Shot by Shot Analysis of a Dark Drama Opening- SAVE ME

The opening the psychological drama opening that i chose to analyze is a Korean Drama named "Save Me" its about a girl who moves to a new town with her family and in this new town her brother is getting bullied at their new school even though she tries her best to protect him it just wasn't enough. When her brother reached his breaking point he decided to take his own life at the school leaving the girl heartbroken and alone. This resulted in the parents so shocked that they decided to go to a church one day soon to find out that it was a cult that she just could escape. In the end she wasn't able to open her parents eyes to what was going on in the "church" and ended up escaping on her own with the help of a couple of friends from her new school.

Shot 1:

The shot begins with a fade-in shot then the camera tilts down using what looks like a hand-held camera movement creating tension. There is dim low key lighting that creates and eerie or unsafe vibe. Also introduces the setting.

Shot 2:

A close up shot of a girls hand out the window which may symbolize freedom. The dark lighting continues but her clothes is a contrasting a contrasting color yellow. Whilst showing the credits.

Shot 3:

A birds eye view shot focusing on the road their on showing they are the only car on the road representing loneliness. Still with dark lighting and only one little beam of light that was also shown in front of them in the shot before.

Shot 4:

 

A back shot of the car whilst they're in a tunnel. The tunnel seems incessant foreshadowing that the people in the car are going to have a long period of darkness and trouble in their life.

Shot 5:

A medium shot of the front of the car. This was used to introduce the people inside of the car and most likely the main characters. Along with this they were able to somewhat show the facial expression, seemed like they were longing for something and in a gloomy mood. The lighting also helped establish this mood.

Shot 6:

A close up shot of the driver and who we infer to be the father. This shot was used to clearly show the facial expressions or whats going on in his head. It seem like he was distracted with thought most likely unhappy.

Shot 7:

Another close up shot this time of a different character. Her facial expression seemed very different she seemed more curios and concerned then just bluntly unahappy.

Shot 8:

A close up shot of her brother. Which facial expression was also different although he did seem very gloomy he also seemed worried and having a lot of negative thoughts running through his mind

Shot 9: 

A close up shot of the mother. She seemed the most worried and miserable. She seemed as if she left something or somewhere that held a lot of value to her.

**All these close up shots were able to give the viewer and understand of each character and the overall feeling and atmosphere in the car**