□ a bl sideblog, because yes, it reached that level◇▪︎ ♡🏳️🌈☆
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Latest Posts by enemies-to-friends-to-lovers - Page 13
SECOND CHANCE | s01e06: Paper x Tong Fah: HE
we're about to graduate already, we might not be able to see eachother like this again
me, an aroace: idk maybe i could see myself in a relationship they don’t look horrible
me, as soon as someone approaches me with romantic intent:
There’s no sun for us to watch anymore
So we go watch the moon instead
me: *crying*
friend: what’s going on? why are you crying?
me: *gestures vaguely towards thailand*
I’m sorry not sorry: MaxTul are the superior bl couple. Their friendship is pure & true & it’s because they are so comfortable with who they are & with their sexuality that no-one can get between them.
They trust each other in every way & that’s why their chemistry is always off the charts in whatever they work on together. I hope they stay in each others lives for the long run.
INCORRECT MOD SUBTITLES PART 23/?
yeah Tan, better get that checked XD
[Parts: 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ 9/ 10/ 11/ 12/ 13/ 14/ 15/ 16/ 17/ 18/ 19/ 20/ 21/ 22]
Can I just say them recreating the iconic love stories with two men in lead is the most power move ever? Like they really said that LOVELY WRITER WILL ALWAYS BE THAT BITCH!
My goodness, I'm in awe.
i don’t want it to end yet.
Snow White and the Prince
Modern Snow White wearing shoes
Cinderella and Prince Charming
Modern Cinderella lost his glasses
Romeo and Juliet
Iconic modern Juliet's line
Gene and Nubsib recreating famous endings
heidi priebe / i promised you the moon
Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ - 1937
Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ - 2015
Disney’s Cinderella - 1950
Baz Lurhman’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ - 1996
Baz Lurhman’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ - 1996
Lovely Writer the Series (Episode 12) + Cinematic References
KAOUP x POSHMAGAZINE
“let’s go into the water”
behind the scenes of Lovely Writer ep8
“can you dry my hair every day?”
“when I saw you on that picture, all the memories of our childhood came back”
The toxicity of fandom + BL
Toxic Fans are invasive. These type of viewers believe they have ownership and ‘deserve’ certain things not only from the content itself but also from the actors beyond the confines of the show.
This type of fan isn’t fictional. They exist in almost every fandom but particularly in the BL fandom, especially on sites like Twitter (and some even linger here on Tumblr).
Lovely Writer is exposing the pressure these kind of fans and viewers put not only on the production companies but the actors or artists themselves.
As a fan of a show, we have no right or claim to an actors personal life and yet, for some reason, built into the culture of the BL fandom is this bizarre sense of ownership and control over the actors and who they choose to interact with. This component of the fandom is so pervasive that it affects how a show or program is promoted and the expectations it puts on the actors and creative team to create moments of ‘skinship’ and reasons to ship the pairings together. It seems like this is the only type of media that so heavily relies on what occurs when the camera ‘stops rolling’ to promote the shows which puts unfair pressure on the actors and sets them up to endure uncomfortable situations.
The bottom line is that, as viewers, we need to understand that the actors are doing a JOB. They are being PAID to sell a product, which in this case, is a pairing, but we must understand that we have no claim to their personal lives. These shows are FICTIONAL and yet drama and judgment has bled so often beyond the outlines of the shows and promotions that these actors are forced to participate in because of their contracts. Friendships have been ruined, relationships tainted and some performers have even left the entertainment industry completely due to harassment from fans.
The fact that this show has been made is a lesson to make it DIFFERENT and show a fictitious example of what it is like for the actors in this industry. As fans, we have no right to actor’s personal lives. Actors do not ‘owe’ us anything. Ever. Period.
ep. 11 was a sad rollercoaster but this gene? oh thank lord for this gene
I just want to wait until we’re more ready.
why r u behind ep 2 - saint being weird
High Quality BL Deep Dive
Top 10 Highest Production Values in Thai BL
I TOLD THE SUNSET ABUT YOU - say what you like about ITSAY (and I have) the production values are unreal for Thailand. It’s on par with Japanese cinema BL like Restart After Come Back Home or His (Japan knows what tf it’s doing, okay? You don’t come from a tradition that gave us Kurosawa and fail at broad scope cinematography). ITSAY uses soft lenses, diffuse lighting, and a nostalgic atmosphere, paying close attention to framing, and forgetting neither background nor close-focus expressive detail. It’s a remarkable piece of cinematography. I caught no mistakes in makeup, wardrobe, body positioning, reflection, or boom mic placement - so they clearly had continuity eyeballs during filming and on final product (which most Thai BLs don’t spring for). So yeah, the filming, directing, and acting is insane but what’s really sand out in ITSAY from a film perspective is their smooth as butter invisibly perfect editing. Post production on this series must have been a BEAST.
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN - UWMA relies almost entirely on a killer story and pitch perfect acting to carry it. This puts production values squarely into workhorse mode. In other words: filming, cinematography, directing, editing, and everything else are designed to invisibly service the story. They are there to serve, not to distract or even enhance. It’s very different from ITSAY, UWMA does not draw on high cinema at all, it’s using small screen TV techniques - like a great suspense show, say 24 or The Wire. The editing is sharp and choppy as a result. UWMA is meant to move you with narrative first, acting second, and visuals third - like a play.
OXYGEN the series - I crowed about it at the time but what Oxygen does, more than anything else, is be very very stylish. It has an atmospheric staged yet subtle filming style that makes it feel like a perfume advertisement or music video (in the best possible way). It’s precise and focused with soft lens, making everything just so pretty. it’s not particularly fantastic cinematography, but all its other production values are spot on (except wardrobe, what WERE they thinking?) and the editing is seamless. It reminds me a lot of the kind of filming style and techniques we get from Korea. For Western watchers we can think of this as utilizing the techniques of fashion-forward TV shows like Sex in the City.
GREAT MEN ACADEMY - not strictly BL but I don’t wanna argue about that. It’s on this list because it’s got such high quality production values. Unfortunately for us, it’s hard to find an HD version of this series to truly appreciate how good those are. Sure some of the special effects are naff, but the filming, sound, and directing is spot on for what it is - a YA boarding- school coming of age narrative. It actually uses a lot of Japanese live action yaoi techniques. It has that early superhero movie use of a strong storyboard, pushing it into advanced focus on framing and staging. There is a lot in common (filming wise) between GMA and yaoi adaptations like Seven Days and Takumi-kun (or, more recently, Color Rush). I happen to really enjoy this style of BL because it reminds me so strongly of manga but there are some who find it stilted.
SOTUS - lots of people have issues with SOTUS but you can’t knock its production values. GMMTV threw money at this baby in a way that they wouldn’t do again until 1000 Stars (and 1k* would spend their budget differently). What GMMTV built its brand on was sit com style dramas and gameshows. They took the lens and techniques of those products and applied them to SOTUS. What does that mean? There is a lot of bold direct lighting, very close focus, and central framing. Nothing is subtle, everything about SOTUS is very crisp, in your face, and forthright. All other aspects: cinematography, sound, wardrobe, and makeup are designed to be there, but not noticeable in either a positive or negative way. GMMTV is not trying to win awards, just produced a branded reliable product. It’s more tailored than it is edited - like high quality athleisure wear. SOTUS showcases GMMTV’s BL technique and GMMTV has stuck to the formula it gave them ever since.
HE’S COMNG TO ME - GMMTV takes its patented SOTUS style but puts story front and center (they would do this again with 3 Will Be Free). It’s probably my favorite thing GMMTV does, but it only happens when they luck into a really good script.
DARK BLUE KISS - is an established pair in an LTR both as characters and actors given a very relationship-heavy talky script, surrounded by support cast and crew who are all clearly comfortable with each other and their jobs, churning out another installment in GMMTV SOTUS-born formula for success. And it is successful, but no one is surprised by this. This should be the bar for GMMTV.
THEORY OF LOVE - is basically the culmination of what SOTUS started. GMMTV took their most functional BL pairing, their best support actors, a good director, and a great post production team and gave them a solid little script with a happy ending that pushed emotional buttons in a precision formula. ToL is the natural result of everything GMMTV does best in BL (Water Boyy is the version of this were a bad script and poor directing failed the formula).
2GETHER - what started with SOTUS got twisted in a new brighter more sugary direction with 2g. Everything SOTUS did well, 2g does too, only far more funny and saccharine. GMMTV lucked out with a pair of very charismatic leads who could carry the weight of a truly ridiculous script. Then they put a solid (if not ace) team on post production. Sure there are some continuity mistakes and we all caught a boom mic here and a crew reflection there (and they cut costs on wardrobe and makeup), but that signature candy-coated sitcom style of TV filming is tailor made for this series. 2g is pretty because they are pretty and absolutely no effort is put into doing anything more than serve up that prettiness in as palatable a way as possible - like any good romcom. If you’re okay eating all the delicious fluffy pink layer cake you can, then cake is what 2g will happily give you… over and over again.
1000 STARS - is the best produced BL that GMMTV has ever given us and I think it’s owed entirely to the unprecedented autonomy they granted the director, the $$$ they threw at it, and the location shooting. Artistically it’s not as good as ITSAY but it’s the closest GMMTV has ever come to that level of cinema. All production values are extremely high, and perhaps the lens and post production are more in service to the narrative and less designed to dwell on cinematography, but that works beautifully for this particular story. In the end, 1k* is a stunning, simplified, grown up combination of ITSAY and UWMA.
A recent conversation here in the DMs made me realize that some BL watchers are actually interested in the filming side of the equation. So that’s why I composed this list of Thai BLs that are on par with BL produced in countries that specialize in high production values (like Japan and Korea).
Thailand has been the highest producer (by volume) of BL since 2017, but their quality control tends to be all over the place. It ranges widely. There are seriously flawed pulps with decent acting and story (like So Much in Love) but terrible directing, lighting, sound, cinematography, hair, makeup, wardrobe, and filming technique. Then there are shows with very high quality but that are hugely flawed in one particular arena (Lovely Writer’s sound department). While others fail on every possible level (Cupid Coach). That said most Thai BL fails on at least makeup and wardrobe, and a lot of it suffers from sound issues and with editing problems (which always ties to pacing).
More?
Here’s a few others out of Thailand that have good production values for Thai BL, but aren’t Top 10.
Ingredients the series - it’s a long form advertisement and its filmed like one. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad style, just that it has a very specific point of view. From a filming technique approach its worth looking at just to see if you can identify how and why it does what it does. Ingredients should make you feel a little bit like Korea’s home-set stuff like To My Star which uses a lot of the same techniques.
2 Moons 2 - not the highest production value out there but nothing to complain about with some manga style staging and framing techniques and no fatal flaws in production.
3 Will Be Free - GMMTV does suspense, production-wise it’s not an unqualified work of brilliance, but it’s interesting to see GMMTV take their style and apply it to a different genre, and I love the story. Is it ultimately successful? You decide.
Manner of Death - hard to judge since i never saw a clean version and the story is a mess, but it feels like romantic suspense. The filming style and production values were totally unobtrusive and entirely served the plot, which is exactly what they should do for a cozy mystery. This one owes it’s technique to British cozies, it’s using a lot of the style one might expect from something like Midsomer Murders. But Thailand isn’t used to this kind of show, so it did struggle in places with post production.
Fish Upon the Sky - fits into the same category as a bunch of others like My Engineer, Tonhon Chonlatee, and My Gear and Your Gown in which production values are okay but only really because they aren’t noticeably egregious. They’re fine. It’s fine. it’s a perfectly serviceable show.
Note that much as I adore Love By Chance it’s not on this list? Neither is TharnType, A Chance at Love, TharnType 2, or Why R U?
I honestly think these all have the same post production team/company (or a variation on that team) and it’s not good. Sorry. It just isn’t. These shows are riddled with continuity errors (like a hand placed one way in one shot, but another way in the next shot even though time has not lapsed), lighting and sound issues, and wardrobe malfunctions.
The cinematography and staging can be fine, but where they really suffer seems to be on the editing floor (or lack of editing) which has the most profound impact on pacing. Frankly, this may not be entirely the editor’s fault as these shows often feel like they’ve been rushed to production and have no solid storyboard guiding them or their editor.
I should end on a positive, shouldn’t I?
I think, over all, Thailand is getting better at post production at the very least (with the possible exception of sound). They still churn out loads of dross, but GMMTV is tight these days, and there are one or two solid smaller companies doing good work and even pushing for improved cinematography (which no one expects in a romcom, let alone a BL).
I’m optimistic.
Ingredients the series (2020-2021)
Interviewer: Aren’t you afraid that others are going to remember you playing the role of a gay?
I was rewatching episode 7 with subs and it suddenly struck me how Adachi and Kurosawa both fell in love with the other basically for the same reason.
The parallel is simply beautiful: Kurosawa started to fall for Adachi when he was able to see beyond his perfect man image, and Adachi started to fall for Kurosawa when he was able to see beyond his mediocre man image.
What's even more beautiful? They reacted the exact same way.
Neither of them was expecting the other to see him for who he really is, but they both did, and this was the beginning.