@Lullina03: If QCX is a girl he can (seriously) play the female lead in OIOY because that character has some unique traits early in the story :p Not many people know it yet but he will starred in an upcoming movie with Chen Kun and Zhou Xun. The title name keep changing so that's why I didn't post it - so as not to confuse people.
@linger, Kim MC, Lullina03: Going really off-topic on a really complex issue here :p
It's because FBB cannot do it by herself, she need production companies and her studio to collaborate with her. So her fiasco opened a worm-can on the tax evasion practices of the top industry earners and people who help them to do it. Read this first for background so you can better understand my explanation later ;) https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/china-tax-crackdown-fan-bingbing-1202972110
According to Chinese sources, the tax department had in fact issued notice to all registered entertainment companies and studio even before September 2018. One consequence of that is at least 70 studios, production and entertainment investment companies ceased operation just in the past month. Why? Because they're unwilling or unable to paid the overdue taxes or fines for assisting in tax frauds.
That can potentially caused many drama and movie projects to get postponed or canceled. Example 1: Project A is handled by production company X and Y. Company X has ceased operation. Company Y is forced to postponed until they can find new partner. Example 2: Project B is funded by companies F, G, H. Now company G has ceased operation. Do Project B continue with a reduced budget, canceled or hold until new funding is sourced?
October 2018 could be quite stressful for some of the top 200 Chinese stars as well: https://variety.com/2018/film/news/chinese-stars-make-tax-payments-in-biz-crack-down-1202968474 They are responsible for earnings dated back to 2016. --- Back on topic for BR: No one in the entire cast and crew of BR is on the 'to be investigated list' above. As Xu Ji Zhou the producer of BR said: "The pay for the drama acting job of one top TV actor alone could have paid for the entire cost of making the Bloody Romance drama" :p
@lenje: https://kisskh.at/19054-graduation-season was completed in July 2016. At that time BR is not even a finalized project and has zero funding. Also, at that time I was aware of the planned Nocturnal Song adaptation (see my OIOY entry) but never heard of BR :p
For those who like Bloody Romance or even those who enjoy this type of drama but dislike BR's ending here's something a little bit 'lighter' you might want to consider: https://kisskh.at/31267-an-inch-of-yearning Personally, I would like to see Wang Duo (Gong Zi) in the role of the male lead - because I think he would shine in it. Also unlike the other two leads in BR, he is not currently engaged in a major new project. For the female lead, there might be a special requirement - for details regarding OIOY, comparison with BR and related questions please go to my link above ;) PS: Coincidentally, Liangzhou as mentioned in BR, is in the province of Gansu, the 2nd major shooting location for OIOY.
Filming to begin on Dec 2018 and the cast selection process is currently underway.
Normally I don't create an entry for drama months before shooting started, but I am hopeful because the crew is decent (but not great) and the source novel is good. The story itself is a bit unconventional but easy to follow and fairly easy to adapt. More importantly I hope that the adaptation would fix some of the issues in the source.
In brief, this is one of those more obscure, well-written darker-theme Wuxia stories with an alternative historical and world settings written by female authors. Good examples beside this is 'Nocturnal Song' by the same author and the drama adaptation of https://kisskh.at/27510-bloody-romance.
The fact that Tencent has so quickly greenlight this one is quite remarkable given that platform has announced a remake of ten (10) Gu Long Wuxia dramas during 2018-2019. With so many incoming dramas from venerable Wuxia IP, why did they add an obscure IP?
My guess is the success of Bloody Romance on the rival platform Yahoo has something to do with this decision. It is even more remarkable when one realized that script development on Noncturnal Song (NS) began on 2016 but got stuck for more than 2 years. Yu Zheng now hopes production on NS can start by April 2019. In short, before Bloody Romance (which was by far the hardest to adapt) C-drama creators are unsure how to tackle this theme.
In One Inch of Yearning (OIOY), the extinct Tocharian culture is alive and is part of the story. The drama creators planned to recreated fictional sites in the province of Gansu.
To be ethnically-correct, there are currently two active A-list actresses in China (easy to guess who) that fits the age of the female lead. If we extended the age range to 25-35 and other near-ethnic groups I can think of 4 more that fit the bill and had starred in a period fantasy drama. Of course, they might just cast any Chinese actress without considering the ethnicity for the female lead role.
Final note for now: Among other things, the title of book/drama is also the name of the female lead's divine weapon of last resort.
Summary of spin-off chapters by Ban Ming Ban Mei (original author) of events after end of Bloody Romance drama:Chapter…
@Lullina: Half of GH provide a short back-story on Xing Feng, Cha Luo and Cha Ru. This is filmed but part of it were deleted - the rest are shown as flash-backs as we saw in the drama. The 2nd half is on Xing Feng and Chang An. The drama actually expand this part - including scenes between them before Ep 36 to hint that XF would 'surely' help CA if his condition is met. The only part of GH not filmed are details not relevant to the drama and how XF actually saved CA - he channeled part of his own Inner Force to CA, (after CA channeled all of his to Wan Mei for the final fight).
The instrument piece that was used in the trailer was amazing. Does anyone know what the piece is called?
Do you mean the instrumental sequence with flute music in the middle of extended (5 minutes) trailer?
It is part of the soundtrack music from the Dream of Red Mansions computer game published in 2009. The title of the piece is 'Xie Hou' or Chance Encounters (my English translation). It is composed by Qin Wanmin, a musician in China (genre: classical, folk, rock) He is the gentleman playing the guitar in the video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP-FLhBGe-k
I am (re)watching BR too, this time the Ultra HD version (3840 x 2160p) on a 4K Ultra HD monitor :) Even though Youku has the lowest bitrate for "4K" videos among OTT platforms in China, it still looks good, BR being one of the few Youku original drama currently available in "4k" (for its Diamond VIP members).
Meanwhile BR episode view count on Youku broke the 2.5 billion barrier on October 2nd. BR has proven to have a long tail on viewership - more than one month after its ending, it continue to garner more than 10 million episode views per day, and that number is holding at a slowly declining curve. The daily count even show an upward increase during the China October First Week Holiday.
Summary of spin-off chapters by Ban Ming Ban Mei (original author) of events after end of Bloody Romance drama:Chapter…
A very good question - according to the official Golden Hammer (GH) spin-off chapter (which plot was already partly incorporated in the BR drama series), Xing Feng tended Chang An's wounds with Gu (bugs) to prevent infection. This scene is not filmed, but we could assume he treated the heart bug while he is at it. Note that the last scene of GH spin-off is Xing Feng writing the coded poem on the fan as Wan Mei come into the torture chamber. This scene is filmed pretty much the same in the drama.
Ban Ming Ban Mei (original author of BR) posted her spinoff text on Gong Zi/Yue Ying/Wan Mei arc on September 27. It was a bit longer than previous 2 chapters on Chang An/Wan Mei below and I haven't got around to summarized the new text yet - this is a place-holder.
Executive-produced by Karlina Zhang's talented uncle who also acted as the series' artistic director and featured former VFX director Donny Zhu as it's lead director mean this series would outclass many equivalent budget drama in visual sights alone. Let's hope the story adaptation will be equally outstanding :)
As a Mid-Autumn festival gift, the original author of BR posted 2 spin-off new chapters on events after the end…
Summary of spin-off chapters by Ban Ming Ban Mei (original author) of events after end of Bloody Romance drama:
Chapter 2: Back Home 2a - After taking helm of Gui Hua city, Wan Mei kept herself busy on the well-being of its 218 inhabitants (assassins, shadows, artisans, laborers etc) 2b - She and Gong Zi had a tacit agreement. On occasions he appeared in Gui Hua to space out alone at Bie An Shrine. Wan Mei do not heed him nor allow him to meddle in anything regarding the city. Neither did she seek his help for anything. 2c - The death of Xing Feng apparently caused the external spy network of Gui Hua to collapse. Wan Mei had no means of communicating with them. 2d - Around 6 or 7 months later the network appeared to reconnect and recovered by itself, as reports started pouring in from outside. Wan Mei sensed that someone is helping her but had no idea who. 2e - New assignments for Gui Hua are screened by Wan Mei. Kill missions now are only for targets who deserved death. 2f - One day, an assignment involving 'Virgin Blood' appeared. Wan Mei decided to take the mission herself. 2g - She left her 'Mei Mansion' on the 3rd day of the 8th Lunar month and completed the mission successful in the capital. 2h - In her return journey she decided to pass through her home town. 2i - There she was ambushed by a strong group of assailants. It was the 15th night of the 8th Lunar Month. 2j - Wan Mei realized that they are using Ninjitsu, the deadly arts from Dong Ying (East Ocean - present day Japan) 2k - She vanquished the large group, but also sustained injuries in the fight. She noticed something unusual on her fan, dropped to the ground in the midst of the fight. 2l - Under the full-moon, she noticed that 4 characters are glowing in red: "An Ding City in Liang Province" 2m - Xing Feng has mixed in dormant Crimson Gu with the blood when he wrote those 4 characters. The Gu would reactivated after 200 days. 2n - Wan Mei stared at the fan blankly for a moment. Then she began to laugh, and continue to laugh as her tears dropped to the ground. 2o - She was interrupted by a man, the leader of the Ninjas who introduced himself as "The Shadow" 2p - Wan Mei fought valiantly in her weakened state and said to the Ninja Lord in contempt: "You're not worthy of using Shadow as your name!" 2q - Chang An joined in the midst of the fight, and in a dazed state, Wan Mei realized that they killed the Ninja leader together. 2r - The injured Wan Mei was carried away by Chang An, and before she passed out, she heard him saying "Chang An is bringing you back home". 2s - Sometime later, under an apricot tree, they opened up a fresh jar of apricot wine. 2t - "Will you ever...leave me again?" Wan Mei asked Chang An. 2u - "Our world will never be bounded to this courtyard alone [*]. But here is our home. Drink up. The moon is almost gone." 2v - Wan Mei reflected that it's true. She has also never seen a moon as big, as bright, as perfectly round as that night in mid-autumn.
[*] This is a counterpoint to what Gong Zi said to Wan Mei in Episode 36, "Follow me, and your world will expand"
As a Mid-Autumn festival gift, the original author of BR posted 2 spin-off new chapters on events after the end…
Summary of spin-off chapters by Ban Ming Ban Mei (original author) of events after end of Bloody Romance drama:
Chapter 1: Apricot Wine 1a - There was a wheel-chair bound Mr Qi (a reference to Wan Mei's original name, Qi Xue) living in a courtyard house in the city of An Ding. Apparently he had stockpiled apricots from this year's harvest and made wine from them. 1b - He appeared to be a trader of information and people in the martial world called his place the Apricot Garden. 1c - One day, as chill is approaching, Mr Qi waited patiently in his courtyard with his Weiqi(Go) set. In the evening, a horse-drawn carriage approached. 1d - As Mr Qi poured out two cups of heated wine slowly - Gong Zi appeared seated facing him. 1e - They chatted, had a drink and a fight involving the Weiqi pieces. Gong Zi appeared to have the upper hand. 1f - In subsequent conversation, we learnt that Xing Feng has given his entire spy network outside Gui Hua city to Chang An as he was sent him to safety and the Wordless Edict is still in his posession. 1g - "You're a cripple, it's not possible they still acknowledge you as the King of Chu", sneered Gong Zhi as he attacked Chang An. 1h - Chang An's wheelchair was smashed and a sword menaced his neck - then we noticed Gong Zi is bleeding. 1i - The Emperor had made Gong Zi the Grand Marshal but it seemed that he has only two choices - died in battle or died by exhaustion, Chang An reasoned. 1j - Who informed Gong Zi of Chang An's whereabouts a few days ago? Gong Zi realized it was Chang An himself. 1k - Someone pushed out a new wheelchair - it was Xie Ying (Ruan Niang). 1l - A new Weiqi board was set-up and Chang An explained that he let Gong Zi thought Xie Ying is dead so he would made a truce (in Ep35). 1m - As they took turns placing the Weiqi pieces, Gong Zi asked "What do you want?" 1n - "Peace in the realms. If you can do it, I'll assist you", Chang An replied. 1o - They then understood each other. Chang An maybe a man of few words, but he know what's worth living for. 1p - Chang An said he needed time to heal even with "Bone Joining Poultice", to be able to walk again. 1q - "I have made sweet apricot wine for Wan Mei. There are buried underneath the ground", Chang An revealed at the end.
As a Mid-Autumn festival gift, the original author of BR posted 2 spin-off new chapters on events after the end of drama directly to actress Li Yitong (Wan Mei) and actor Qu Chu Xiao (Chang An). The author also made the text available for free to 'thank the screen couple and their fans'.
My thoughts: While the new chapters will not necessary be used in a BR drama sequel, it can be the basis, as a previous spin-off chapter from the author titled "Golden Hammer" (GH) was already incorporated into the actual BR drama. Unlike GH, the 2 new chapters are written with the characters and world as we seen from the drama. As such it can be considered "authoritative" until a drama sequel come to pass.
The author said she has also almost finished writing a spin-off chapter on the Gong Zi-Yue Ying relationship similar to Wan Mei and Chang An above.
The spoiler comments below are my summary of the 2 chapters. My advise is to read it only after you have completed the actual BR drama.
All the BR content written before the BR drama screenplay are considered superseded by the drama version by the author herself. This is similar to the situation where the Eagle Flag author redacted his early works. However, you should also check out the latest spin-off chapters summaries I posted :)
Laura, this drama it is lighter in tone than those on your list. But FBS is just the first part of perhaps two…
@Tdevil: I assume you don't read Chinese, because it is stamped '1st Season' in every official trailers and posters including the current poster image for this drama here on kisskh. 'First Season' also appeared at the end of opening credits of every episodes screened.
Not many people know it yet but he will starred in an upcoming movie with Chen Kun and Zhou Xun. The title name keep changing so that's why I didn't post it - so as not to confuse people.
Going really off-topic on a really complex issue here :p
It's because FBB cannot do it by herself, she need production companies and her studio to collaborate with her. So her fiasco opened a worm-can on the tax evasion practices of the top industry earners and people who help them to do it.
Read this first for background so you can better understand my explanation later ;)
https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/china-tax-crackdown-fan-bingbing-1202972110
According to Chinese sources, the tax department had in fact issued notice to all registered entertainment companies and studio even before September 2018.
One consequence of that is at least 70 studios, production and entertainment investment companies ceased operation just in the past month. Why? Because they're unwilling or unable to paid the overdue taxes or fines for assisting in tax frauds.
That can potentially caused many drama and movie projects to get postponed or canceled.
Example 1: Project A is handled by production company X and Y. Company X has ceased operation. Company Y is forced to postponed until they can find new partner.
Example 2: Project B is funded by companies F, G, H. Now company G has ceased operation. Do Project B continue with a reduced budget, canceled or hold until new funding is sourced?
October 2018 could be quite stressful for some of the top 200 Chinese stars as well:
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/chinese-stars-make-tax-payments-in-biz-crack-down-1202968474
They are responsible for earnings dated back to 2016.
---
Back on topic for BR:
No one in the entire cast and crew of BR is on the 'to be investigated list' above.
As Xu Ji Zhou the producer of BR said: "The pay for the drama acting job of one top TV actor alone could have paid for the entire cost of making the Bloody Romance drama" :p
https://kisskh.at/31267-an-inch-of-yearning
Personally, I would like to see Wang Duo (Gong Zi) in the role of the male lead - because I think he would shine in it. Also unlike the other two leads in BR, he is not currently engaged in a major new project.
For the female lead, there might be a special requirement - for details regarding OIOY, comparison with BR and related questions please go to my link above ;)
PS: Coincidentally, Liangzhou as mentioned in BR, is in the province of Gansu, the 2nd major shooting location for OIOY.
Normally I don't create an entry for drama months before shooting started, but I am hopeful because the crew is decent (but not great) and the source novel is good. The story itself is a bit unconventional but easy to follow and fairly easy to adapt. More importantly I hope that the adaptation would fix some of the issues in the source.
In brief, this is one of those more obscure, well-written darker-theme Wuxia stories with an alternative historical and world settings written by female authors. Good examples beside this is 'Nocturnal Song' by the same author and the drama adaptation of https://kisskh.at/27510-bloody-romance.
The fact that Tencent has so quickly greenlight this one is quite remarkable given that platform has announced a remake of ten (10) Gu Long Wuxia dramas during 2018-2019. With so many incoming dramas from venerable Wuxia IP, why did they add an obscure IP?
My guess is the success of Bloody Romance on the rival platform Yahoo has something to do with this decision.
It is even more remarkable when one realized that script development on Noncturnal Song (NS) began on 2016 but got stuck for more than 2 years. Yu Zheng now hopes production on NS can start by April 2019. In short, before Bloody Romance (which was by far the hardest to adapt) C-drama creators are unsure how to tackle this theme.
In One Inch of Yearning (OIOY), the extinct Tocharian culture is alive and is part of the story. The drama creators planned to recreated fictional sites in the province of Gansu.
To be ethnically-correct, there are currently two active A-list actresses in China (easy to guess who) that fits the age of the female lead. If we extended the age range to 25-35 and other near-ethnic groups I can think of 4 more that fit the bill and had starred in a period fantasy drama.
Of course, they might just cast any Chinese actress without considering the ethnicity for the female lead role.
Final note for now: Among other things, the title of book/drama is also the name of the female lead's divine weapon of last resort.
The 2nd half is on Xing Feng and Chang An. The drama actually expand this part - including scenes between them before Ep 36 to hint that XF would 'surely' help CA if his condition is met.
The only part of GH not filmed are details not relevant to the drama and how XF actually saved CA - he channeled part of his own Inner Force to CA, (after CA channeled all of his to Wan Mei for the final fight).
It is part of the soundtrack music from the Dream of Red Mansions computer game published in 2009.
The title of the piece is 'Xie Hou' or Chance Encounters (my English translation).
It is composed by Qin Wanmin, a musician in China (genre: classical, folk, rock)
He is the gentleman playing the guitar in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP-FLhBGe-k
Even though Youku has the lowest bitrate for "4K" videos among OTT platforms in China, it still looks good, BR being one of the few Youku original drama currently available in "4k" (for its Diamond VIP members).
Meanwhile BR episode view count on Youku broke the 2.5 billion barrier on October 2nd. BR has proven to have a long tail on viewership - more than one month after its ending, it continue to garner more than 10 million episode views per day, and that number is holding at a slowly declining curve. The daily count even show an upward increase during the China October First Week Holiday.
Note that the last scene of GH spin-off is Xing Feng writing the coded poem on the fan as Wan Mei come into the torture chamber. This scene is filmed pretty much the same in the drama.
https://openload.co/f/gXQlEUHhVks (Episode 01)
https://openload.co/f/ttzyG8JbEls (Episode 36)
You can view this on your browser or download it for free. I created them from the original 1080p source.
Chapter 2: Back Home
2a - After taking helm of Gui Hua city, Wan Mei kept herself busy on the well-being of its 218 inhabitants (assassins, shadows, artisans, laborers etc)
2b - She and Gong Zi had a tacit agreement. On occasions he appeared in Gui Hua to space out alone at Bie An Shrine. Wan Mei do not heed him nor allow him to meddle in anything regarding the city. Neither did she seek his help for anything.
2c - The death of Xing Feng apparently caused the external spy network of Gui Hua to collapse. Wan Mei had no means of communicating with them.
2d - Around 6 or 7 months later the network appeared to reconnect and recovered by itself, as reports started pouring in from outside. Wan Mei sensed that someone is helping her but had no idea who.
2e - New assignments for Gui Hua are screened by Wan Mei. Kill missions now are only for targets who deserved death.
2f - One day, an assignment involving 'Virgin Blood' appeared. Wan Mei decided to take the mission herself.
2g - She left her 'Mei Mansion' on the 3rd day of the 8th Lunar month and completed the mission successful in the capital.
2h - In her return journey she decided to pass through her home town.
2i - There she was ambushed by a strong group of assailants. It was the 15th night of the 8th Lunar Month.
2j - Wan Mei realized that they are using Ninjitsu, the deadly arts from Dong Ying (East Ocean - present day Japan)
2k - She vanquished the large group, but also sustained injuries in the fight. She noticed something unusual on her fan, dropped to the ground in the midst of the fight.
2l - Under the full-moon, she noticed that 4 characters are glowing in red: "An Ding City in Liang Province"
2m - Xing Feng has mixed in dormant Crimson Gu with the blood when he wrote those 4 characters. The Gu would reactivated after 200 days.
2n - Wan Mei stared at the fan blankly for a moment. Then she began to laugh, and continue to laugh as her tears dropped to the ground.
2o - She was interrupted by a man, the leader of the Ninjas who introduced himself as "The Shadow"
2p - Wan Mei fought valiantly in her weakened state and said to the Ninja Lord in contempt: "You're not worthy of using Shadow as your name!"
2q - Chang An joined in the midst of the fight, and in a dazed state, Wan Mei realized that they killed the Ninja leader together.
2r - The injured Wan Mei was carried away by Chang An, and before she passed out, she heard him saying "Chang An is bringing you back home".
2s - Sometime later, under an apricot tree, they opened up a fresh jar of apricot wine.
2t - "Will you ever...leave me again?" Wan Mei asked Chang An.
2u - "Our world will never be bounded to this courtyard alone [*]. But here is our home. Drink up. The moon is almost gone."
2v - Wan Mei reflected that it's true. She has also never seen a moon as big, as bright, as perfectly round as that night in mid-autumn.
[*] This is a counterpoint to what Gong Zi said to Wan Mei in Episode 36, "Follow me, and your world will expand"
Chapter 1: Apricot Wine
1a - There was a wheel-chair bound Mr Qi (a reference to Wan Mei's original name, Qi Xue) living in a courtyard house in the city of An Ding. Apparently he had stockpiled apricots from this year's harvest and made wine from them.
1b - He appeared to be a trader of information and people in the martial world called his place the Apricot Garden.
1c - One day, as chill is approaching, Mr Qi waited patiently in his courtyard with his Weiqi(Go) set. In the evening, a horse-drawn carriage approached.
1d - As Mr Qi poured out two cups of heated wine slowly - Gong Zi appeared seated facing him.
1e - They chatted, had a drink and a fight involving the Weiqi pieces. Gong Zi appeared to have the upper hand.
1f - In subsequent conversation, we learnt that Xing Feng has given his entire spy network outside Gui Hua city to Chang An as he was sent him to safety and the Wordless Edict is still in his posession.
1g - "You're a cripple, it's not possible they still acknowledge you as the King of Chu", sneered Gong Zhi as he attacked Chang An.
1h - Chang An's wheelchair was smashed and a sword menaced his neck - then we noticed Gong Zi is bleeding.
1i - The Emperor had made Gong Zi the Grand Marshal but it seemed that he has only two choices - died in battle or died by exhaustion, Chang An reasoned.
1j - Who informed Gong Zi of Chang An's whereabouts a few days ago? Gong Zi realized it was Chang An himself.
1k - Someone pushed out a new wheelchair - it was Xie Ying (Ruan Niang).
1l - A new Weiqi board was set-up and Chang An explained that he let Gong Zi thought Xie Ying is dead so he would made a truce (in Ep35).
1m - As they took turns placing the Weiqi pieces, Gong Zi asked "What do you want?"
1n - "Peace in the realms. If you can do it, I'll assist you", Chang An replied.
1o - They then understood each other. Chang An maybe a man of few words, but he know what's worth living for.
1p - Chang An said he needed time to heal even with "Bone Joining Poultice", to be able to walk again.
1q - "I have made sweet apricot wine for Wan Mei. There are buried underneath the ground", Chang An revealed at the end.
My thoughts:
While the new chapters will not necessary be used in a BR drama sequel, it can be the basis, as a previous spin-off chapter from the author titled "Golden Hammer" (GH) was already incorporated into the actual BR drama.
Unlike GH, the 2 new chapters are written with the characters and world as we seen from the drama. As such it can be considered "authoritative" until a drama sequel come to pass.
The author said she has also almost finished writing a spin-off chapter on the Gong Zi-Yue Ying relationship similar to Wan Mei and Chang An above.
The spoiler comments below are my summary of the 2 chapters. My advise is to read it only after you have completed the actual BR drama.
However, you should also check out the latest spin-off chapters summaries I posted :)
'First Season' also appeared at the end of opening credits of every episodes screened.