WK1

When you said you do not trust them, do you mean, you feel that they might air Immortal Samara ahead of TBW?

What do you mean any streaming service? Do you mean Youku?? Youku is the main investor/producer of TBW. Airing date is totally in Youku's control.

Good question. The only reason I can think of is, they need to keep people who are interested in that drama engaged and not lose interest. So, I think you are right. Likely for Valentine promotion, more than anything else. TBW is weeks ahead of the other drama, so, there is no way they would push this behind.

They have yet to get broadcast license, right? TBW already obtained airing license weeks ago. No reason why this should be pushed back for the other one.

Warm welcome to this page. There is a truckload of Dilraba fans here, all waiting for this drama to air, which should be very soon. You have come here at the right time.

I think all Birdlady wants to watch are the romance heavy dramas. I think this why she preferred YAMG to TLB, as YAMG is definitely more romance heavy, compared to TLB.

There are rumours that Dilraba could be taking a legal-cum detective crime solving type of drama which is very light on romance or has practically no romance at all. We do not know if this is indeed the direction Reba is heading toward or this is just a one-off thing. But, if this is indeed Reba's career direction, Birdlady will be looking elsewhere, since she prefers romance drama.

Birdlady needs not worry. China produces tons of romance heavy dramas every year, particularly modern romance dramas. Out of 10 dramas of this genre, at least 5 would be good, so she will be spoiled for choice.

Natural talent and training will always come together hand-in-hand to help create world class performers. Whether in acting or even in sports. Like the Winter Olympic Games we are witnessing right now, how some of these young female Russian skaters are able to do such amazing things when they are just 15-17 years old.

Some actor/actresses with very little formal training can indeed learn through their experiences accumulated through years of acting. If they are fortunate enough to work with good directors, those directors would have coached them while filming. With each drama/movie they film, they keep learning and improving. This is the path Wallace Chung took and is also the path that Ren Jia Lun is taking. If Ren Jia Lun is a good learner, and I think he is, he will just keep improving. I watched a recent modern drama by Wallace Chung and he acted really well in it. So, I really looking forward to Ren Jia Lun's performance in TBW as well.

Some of those singers who tried to transit to acting and do not succeed, I feel that many are trying to take short cuts to success. They are really young. They can easily afford to take a year or 2 off and attend a drama school, and that would have helped them in their acting careers.

In some cases, it could be the fault of their agencies, who convinced them that acting is so simple, they will be able to pick it up as they go along. But acting is hardly simple; or else, given Chinese large population, we would have seen hundreds and thousands of great actors and actresses. The truth is, acting is a difficult skill that needs lots of training and education.

For most people, the best way to get it is from a professional drama academy. Even a child actress like Yang Zi, despite acting since she was a kid, she still took the drama academy path and enrolled in Beijing Drama Academy when she was 18. Talent, experience and training come together to create a total package in acting excellence.

Dilraba started acting later than Yang Zi, but through her hardwork, I think in terms of acting, she has already caught up with Yang Zi. 2021 was a particularly good year for Reba and a not so good one for Yang Zi, as a number of her dramas either got delayed or even cancelled (due not to her fault). But, I think Yang Zi will bounce back in 2022. Dilraba and Yang Zi will compete in the many years to come, and competition will just make both better and better.

If you referring to Mirror Twin Cities, that drama suffers from many weaknesses, not just the acting of Yukee Chen. Even on the MDL page of MTC, there are many negative comments about the drama as a whole, as well as the acting of Yukee Chen.

I could not finish many of Yukee Chen's dramas, but I did finish Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre. Among all her dramas with her in the leading role, I think her performance in that drama is her best, and won her many fans.

Oh dear. If you do not like the way the story in The Long Ballad was handled, and the shooting of the scene in that drama, you may also not like The Blue Whisper, because the director for TLB is the same as the director for TBW.

I think she and her team will totally scrutinize the script and the total package. If she does take it, it means the total package has passed their scrutiny. By total package, I mean who is the producer, director, screenwriter, male lead, etc.

If you check Yang Yang on wikipedia, he did attend Central Acadmey of Drama for a period of time. Not sure if he graduated. Xu Kai signed with Huanyu Film, owned by well known producer Yu Zheng. It was not till 2018 till he got his first break, as a second lead in Yanxi Palace. Huanyu is an entertainment company, so he might have gotten some in-house training as an actor from 2016-2018. Likewise for Bai Lu, who is also with Huanyu.

Steven Zhang attended the Central Academy of Drama, so he did received training in acting.

Leo Yunxi attended the Shangai Theatre Academy, the same Academy that Dilraba graduated from. Although he majored in ballet, he must have attended some acting classes.

Wallace Chung is 47. Although no formal training, he has acted in lots and lots of dramas and movies and used those years of experience to hon his acting skills.

Leaving us with Ren Jia Lun, whom I am supporting, because I support all of Dilraba's male co-stars. He is just 32. With no formal training in acting, he too will need years and years of hardwork to hon his acting skills, while someone who attended a drama academy will need less. He never wanted to be an actor, but an injury forced him to stop playing top class table tennis. By then, I think he was too old to attend any academy. I have little doubt if he had, his acting skill would be much better than his current level (which is already good).

Drama academies exist for the same reasons schools exist, to train and educate young people. Apart from drama academies, the larger entertainment companies likely have in-house training departments. Some of the big agencies in Korea certaining do, so that their singers are also trained in acting, so that when their singing days are over, they transit to acting effortlessly.

Some Korean entertainers actually have successful dual careers, where they are famous concurrently in both singing as well as acting.

I can name of lots of entertainers in China who tried to transit from singing to acting and did not do a good job. But, it is too sensitive for me to do so. This is an open forum. Their fans could be reading this, and you can be sure, they will attack me.

I am also not saying that all who attend drama academies will do well. Just as many people who excelled in schools, did not do well in their careers later on. Just that education and training enhance one's chances of being successful in whatever we set out to do. If they do not play a role, why are there so many drama academies in China? Why do so many countries have schools and universities?

I just feel that for Reba, YAMG is the peak of her performance in a romance themed modern drama. She has done so many already (Pretty Li Huizen; The Backlight of Love; Sweet Dreams; Love Designer; Diamond Lover). YAMG has won her most accolades, with her amazing chemistry with Yang Yang. Would she want to do another one like YAMG? What has she got to prove that she has not already proven? If she takes on another role like QJJ, it will surely be for nothing else but money.

Again, we cannot read her mind. But I would like to think that she has loftier goals than just making money. Anyway, considering all the commercials that she is making every year, she must surely have made more than enough money to lead a comfortable life, the rest of her life. I think she wants more than money; she wants to prove to everyone that she is a very good and versatile actress.

I do feel that if a serious modern drama with a good script comes along, now is the right time for her to make the switch. Remember, it takes time to perfect one's skill. Even if she starts now, it may be several dramas down the road before she can perfect her acting in serious roles. And there are so many serious roles we can imagine her doing, these roles can easily take up the next 4-5 years of her acting career (the same way doing all those rom-coms has taken up years of her career).

She still has one big arena yet to conquer, which is movies. She has done a few of those, but no bit hits (compared to her dramas). Is she giving that up, to concentrate on dramas? Maybe, but maybe not.

I googled Liu Ye. He is 43 this year. It can only mean that there will be very little or even no romance in this drama. Nice. Could well indicate a change of career direction for Reba.

For actress, she is indeed perfect. She definitely pass the visual test, and she is highly skilled as an actress, having gone through proper training. For male actors, there will be those like Huang Xiaoming and Chen Kun, who also graduated from drama academy in China.

And, like you, I have little respect for singers-turn-actors. No matter how handsome or pretty they look. Most just cannot act. Many of them have the same facial expressions from one drama to the next, no matter how different those dramas are.

There is also the view that idols drama are acted out by actors/actresses who were previoulsy singers/dancers, with little training in actual acting. They already have a large fan base, and are hoping that they can rely on their fan bases to follow them into their acting careers. Some made it, but I suspect most do not. Especially for historical dramas. It is not too difficult to act in modern idols dramas. They are not required to exhibit a wide range of emotions. But historical dramas is a totally different story. That is where all the years of training and education at a drama academy become important.

For me personally, this is one reason why I respect Dilraba so much. She did not take any short cut. She went through all the necessary training to become a serious actress. It also explains the lack of respect I have for those who did not go through proper training at a drama school. Some do make it, but a great majority do not.

I do understand where you are coming from. One of the first things they do at the filming of a drama is to test out all the costumes and hairstyles, even before actual filming starts. They want to see if the hairstyles and costumes fit the particular actor/actress.

So, here is my theory. I think they must have tested white hair on Allen and how it goes with the various costumes from a visual aspect. They must have decided that dark hair looks better on him. Blue eyes is not difficult to create. He merely needs to wear blue degree-less contact lenses, or they can even use CGI to create that.

I am prepared to give the production team the benefit of the doubt and accept whatever final decision they made. After all, there is nothing much we can do about it.

In the trailer which they released last Oct, none of the comments was directed the colour of his hair or eyes. They were mainly concerned about his tail, which viewers said does not really look like the tail of a powerful shark. That could be important, if Allen needs to use that tail to fight. CGI can fix that. Next, there was also the comment that he was wearing a fake muscle pack. Again, I think CGI can take care of that. Wearing fake stuff is nothing new. Even in big budget Hollywood movies, some of them wear take stuff. Good CGI can make them look real and less plasticky.

I think you just keep track of the type of modern dramas that she does. If she moves away from romance-centred dramas, it means she is done with idols drama. Those of us who are her ardent fans, we don't really care what she does. We watch whatever she does. If she decides on a new career direction which takes her into the serious drama category which aims at older audiences, we will follow her.

You can read this article:

https://idoldramas.tumblr.com/post/66506096612/pre-production-what-is-an-idol-drama#:~:text=At%20the%20simplest%20level%2C%20an,story%20that%20features%20idol%20stars.&text=The%20Japanese%20trendy%20drama%20focuses,fashionable%20clothes%2C%20and%20popular%20music.

It does seem the case, that 'idol dramas' seem to have romance as the main focus. They are done in modern urban setting, rather than in historical setting.

Here is another article you can read:

https://reclamationmagazine.com/2020/07/23/how-idol-dramas-changed-the-21st-century-asian-media-landscape/

The cinematography in The Long Ballad was really good! Especially all the smaller scale fight scenes, all those one-on-one combat scenes. And Dilraba and Leo Wu's acting and the acting by the entire cast, was also very good.

At the end of the day, the most important element will be Allen's acting skills. As long as he can convey all the right emotions, and he has great chemistry with Reba, I do not think the colour of his hair or eyes will be all that important. Getting too upset over those issues can well be a distraction and cause one to lose focus on Allen's acting while watching TBW.

Hold your judgment. Watch the drama. And then decide for yourself if his hair colour and eyes colours are all that important to the storyline.