Opening Analysis | Oldboy

Oldboy is a Drama, Mystery and Thriller movie directed by Chan-wook Park in 2003. It stars Min-sik Choi as Dae-su Oh, a man who was imprisoned for fifteen year and seeks revenge on his unknown captors.

The film opens with a couple production company titles, starting with "Show East" and "Egg Films". These were the main companies behind the development of the movie, so it makes sense that these would be shown first. Text then appears in the native language of the movie, which, again, is the names of "Show East" and "Egg Films", before listing off several production companies in the same shot. By doing this, the movie quickens the time it takes to start, meaning they leave the audience losing interest to a minimum. There are also no titles of the actors who star in the movie, again, lowering the time it takes to start and possibly increasing the realism.

The opening shot of the movie is a low-angle close up of Dae-su Oh’s hand gripping a tie, before the camera pans up to centre his head in the shot. While the shot is lit naturally, Dae-su Oh is silhouetted out in front of the sun, which is very nearly blocked out behind his head. The shot does a very good job of making Dae-su very intimidating and scary. The low-angle makes him seem very powerful, as he is looming over the camera or the audience. Combined with the fact that Dae-su Oh is visibly shaking makes him seem unstable, and that instability increases the tension as it suggest he has the potential to do anything, be it violent or aggressive. Another connotation is shown through the fact that Dae-su Oh nearly blocks out the sun. It greatly emphasises his power, the fact he is able to obscure this thing that is everywhere, that gives us life demonstrates his strength or power. The lighting is also key, you can see Dae-su’s face or any details, it completely de-personalises him, and by removing that human aspect you remove the possibility of mercy or sympathy. Darkness is also commonly associated with the unknown which has deep rooted connotations with fear, making Dae-su far more intimidating. The shot being a close also makes Dae-su seem much larger and stronger.

The following shot reveals that Dae-su is holding a man over the edge of building. This next shot is created in contrast to the first. It is at a low-angle, looking down at the victim, making him seem smaller and weaker, especially in comparison to the previous shot and Dae-su. The character is also lit far lighter than the previous shot, again contrasting with the original shot, making this character seem far less powerful. The high-key lighting also allows the audience to see the fear in the actors face, whilst in the previous shot Dae-su showed no emotion, again, making him far more intimidating. The shot is also a mid-shot of the character, when, put into comparison against the close-up of Dae-su, makes this character seem very small and therefore weaker. The use of low-angle also shows the ground and floor below, emphasising the height and the apparent danger of the situation. The previous only shows the sky and removes this danger possibility. Dae-su is also situated to the far right of the shot. This isolates him from the danger of the ground below, again, increasing his threat and power. Finally, the addition of the character holding a fluffy dog has connotations of being weak, almost like grasping a teddy bear, similar to small child. This further contrasts with Dae-su, making him an almost omnipotent force in this scene.

The next shot is a close up of Dae-su's hand gripping the tie, before the shot pans across the tie to reveal the character hanging over the edge of the building. The fact the shot does not show Dae-su's face, again, strips him of emotion, and therefore fear or mercy, making him appear far more powerful. Also, his hand being at head level to the other character suggest he is looming over him; a powerful figure. While the shot pans left, it also slightly pans downwards as well, emphasising his smallness in comparison.  Again, the shot gives the threatened character space to demonstrate fear, which further weakens him in comparison to Dae-su. The buildings in the background, whilst being blurred out, are all the rooftops or the very tops of the building, emphasising the height and the danger of the situation.

The final shot is from the same angle as the first one, so it shares all the connotations. However, this shot eventually zooms into the darkness of Dae-su's face, possibly emphasising his lack of remorse or emotion for this character, increasing his potential for violence. The shot zooming in also completely allows Dae-su to block out the sun, massively increasing his connotations of power and strength, as mentioned before when analysing the opening shot.

 During the opening, non-diegetic music is heard throughout. During the titles, it is a quiet piece, however, when the opening shot is shown, the music becomes much louder and far more dramatic. This increases the tension of the scene, and emphasises the severity and danger of the situation. No ambient diegetic sounds are audible, making the scene feel far less natural, which could link to the character of Dae-su in this shot, who is stripped of a lot of human emotion. Diegetic voices of the threatened character can be heard, which sounds like pleading in a very scared tone, again, making him seem far weaker in comparison to Dae-su.

Overall, the opening of this movie is short but sweet. It only uses a few shots but the connotations derived from them are massive. It sets up Dae-su to be this powerful figure, as well as creates numerous enigma codes for the audience to eventually decipher, the main one being the context of this shot, as well as why Dae-su is shown as so powerful, all through the use of media techniques.

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