I knew the second I saw the trailer it was the same director as The Double. Love his art direction/style. He has…
To add on, I'm very curious how iQiYi and Tencent will play a role in the final edit. Youku, and all the networks, kind of have their own style that adds a layer to a directors original intent. I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that the more filler type episodes stay intentional with their shots(framing) and edits and we don't end up with a few episodes over lit to better suit a multi camera shot/take.
I knew the second I saw the trailer it was the same director as The Double. Love his art direction/style. He has a good use of extreme close ups, close ups, and detail shots enter cut with dynamic wide shots. Also I can always spot his work because Wind is it's own character within his shows.
That's pretty good. Above average, which the show is.
But lets all be for real for real...Si Jin is a very basic period costume drama. They are using very similar story/plot from previous dramas/stories and the art direction/cinematography only really shows up for the more important plot points, otherwise it's just your basic studio-lit ,multi-cam shot rebirth/girl boss/royal drama-llama . The editing is also all over the place when they aren't at a more important part of the story. Episode 33 is an example of when everyone showed up with their A game and with intention and attention to detail.
The hair and make-up are very much, idol costume drama. Rarely a hair out of place, when it is out of place it's done so that the character still looks beautiful.
All I'm saying is, rating on a scale like... 1-2: complete trash 3-4: below average 5: Average 6-7: Above average 8-9: Exceeds expectations 10: Perfect
5.7 is not a bad opening score considering some of the best parts aired AFTER that first score dropped. They measuring with their own yard stick. MDL's users' ratings don't seem to account for production value a lot of the time...just vibes and overall enjoyment...which is also a very valid form of rating a show. But in China where there are hundreds of new shows out every quarter, I think Douban does a pretty decent job keeping the bots out of the scoring system.
MDL's ratings are only JUST starting to get recognition from China as a measuring stick for international audiences. Seriously, I think The First Frost is the only one to promote their rating from MDL, but still, getting that nod from production that we, international fans, play a role in the success of a show is really rather nice.
The karmic justice coming Cui Ming Yue's way is epic. Being forced into a marriage she didn't want...the cackle that came out of my body. You would have thought I was watching a sports event with how I jumped up out of my bed and screamed 'YES!'
I'm glad that Zhu(i think that's his last name, Eldest sister's ex-husband) came back to redeem himself and exact revenge for not only himself and his 80+ deceased family members, but for the family he left behind. I'm not even sure he was aware that the Princess Royal killed his ex-wife's mother and the fully extent of the web of manipulation and murder plots. He just knew that he was a pawn in a game and lost everything. His one silver lining is that his daughter was safe with her mother. To realize that the Jiang family are the true targets means his daughter is still in danger. We haven't seen episode 34 yet, but after killing Cui Ming Yue, I don't if he's going to make a self exit or hide in the shadows once more. He seems so broken, I wouldn't put it past him to sit in the flames of his own making while he waits for Death.
When the production shoots with intention the overall product is soooooo much better. You can tell which stories/plots were important to them by how nice the cinematography is & the attention to editing becoming noticeably better. When they are just trying to get from point A to B the editing can become a mess & the framing gets lazy & over lit. Epiosde 33 had a LOT more attention to detail than some of the other episodes.
If you enjoy cinematography, dont mind a slower paced/slow to unfold mystery, "pure" love story you will enjoy this show. ML is like a Christmas tree, green(evergreen tree) but with spots of red(ornaments). I like that lead character is almost fundamental flawed, but is aware of those flaws. If you like Tree of Heaven you will like this, and bonus it has a happy, if not slightly open, ending.
"pure" love: when characters have feelings for one another, but the medium(book, show, movie,film) never depicts the love in a sexual/sexualized manner. A love not seeking to gain anything from the other party, just simply loving without expectation.
Final episode makes me want to rewatch Spring Waltz again. Hallstatt, Austria is such a rich and beautiful filming location. Seriously beautiful cinematography happening. So glad they were able to film there & capture it's beauty again.
The mom's logic doesn't make sense. "No you can't do your comic book thing.....You have to be successful in making comic books, but I'm not going to give you any time or space to get better and show you can succeed." The mother is so dumb...she's a lawyer and doesn't care about the truth her daughter has to say about an AI scandal that got her ousted from her own IP and pen name? Terrible parent, terrible lawyer. The first thing she should have done is ask to see her daughter's contract with the company. & then she should have asked about who actually drew the AI in her work.
I think now that the evils are getting their second wind it's a good time for me to focus on other dramas and come back to this when I can better binge. I really dislike repetitive writing. And it's like every time leads get passed a hurdle...jk no they didn't, back to square one...everyone reset.
It makes no sense that the Emperor can't see how evil his "sister" and her daughter are. It's like people are too afraid to say anything about them to him and he just believes all the bs they feed him. He seems to be in the know of a lot of things, but for those two to be his blind spot is honestly wild to me. I wish Jin would just tell it to him completely straight....Your niece is a murderous psychopath and narcissist and I would rather die than be married to her....See simple.
Remember when the female crew dancer was telling Si how she met her mother? Was the man who scared the criminals…
He was engaged to someone prior to him marrying the Princess Royal, but I'm not 100% sure it was Jiang Si's mother or another person. He liked the mother, but I don't know if it was brotherly or romantic. Since the ages of the kids make me think she was already married to her husband well before he got married to the Princess Royal. Any novel readers know the timeline and if their is a 3rd woman who hasn't been mentioned yet?
Oh okay...the word is just not a thing for me so I was extremely confused. I prefer the bts from the production and I don't mind a few spoilers here and there but too many will just mess with the viewing experience imo. Also this production hates the paps. literally used the smoke machines to smoke them out of their hidey holes because they were interrupting filming and ruining shots. I don't like that the actors feel and look uncomfortable in almost every video where they aren't actively in character for shooting. Idk just my pov.
There is a small correction,:1. Yu Jin/Yu Qi did not shoot the arrow in the first life; his arrow is still nocked…
1. Okay I will have to go back and check those scenes again. The editing in this is half the time on purpose and the other half lazy and I can't tell which one until it's brought up in a future episode. 2. OMG THANK YOU! I thought I was going crazy and just misremembering which girl belonged to which family. I didn't feel like combing back through the episodes to see the name cards of the characters.
Ski into Love is the only other currently airing cdrama I'm watching. But I'm also watching Undercover High School,…
Oh it's Cheesy AF, but I needed some lightness with all the more serious shows I was watching/will begin to watch. I like some fluff to balance out the substance. But heads up it looks like the cinematographer didn't bother to show up until like episode 6 so the vibes take a minute to set in imo.
it's better to wait imho.. since you're prolly off on sunday just enjoy both eps stress free
I think that's the best idea too. Also the sun will be down so I can see the TV better. I really should install the backout blinds that I bought...last year.....(my room faces full east and I work night shifts...🤦🏻♀️
2 
But lets all be for real for real...Si Jin is a very basic period costume drama. They are using very similar story/plot from previous dramas/stories and the art direction/cinematography only really shows up for the more important plot points, otherwise it's just your basic studio-lit ,multi-cam shot rebirth/girl boss/royal drama-llama . The editing is also all over the place when they aren't at a more important part of the story. Episode 33 is an example of when everyone showed up with their A game and with intention and attention to detail.
The hair and make-up are very much, idol costume drama. Rarely a hair out of place, when it is out of place it's done so that the character still looks beautiful.
All I'm saying is, rating on a scale like...
1-2: complete trash
3-4: below average
5: Average
6-7: Above average
8-9: Exceeds expectations
10: Perfect
5.7 is not a bad opening score considering some of the best parts aired AFTER that first score dropped.
They measuring with their own yard stick. MDL's users' ratings don't seem to account for production value a lot of the time...just vibes and overall enjoyment...which is also a very valid form of rating a show. But in China where there are hundreds of new shows out every quarter, I think Douban does a pretty decent job keeping the bots out of the scoring system.
MDL's ratings are only JUST starting to get recognition from China as a measuring stick for international audiences. Seriously, I think The First Frost is the only one to promote their rating from MDL, but still, getting that nod from production that we, international fans, play a role in the success of a show is really rather nice.
I'm glad that Zhu(i think that's his last name, Eldest sister's ex-husband) came back to redeem himself and exact revenge for not only himself and his 80+ deceased family members, but for the family he left behind.
I'm not even sure he was aware that the Princess Royal killed his ex-wife's mother and the fully extent of the web of manipulation and murder plots. He just knew that he was a pawn in a game and lost everything. His one silver lining is that his daughter was safe with her mother. To realize that the Jiang family are the true targets means his daughter is still in danger. We haven't seen episode 34 yet, but after killing Cui Ming Yue, I don't if he's going to make a self exit or hide in the shadows once more. He seems so broken, I wouldn't put it past him to sit in the flames of his own making while he waits for Death.
Amazing....bravo....give me more.
When they are just trying to get from point A to B the editing can become a mess & the framing gets lazy & over lit.
Epiosde 33 had a LOT more attention to detail than some of the other episodes.
If you like Tree of Heaven you will like this, and bonus it has a happy, if not slightly open, ending.
"pure" love: when characters have feelings for one another, but the medium(book, show, movie,film) never depicts the love in a sexual/sexualized manner. A love not seeking to gain anything from the other party, just simply loving without expectation.
The mother is so dumb...she's a lawyer and doesn't care about the truth her daughter has to say about an AI scandal that got her ousted from her own IP and pen name? Terrible parent, terrible lawyer. The first thing she should have done is ask to see her daughter's contract with the company. & then she should have asked about who actually drew the AI in her work.
I really dislike repetitive writing. And it's like every time leads get passed a hurdle...jk no they didn't, back to square one...everyone reset.
It makes no sense that the Emperor can't see how evil his "sister" and her daughter are. It's like people are too afraid to say anything about them to him and he just believes all the bs they feed him. He seems to be in the know of a lot of things, but for those two to be his blind spot is honestly wild to me. I wish Jin would just tell it to him completely straight....Your niece is a murderous psychopath and narcissist and I would rather die than be married to her....See simple.
Any novel readers know the timeline and if their is a 3rd woman who hasn't been mentioned yet?
I prefer the bts from the production and I don't mind a few spoilers here and there but too many will just mess with the viewing experience imo. Also this production hates the paps. literally used the smoke machines to smoke them out of their hidey holes because they were interrupting filming and ruining shots. I don't like that the actors feel and look uncomfortable in almost every video where they aren't actively in character for shooting. Idk just my pov.
2. OMG THANK YOU! I thought I was going crazy and just misremembering which girl belonged to which family. I didn't feel like combing back through the episodes to see the name cards of the characters.