Why are special effects of Chinese dramas awful?

tarkan-san Author

Oct 5, 2017 10:06 pm

I watched 3 fantasy/supernatural Chinese dramas. The Lost Tomb, Ice Fantasy and The Mystic Nine. Gosh their special effects are awful. And i checked some fantasy shows. They are the same. So I hesitate to beging watching Legend of Chusen. They are like ones America's 90s shows'. Even 90s America supernatural dramas are better. China is where America is in 90s on fantasy and supernatural shows.

T___T

Oct 17, 2017 06:04 am

In my opinion, Legend of Chusen has the best special effects by far of any Chinese drama!!! However, I ended up dropping it because Li Yifeng's acting was so bland that I couldn't continue even though I love Zhao Liying.

I think the special effects for dramas aren't as good because they don't put in as much effort or money for their effects. Because if you watch Chinese movies, the special effects are really good and wayyyyyyyyyy better than the effects in chinese dramas.

tarkan-san Author

Oct 17, 2017 06:33 pm

Yes i agree what you said. Li Yifeng, Zhang Yixing and Aaron Yan are terrible actors. I can imagine why you dropped the show. As to special effects, For example Ice Fantasy is like a joke. Not just for special effects also for acting and storyline. And martial arts dramas also have terrible fight scenes. They literally fly. So exaggrated.

And i know some Chinese movies. And i know they are good. But they should spend more money on dramas if they are insistent to make fantasy and martial arts dramas. I don't understand. China has money but its dramas are terrible. Most of em i mean. Some are good. And among 1.5 billion people, why can't good actors come out? I really don't understand.

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T___T

Oct 17, 2017 06:55 pm

There are actually a lot of good actors, but they aren't really in those super popular/idol-like dramas and so thus you probably don't know of them or have never heard of them especially if they're not popular internationally. If you watch dramas like Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan, The First Half of My Life, Nirvana in Fire, Surgeons, Ode to Joy/Ode to Joy 2 (basically most of the ones produced by Daylight Ent/Shandong Film Group), they all have great acting by great actors (but aside from NIF the rest aren't super popular internationally and were more popular in mainland China. I think most people on MDL can agree that Zhao Liying is a good actress though and her works are popular both in mainland China and internationally (but Journey of Flower has the worst special effects ever haha). Hmm I don't think Chinese dramas are terrible at all, I actually really love Chinese dramas, but I guess to each their own!!

I think its because they spend the money on paying the actors and the produciton crew or smth instead of the actual special effects but I'm not sure.

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tarkan-san Author

Oct 17, 2017 07:53 pm

I watched Battle of Changsha i love it. Great acting and storyline. But i watched The Lost Tomb, Detective Sweet they are really teriible at acting tlt also at special effects. I watched also The Empress of China. It has bad storyline. A few good actors. And currently watching The Mystic Nine and Ice Fantasy they are both terrible at acting, storyline and special effects. I am gonna watch Scarlet Heart, Nirvana in Fire, Sparrow, The Disquiser, Imoerial Doctress soon. I hope they are good. Everyone like you said Nirvana in Fire is so good. I hope the others good too.

tarkan-san Author

Oct 17, 2017 07:56 pm

And do you know where i can find eng subtitles of all chinese dramas? I wanto to translate to my language. Most of em don't exist. Even popular ones. Not that i love but Ice Fantasy: Destiny's subs don't exist. Subbed videos exist but noone uploaded the subs as far as i know.

T___T

Oct 17, 2017 09:18 pm

There isn't really one single place where you can find eng subs for all chinese dramas, and often times only the more popular ones are subbed. Which dramas do you need to find engsubs for??? Engsubs for dramas can either be on Viki, DramaFever, kissasian, or Youtube itself so it really varies depending on which drama you're looking for. Ice Fantasy Destiny was not popular at all so I highly doubt that one has engsubs (but I'm not sure).

tarkan-san Author

Oct 17, 2017 10:21 pm

For example The Qin Empire. But as what i said, i am looking for subtitle only. Not subbed video. I can seperate subs from the video that i've downloaded from viki. But the other sites upload hardsub videos. So those subs can't be seperated. Ice Fantasy Destiny has subbed videos but not sub only. I see c-dramas on my drama list. I read synopsis and i like it. But i can't find any subs. That's so annoying.

T___T

Oct 17, 2017 10:30 pm

Yeah, the Qin Empire is one of those not so popular dramas that don't have engsubs :((

But in the comments it says that The Qin Empire 2 is on Netflix, if that helps.

From your plan-to-watch list,

All Quiet in Beijing is on Netflix.

Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan is on kissasian

Love Me if You Dare is on Viki

Nirvana in Fire Viki, Kissasian, Dramafever

Ode to Joy & Ode to Joy 2 are both on DramaFever and kissasian

Surgeons is on YouTube and Dramafever

but yeah the rest idk sorry :((

^^^^I watched all of them except for Love Me if You Dare, Qin Empire, and All Quiet in Beijing and I liked all the ones I watched so I'm glad you'll check them out!! :D

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Lara

Oct 17, 2017 11:09 pm

@tarkan-san:

Maybe here is the answer to your question: https://cdramabase.com/2017/09/21/news-corner-sixth-tones-interview-with-visual-effects-supervisor-guan-ming-jie/

In this interview the supervisor discusses the current problems with the special effects in the Chinese drama industry.

tarkan-san Author

Oct 19, 2017 06:29 pm

@krystalsoojungs I'm Turkish. And Love Me If You Dare has Turkish subs. I can also understand English. I already watched Battle of Changsha, The Lost Tomb, Detective Sweet and The Mystic Nine wth English sub. I don't hav Netflix account so i can't watch them via Netflix. I am also translator. So i have to have eng subs themselves. Because it's hard when you don't have subtitles.

tarkan-san Author

Oct 19, 2017 06:32 pm

@Lara but they keep insisting to make fanstasy shows that are terrible. If their episodes were shorter maybe they would've get rid of financial problems. But almost all of them at least 50 episodes. They have to make more effort and invest more on dramas.