Feb 16, 2017
When Aaron Yan becomes too deep into his viewpoints
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When Aaron Yan becomes too deep into his viewpoints
[ENG SUBS] 2017.02.14 Aaron Yan says cheesy love phrases for Valentine's Day
subtitles cr: dearaaronyan
NEW YEAR NEW THEME!
It has been much delayed since our last theme, hope you like it puddings!
[INTERVIEW+TRANS] He refuses to be called a brainless person! Aaron Yan speaks up for actors who ‘live-by-looks’: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
The fact that the Taiwanese entertainment industry have deteriorated is no longer a secret, the government have tried to revive the industry but they’ve ended up being helpless as there is a concept of defeatism already. They have held endless meetings to discuss and have read endless suggestions about ways to save the industry, everyone has started blowing their own horns as too many problems have integrated. Problems are present in a range of areas in the industry, however, the problems persist as no remedy has yet been found. A lot of artistes have remained quiet despite the industry being like this, but kept inside them are a lot of things which they want to confess, this all changed when Aaron Yan posted his thoughts on Facebook. He revealed to the public of all the hardships which actors have been suffering, it was only then we started to realise that the situation is actually worst than what we had expected. Aaron even expressed that he will not be attending this year’s Sanlih Drama Awards, it is also almost certain that he will not be able to collaborate with Sanlih to film another drama again.
Prior to criticising the entertainment industry, Aaron had already shared many of his own thoughts on other social issues before, hence his nickname ‘God Yan’ given by the public. The direction of this interview was simply driven by a ‘curiosity’ about the entertainment industry. Artistes are one of the most important elements of the entertainment industry, therefore we have attempted to make their voices heard.
“Artistes are often perceived as objects for others to follow, the things they do and the words they speak have a lot of influential power, do we want to see these objects to sprout into something good or into something bad? Artistes, as long as they have followers, they are classed as idols; due to this, they have a responsibility to ensure that they will not say the wrong things. There are some media that like to stereotype and stigmatise idols, they like to refer idols as people with no brains and only live-by-looks. However, the term ‘idol’ should actually have a deeper definition, an idol is a person who can influence your thoughts, impact on the way which you grow up as well as the way which you make decisions in life, hence these people hold great responsibilities.” Aaron Yan wasn’t as outspoken as we had originally expected, a lot of times he had to stop and think of the correct way to express his words.
He said he has never been the type of person who speaks without thinking, moreover, he has no intentions to generate topics. Many others have warned him before, for example, they have said the following phrases to him, “Just keep what you know to yourself”, “There is no need to speak up as you will not be able to make much of a change anyway.” However, Aaron doesn’t like to compromise, he chose to speak up.
[translations by www.dearaaronyan.tumblr.com, do not remove credit]
The time when his enthusiasm was stepped on…
This all happened back when Aaron proposed his ‘Rain will trigger earthquakes to occur’ concept, this controversy generated a new public image for him. It is still very baffling for Aaron now when he thinks back to it, the question didn’t lie on whether his concept was a correct one or not, during that time, he was only trying to pacify his fans in an informal way about the frequent earthquakes that were happening, he did not expect it to turn into such a big topic. Aaron’s family members accompanied him to suffer the pressure given by the public as a result of his public opinion, but at the same time, Aaron felt even more pressurised by the concern which his family members were giving him. Thanks to being a Scorpio, Aaron is very good at comforting himself, he was able to let things go gradually even before the controversy died down. Looking back now, Aaron said what had happened was just an unexpected calamity, that period of his lifetime was when he suffered the most pressure, however, the experience has helped him to become fearless of making any other future comments.
In terms of posting his thoughts on Facebook to openly criticise a TV station, Aaron said he must speak up even if that meant putting his career at risk. He expressed that he was only trying to appeal for something that is considered to be an actor’s bottom line; this bottom line is to have a drama script provided to the actors when they’re filming for a drama. Previously when filming, Aaron said there was a big difference in his character’s personality from when the storyline first commenced, to when it almost came to an end. This was because the screenwriters had to rush to finish their deadlines which resulted in a confusion of the characters’ personalities. The director and the two male and female leads were constantly waiting for the script to be given to them, the screenwriter was so busy that he could only pass the problem back to the producer. These delays have caused the director and the actors to study the script on the day of their filming. “Once you get to a point when you have accumulated 10 years of acting experience, when it comes to saying some unfamiliar lines of dialogue, even if it’s just a simple line of “I love you,” we can’t just say the line out if we are not clear of the reason behind it being said, we must first convince ourselves before we can act it out for the audience to believe. You would think we will be anticipating for something good since the script was delayed but this wasn’t the case, the storyline did not make sense and it kept contradicting itself, the characters’ set-up has also been altered greatly, I started to shiver on the spot when I got to know this, I started to wonder if my acting has gone to waste for the previous episodes I had filmed. Since I knew that the TV station has a certain level of control over their Taiwanese dramas, I’ve tried to communicate with the TV station’s CEO in private before because I wanted to preserve the integrity of the drama.”
“In order for the actors to sufficiently prepare themselves, having a script is essential, this is the basic rule. Once you have the script, you will get to understand the background story of the characters and what they have experienced to cause them to change. It is also very important to understand what the characters have experienced from the previous scene to the next scene. Maybe the character cried, or maybe the character became stronger, but what caused them to have these changes? The answers to these can all be found in the script of a drama and the actors need these answers to assist them with their acting.” Aaron recalls being one of the main actors in another TV drama ‘Gloomy Salad Days’ (broadcasted in 2010). Zero Chou, the director of that drama requested all the actors to write an autobiography of the character that they’ve been given to portray. Others managed to write a lot and had handed back piles of paper, but Aaron could only think of little to write and handed back only two sheets of paper, he said that he felt ashamed of himself when he handed it back to the director, he later realised that doing this will help him with his acting. “You can’t just recite lines when it comes to acting, you have to pay attention to your tone of voice and the expressions in your eyes, these all have a reason behind them, only these will make our performance interesting. The script is the basis, I don’t expect you to give us the completed script of the full drama, but at least give us five or six episodes in advance.”
Aaron has filmed three TV dramas under Sanlih E-Television before, ‘Just You’ in 2013, ‘Fall in Love With Me’ in 2014 and ‘Refresh Man’ in 2015. He’s very grateful to Sanlih for broadening the demographics of those who watch his dramas, from children in primary schools, to teens in high schools, to mums who have kids of their own already. One of the goals which Aaron and Sanlih have mutually agreed on is to produce a wider variety of dramas, other goals have also been promised along the way. However, having filmed 3 dramas for Sanlih and having undergone a lot of communication and struggles, yet there was no change to be seen, Aaron couldn’t do much about it either, other than to continue filming until all the scenes have been completed.
“Filming dramas is a continuous process of needing to compromise,” this saying is one that Aaron cannot accept the most of all the years he has been in the acting industry. Though he has heard this saying many times from those who work in the same industry as him, even his seniors and bosses often say it, however, there is a bottom line to compromising, you cannot cross that bottom line, he’d rather reject a drama if he has to cross that bottom line. He worked hard to achieve his goal of wanting to make an improvement, along with the production staff and TV station, however, nothing has changed despite Aaron’s hard work, “Obviously I am angry because my enthusiasm was stepped on.” Did you ever think of the consequences that could possibly follow after you spoke up? Aaron replied, “I couldn’t care much about it because with great power comes great responsibility, Taiwan’s most representative TV station should really take up more responsibilities for themselves.”
In reality, Aaron isn’t the only one who has criticisms about Taiwan’s dramas. Rainie Yang, who acted in Qseries’ new drama ‘Life Plan A and B’ had recently accepted an interview with ‘CommonWealth Magazine’. Along with screenwriter Mag Hsu, Rainie shouted, “The lost glory, together we will find you again!” Her requests were similar to those of Aaron’s, she declared that she will only accept to film dramas that have “a well-rounded script and a well-rounded character” in the future.
The ‘Professor Yan’ side of Aaron kept re-appearing throughout our interview with him, we could sense how eager he was to work hard on changing the working conditions for artistes, we could also see that he has done a lot of homework and preparation beforehand, this demonstrates that he takes responsibility for the words he has said. Maybe Aaron’s words are too harsh for the ‘big guys’ of the industry to accept, but if after listening to his suggestions they choose to reflect and choose to make an improvement, instead of going against the issue or to provoke media encirclement, then Taiwan’s entertainment industry will be truly blessed.
[translations by www.dearaaronyan.tumblr.com, do not remove credit]
Portraying a rich guy character is not all about pretending
Recently Aaron has accepted to film a Mainland Chinese drama, ‘Yi Lu Fan Hua Xiang Song’, when we asked him what he thinks are the biggest differences between filming in China and filming in Taiwan, he said in addition to having a script for the drama, the little details which the Chinese production team have taken into consideration is something which he didn’t get to experience in Taiwan.
Before he even departed Taiwan to film in China, he was already given 13 episodes of the drama’s script (the drama was predicted to have 30 episodes so he had received almost half of the drama’s script already), he was given a very thick booklet outlining the 13 episodes in detail. Liu Miao-Miao was the director of the drama, in addition, Chen Kai-Ge and Feng Xiao-Gang were the editors of the drama, these seniors are in their 60s and they have a deep understanding of the filmmaking industry. Their standards of producing dramas are very high, for example, they were willing to free up a mountainous road just so they could capture the background scenery to be included in one of their scenes, “To make my words more blunt, the main difference is that these people have money but they also know how to use their money wisely, they were willing to spend it on production fees. When filming was almost complete, the crew even brought out four special cameras to film our drama, these cameras would usually only be used to film movies.”
In this drama, Aaron got to collaborate with Wallace Chung, a Hong Kong actor who became popular from drama ‘My Sunshine’. Being the second male lead this time, Aaron once again was given a rich character to portray, he joked to say that maybe his face looks like one that belongs to a rich person, therefore it is very difficult for him to portray poor characters, we laughed after hearing this. So what differences are there portraying a rich character in Taiwan and in China? “I got to experience being rich for real when I was filming in China, in the drama I was given a Maserati and a yacht to drive, my office was very grand and my stylist was Huang Wei. When we first had our costume fitting ceremony, we were given branded items to wear, the props and furnishings we had were all real as well. Having a script in our hands had also released some stress off the actors, I only needed to focus on developing my own emotions as well as co-operating well with other actors. However, it was difficult to make such extravagant demands when I was filming in Taiwan, hence having to pretend that I was a rich person turned out to be a very difficult task for me, I had to try very hard in order to make myself look rich.”
When he was filming for ‘Refresh Man’, in order to present his character’s image well, Aaron had no choice but to give away some of his own money to hire his own stylist, this was because the production crew had a limited budget, this was the reality he had to face. However, if the production team aren’t willing to invest and if cutting costs is their first priority, then profit will just keep on decreasing, in the end, it could very well end up as nothing and this could even impact on the actors’ salaries.
[translations by www.dearaaronyan.tumblr.com, do not remove credit]
You are not even allowed to switch microphones in Taiwan…
Before Aaron started acting in idol dramas, he was known for being a member of Taiwanese boyband ‘Fahrenheit’. In the Taiwanese music industry, members of pop groups are usually selected by record companies to make a debut, therefore it is inevitable for the members to have some small conflicts at times. In Fahrenheit, Wu Chun and Jiro Wang were seen as the popular members at the time, Aaron Yan was the member who gave his fans an ‘extraordinary’ impression and was slightly distanced from the other three members. Ten years have now passed, Wu Chun has left the entertainment industry, Jiro Wang is working mainly in China and Calvin Chen is mainly focusing on his hosting jobs. Aaron Yan seems to be the only one out of the group who still has a diversified career path. Sometimes the path to being an artiste really depends on your luck, the opportunities you meet along the way and the experiences you’ve accumulated, it’s actually very difficult to forecast the final result.
Aaron could remember participating in the Asia Song Festival in Korea once. DBSK went on stage to perform after Fahrenheit had finished, that was the time when Aaron had realised that the gap between the two boybands was so big. He was shocked by how DBSK’s performance could be that high in standard, there was no way that Fahrenheit could compete with them, he started to fear what will happen if Fahrenheit continued debuting like the way they were at the time. Therefore he suggested to his record company to provide Fahrenheit with additional training. However, since the classes often required the four members to attend together, so there was no individual training given to the members to help each of them bring out their individuality and skills. This experience had also reflected the impossibility for Taiwan’s education system to be individualised, “I was part of the first batch of students who were used as guinea pigs to experience a multi-faceted schooling system. Looking at all the problems present across various industries and in the Taiwanese society today, I believe ‘problems in education’ is the main attribute.” This is also why ‘education’ has naturally become one of the major issues of concern to Aaron.
Once Aaron has left Fahrenheit to debut as a solo singer, he was already prepared to undergo a low tide period, he was prepared to ‘refresh’ himself as he knew he couldn’t just continue relying on the fame he had gained from being in the boyband, he was well informed that his talents didn’t live up to the level of fame he had at the time. “I had to do everything by myself as soon as I had become a solo singer, whenever I stepped on stage alone, only then I had realised how little I was contributing to Fahrenheit when we were still together as a four, being as part of Fahrenheit had actually hidden my insufficiencies away from the public. In 2011, when I made my solo debut ‘The Next Me’, I had a lot of pressure during my promotion period, especially when I went on stage to perform, I was in so much pressure that I almost dropped my microphone.”
There is a producer in Japan who likes Aaron’s vocals very much, hence in recent years, he has expanded his music career to Japan. We asked Aaron to tell us the differences between recording songs in Taiwan and in Japan, he said even very small things like selecting a good microphone to use was already a new experience for him. In Japan, you’re allowed to use any type of microphones, he said microphones can vary, some are more suited for singing high notes and others may be better for singing low notes. However, back in Taiwan the producer would tell Aaron: “You’re most suited to use the 149 microphone!” Apparently the sounds that come out of that microphone turns out to be the best for Aaron, according to his music producer. Aaron has tried using the Telefunken microphone to record his songs before, the one which Beyonce uses, but the producer didn’t think Aaron was suited to use it, so in the end he was still stuck with using the 149 microphone. Aaron had watched an online clip lately, in the clip two microphones were used to record sounds, the audio that had been recorded were then mixed together to create a more ‘three-dimensional’ effect, he said he will suggest this idea to his Japanese producer next time.
“I’ve released music albums in the Taiwanese music industry for so many years, but there were little opportunities for me to experiment different music styles like I was able to do so in Japan. Music should not have a frame set around it, the focus should not be on whether the music is considered mainstream or not, you should be able to experiment music freely and without any restrictions. Every time I went to Japan, I have always taken with me a heart to learn. I have always enjoyed recording songs in Japan, from listening to the demo versions of my songs, to the completion of the recording process. I also had the opportunity to experience a variety of recording styles that were different to the standard ones; I really enjoyed experimenting music with a free spirit.”
Aaron got to know a guitarist named Takuya in Japan, he is a member of a former punk rock band ‘JUDY AND MARY’. Takuya loves Aaron’s vocals very much and because of this, he even composed a song for him. This was how the two started their music journey together. It has been a long time since Aaron last released a Chinese album, he’s thinking of utilising the skills he has learnt in Japan by composing some songs with Takuya first, then transferring those songs to be included in his next Chinese album. However, before this happens, he’ll be going to America for a short period of time to receive some training, he hopes that he will be able to present a much more professional side of himself to everyone when he returns.
Having been in the Taiwanese entertainment industry for over ten years, Aaron Yan will be turning 31 years old on 20th November. He dislikes it when others say that he ‘doesn’t know how to give thanks’. H.I.M International is the only record company which Aaron has signed a contract with since entering the entertainment industry. He has deep gratitude for this company as he has received an endless amount of training from them, all the way from being a member of Fahrenheit, to debuting as a solo singer, regardless of it being related to acting or singing. It is also because he is thankful to Sanlih E-Television so he had mentioned the TV station’s name several times during this interview. He said Sanlih has helped him to mature a lot, but in the end he still chose to speak up to express his thoughts on the entertainment industry from an actor’s perspective: with great power comes great responsibility, he wasn’t speaking up just for himself, but he also spoke up for others who are in the same industry as him. No matter what the end result is, at least he has tried to fight for what he wants, he has already prepared himself mentally to receive criticisms on the comments he has made. Through Aaron’s words, we want to take this opportunity to ask the ‘big guys’ of the Taiwanese entertainment industry, isn’t providing a basic working environment for all your employees, but under no obligations for them to compromise, a basic responsibility of yours?!
[translations by www.dearaaronyan.tumblr.com, do not remove credit]
Source: Punchline 20161112 Translations: dearaaronyan.tumblr.com
Translation of Jesse Tang x Aaron Yan Facebook live session highlights (20161006)
These are the highlights of Aaron and Jesse’s Facebook live session from yesterday translated into English text by dearaaronyan.
(!) Please do not re-distribute the translations elsewhere, if you want to use our english translations to translate into your own languages please drop us a message to let us know beforehand, so we can check that you have credited us properly.
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1/16 Dutch Descent (5:20)
Aaron: I’ve always hid this from everyone, due to this problem (of having thick eyelashes) I’ve asked my grandma if we have some kind of Western ethnicity’s blood running in our family tree, she gave me an answer of a particular ethnicity after I asked her, but I still was too afraid to reveal this.
Jesse: What ethnicity?
Aaron: Netherlanders. I am 1/16 Dutch descent or something, it’s a very small percentage, but I reckon this is the origin to the problem with my hair (eyelashes). I didn’t want to say it out because everyone will probaby think that I’m making things up.
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Pinching his thigh (8:12)
Jesse: Actually Aaron and I have been friends for a very long time already. He once told me a secret about himself, he was not one bit worried that I will expose his secret out to everyone. He said when he’s in a situation that requires him to say nice things for the sake of being polite, he will pinch his thigh so he can force himself to say those words out.
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“Earthquakes happen because of the rain” scandal (13:42)
Aaron: NGC have made a report on this before, that there is a possibility earthquakes are caused by the rain. However, when I wrote that post I wasn’t really focusing on the facts, it was only because during that period there were a lot of earthquakes happening, I purely wanted my fans to stop worrying as much. Hence this triggered me to write such post because I thought it would be interesting. It was actually during when I was eating dinner, I was thinking I should probably post a status since I hadn’t posted in such a long time, this is how I made this random post. I grabbed my phone to check after I had finished my dinner, then I thought to myself “I’m doomed”. *laughs*
（Admin’s note: To those of you who don’t know, Aaron made a Facebook post in 2015 assuming that earthquakes can happen because of the rain, many netizens criticised him after reading his post and made fun of his “poor knowledge”. This then spreaded across the Internet and many Taiwanese media had also reported about this scandal.）
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Impatience (16:27)
Jesse: Do you have a habit of speeding?
Aaron: I’m a very impatient person. I can be very focused when driving, but I really can’t stand slowpokes.
Jesse: So you will hit drivers?
Aaron: This is why I cannot take Uber or the taxi. I may hit the driver… *laughs* I’m just kidding!
Jesse: They are just concerned for your safety!
Aaron: Actually I like driving because you get to have your own personal space, you can listen to music when you’re bored.
Jesse: Do you buy cars without a second thought? Have you ever had such experiences?
Aaron: My mum still needs to approve when buying a car, so when my mum says no I will become very mad. Then I will force her to let me buy it.
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Going overseas to study (21:46)
Aaron: I’ve always had this thought of wanting to study, but because I’ve already accepted some jobs so I can’t just abandon those projects. It’s only until this year that I have some free time, I immediately grasped hold of it and told my management that I really cannot stand this anymore, I have to go and study. Coincidentally I saw the report of you (Jesse) saying that Scorpios should go overseas, this further encouraged me to make such decision.
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Joanne Tseng (23:37)
Aaron: Today after I finished looking at a flat/house, I drove back out and stopped by a traffic light, I think there was still 50 seconds left until the lights changed, I looked to my left side and I was thinking “Wow! Why does this person look so much like Joanne Tseng?” and it really was her! She was inside a taxi, such a coincidence. I want to congratulate her for being nominated for the Golden Bell Awards, this is something which I probably will never be able to achieve.
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Being a responsible idol (36:29)
Aaron: A lot of people have asked me why I can’t just be a normal artiste, i.e. to act in dramas, to sing songs and to manage my fans. However, I’ve always thought… since I am an idol, an idol’s doings, attitude and how he/she sees things will influence me, so I inevitable can influence a lot of people as well. If I just live life lavishly without a reason, wouldn’t my fans be just wasting their time? In the near future, they will look back at their lives and realise they have learnt nothing from Aaron Yan and have only been following him blindly. Some of them have even skipped classes to come and see me, I’m very angry at those fans, I will think “What’s the need to give up your own opportunities to study and to come see me?”. Then I thought, okay fine if you guys are still going to do this, shouldn’t I offer more to them so when they come and see me, they are not just coming to see a handsome guy, to see me act and to listen to me singing, but to take it a step further, i.e. the environmental issues I have been talking about recently. Since I have been paying attention to these issues for a long time, I’ve started to pay attention to what’s happening in the society since senior school, what I’ve noticed is that keeping quiet will only cause matters to become worst. It’s just like this.
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Ghost experience (48:18)
Aaron: This happened when I was in Thailand. In the hotel, the TV in my room was still those ones that make this “Bom Bom Bom” sound when you switch channels, I’m not sure if kids these days know about them. The hotel room I lived in had a living room and a bedroom. One night my friend and I agreed to meet up at one of the hotels’ bars for a few drinks. I went back to my room to take a bath after I had finished working out at the gym. Since I’m a scaredy-cat, so I turned on my TV before I went to take my bath, around 10 minutes have passed and I suddenly heard those “Bom Bom Bom” switching channels sounds. I thought to myself maybe it was my friend who has been waiting too long for me so he decided to come back into the hotel room first, so I shouted “Are you back?”, no one answered me, so I thought maybe he fell asleep because he was too tired, I told myself a lot of excuses but I was actually already really freaked out inside. After I finished taking my bath, I went back into the living room and the TV channel had already been switched. I quickly left the hotel room and went to look for my friend, I asked him “Did you return to the room just now?”, he said “No, I’ve been waiting for you here all along.” This is the story, I dare not to think about it anymore, it was so creepy.
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Pets (51:28)
Aaron: I’ve had a lot of pets, I’ve had birds, turquoise, rabbits, chickens, ducks, fish, dogs. My goldfish was amazing, I remember I scooped it up in a fun fair during my primary school days, I scooped about 5 fish altogether, the other 4 died after a while, but that particular one lived. Do you know how long that fish accompanied me for? Usually the fish scooped in fun fairs will die not long after, but that fish stayed with me until I got accepted into university. It used to be tiny but then it grew gigantic.
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Living with others (57:23)
Jesse: Have you ever lived with anyone else? Like housemates/roomates?
Aaron: Yes.
Jesse: Did you guys share the housework among yourselves? Were you the one that bossed other people around about mopping and doing the laundry?
Aaron: Nope, actually I’m not too skilled at doing housework myself.
Jesse: What if you are skilled? Would you still boss others around?
Aaron: I will remind them. But I personally aren’t too fond of doing housework.
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Singing career (1:24:16)
Jesse: You’re a singer?!
Aaron: Yes.
Jesse: Oh yes! You used to be in Fahrenheit! I’m so sorry, I’ve been seeing you act for so long.
Aaron: It’s okay.
Jesse: Do you still want to sing, or do you prefer to act in dramas and movies?
Aaron: Actually I’ve always liked to sing, I didn’t say I will give up on it, I just want to seek a singing style that is suitable for myself. Albums require a lot of marketing, I hope I can release an album that doesn’t really require a lot of marketing. I’m someone that really can’t stand being fake anymore, not just for albums, but for anything.
Jesse: So next time when you finally release an album, you’ll probably be quite mature (old)?
Aaron: Or maybe when the album’s music style really matches the one I have in mind.
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Different person to the past (1:27:38)
Aaron: Let me tell you, there is a huge difference between the real me and the me which everyone used to know in the past. At first, I didn’t think I will become an idol in the past, so the way I used to pose for pics in the past, my smile have been trained to be like that.
Translations: dearaaronyan.tumblr.com
Aaron Yan: The Transition Speed of Media is (Already) Lacking Behind
Article: Aaron Yan || Pictures: SPOP Translations: dearaaronyan.tumblr.com (do not remove credit)
With news headlines such as: “Aaron Yan will be making a temporary leave from showbiz in October” spreading around, a lot of people have been asking me: “Why are you leaving?” on various social media sites, I have been thinking, there are too many reasons that have stimulated me, one of which is that Taiwan’s entertainment and media industry is currently undergoing a period of chaos. Taiwanese dramas have been heavily replaced by dramas from China, Korea and America, due to cuts in budget we are becoming more and more weak, the talent which we used to have is disappearing, this situation is only going to get worse. Even during times like this, the media (newspapers and magazines) still tries to seek for breakthrough, the online platform is becoming more and more popular, however, the transition speed of our traditional media is in fact, already far behind other regions; taking China as an example, they did not used to have many traditional media presence, now they are going straight into online media, everyone is getting more and more used to watching dramas and receiving news online, it is a challenge for those of us who are trying to adapt to this change.
As above, due to the harsh environment that we are living in right now, a loss in talent is displayed, from market planning, directors, screenwriters, producers, staff who does lighting, photographers and even actors, they are all seeking for jobs that can provide them with an opportunity to learn. To be honest, I am not trying to diss those who are supporting Taiwanese dramas, but in reality, the quality of our dramas in recent years have already decreased, many scripts are not complete, the dialogues are ridiculous, the flow of the characters changes depending on the viewership ratings, all these makes me sad, a drama is not all about beautiful sceneries and handsome actors and pretty actresses, this applies even if it is a so-called idol drama.
Everyone please think over it, those classic dramas and movies that have left deep impressions in our minds, the reason why they have become classics is not because they have a cast and have beautiful sceneries, these are just the basics, but what truly turned them into classics is because they managed to stimulate thoughts in our lives, they impacted on our everyday logical thinking and our way of living, different perspectives have been presented to the audience through imageries produced by the director and actors, this is why at the end of a movie we don’t want to leave even when the ending credits have started playing, it is because the movie was so great that we don’t want to leave, because it triggered a praise from our hearts, then we will start to wonder how did this director think of this perspective that has not been used before to see different aspects of life, regardless of love, friendship, family, sickness and death; how did this actor use different facial expressions to interpret life and death, joys and sorrows? The capability to stimulate mutual thoughts with the audience, this is what dramas and movie should have!
Going back to the topic of why I want to study movie and screenplay; being someone who debuted as an idol, I was not easily recognised by others in the first place, so I dare not remain at where I stand, especially in Taiwan where resources are limited, I could only work myself harder through watching movies, when I come across to movies that are good I will re-watch those a few times, I sacrificed myself from enjoying the movie, instead I focused on the director’s skills, the script as well as the actors’ acting, I am constantly learning and absorbing, I constantly remind myself that “I’m lacking! I’m still lacking!”, this is who I am.
This year I managed to film a drama which enabled more people to get to know me better. I was very fortunate to collaborate with Joanne Tseng whom has great acting skills, thank you Sanlih for giving me so many opportunities in recent years, I am very grateful! However, what everyone did not know about is that, how the actors and director have spent time on communicating so that the drama’s script and dialogues could be improved. Being faced with a script that was released to us close to the date of which filming commenced, not only the director couldn’t digest the script, this impacted on other areas of filming as well, such as the preparation of props and the presentation of the drama’s different settings. As for the actors, we were filming under a very tight schedule, there was no way that we could digest the content of the script as there was limited time. Many talented behind the scenes staff resigned due to these kind of situations, it just gets worse every year, this makes my heart ache, how come the Taiwan which I love has turned out like this? I once absurdly thought that I could maybe change things around with my perseverance, but this flow of great force could not be changed with just one person’s mere power. Therefore this made me want to improve, only improvement can lead to a breakthrough, I am speaking from experience, when you feel like you are being suffocated to the point of which you cannot bring yourself forward, this is when you need to start enriching yourself; so holding on to hope and the flame in me that has not been fully doused yet, this brought me to the decision to study.
There’s a saying: “Take a rest before continuing with your journey”, this sentence is one that I have already heard so many times that I don’t want to hear again, yet this sentence is the greatest motivation for me in this moment of my life. Doing this is not only for my own benefit, but it is also for the passion of performing, moreover, it’s for you guys. I want to become an idol who practise what I preach, I want to promote the message of chasing your dreams with no fears, the message of not giving up, I want to tell you guys that stopping to think is nothing to be afraid of; I want to let you guys know that since I can do it so you guys are capable of doing the same thing! Because I am no different to you guys.
Therefore I am not leaving, I am going to study because I want to become stronger!
This is the reason behind my motivation. Maybe after I come back, there will not be a space left for me, but so what? At least I have worked hard for myself, what you have learnt will stay with you forever.
I have always believed that opportunities are reserved for those who have prepared well, let us encourage each other in our endeavours.
Source: SETTV News 20160901 Translations: dearaaronyan.tumblr.com
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