When writing a novel, the opening sentence in literature holds immense importance. Some
writers are able to set up themes, mood and character before the end of the first full
stop.
The opening shot in Parasite has the same effect. From the first frame, we’re presented
with a cinematic approach which is highly calculated, clinical and theatrical.
It’s a frame with a frame. As if we’re watching a play.
It’s from the perspective of a basement, an underground world showing a literal separation
of class.
The frame is layered. Foreground, background, light and dark.
Within the 1st second of the film cinematographer Hong Kyung-Pyo sets up these 3 concepts that
will be carried throughout the length of the movie. But we’ll come back to this later...
During his career, director Bong Joon-Ho has used personal stories to convey larger messages
concerning society as a whole.
His films are considered, subtle, layered works reliant on visual storytelling.
It’s fitting therefore that his regular cinematographer takes an equally measured
approach in crafting images.
Parasite is divided by two primary locations and two sets of families: The Kim family and
The Park family.
While the film can be interpreted in many ways, it’s impossible to escape its central
idea concerning social inequality in a capitalist class system.
Part of the reason Bong’s films are so successful is due to the visual perspective he takes
in conveying themes and ideas.
His films are not overly judgemental or one sided.
He tells stories through a lens that is more objective. Both families have strengths and
flaws, there are no perfect or imperfect characters.
Bong steps back and presents the story to the audience impartially which allows the
audience the chance to make their own interpretations.
Parasite tries to start a conversation, rather than deliver a statement.
As mentioned, the key to this more objective style of filmmaking lies in the visual approach
of using framing, perspective and layering.
In this video I’ll break down the cinematography of Parasite through the lens of these 3 concepts.
Showing how Hong’s choice of technical gear, and his aesthetic choices create a subtle,
refined and objective visual approach which perfectly supports the telling of this modern
classic.
Before we look at examples from the film let’s take a quick overview of the camera gear Hong
chose to shoot the film with.
Before shooting a film he likes to extensively test a combination of cameras and lenses until
he finds the desired look for the film.
A primary requirement for the film was creating a wide perspective in which the entire Kim
family could fill a single shot, even when shooting in their tight underground basement
location.
This unifies the Kim family as a single organism.
He found the large format Arri 65 camera combined with Arri DNA lenses most suitable for creating
this perspective.
“First, I tested the lenses and was impressed by their field of view. It’s similar to
anamorphic lenses, with a deep depth of field.”
Shooting with wider focal length lenses on a larger 65mm sensor provides a different
way of seeing the world, a perspective which is closer to the human eye than the regular
35mm format.
“If we use a 20mm wide-angle spherical lens for the small, narrow, semi-basement home,
subjects at the back look further away than they really are. But when we tested the DNA
lens in the semi-basement home, I realized the background looked closer, similar to how
we see with naked eyes.”
They chose a 4k workflow which helped to increase sharpness and details in the skin. This helped
preserve a realistic level of texture, which enhanced naturalism.
This combination of camera and glass therefore helped Hong to sculpt images with a more objective
perspective, and an increased sense of reality.
Returning to that opening shot of the film, let’s bring up the 1st concept that it sets
up: framing.
To create a film which has an objective visual style where the story takes centre stage,
one approach that emphasises this by composing the film in the same way.
In theatre, a stage is framed by the proscenium: the rectangular outline which divides the
on-stage world and the audience.
Viewers face the stage from a front-on perspective.
The framing in Parasite often utilises this front-on, frame within a frame, proscenium
composition.
Rather than shooting from an angle, the camera often shoots the scene from a straight, symmetrical
point of view.
I’d argue that this repeated framing choice creates an impartial viewpoint. The audience
views the film almost as they would a stage play.
This means that the filmmakers aren’t forcing the audience to take a specific stance on
the characters with dramatic lighting or skewed camera angles.
Rather they present the story openly, theatrically and allow the audience to engage
with the story on their own terms.
If Hong creates a theatrical framing with his camera placement and perspective with
his lens and camera choices, then it’s his use of lighting which allows him to create
layers.
He likes to create depth through his lighting. One way he does this is by using different
areas of exposure in different planes of the image to create contrast.
Let’s break down the lighting in this opening shot.
He uses a strong backlight on the head of the character here to create a plane of separation
between the character and the environment.
This backlight is coming from the window above and to the left. It’s a strong, direct light
source, mimicking hard sunlight and I would guess could be a large daylight source such
as an 18k HMI, or perhaps even natural sunlight coming from the window.
Hong uses a lot of motivated practical sources in his lighting to increase naturalism. Here
we see practical fluorescent lights on the set.
The light on the right appears to be diffused by a ¼ silk net and provides
a soft fill on the right side of the face.
On the left there is a white polyboard providing a soft, bounced key light.
The character is therefore lit in 3 ways.
With a back light hitting the hair, a fill light on the right of his face, and a slightly
brighter key light on the left of his face. This is called 3 Point Lighting.
This lighting style provides more depth to an image, as the light hits the frame in varying
levels of intensity, creating a layered look.
While the core of the visual approach between the 2 households remains similar, the lighting
in the Park’s lavish house is very different from the Kim’s semi-basement.
This emphasises the vast socio-economic difference of the 2 households.
Where the practical sources in the Kim’s house are mainly cheap, off-yellow fluorescent
fixtures, the Park’s practical lighting consists of a range of beautifully soft LED
fixtures, mixing daylight and tungsten colour temperatures.
In this scene Hong again employs a layered lighting approach.
The foreground layer is dark, lit by a dimmed down soft, cooler daylight fill.
The middle ground is lit from above with what appears to be a soft, warm, tungsten LED practical
source.
The background trees outside the window are lit with an even cooler, almost blue, soft fixture
This creates 3 layers. Dark, light, dark. Cool, warm, cool.
Again the framing in the scene is very front on. And the vertical pillars in the frame
create a proscenium affect.
Hong’s use of wide lenses combined with Bong’s blocking of the actors movement often
results in a frame that is rich, with different layers of foreground and background action
taking place within a single shot.
This gives the audience the feeling that we are observing a story from afar. We are the
silent viewer.
The camera movement in the film adds to this.
Most of the film is made up of either locked off frames, or slow, subtle, dolly movement
motivated by character movement. Fast camera moves try to deliberately affect the audience
a certain way.
Locked off or slow movement creates a more objective, naturalistic perspective.
The use of VFX in the film is naturalistically done and does not draw attention to itself.
Most viewers may not even realise there is any VFX at all, which is the highest form
of praise visual effects artists can get.
The exterior VFX work on the Park house compliments the cinematography of the film.
It’s clean, detailed, subtle and feels real.
In a film that I feel will go down as a classic piece of cinema, Hong plays his role perfectly.
His cinematography is invisible and selfless.
The clean, subtle, artistic touches to the images he creates serve to tell the story
above all else. He doesn’t take sides with his cinematography.
It would be easy and overly simplified to divide the poor and the rich family by having
one shot handheld and one with smooth camera movement.
His imagery however doesn’t discriminate. Every character is viewed through the same
passive, subjective lens.
This carefully considered, refined approach to make the visuals represent the story may
go unnoticed by some, but it’s these careful touches of cinematography which help elevate
the film to another level.
Thanks very much for watching this cinematography breakdown of Parasite.
If you enjoyed this format of breaking down classic films and the gear used to shoot them
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If you have an opinion on the film please let me know in the comments. Until next time,
thanks for watching and goodbye.