"The Big Boss" Shot Analysis

PART ONE: Screen-cap analysis based on Sikov’s example:

A man stands right of center in the frame. His face is turned toward the camera, but his body is turned at an angle so that his chest is turned to the right, the top of his left shoulder shown clearly in the shot. The man is only visible from the shoulder up, and only the very top of his head is cut off at the top of the frame. The man wears a white shirt. His eyes are focused on some distant point to the left of the frame, his mouth slightly parted. A light appears to be shining down from the top left corner of the frame, as the light illuminates the majority of the left side of the man’s face and hair. This light source could be the sun or an artificial light source. The right side of the man’s face is a bit more cast in shadow, though not completely as to make his expression unreadable, and a faint shadow casts down from his neck. The underneaths of the man's eyes are somewhat cast in shadow, as well as his eyebrows. The background of the screen-cap is mostly of a black background, possibly suggesting depth or a dark-colored building. One other person stands fully visible at the back of the frame to the right-hand side, visible from the upper-arms upward. One-half of another person stands at the edge of the frame to the right, and only one-half of their face is visible. Both of these figures are blurred out; they wear dark-gray colored shirts. Their faces and expressions are unreadable; their necks are cast in shadow.

PART TWO: Contextualizing the screen-cap in the context of the film:

In this screen-cap, I believe Chao-an is in the midst of fighting one of Hsiao Mi’s men that were sent to fight the workers who were refusing to work. The men were refusing to work at the ice factory because they wanted to know what happened to Hsu Chien and the other workers that went missing, and wound not work until they were either given an answer to their whereabouts or were released from the boss. In this frame, Chao-an’s necklace is not visible. This makes me believe that his mother’s pendant was already pulled off from his neck. This means that Chao-an was not afraid to fight anymore. The anger of getting the pendant pulled off of his neck is written across his face here. The two people that stand at the back of the frame are most likely workers at the ice factory, though I am not sure if they were ever named. They stand behind Chao-an, as if they are aware of Chao-an's fighting skills and are waiting for him to get revenge for having his pendant torn off.