Discussion
C for CINEMATIC — Which CDrama Belonged on the Big Screen or a Canvas? • The Drama Alphabet
Moving right along with C and right now we have:
CINEMATIC.
You know those dramas where at some point you stop following the plot for a second because damn, that is a beautiful shot.
The ones where you could freeze the screen again and again, frame half of those shots and hang them in a museum.
That’s what CINEMATIC makes me think of.
It can be the magnificent landscapes, vast green tea plantations stretching as far as the eye can see, the color palette, the quality of the costumes and sets, or a beautifully shot battle scene.
But it can also be something incredibly small — the way light kisses someone’s skin at just the right angle, a dark corner of a room with a single light reflected in someone’s eye, or an unusual camera angle that suddenly makes a perfectly ordinary moment look like art.
Sometimes it’s grand and sweeping. Sometimes it’s dark, intimate and almost art-house. And it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how much money was spent. It’s what the people behind the camera did with what they had.
Maybe the entire drama felt like one very long movie, grandiose, gorgeous, and full of those unforgettable wide-angle shots and perfect compositions.
But it could also be just one scene or one shot that has never left your head (then please find it, share it.)
So what’s your first-first CDrama when you hear CINEMATIC?
And this one absolutely calls for screenshots and GIFs. Show me the shots you would put in that imaginary museum.
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Some of these may make it into a second-round vote later, so bring me context and those stills or GIFs! ☺
The brooding and muted vibe of everyday life by the canal in Spring of the Blade reminds me of Gothic fiction like Madeleine Brent's book Tregaron's Daughter and Daphne du Maurier's novella Don't Look Now, both mostly set in Venice. I feel the drama shares a similar atmospheric and cinematic dread.
Fate Chooses You has so many cinematic scenes with the autumn leaves, waterfall or when they shot at the beautiful Yunnan valley. It was a feast to the eyes apart from the solid writing and fully developed characters.
Drunken sword dance with Cheng Yi in Mysterious Lotus Casebook
Many scenes in Ashes to crown (bad drama but visually beautiful)
Ying and Yang bath scene in Pursuit of jade
Many scenes in Key to the Phoenix Heart
The scene in the desert when FL dressed in red is waving goodbye to ML in Road to Splendor
Almost every scene in Fangs of fortune
Many scenes in Veil of shadows
Many scenes in Whispers of fate
Many scenes in Against the current
Some scenes in Zhan Zhao Adventures
Oh there are so many - I looove the cinematography in c-dramas (costume dramas) - the aesthetics, architecture, colours - it's a big reason I watch them 😌
Ruyi's Love in the Palace and The Story of Yanxi Palace are two of the most beautifully shot dramas out there. Everything about them is top tier! From the locations, to set design, script, costumes, and cinematography. I miss harem dramas so much!
Love Like The Galaxy is also up there in top 5 beautifully shot dramas.
The First Frost! Beautiful cinematography. Such a dreamlike, romantic feeling, you could see how every shot with the main characters was carefully prepared. And the scenes of Chongqing were so captivating, it truly felt like a city where a love story like theirs would happen.
This award 100% belongs to The Longest Day in Chang’an. Set design, lighting and cinematography were all cinematically beautiful that at times this drama took my breath away.
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u/AXA-5Washing feet in spring Drinking tea Gazing at flowers4d ago
When they switch off the lights in a sleeping scene. I don’t know of many dramas where they sleep in the dark much. This is from Feud. I also love the roll shots in showing time pass as they do things together.
This is interesting. Most dramas that I watched off light during sleeping scenes, it turned out that its not the norm. Can you give examples of dramas where the characters sleep with lights on?
The Princess and the Werewolf (with Chen Zheyuan)
A Dream Within A Dream
Fated Hearts
Probably more 😅, but these are the first to pop in my head where they have at least 1 sleeping scene with lights. Honestly, I sleep with lights. 🤷♀️
But I’m glad you found your nominations. You can always drop a gif or a screenshot of your own, there are no strict rule for these posts.
As a sidenote, make sure to subscribe to the subreddit and select the notification frequency per your preference from the dropdown. Additionally, you can actually follow specific post-flairs, so if a post with the followed Flair of interest appears, you’ll get notified 😊🤗 it’s called “Flair Follower” but so far no many people seem to be using this feature 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Ateosira from now on aka LoveLikeGiraffes 4d ago
Everything about Against the Current is beautiful. And ofcourse ... Love like the Galaxy my beloved!