I could keep on pulling more and more examples if I wanted, because this TV drama simply has so much fantastically composed images. Diagonal lines are generally more eye-catching than horizontal or vertical lines. It’s a nice cave, but what really makes this image work is the thin, diagonal slit through which we can see the characters. There’s also the effect of the light and prevalence of grey (which really fits the mood of this particular scene).

I think we can agree that it’s not the setting itself that is impressive, but the composition of the stone structure, the sun, the mountains, and the figures which stands out. I really like the way the windows (with its square pattern) frames Lin Pingzhi, and I like the way Lin Pingzhi’s body contrasts with the shadow of his right arm.Īnd here’s a shot of Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze (though it’s hard to tell it’s them): Take, for example, this picture of Lin Pingzhi:

Aside from the natural scenery, this drama has a dazzling abundance of striking imagery. I mentioned the gorgeous scenery in the previous post, but there is much more to making a visually beautiful TV drama than selecting locations well. This drama gives me the same sense of wonderfully arranged images (the people who made this drama most likely studied the work of Li Han-hsiang during their film studies). He also happens to be one of the most influential Chinese-language movie directors ever. He once studied to be a painter, and it really shows in the way that his films are full of beautifully framed. I have come to really appreciate the films of Li Han-hsiang.

Laughing in the wind 2001