and said that it was stil raining. As the camera stops trucking, she’s now frame right and short sided. She then moves across the frame, making her short sided in relation to the left edge of the frame.
B. “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)
The series author says:
Part 1
It’s important to understand that these cues stand out because they add more than just composition to a shot.
They add a subtext which most times reinforces the narrative ... but which may also, at times, contradict the script.
In a way, they allow the director to communicate directly with us. So that even when the writers may be doing their best to confuse us, a good director will leave hints of the truth through carefully placed shots.
Part 4
Though some of you may see these cues merely as aesthetic choices, doing so would be rendering a great disservice to the directors and the mastery they hold over their craft. Every art form focused on storytelling requires knowledge of colors, design, composition, and hierarchy -- among many others, to communicate things appropriately.
The YouTube video “The Brilliant Cinematography of Parasite” by Thomas Flight (5:04 mark) shows how director Bong Joon-ho used lines to depict the division between the social classes, between the rich family and the poor family.
Visual cues used in “A Business Proposal”
Ep. 1: Ha-ri is terrified when Tae-moo takes up her challenge for them to get a room in the hotel. Notice the lines that divide them.
Ep. 1: Sung-hoon can’t believe that Tae-moo wants to marry Young-seo after just one date and after finding out that she’s a two-timer. But Tae-moo says that Young-seo being the heiress of Marine Group will be an asset to him. Notice that Sung-hoon and Tae-moo are boxed in by a shelf in the foreground.
Note: When characters are boxed in within the same frame, it could indicate either unity or conflict, depending on the context.
Ep. 1: Ha-ri and Young-seo argue over the phone when Young-seo blames Ha-ri after her father insists on meeting Tae-moo’s family to plan their wedding. Notice that Ha-ri is boxed in by a drawer or cabinet in her bedroom. (She’s again boxed in when she worries that she might meet Tae-moo in GO Food’s company headquarters.)
Ep. 1: Ha-ri meets Tae-moo and Chairman Kang Da-goo in GO Food’s company elevator, despite Young-seo’s assurance that a regular employee won’t meet the company president at work. Notice that Young-seo is boxed in by a shelf in the convenience store.
Ep. 2: Tae-moo accidentally finds out that the woman he met on the blind date isn’t the real Jin Young-seo. When Young-seo tries to say that she doesn’t know who the woman is because she hired her from a talent agency, Tae-moo finds out that she’s telling a lie. Notice that they’re boxed in within a tight frame created by the restaurant window.
Ep. 2: During another meeting, Tae-moo forces Ha-ri to say why he looks like an archaeopteryx. Notice that they’re boxed in within a tight frame of the glass door.
Ep. 2: Tae-moo becomes agitated after watching a documentary about the archaeopteryx; thus, he calls up Ha-ri at four in the morning. Notice that she’s boxed in by a wooden frame.
Ep. 2: When Chairman Kang Da-goo gives the list of nine more blind dates for the next day, Tae-moo lies that there’s already someone he wants to marry. He also lies that it was because of Sung-hoon that he and the woman reconciled recently. Notice that Tae-moo and his grandfather are boxed in within a frame created by a shelf in the foreground while Sung-hoon is boxed in within a separate frame.
Ep. 3: Ha-ri hangs on to some wooden structures when her immediate boss says that she must do the presentation of chef Min-woo’s credentials before Tae-moo and other company executives. She’s (obviously) boxed in by the wooden structures to depict her dilemma of wanting to do something good for Min-woo and not being recognized by Tae-moo.
Ep. 4: Young-seo waits for the elevator. She’s boxed in by a window frame; a few moments later, Sung-hoon arrives but, upon seeing her suddenly avoids the elevator and uses the stairs.
Ep. 4: In several shots involving Young-seo and a male tenant, we see her boxed in by various frames. These visual cues foreshadow the problems that Young-seo will go through with the tenant who will turn out to be a stalker/voyeur.
Ep. 5: Gye Bin (aka “Kevin”) becomes agitated when his team’s junior member teases him about not ever having won the Mega Hit Award; on the other hand, Ha-ri, who’s drunk, tells him that he can receive the reward on her behalf. Notice that, besides being shot with a Dutch angle, he’s also boxed in by the window.
Ep. 5: Tae-moo finds out from Sung-hoon that Young-seo is in the police station because of the spy camera incident. When Ha-ri arrives for her dinner date with Chairman Kang Da-goo, Tae-moo immediately tells her that they should go to the station to help Young-seo. He surprises Ha-ri by calling her by her real name, instead of “Shin Geum-hui.” Notice that they’re boxed in by the frames of an upstairs window.
Ep. 6: Tae-moo dumps Ha-ri on the side of a road after being freaked out by memories of his parents’ deaths because of the heavy rain. At a bus stop, Ha-ri finds an umbrella. Besides being shot with a Dutch angle, she’s also boxed in a frame.
Ep. 6: Under the pouring rain, Ha-ri ties her shoe while cursing herself for feeling touched when Tae-moo tied her shoe at the beach. Besides being shot with a Dutch angle, she’s also boxed in a frame created by the tree and the left edge.
Ep. 6: Ha-ri is surprised to see Yoo-ra and two other friends in the Sokcho hotel when they’re supposed to be in Busan; her friends, on the other hand, think that she must be on a date with her rich, handsome boyfriend. Notice that they’re boxed in by the frame created by the foreground structures.
Ep. 6: Tae-moo approaches Ha-ri, Yoo-ra, and their friends (intending to introduce himself as Ha-ri’s boyfriend). Notice that they’re boxed in by the frame created by the window on a higher floor.
Ep. 7: Tae-moo, Ha-ri, Yoo-ra, and their friends are boxed in by the glass window to depict the awkwardness of the situation with Tae-moo being being overly solicitous towards Ha-ri and Ha-ri’s friends not quite believing that her boyfriend is her company’s president.
Ep. 7: The morning after he found out from Yoo-ra that Ha-ri and Tae-moo are in a relationship, he meets them at a hallway in the hotel. The awkwardness in the situation is depicted by the constricted frame by which they’re boxed in.
Ep. 7: After Sung-hoon confesses that he fell in love with her the day they met in the convenience store, Young-seo confesses that she’s flustered and embarrassed because she can’t remember anything about the night when they slept together. Notice that they’re boxed in within two separate frames created by the foreground shelves.
Ep. 7: At the photo shoot, Ha-ri feels pressured that Tae-moo already wants to know her answer as to whether she accepts his feelings for her. Notice their conflict is highlighted by the line that divides them.
Ep. 8: Min-woo finds in Ha-ri’s drawer the fake-relationship contract between her and Tae-moo; notice that he’s boxed in by frame created by the foreground structure.
Ep. 8: Ha-ri tells Min-woo that her relationship with Tae-moo (fake or not) is none of his business. Notice that they’re boxed in by separate frames created by the windows.to reinforce the conflict between them. (We can also say that within their separate frames, they’re short sided.)
Ep. 8: Ha-ri arrives home after her confrontation with Min-woo, who had punched Tae-moo. To depict her dilemma about what to say to Tae-moo after that incident, she’s boxed in by the foreground shelves.
Ep. 9: Min-woo apologizes to Ha-ri for meddling into her life with regards the fake relationship contract with Tae-moo; he feels deflated when Ha-ri says that she’s now really dating Tae-moo. Notice the line that separates them; they’re also boxed in within separate frames.
Ep. 9: Young-seo walks out of the restaurant after finding out that Yu-jeong has been chasing after Sung-hoon. Despite Sung-hoon’s explanations, she’s angry that he was not totally honest with her. Notice that they’re boxed in within separate frames created by the windows along the corridor
Ep. 10: Chairman Kang Da-goo orders Ha-ri not to meet Tae-moo ever again. Notice that they’re boxed in within the window frame to reinforce the conflict within them.
Ep. 12: Ha-ri’s father tells Tae-moo about his worries about Tae-moo and Ha-ri’s relationship. Notice that they’re boxed in by the frame created by the out of focus foreground objects and the left edge of the frame.
Ep. 12: After finding out that her father ordered Sung-hoon to stop seeing her, Young-seo goes to her father and hands in her resignation from Marine Group. Their conflict is depicted and heightened by their being boxed in within separate frames.
Dutch angle (Dutch tilt) shots in “A Business Proposal”
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Some definitions and explanations:
(1) From “Why movies tilt the camera like this”: The Dutch angle (also called the Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle) is a filmmaking technique that involves setting the camera at an angle and tilting the entire scene.
(2) From “Dutch Angles: Creative Examples of Camera Movements & Angles”: A Dutch angle (known as a Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle) is a type of camera shot that has a noticeable tilt on the camera’s “x-axis.” It’s a camera technique that was used by the German Expressionists in the 1920s — so it’s not actually Dutch. Directors often use a Dutch angle to signal to the viewer that something is wrong, disorienting, or unsettling.
(3) From “How to Use The Dutch Angle Shot” [Cinematic Techniques in Film] (example from Brian de Palma’s “Mission Impossible”
A dutch angle or dutch tilt is a great way to signal to your viewer that something in your scene is wrong. That said, many filmmakers have used the dutch angle too much, or in such a thoughtless manner that they left cinematic effectiveness on the table.
Dutch angles were originally created during the film era of German Expressionism, and they are a perfect cinematic tool for jarring a viewer, and signalling trouble, danger, or general unrest within a situation.
(4) Dutch angle database with more than 2,800 examples from movies: you can search the database by directors, cinematographers, and release years.
GIF of Dutch angle shots from “A Business Proposal”
I discussed 90-degree angle shots in my analyses of “Vincenzo” and “Life on Mars.” I only saw these two examples of 90-degree Dutch angle shots in “A Business Proposal.”
These Dutch angle shots from ABP prove the Studio Binder article's point that oftentimes, directors and cinematographers use Dutch angle shots as fast and cheap tricks to depict emotional or psychological tension in a scene:
Ep. 5: Ha-ri sighs that even the money offered by Young-seo won't make a dent in the penalty fee that she has to pay for failing to comply with the fake-relationship contract.
Ep. 5: Tae-moo immediately goes to the USA to try and forget all about Ha-ri. But wherever he goes, what he does, he sees and hears Ha-ri.
My favorite Dutch angle shot, however, is in Ep. 3 after Ha-ri was hit on the eye with a baseball. As Tae-moo tends to her, the baseball rolls down the pavement. There are several leading lines focusing attention on them; when the baseball stops rolling, the next shot is a medium shot of Ha-ri.
C. Besides the visual cues explained in the MDL series of articles, the following can also be considered as visual cues: short siding, color palette, and lower quadrant composition.
(1) Short siding: As I discussed above, directors and cinematographers use short-sided shots to depict anger, distress, conflict, confusion, etc.
(2) Color palette: for example, the desaturated colors of scenes in Eps. 1-5 of “My Mister” change in Ep. 6 when the colors become brighter and deeper. Ep. 6 marks that part of the drama when things seem to change for the better in Ji-an’s and Dong-hoon’s lives. Also, “My Name” uses the so-called “revenge color palette” in keeping with the drama’s theme.
Note: The choice of color palettes is not part of cinematography; it’s primarily decided upon during post production.
Relevant resources on color schemes and uses of colors in K-dramas:
(a) “K-drama color: The power of the palette” from Dramabeans: “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.”
(b) “The Power of Koreanovela Color Palettes in Storytelling” by Jess Convocar, May 2020.
Using examples from K-dramas, the author explains the four uses of color: Color Sets the Atmosphere; Color Shows Time; Color Directs Attention; Color Helps Tell the Story.
(c) “Tracking Color Symbolism In Kdrama: Goblin’s Use Of Red”
(d) “Color Palette Kdrama edition”
(e) “Colors in Korean Drama, shared by Lee Chang-hee, Film Director from Korea” (1:18 mark)
(3) Lower quadrant composition or lower corner composition:
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If instead of dividing the frame into thirds, we divide it down the middle both vertically and horizontally, we get the “Quadrant System”, a grid with only four boxes instead of nine. With this grid as base it is possible to achieve unconventionally framed shots that can give life to a scene. Especially when it comes to highlighting a character’s situation or to delve into its personality, thoughts or to convey certain feelings to the audience. The TV series Mr. Robot makes a constant use of this method. In this show, characters are often “awkwardly” placed in the corner of the frame, which increases the amount of negative space, i.e., the space around and between the subjects of an image. This makes characters seem small in comparison to their surroundings, which conveys feelings of isolation, loneliness and powerlessness.
Relevant resources:
(a) “Understanding Quadrant Framing in Films and TV Shows”
(b) “The Quadrant System: A Simple Composition Technique Explained”
(c) “How ‘Mr. Robot’ Uses Lower Quadrant Framing to Create a Feeling of Oppression and Isolation”
(d) “Mr Robot: Quadrant Framing”
As I pointed out in my analysis of the cinematography of “Hotel Del Luna,” cinematographers sometimes use lower quadrant or lower composition because of the wide aspect ratio (the big space presents a compositional challenge). In my analyses of “The Red Sleeve” and “The King’s Affection,” I discussed the compositional techniques that cinematographers use to deal with wide aspect ratios. Also, cinematographers do not follow mathematical precision in placing a character or characters within a frame.
Some lower quadrant compositions from “A Business Proposal”:
D. This drama is distinguished by lots of dramatic low angle shots, with the most overly dramatic shot in the Ep. 3 elevator scene.
Relevant resources:
(1) “Power Dynamics in Film: The Impact of a Low Angle Shot”
Let’s start with a low angle shot definition, which is basically just any shot that is captured below eye line level.
With strategic camera placement and situational context, this technique has been used to emphasize the heroism of a character(s) or — on the opposite end of the spectrum — their vulnerability.
(b) “The Low Angle Shot [Best Camera Angles in Film]” by Studio Binder: A low angle shot is used to show (1) power or authority, (2) vulnerability, or (3) both power and vulnerability.
I think that with some dramatic low angle shots in ABP, “Hotel Del Luna,” “Hospital Playlist S1,” and “When The Camellia Blooms,” the directors and cinematographers used them simply because they’re eye-catching shots.
GIF of low angle shots (moderate) from ABP:
GIF of low angle shots (extreme) from ABP:
The most overly dramatic low angle shot in ABP is in the Ep. 3 elevator scene involving Ha-ri and Tae-moo. The night before, Ha-ri got hit on the eye with a baseball. In the elevator, while she’s trying out her eye patch, the door opens and she and Tae-moo come face to face.
GIF showing the sequence of shots that sets up this overly dramatic shot in Ep. 3:
E. Miscellaneous observations (“Life of Pi” inspired scene in Ep. 1; heart-shaped bokeh in Eps. 6 and 10; shallow depth of field with one eye in focus and the other eye out of focus; excellent editing in Ep. 1 to show Ha-ri's shock in finding out who her blind date is; various uses of rack focus; dolly zoom)
(1) “Life of Pi” inspired scene in Ep. 1
(2) Heart-shaped bokeh in Eps. 6 and 10.
Simply stated, “bokeh” refers to the “aesthetic quality of the blurred areas of a photograph.” The YT video “BOKEH explained in intense detail” narrates the history of how “bokeh” came into the vocabulary of photography through a 1997 article in a magazine titled “Photo Techniques.”
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| Bokeh: The gorgeous out of focus highlights behind Ha-ri |
In K-dramas, the heart-shaped bokeh may have been first used in “Misaeng.”
Relevant resources:
“Shaped Bokeh On iPhone? There’s An App For That”
“Bokeh Basics: Take and Make Great Photography” with Gavin Hoey
“How To Shoot Heart Shaped Bokeh (the Easy Way!)”
“How to Create Custom Shaped Bokeh with your Camera - Heart-shaped Bokeh Photo DIY”
“Shaped Bokeh : Create Your Own Bokeh Filter!”
(3) Shallow depth of field with one eye in focus and the other eye out of focus; I love this drama’s attention to detail in Ep. 1.
In photography, we can get an extremely shallow depth of field by setting the lens aperture to the biggest opening; for example, f/1.2, f/1.4, or f/1.8. But in the shots from ABP that show a character with
one eye in focus while the other eye is out of focus, I don’t think this effect was done in camera; I think they were done during post production by using a effect known as “Gaussian blur.”
Ep. 1: Ha-ri gets glammed up as Young-seo helps prepare for the blind date. 1st picture - Ha-ri’s left eye (from our point of view) is out of focus while her right eye is in focus. 2nd picture - Ha-ri’s right eye (from our point of view) is out of focus while her left eye is in focus.
Ep. 12: Young-seo confronts her father. Notice that her left eye (from our point of view) is out of focus while her right eye is in focus.
Ep. 1: As she rushes out of the elevator, Ha-ri drops her employee ID. Tae-moo picks up her ID and calls out her name. She stops on her tracks, confused as to how Tae-moo knows her name. It’s such a brief shot, but as you can see in these JPGs, Ha-ri’s right eye (from our point of view) is in focus while her left eye is out of focus. Then her right eye becomes out of focus as her left eye becomes in focus. In the GIF below, I slowed it down so you can see this “focus in, focus out” better. (I came across the term “focus in, focus out” in the middle 1980s in a scriptwriting book, but I haven’t come across the term on the Internet.)
This brief “focus in, focus out” highlights Ha-ri’s confusion as to why Tae-moo knows her name and her fears of Tae-moo finding out she’s not Young-seo but an employee in his company.
(4) Excellent editing in Ep. 1 to show Ha-ri's shock in finding out who her blind date is
After getting Tae-moo's business card, Ha-ri is shocked to find out that her blind date is none other than her company’s president. In 22 seconds, the drama uses 11 shots from various viewpoints to show Ha-ri's shock and her effort to appear calm. My favorite shot is the low angle shot of the business card with Ha-ri out of focus and with the camera a bit wobbly.
(5) “Center the dominant eye”: portraiture advice from Steve McCurry, world-renowned photojournalist
Steve McCurry is a veteran photojournalist who’s famous for his photograph titled “Afghan Girl” and published in the cover of the June 1985 issue if National Geographic. In the YouTube video at (1:49 mark), McCurry gives this compositional technique “Center the dominant eye.” In his “Afghan Girl” photograph, notice that the girl’s left eye (from our perspective) is along the vertical line that divides the frame. Notice that in the famous “Mona Lisa” painting, one of her eyes is along the dividing center line.
There’s a bit of confusion on what McCurry means by “dominant eye.” I think what he means is that one eye should be placed along the dividing center line. The shot below of Young-seo shows one of her eyes along the dividing vertical line.
(6) I have frequently said that a K-drama isn’t a K-drama if it doesn’t have any rack focus shot.
From “How Rack Focus Can Make Any Filmmaker a Better Storyteller”: Pulling focus without cutting can feel intimate or engaging, almost like you are personally revealing something to the viewer. And so it’s become a valuable tool that most of your favorite directors have used to good effect over the years.
The article cites three ways a rack focus shot can be used as illustrated in some Hollywood movies.
“Pulling focus to show off a set: Young Victoria”
“Focus pulling as a storytelling technique: Casino Royale”
“Rack focus for establishing relationships”
(7) The cinematographer used a “dolly zoom” in Ep. 3 to depict Ha-ri's shock in finding out that Min-woo and his ex-girlfriend Yoo-ra have reconciled. I discussed “dolly zoom” (aka Vertigo Effect) in detail in my analysis of “Life on Mars.“
