Documentary (极境所在) ~ behind-the-scenes of 属于我们的黑夜 The Night Belongs to Us

#TongYao #童瑶 #BoHanxiong #薄汉雄 #TheNightBelongsToUs #属于我们的黑夜 #FIRST #TrainingCamp

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

NOTE: Edited 22nd June 2022 to reflect the name change of the official English title from Night Night to The Night Belongs to Us.

At first, I thought that I would just do a short write-up of some bits but I ended up translating most of the interview in this video.  😅 

I think the reason why the production company Bobosnap called this a documentary rather than just a regular behind-the-scenes video is because they proposed a “thesis question” so to speak and are attempting to answer it. They are trying to answer this question by documenting Tong Yao as she participates in the making of the short film The Night Belongs to Us.

AULA K2 - one handed gaming keyboard

#AULA #AULAK2 #GamingKeybooard #Unboxing #Review

 

Am taking a break from writing long reviews / comments about Asian dramas and have decided to do a quick and short review of the AULA K2 gaming keyboard.  Although this is a gaming keyboard, I actually got this for a different purpose since I don't PC game much at all.  The only PC game I own is Civilization VI which I got for free from a game giveaway but I don't actually play it on the PC, I actually play that on my Nintendo Switch.  My two desktops and my Surface Pro 7 are all meant for work and I don't game on them, not even Minesweeper. 😅

I own a Surface Pro 7 with the Surface Pen and sometimes I like to use it like a cheap version of the Cintiq but when I lay it almost flat on the kickstand, the Surface Pro Type Cover gets in the way.  However, I can't really remove it because I want to use keyboard hotkeys in Photoshop and other programmes.  So I started looking for cheap solutions.  Some people recommended using a programmable keyboard or a number keypad and software like HID Macros and someone else recommended a programmable one handed gaming keyboard in the video below.

The 1byone single hand keyboard that I could not find. :(

Additional Comments 1 ~ The Rebel (叛逆者) 2021

#TheRebel #叛逆者 #ZhuYilong #朱一龙 #TongYao #童瑶 

USE OF MISE-EN-SCENE AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS TO CREATE MEANING - Lin Nansheng + Zhu Yizhen

[Version 2 18th August 2021

-- added a section on the use of Walt Whitman's One's-Self I Sing in the section on Whitman.  I can't believe I forgot about this key scene. 😅 Also, other minor grammar, spelling & formatting errors]

Preface:

I have already written a review on this series if you would like to read it, please CLICK ME. That review is spoiler-free.  Unlike the review, this post will have SPOILERS, please read at your own risk.  Also, this post assumes that you have already watched the entire series because there won't be a synopsis and references to scenes won't be in chronological order.

I had originally written these additional comments as part of the review but it kept expanding, so I decided to finish the review and publish it first, if not it might go the way of the many posts that I have started and never finished.  😁

I have also decided to write at least one more post on The Rebel because I have enough material already written to start it but I will need time to finish it and that will probably take a while which is part of the reason why I'm splitting up the post again.  When that post is done, I will edit this post and post that link too.  If time permits and I still retain an interest in writing more about the series, I might still write one more.  When either one of those posts gets completed, I will rewrite this paragraph and post the links here.

(Timecodes may vary slightly depending on which version of the series you are watching.  Some episodes of the version I used had some advertisements & trailers.  If time permits in the future, I might go back and fix the TC using a version without advertisements. If I do so, I will note it here.)

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

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Review / Comments ~ The Rebel (叛逆者) 2021

 #review #TheRebel #叛逆者 #ZhuYilong #朱一龙 #TongYao #童瑶 #WangYang #WangZhiwen # ZhuZhu #LiQiang

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

(For Additional Comments 1 ~ USE OF MISE-EN-SCENE AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS TO CREATE MEANING - Lin Nansheng + Zhu Yizhen, please CLICK ME) 

(For Additional Comments 2 on  The Rebel, please CLICK ME -- currently WIP, will update this post when the link is ready)

The Rebel is an espionage series set in China during the Republican Era.  The story centres on a young cadet, Lin Nansheng 林楠笙 (actor: Zhu Yilong 朱一龙) who was plucked out of military school even before graduating by the head of the Shanghai Branch of the Fuxing Society to help flush out the Communists spies in the city.  Chen Moqun 陈默群 (actor: Wang Yang 王阳) is mostly concerned about trying to capture a mole within the Shanghai Branch.  He decided to recruit a new face into his team because he knew that there was a mole in his branch and had begun to suspect everyone there.  He chose Lin Nansheng because he noticed the young man's intelligence and powers of observation.

Olympus OM-2s - Another new camera. :D

I'm well and truly obsessed with photography again.  I picked up yet another camera last week and have been trying to learn how to use it.  While I'm not new to 35mm cameras, I've never used a camera that only has manual focus.  I didn't learn photography on one of the classic cameras like the Pentax K1000 or the Canon AE-1 etc.  I learnt my photography mostly on a Minolta Dynax 500si.  I'm not counting the cameras I used for snap shots before I started learning it in school. :)

I loved my Minolta and I shot hundreds of shots on it.  If I remember correctly, you could turn off auto focus on it but I mostly relied on the autofocus.  I did, however, shoot mostly on manual because that was encouraged in class and I was a serious student. :P

So I went a little crazy. Haha! #camera #film

Lately, I've gone on a bit of a camera buying spree. 😅  I bought five cameras in total. 😅

Lucky, none of them were particularly expensive because I got most of them at really good prices off Carousell. I might end up selling one of them in the future but we'll see.

Lately, I've fallen back in love with film photography, in particular plastic cameras and Lomo.  So I  wanted to get a Holga that shoots 35mm film because I already have one that shoots 120mm.  I actually made a deal for a Holga 135 but realised that actually I got a little confused and made the deal for the wrong Holga.  I actually wanted the Holga 135bc because it has more vignetting which is part of the reason why those who shoot on Holgas shoot on Holgas anyway.  But I didn't want to break a deal because of my own mistake so I bought both cameras in the end.

Expired Film Can Be Cool Too #photography

 

So..... a few weeks ago, I found a roll of exposed film that I had forgotten about. Thing is this film was shot something like 20 to 21 years ago.  Haha! 😅 So by the time I got it processed, the colour dyes have already faded and I got some really funky colours.

I did some cleanup and "developed" it in Photoshop.  After which I made a Black and White version which I feel actually looks quite cool.  There's a lot of grain which is not always desirable but it this case, the grain actually helps to make it look quite romantic and mysterious. 

I'm honestly not sure what film I used.  I'm guessing it's a Kodak film of some sort.  After I got the roll of film back from the lab, the edge code was no longer even visible. I'm also not sure where this roll of film was shot.  I'm guessing that it's on the road trip I made along the California coastline on Highway 1.

There is another shot on the roll which looks like the Bixby Bridge.  I'll work on that shot on another day.

If you wanna check out my other shots on Instagam, you are welcome to.  And I welcome comments and critiques either in the comments section or on IG. 🙂