#filming technique

[chicademartinica]

Alan and Wen broke up for 45 min and the cinematography engulfed them (and US) in the dying light of their love until the fire went out.

Warm sunny yellow

To lonely blue grey coexisting with yellow memories

Dying amber/embers

Lights out

[absolutebl]

When the BL director uses doorways, windows, mirrors, or other apertures to give the audience the impression of looking at something they maybe shouldn’t. 

Peekaboo Framing

It’s an emotional distancing technique to make viewers feel simultaneously slightly uncomfortable and privy to something very private. 

It can also be done by including a wall or some over very close object of setting/location to one (or both) sides of the frame, so that the viewer feels as if they are looking around the corner of something. Or have just waking into a room and happened upon the drama unfolding there. 

For this reason this technique is often used to depict loneliness or extreme intimacy, when characters are exposing themselves to deep emotions. 

It is also usually off center, to give an unsettling weight to the image. 

The director of Until We Meet Again, New, used this technique for the KornIn characters specifically, both alone and together. He was showcasing the hidden frightened threatened nature of their romance. It’s in direct contrast to DeanPharm who are often depicted center screen with regards to apertures as well in open public spaces as a couple, fully exposed with no close objects interrupting the view. I think this is intentional, showing how both the couple and society has changed after reincarnation. 

Similarly, the director of Lovely Writer fell back on peekaboo framing for Gene and Sib, but only when they were engaging in scenes of extreme domesticity. Their actual kissing scenes were filmed directly. 

This is interesting as it’s almost as if the commentary of the lens is that the domestic boyfriends emotional aspect of their relationship is more private than the physical. Which makes prefect sense under the construct of this particular narrative. 

The peekaboo framing technique is pretty common in most cinematography but in BL it’s often drawing on yaoi manga traditions, especially if there is an indirect angle to the lens. 

This technique exists in contrast to Central Aperture Framing. 

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[chicademartinica]

We were submerged with hands and symbols but

A widower’s ring surrounded by darkness.

A divorcee’s ring in the harsh hospital light.

The hands they used to be on now joined in gold, red and blue.

(Them holding hands on the beach in a Moonlight Chicken does Moonlight was fantastic but Jim taking Wen’s hand while giggling ??!)

[chicademartinica]

The winner of the P’Aof doesn’t play with the framing shot for ep 06 is :

Jim between yesterday and the present.

Runner up: Red peace offerings

[absolutebl]

All of Tang Yi’s amazing sport coats and suits in HIStory 3: Trapped. Plus the one time he got his baby into an adorable vintage inspired one. 

One of my favorite character-as-fashion moments with Tang Yi is that he usually wears a lapel pin of some kind. Despite being a mafia character, normally known for (and depicted in) lots of jewelry, this is his only flair (well, and a watch). 

This costume choice emphasized that fancy suits made up part of Tang Yi’s legitimate business (and probably money laundering). By using a lapel pin wardrobe added this air of mafia + schoolboy that’s aggressively innocent... like Tang Yi’s personality. Also they remind us that no matter how beautiful his suit, he’s still mafia. It was such a clever costuming decision. 

Bonus image from Taiwanese gay drama Light, the boy sees an amazing suit... 

[absolutebl]

Linear framing in BL using pathways and apertures to draw focus to the central figure(s). 

Central Aperture Framing 

I love the eye-line draw and symmetry of these shots. It’s very very focused with everything designed to draw attention to the central figure(s). I also love how consciously the director is using location. 

It’s a technique used tp draw focus to the characters in the center of the shot and emphasize their condition (usually togetherness and intimacy although with a solitary figure it can indicate the opposite). It’s quite a powerful visual. 

Generally in BL it’s used to indicate synergy or harmony between the couple. 

There’s a certain element of resolution and clarity, exposure, honesty, a nod to the fact that everything is now out in the open. It can be used when only one half of the couple has realized what he feels, like Given below. 

It’s often used after the couple has decided to be together, like my favorite of Dean & Pharm after their first kiss in Until We Meet Again. Or after they have come out to their families, like with Lovely Writer. 

Here’s Absolute BL 2 playing with it. 

Those are side characters in the frame with the main character (who thinks he’s a side character) interfering with the edge of it. In this case the filming technique itself is being used for parody. 

This technique exists in contrast to Peekaboo Framing which is used to indicate secrecy and claustrophobia, the sensation of being trapped. Until We Meet Again often uses central aperture for DeanPharm and peekaboo for KornIn to contrast the closeted doomed nature of the past relationship against the honest open pursuit of the present day reincarnated selves. 

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[absolutebl]

BL visual trope du jour 

staggered couple framing 

when characters are staged so that one appears offset or smaller than the other

In BL this technique is often used to flip the power dynamic - that is to emphasize the uke being in a superior position of control/agency for a change, because of story conceits, as an act of contrition, or because he is jokingly assuming a contrasting power position.

This one is common in cinematography in general, but the style when applied to BL and sme/uke power dynamics comes directly out of yaoi.

Here’s a very interesting example of the two semes in Cutie Pie, notice how they are using the same framing technique but not staggered? There’s not preferential weight given to the seme character... because they are both semes. 

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[absolutebl]

BL visual trope du jour

Backlighting & Silhouettes 

(I love this one from WBL2, because it’s using both a silhouette and full lighting to emphasize the distance between the two characters and their failing relationship.)  

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