BLOG 5: MARTIAL ARTS IN CINEMA

BLOG 5: MARTIAL ARTS IN CINEMA

Hey, lovely, welcome back to my blog! 

    Today's blog will be about a recently released Netflix movie called "Officer Black Belt." YES🙄!!! I know it's not related to my baby girl, Meo, but since my boo, Kim Woo-Bin💓, starred in this movie, I'll spare some of my precious time analyzing this movie😚. We will mainly discuss the different camera angles and how they were able to convey the feeling that was meant to be expressed by the scene. With that being said, let's move on to today's blog content!!

WARNING⚠️⚠️ Spoilers Ahead!!

- Officer Black Belt -

Jeong-do is driving to his father's chicken places.

    The movie revolves around Lee Jeong-do (played by Kim Woo-Bin), who seems to be an ordinary guy yet he's SECRETLY a prodigy in the martial arts; he achieved the HIGHEST rank in taekwondo, kendo, and judo. Hasn't been able to find a stable job; he delivers foods for his father's chicken place instead.  In the beginning, I noticed the director used a wide shot to introduce the restaurant, which the viewers saw for the first time ever; the director emphasizes the exterior design of the chicken's place while leaving a tiny screen time for Jeong-do. This successfully portraits Jeong-do's position as well as draws a clear connection between him and the restaurant—a delivery guy and a chicken restaurant. This selection of shots helps reveal relevant information about our main character, which in this case is his profession, the location of his job and even his working schedule. This somewhat helps evoke a sense of intimacy as the wide shot is able to show what an everyday life for Jeong-do would be; this boosts the personal connection between him and the viewers.

   

        Jeong-do's running to his hair lady salon.          

    Approaching the middle of the movie, the director decided to add a full shot to suggest urgency. This happens after Jeong-do secures a position as a martial arts officer after helping out another martial arts officer who was being attacked by a probationer wearing an ankle monitor. In this sense, Jeong-do, who is desperately running toward his hair lady's salon after suspecting an sex offender's attempt to target her. With the long shot, the director is able to capture all his body language while somewhat emphasizing the background. With the background's bluriness and Jeong-do's hurried plus intense body language, the shot perfectly brings out a sense of urgency as Jeong-do's determination to rescue the hair lady. By placing only Jeong-do in the center, the director enhances the significance of the character in this scenario; this gives the viewers more hope as someone will finally arrive on time to stop an unfortunate incident.    

Jeong-do's fighting against the perpetrator.

    In Jeong-do's third mission (which takes place in the second part of the film), he is assigned to monitor a DANGEROUS sex offender with a high risk of recidivism. When he unintentionally discovers the criminal's attempt for another child pornography, he immediately chases down the perpetrator and confronts him. The director chose to capture this scene through a close up shot, where his facial expression is clearly shown. By taking the shot at close range, the director PERFECTLY displays Jeong-do's explosive anger. This further highlights Jeong-do's emotional state, as the viewers can obviously tell Jeong-do is right on the edge of losing control; all he knows now is to attack the immoral offender. This reflects his pure nature, as he wholeheartedly wants to save the poor child that is being held captive by the probationer. This adds to the viewers' satisfaction as the perpetrator has finally been punished. 

Jeong-do's ready to fight at the criminal's hideout.

    Following an unsuccessful attempt to capture the perpetrator, Jeong-do and his unblood brothers plan out a master plan to capture the criminal once and for all. They went around gathering information about the criminal's location after narrowing it down to a specific neighborhood. Jeong-do's geared up; headed to the perpetrator's motel, ready to fight the evil villain in this movie. In the scene, the director uses a low angle shot to highlight the main character's power. By placing the camera looking up, it helps EXAGGERATE Jeong-do's size; this shot flawlessly captured Jeong-do's imtimidated aura while emphasizing his determination. This all creates an overwhelming feeling; the viewers may feel the chills going down their spines as this camera angle strongly enhances the main character's powerfulness while portraying his heroic.    

 Jeong-do's heading to the next mission with his boss.

    The movie ends with a cowboy shot; the director purposely chose this to display the body language of the two characters, where they confidently heading to their next mission. The cowboy shot also allows the viewers to observe the characters' facial expression, which can seem like a focused and somewhat laid back expression; this helps emphasize their FIERCE confidence. Additionally, this angle makes the characters seem larger (as they filled up almost half of the screen). This makes them look more significant, which can add an element of heroism to the characters. By ending the entire watching experience with a cowboy shot, this might makes the viewers emotional as they have witnessed Jeong-do's growing process, from delivering food for his father to being a martial arts officer that saved many lives.

    Moreover, you can clearly tell how different camera shots can evoke different types of emotion, from as simple as evoke a sense of intimacy to as extreme as sending chills down viewers' spines from an overwhelming sensation of overload. These demonstrate the importance of camera angels in how they add affect to the scene, as well as their influence on our emotions regarding the characters. This will wrap up today's blog and I'll see you next time, lovely💖!

BLOG 4: CLAW-SOME TRANSITIONS

BLOG 4: CLAW-SOME TRANSITIONS

Hey, girlies, welcome back to my blog! 

    Today I will combine 6 beautiful shots of Meo (OBVIOUSLY, I have to include my baby girl) by adding transitions in between to finally produce the finished 3 transitioning videos. We will mainly discuss the experience I had while filming and, most importantly, editing. With that being said, let's DIVE in to today's blog content!!

Fade

    I had a HARD time filming to capture these moments (you have absolutely NO IDEA what I've been through); after a good 30 minutes, I finally realized that I could've used food to make her more corporate (like DUHHH🙄), instead just running around (like a fool🤡) trying to catch the best shot. Conversely, the editing part was LIGHT WORK (thank God🥲), since I already have some editing experience from school projects as well as personal uses. This was NOTHING to me; it only took me around a minute to find a suitable transition and that's it. Still, you won't understand how relieved I was after that exhausting filming section (and yes, I simply CAN'T move on from that).

Wipe

    Compared to the first video, filming this is way easier. Meo has a habit to sleep after she ate, so I was filming with my eyes closed (I'm being serious, it was that EASY). She was slowly entering her sweet dream, thus she doesn't bother moving (Ugh!! my baby girl is so obedience🥰). It took me about 2 minutes to shoot both shots; however, the extreme close-up took a bit more time as my hand kept shaking every time I zoomed in. Similar to the last video, the editing part took zero effort (CERO!!); I found a perfect transition within seconds thanks to the search engine of the editing platform I used, CapCut. It allows me to preview multiple transitions in a short time, hence I was able to finish so quickly (WE LOVE YOU CAPCUT!!💖).

Dissolve

   I have unforgettable memories from shooting this video. You can clearly tell how these shots were taken at different times; actually one was taken after Meo slept, one was before I fed her. Filming this is a MIXED experience, since she was jumping around like crazy in the first shot (it took me blood and tears just to shoot that 2-second shot). However, in the second shot she unexpectedly cooperated; she was acting all cute (baby, I would die for you~🎵). So I can confidently say that this could be the most MEMORABLE one. Like other videos, editing this one was a breeze; it took me less than 20 seconds to choose and add the transition. After all, I had a pleasant experience editing these videos, although filming wasn't that enjoyable. I will give this core memory a "fantastic meo" out of 10🐈. 

BLOG 3: CRITIQUE CORNER

BLOG 3: CRITIQUE CORNER

Hey, besties, welcome back to my blog! 

    Today I will analyze 4 wonderful camera shots from 2 of my beloved classmates. We will discuss what type of shots they are as well as the emotion that is being conveyed by them. With that being said, let's jump in to today's blog content!!

First Blogger: Sweet Watermelon

    Sweet Watermelon was one of the first blogs that attracted my attention; the blog's name suggests that this is going to be a CUTE one (and my tuition was right). The first thing that greeted me was video of her niece (she was so adorable); among the 5 different camera shots she did, I enjoyed her close-up and two-person shots the most. In her close-up, she positioned her camera in a way that captured the entire face of her niece; within the 2 seconds long, the video was able to capture her niece's emotion, going from confused to content (I was MESMERIZED). The video definitely triggered the cuteness aggression inside of me; I just want to pinch that girl's pillowy cheeks (my inner demon slipped out for a second). Similarly, the two-person shot evokes my alternate nosy personality (the next-door aunty, the one who knows ALL the drama in the neighborhood). This shot perfectly captured the characters' body language; however, the blogger purposely excluded the dialogue. With the interesting body language and face expression, these make the viewer want to find out the conversation's context (I just want to JUMP straight into the video to get some of that tea!!).

Second Blogger: Fashion Queens' Club

    Fashion Queen's Club is probably one of the MOST aesthetic blogs I've seen in my life. Everything in her blog is pink-coded; however, it's giving a high-end, classy vibe, the complete opposite of Sweet Watermelon's cute aesthetic(Fashion Queens' Club surely INVESTED her time here!!). 

This is her blog cover for the camera shot post.

    She has one of the most unique camera shots among all the blogs I've seen; my favorites are the overhead shot and the ground-level shot. The overhead shot drew my attention the most; the shot captured the character's loneliness while emphasizing the emotional distance between her and the scene; this helped convey the viewers' sympathy for the main character. Other than that, this shot reveals a lot about her hobbies, as the majority of the frame is covered in clothes; this can suggest that she's a FASHION GIRLY, which she obviously is. In contrast, the ground-level shot emphasizes power and authority as well as the main character's overpower femininity. The catwalk that showed in the shot suggests that she has EXPLOSIVE confidence as well as a high self-value; these combined truly inspired young female audiences, such as me. 

    

    Overall, you can clearly tell how different camera shots can evoke different types of emotion, from emphasizing the emotional distance with an overhead shot to simply evoking an admirable feeling with the close-up shot of Sweet Watermelon's niece. These display the significance of choosing an appropriate camera shot to achieve different purposes. This will conclude today's blog. Thank you for reading and see you next time, beautiful!!

P/S: These are the links to the mentioned blogs; you should DEFINITELY check them out!!

• Sweet Watermelon

• Fashion Queens' Club