The Beloved Camera in Our Beloved Summer
In the folklores of cinema’s history it is said that when the famous Lumiere Brothers, who are credited for setting into motion the genesis of motion picture system, did their first public screening of their short films, the audience ran out of the screening hall in fear that the incoming train on the screen was going to crush them in real. From the brothers first public screening in late 19th century to the current 21st century, instead of confusion and panic, avid Kdrama viewers have in the past two months been invested in the lives of Choi Woong and Kok Yeon-Su in Our Beloved Summer.
Woong and Yeon-Su find themselves being part of a documentary in high school and even though both are initially reluctant, they are not particularly perturbed by the camera following them around. The camera is just about hovering around the two, without being obtrusive, just like a fly on the wall. In documentary parlance and filming technique, being a fly on the wall denotes that the role of camera is only that of an observer- an observer who is bipartisan, impartial and non-judgemental. This technique is one of the crucial principles in documentary filmmaking, yet I distinctly recall one of my film professors telling us in a lecture that the mere action of the filmmaker to place the camera in a certain location is a subjective act. So it is not surprising that the first producer of the documentary, Park Dong-Il is not as oblivious to the romantic tensions between Woong and Yeon-Su, or when the writer steps in to highlight the conflicts between the lead couple in order to make the documentary more meaningful.
In 1929, Dziga Vertov’s film Man with the Movie Camera gave us a glimpse of ordinary urban life in Moscow, Kyiv and Odesa. The film is part documentary and part cinematic, known for spearheading editing techniques such jump cuts, match cuts, split screens and Dutch angles amongst others. When the film was initially released, it did not get much traction and was dismissed, but is now considered one of the greatest films ever made. Man with the Movie Camera is self reflexive, as Mikhail Kaufmann (Vertov’s brother) is the titular man roaming around with the camera, but is also being filmed. And this self reflexivity in Our Beloved Summer particularly struck me via Kim Ji-Woong, who for the most part is an observer in the lives of the lead couple.
While in high school, Ji-Woong watched from a distance as Woong and Yeon-Su were being filmed. Curious about the camera, he approaches the producer Dong-Il to understand how is it possible to become a producer himself. Years later, he switches places with Dong-Il, but as we see, he struggles to completely delineate himself from his feelings for Yeon-Su and being an observer. Which is why when the writer, his crew members and Woong see his initial edits, it becomes apparent how much he likes Yeon-Su. He eventually does succeed in accepting the fact that Woong and Yeon-Su will not give up on each other and he needs to let go off his love and move on. But it is not before we as viewers get to see the camera finally turning towards him as he needs to fight the larger battle of internal conflicts and fractured relationship with his mother.
In film auteur theory, there exists a concept of camero stylo or the camera pen. Essentially, the camera is a director’s pen with which he/she/they draws all the audio and visual elements of a film. And each director’s use of camera is distinct, comprising of certain characteristics, which makes a film immediately emblematic of a director’s oeuvre- think Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg. Similarly, in Our Beloved Summer Woong is a prolific artist, using black ink and colours to draw buildings he is familiar with (the real artist is from France and his name is Thibaud Herem). He has a unique style of drawing, yet gets embroiled in a plagiarism controversy, only for him to come to a realisation that he needed to become a better version of himself and an even better artist. I found the juxtaposition of an artist working with ink on paper with a camera filming him quite ironic. While digital cameras and pens have given us infinite ability to modify, cut and edit, drawing by hands leaves less scope for mistakes. And to think before motion picture camera was introduced to the world by the Lumiere Brothers, the only way to document life was through paintings and drawings!!
To sum up, watching Our Beloved Summer felt like viewing a meditative work on the role and function of camera itself. Throughout the drama, the camera is an observer, a mediator and a friend. It forces the lead couple to look within themselves and give us a beautiful story to hold onto. I will miss this show <3