Ticket pre-sales have just started in China, and the box office numbers are insane. They've reportedly already made over ~70mil (~9.7mil USD) and have apparently broken some sort of record for day-one ticket pre-sales. Detective Chinatown 3 (big famous IP) held the previous record with ~68mil. And for extra reference, the budget for the drama itself was ~56mil. Really amazing all things considered! Shining For One Thing gets to be the dark horse yet again lol
Filming has begun and there's already a couple of leaked pics/videos from onlookers lol (nothing spoilery/substantial, just cast and crew standing around) https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:4920241981947963 Still no official announcements, but Qu Chuxiao, Zhang Jianing, and Fu Jing can be seen on set. Randy Che is also returning as cinematographer!
Ok so they've officially registered this movie with China's Film Association!! The registration has a plot summary (!!!) so here's a rough google translation of it -- "Zhang Wansen planned to confess to Lin Beixing, the girl he has a crush on, after the college entrance examinations. But a sudden concert accident turned everything into a tragedy. Zhang Wansen accidentally restarts this summer. He and Lin Beixing overcome internal and external pressures, face their inner regrets and misses, and complete the redemption of each other and themselves." Zhang Wansen's perspective confirmed :'')
This was a mostly fun watch, but wow the comments about the final 5-ish episodes are not exaggerating lol. Super unsatisfying ending (imo anyway) and I hated /everything/ about the divorce arc. Despite that, I still enjoyed watching this overall (the humor was totally my taste) so I'll probably just toss these last episodes into the memory hole and pretend they never existed . That said, I actually quite liked most of the side characters. Especially Li Dai!!! In the first episodes, I was ready to hate her since she seemed like the typical annoying C-drama antagonist. But she turned out to be a pretty refreshing character. I ended up loving her a lot. The dynamic between her and Qin Shi was so fun. Loved their banter. I just wish we got to see them work together more ...I'd trade every single Wu Fei + Tao Junhui scene for more Qin Shi x Li Dai scenes :')
where did you watch this? dramanice only has a few episodes.
Sorry, I watched this awhile back via the fansubber's (muse) website. Unfortunately, that subbing team has since retired and they took down their website + all their projects :/
ok. the following three episodes are much much better (episodes 4-6). The FL has had her obnoxiousness toned down…
Yeah, FL gets better as the story progresses - took me like 8 episodes to finally "get" her, but by the end I really loved her and appreciated how she develops. I'm glad you warmed up to them! This ML is one of my favorites; Qu Chuxiao's portrayal has so many little details 🥺 Ironically 2FL (Gao Ge) is not wearing a wig or a hair piece or anything. That's her real hair haha Hope you enjoy the rest!
Came across this song thanks to the douban forum - it's off of Qu Chuxiao's album that has a very (very) long name. Song's title is 星星 or Xingxing or Stars. It's quite nice I think, pretty mellow.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-wL8icQ71w
Not sure if it was actually written for SFOT or not, but the lyrics seem to fit kinda well anyway :'') Here's the qq music page if you can read (or wanna google translate them) - https://y.qq.com/n/ryqq/songDetail/001usXch1PzcjG
i would like to add ending scene of Ep20 when LBX realized she cant be nice to ZWS anymore bcos that will only…
That scene is so perfect! Every detail! His unrestrained happiness vs her sinking heart, so good. I really love that BGM. I was afraid of ep 16 on too, lol. I went for it cause I figured it couldn't actually be /that/ sad.... I was very wrong 🙃 16-24 have the most impactful scenes imo. Those episodes change the whole drama completely. I usually avoid angsty/sad dramas, but I somehow really, really loved SFOT's painful episodes
What is your favorite scene that you watch over and over?
I feel like almost every episode has a scene I like to go back to haha But I think I've watched the parts in ep21 where Zhang Wansen's leg is injured the most, from Lin Beixing walking him to school, to the "calm down" bit, to the sofa "kiss". I just really love the mood of those scenes - very melancholic but still a little sweet. A tolerable level of heartbreaking. It's a really strong contrast to ep 7's sofa incident in like every way 🥺 Ep7's frog raincoat is a solid runner-up though, due to it's immense cuteness.
From interview with Nandu Entertainment - 8. Are the rumors of there being several versions of the ending true?In…
I think they just mean that they didn't film any extra things (like an extra ending or an epilogue) initially, so don't expect them to release any footage like that right now. They define the movie as still telling "the story of Lin Beixing and Zhang Wansen", so it could be anything!! Hopefully :'')
The creative team has done some interviews lately, for those that can read chinese or understand google translate…
From interview with Nandu Entertainment -
8. Are the rumors of there being several versions of the ending true?
In the New Year of 2022, it snowed in Nanchuan. When Lin Beixing was walking on the street thinking of Zhang Wansen, a figure appeared behind her and held up a familiar black umbrella for her... The story came to an abrupt end with Lin Beixing's red eyes. Stop, there is no "revealing" who the mysterious person is, and the ending is left to the audience to decide.
The vast majority of people firmly believe that the person is Zhang Wansen and try to prove it from all aspects. There are all kinds of clues from within the drama that can be used to prove that Zhang Wansen is alive; there is also behind-the-scenes information, some people used the "Show Cast" function on the video player and found that Qu Chuxiao's avatar popped up during the few seconds when the mysterious man appeared... Someone else found a photo from the filming of that scene. The actor himself was not revealed in the drama, so between speculation of "a second edition ending" and "an extra episode/epilogue", there are different opinions.
For this question, the main creative team gave their answer decisively. This open ending was set in stone when the script was still being written, and they've never thought of adjusting it. Chen Xiaoming explained, "In fact, we only shot one version of the ending from beginning to end. Whether it's HE or BE, the audience can find logical support within the drama." Zhang Pan believes that each viewer can find a different version depending on the emotions they put in, "This is the best way, so we have not given anyone an accurate answer." Therefore, there's no talk of an extra episode/epilogue.
The creative team has done some interviews lately, for those that can read chinese or understand google translate…
From interview with Yuli Studio -
The ending that has made it very hard for the audience to let go was decided by the creators early on, and they never wanted to change it. Directors Chen Xiaoming and Zhang Pan told Yuli Studio that this ending is neither the so-called BE (note: bad ending, ie a sad one not bad as in quality) nor HE (note: happy ending), and there are no superfluous meanings or allusions. It has a "unique heartfelt" delivery, and everyone will have different answers. Duan Yule (note: the head scriptwriter) gave his own understanding: "For me, "Shining For One Thing" is not a BE story but a very beautiful story. Its beauty is not that Zhang Wansen did not show his face at the end, but that it was Lin Beixing who now knows everything about the past. She can remember Zhang Wansen, even if she still has regrets and has no way to resolve them, just remembering it all is a good explanation."
The creative team has done some interviews lately, for those that can read chinese or understand google translate - https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4nWKTwY8NH0-n90DMixV3w https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/jo7ZrKhE2fLQ2MTQDG70Aw Lots of interesting tidbits in both interviews. I thought you guys might like to see what they had to say about the ending, so I'll post a cleaned-up google translation of those parts in a spoilered reply. Not 100% accurate ofc.
They also talk just a little about the movie as well - mostly just that they are in the preparatory stage and can't really say much. Wang Chen (the producer) says to wait for official news that will have a "very romantic rhythm". Since the movie was announced on Valentine's Day, C-netz speculate that she's hinting there will be more announcements on a romantic day like White Day 3/14 or 5/20 (an unofficial Valentine's Day cause wu er ling sounds similar to wo ai ni).
At this rate ppl just wanna niptick flaws of male lead's & give an excuse to not like them. I doubt if u've watched…
Tbh, I've seen some other people have the same opinion/perception of ZWS as you. It's not the most popular take (lots of love for him here :'') ), but you aren't alone on that one!
Hm, I remember reading somewhere that the producer was super adamant on not selling SFOT outright, even when the…
Yeah, when I read about their movie plans, your previous comment came to mind - you're a genius hahaha I hear Kujing has good connections for cinema too, so I feel a little more hopeful for the movie. Choosing this project was probably a no-brainer for QCX - a great character (ZWS surely lifted his reputation a little lol) plus a movie. The WanXing picture continues to be an unsolved mystery :'''')
Hm, I remember reading somewhere that the producer was super adamant on not selling SFOT outright, even when the…
I'm not sure if selling the copyright would be a must, but iQiyi would definitely want to have some kind of creative control and I imagine the producer didn't really want that. Definitely agree that it sounds like iQiyi's greedy desires lol.. in a business sense, I can see why they want to capitalize on the hype. Tbh, I have an inexplicable faith in this production team. I don't know why, but I do have a little crumb of hope for the movie, despite C-ent's general track record. They had a particular interview with some interesting tidbits - https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/jo7ZrKhE2fLQ2MTQDG70Aw Turns out, they'd had the idea of a movie from the very beginning - regardless of how the drama was received, they were set on a movie all along anyway. Also they only shot one whole ending so there goes that theory :'''')
Really amazing all things considered! Shining For One Thing gets to be the dark horse yet again lol
https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:4920241981947963
Still no official announcements, but Qu Chuxiao, Zhang Jianing, and Fu Jing can be seen on set. Randy Che is also returning as cinematographer!
EDIT - Qu Chuxiao, Zhang Jianing, Fu Jing, and Jiang Yunlin officially confirmed!
https://twitter.com/dramapotatoe/status/1677485628769071110
https://twitter.com/dramapotatoe/status/1677491549352132610
"Zhang Wansen planned to confess to Lin Beixing, the girl he has a crush on, after the college entrance examinations. But a sudden concert accident turned everything into a tragedy. Zhang Wansen accidentally restarts this summer. He and Lin Beixing overcome internal and external pressures, face their inner regrets and misses, and complete the redemption of each other and themselves."
Zhang Wansen's perspective confirmed :'')
That said, I actually quite liked most of the side characters. Especially Li Dai!!! In the first episodes, I was ready to hate her since she seemed like the typical annoying C-drama antagonist. But she turned out to be a pretty refreshing character. I ended up loving her a lot. The dynamic between her and Qin Shi was so fun. Loved their banter. I just wish we got to see them work together more ...I'd trade every single Wu Fei + Tao Junhui scene for more Qin Shi x Li Dai scenes :')
Ironically 2FL (Gao Ge) is not wearing a wig or a hair piece or anything. That's her real hair haha
Hope you enjoy the rest!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-wL8icQ71w
Not sure if it was actually written for SFOT or not, but the lyrics seem to fit kinda well anyway :'') Here's the qq music page if you can read (or wanna google translate them) - https://y.qq.com/n/ryqq/songDetail/001usXch1PzcjG
I was afraid of ep 16 on too, lol. I went for it cause I figured it couldn't actually be /that/ sad.... I was very wrong 🙃 16-24 have the most impactful scenes imo. Those episodes change the whole drama completely. I usually avoid angsty/sad dramas, but I somehow really, really loved SFOT's painful episodes
But I think I've watched the parts in ep21 where Zhang Wansen's leg is injured the most, from Lin Beixing walking him to school, to the "calm down" bit, to the sofa "kiss". I just really love the mood of those scenes - very melancholic but still a little sweet. A tolerable level of heartbreaking. It's a really strong contrast to ep 7's sofa incident in like every way 🥺
Ep7's frog raincoat is a solid runner-up though, due to it's immense cuteness.
They define the movie as still telling "the story of Lin Beixing and Zhang Wansen", so it could be anything!! Hopefully :'')
8. Are the rumors of there being several versions of the ending true?
In the New Year of 2022, it snowed in Nanchuan. When Lin Beixing was walking on the street thinking of Zhang Wansen, a figure appeared behind her and held up a familiar black umbrella for her... The story came to an abrupt end with Lin Beixing's red eyes. Stop, there is no "revealing" who the mysterious person is, and the ending is left to the audience to decide.
The vast majority of people firmly believe that the person is Zhang Wansen and try to prove it from all aspects. There are all kinds of clues from within the drama that can be used to prove that Zhang Wansen is alive; there is also behind-the-scenes information, some people used the "Show Cast" function on the video player and found that Qu Chuxiao's avatar popped up during the few seconds when the mysterious man appeared... Someone else found a photo from the filming of that scene. The actor himself was not revealed in the drama, so between speculation of "a second edition ending" and "an extra episode/epilogue", there are different opinions.
For this question, the main creative team gave their answer decisively. This open ending was set in stone when the script was still being written, and they've never thought of adjusting it. Chen Xiaoming explained, "In fact, we only shot one version of the ending from beginning to end. Whether it's HE or BE, the audience can find logical support within the drama." Zhang Pan believes that each viewer can find a different version depending on the emotions they put in, "This is the best way, so we have not given anyone an accurate answer." Therefore, there's no talk of an extra episode/epilogue.
The ending that has made it very hard for the audience to let go was decided by the creators early on, and they never wanted to change it.
Directors Chen Xiaoming and Zhang Pan told Yuli Studio that this ending is neither the so-called BE (note: bad ending, ie a sad one not bad as in quality) nor HE (note: happy ending), and there are no superfluous meanings or allusions. It has a "unique heartfelt" delivery, and everyone will have different answers.
Duan Yule (note: the head scriptwriter) gave his own understanding: "For me, "Shining For One Thing" is not a BE story but a very beautiful story. Its beauty is not that Zhang Wansen did not show his face at the end, but that it was Lin Beixing who now knows everything about the past. She can remember Zhang Wansen, even if she still has regrets and has no way to resolve them, just remembering it all is a good explanation."
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4nWKTwY8NH0-n90DMixV3w
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/jo7ZrKhE2fLQ2MTQDG70Aw
Lots of interesting tidbits in both interviews. I thought you guys might like to see what they had to say about the ending, so I'll post a cleaned-up google translation of those parts in a spoilered reply. Not 100% accurate ofc.
They also talk just a little about the movie as well - mostly just that they are in the preparatory stage and can't really say much. Wang Chen (the producer) says to wait for official news that will have a "very romantic rhythm". Since the movie was announced on Valentine's Day, C-netz speculate that she's hinting there will be more announcements on a romantic day like White Day 3/14 or 5/20 (an unofficial Valentine's Day cause wu er ling sounds similar to wo ai ni).
I hear Kujing has good connections for cinema too, so I feel a little more hopeful for the movie. Choosing this project was probably a no-brainer for QCX - a great character (ZWS surely lifted his reputation a little lol) plus a movie.
The WanXing picture continues to be an unsolved mystery :'''')
Definitely agree that it sounds like iQiyi's greedy desires lol.. in a business sense, I can see why they want to capitalize on the hype.
Tbh, I have an inexplicable faith in this production team. I don't know why, but I do have a little crumb of hope for the movie, despite C-ent's general track record. They had a particular interview with some interesting tidbits - https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/jo7ZrKhE2fLQ2MTQDG70Aw
Turns out, they'd had the idea of a movie from the very beginning - regardless of how the drama was received, they were set on a movie all along anyway. Also they only shot one whole ending so there goes that theory :'''')