Cantonese tutor points out glaring errors in big-budget Chinese dramas in viral TikTok video

May 20, 2022

A TikTok user posted a video on May 17 revealing unconcealed mistakes that were shown on Chinese dramas with budgets in the millions of dollars.

The video, posted by Cantonese tutor Dr. Candise Lin (@candiselin86), points out various mistakes that were made in historical fantasy Chinese dramas, from poorly done computer generated imagery (CGI) to modern technology accidentally shown on set.

The period fantasy C-drama “Word of Honor,” released in 2021, had a total budget of $7 million. Production purportedly did not have enough money, however, to use high-quality CGI and failed to retouch and edit several background actors.

In one scene, a background actor can be seen using a cellphone, and another actor is shown holding a mini fan in his sleeves. One background actor has a giant hole in his pants, and a street scene shows a drone flying around despite the series taking place in ancient times.

Another 2021 Chinese fantasy period drama called “The Long Ballad” had a whopping budget of $55 million. All the fighting scenes, however, were replaced with comics, including actors’ backgrounds, which used illustrations rather than a real-life set or proper CGI. The TikTok user questioned why the C-drama, based on a comic, did not use the original drawings for the backgrounds.

Many users expressed confusion at the mistakes made by an expensive production while pointing out that the $55 million drama was “worse” than the $7 million drama.

“Pleaseee dropped 55 [million dollars] and it was worse than the 7 [million dollar] show,” one user commented.

Others suggested that there were logical decisions behind certain CGI choices and pointed out that the mistakes were not too noticeable.

“For the $55 [million] one, I think it was to prevent horses from being in the war scenes [and to] give a nod to the comic-style,” one user suggested.

“I watched word of honor and I didn’t even notice- I was too focused on reading the subtitles,” another user wrote.

Featured image via @candiselin86

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