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Fun Facts behind TTEOTM!
Creative Team
Till the End of the Moon is the second TV drama produced by newcomer Otters Studio (獭獭文化), which was originally set up for dangai/BL drama Immortality (皓衣行), also featuring Luo Yunxi.
The Hangzhou-based Otters Studio is a subsidiary of Nanpai Entertainment (南派泛娱), the company owned by Kenneth Xu (aka “Third Uncle" 南派三叔). Xu is best known as the novelist and screenwriter behind "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" (盗墓笔记).
A big part of TTEOTM's core creative team also worked on Immortality. And a lot of the Immortality team came from Ashes of Love (2018) with Luo Yunxi. This includes...
He Fang (Screenwriter) - Immortality
Luo Xuan (Screenwriter & Associate Producer) - Immortality
Huang Wei (Costume Designer) - Immortality
Guan Dazhou (Music Director) - Immortality
Wang Yirong (Lead Producer) - Immortality
Wang Haiqi (B Unit Director & Action Director) - Immortality & Ashes of Love
Tsang Mingfai (Makeup Designer) - Immortality & Ashes of Love
Shen Xufei (Special Effects Director) - Immortality & Ashes of Love
Hua Tian World Concept - Immortality & Ashes of Love
Wang Haiqi was the stunt coordinator who trained Luo Yunxi in Ashes of Love
Part of the creative team came from Huanyu (Bai Lu's management company, aka the production company of Yanxi Palace). This includes award-winning art director Luan Hexin, Huang Xinyao (Yue Fuya) and Liu Min (Nan'an).
This is the second time Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu have paired up in a drama. They previously played a couple in modern workplace romance Love is Sweet (2020). Bai Lu expressed interest publicly in pairing up with LYX again in a costume drama numerous times.
In addition, a number of Love is Sweet actors have minor roles or cameos in TTEOTM:
Zhao Yuanyuan (Qiao Na aka Yuan Shuai's colleague who has a crush on him) plays the Moon Goddess
Cheng Chang (Jiang Jun's father) plays Ye Xiwu's father
Deng Jinghong (Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai's shady client) plays Ye Xiwu's brother Ye Zeyu
The popularity of TTEOTM has generated renewed interest in Love is Sweet on iQiyi. In the first half of 2023, Love is Sweet is ranked #5 on Yunhe's "old/classic drama" list, receiving 360M views (10M views/episode), equivalent to airing a new medium-budget drama.
Two actors in Ashes of Love also have minor roles in TTEOTM:
Wang Yifei (Shuihe aka peacock princess in Ashes of Love) plays the Devil God's lieutenant Siying
He Zhonghua (Heavenly Emperor aka Runyu's father) plays the King of Sheng, again terrorizing Luo Yunxi's childhood
In addition, a number of TTEOTM actors play minor roles in the unaired Immortality:
Huang Yunyun (Yue Yingxin) plays Song Qiutong
Zheng Guolin (Qu Xuanzi aka Susu's father) plays Jiangxi
Huang Haibing (Zhaoyou) plays Nangong Zhangying
He Zhonghua (King of Sheng) plays Nangong Liu
Geng Yeting (Ye Qingyu) plays an unknown role
Production
The source novel (黑月光拿稳BE剧本) was optioned by Otter before it was complete due to strong early hype around the IP and interesting characters & premise. It's one of the top 10 most-saved web novels of that genre on the Jinjiang platform. Its title literally translates to "black moonlight is guaranteed a bad ending screenplay".
The screenplay was written for 40 episodes, which was edited into 50 episodes of probably 45 mins each. The original plan (based on governmental records) was to air 34 episodes as part 1 and 16 episodes as part 2. However, the NRTA (Chinese government agency that regulates TV) closed the loophole around airing two seasons back to back early this year, which is why TTEOTM was edited back down to 40 episodes of 55 mins each so that it could air in one go.
TTEOTM changed its Chinese title twice. It was originally named 月照千峰为一人 (The moon shines for one person). It was then renamed to 长月无烬 (long moon without Jin/ember, also a pun for without limit or endless), which is the official publication name proposed by fans of the web novel. Right before the booting ceremony, it was renamed 长月烬明 likely for auspicious reasons (especially after the LYX accident and Immortality not airing)
Some keen netizens have noticed that if you break apart the characters of its Chinese title, 长月烬明, it becomes 长月火尽日月, which literally means....
长月 (long moon) - how people refer to the drama, in its short form
火 (fire) - Chinese internet lingo for explosive or popular
尽日月 (to the end of sun and moon)
(Gotta give one to Chinese people for coming up with auspicious names)
Luo Yunxi was injured right before production began when filming his final scene in Light Chaser Rescue. He got punched in the mouth by a costar which required emergency surgery and left a scar on the top left corner of his mouth. Production was delayed as a result. Bai Lu had to film her solo scenes first starting Oct 19, 2021. The booting ceremony took place on Nov 6, 2021 after Luo Yunxi joined the set.
Luo Yunxi was the first actor to be cast, according to an interview with the producer. It is rumored that he might have even picked which novel to adapt as Otter initially optioned both "Black Moonlight" and "Black Lotus Casebook". Bai Lu is also the "only choice" for Li Susu according to Yu Zheng.
Yin Tao (Who Rules The world, Love & Redemption, and Ancient Love Poetry) was originally considered for director, but he worked on the Blood of Youth instead. In the end they went with Kuk Kok Leung, an award-winning veteran TVB director who has adapted 7 out of 8 Jin Yong novels. One of the Cantonese songs Luo Yunxi kept singing on set is the OST of the 1983 Condor Heroes where Kuk served as Assistant Director.
Sun Zhenni (Pianran) and Zhao Shiyi (Fuyu) won their roles through open casting call. Sun Zhenni was a big fan of Bai Lu, and the two became close friends during the shoot. She is 1/4 German Jewish through her paternal grandmother.
Chen Duling (Ye Bingchang / Tian Huan) briefly dated Xichao Wang (who plays Jing Mie, the demon god's other lieutenant). They were apparently introduced by Yu Zheng (boss of Bai Lu's studio).
Luo Yunxi and Sun Zhenni are the only actors who dubbed themselves in the drama. Bai Lu is dubbed by Duan Yixuan, who is also the voice behind Linglong in Love & Redemption.
This is the second time Luo Yunxi plays a dragon god (Runyu is the first). This is also the second time Bai Lu plays a character who leaps off the tower to her death in a costume drama.
Post-production was rumored to be delayed and then rushed due to a number of reasons, including covid which hit the special effects team hard and the last minute change of the 40-episode rule.
Promotion
During the premiere day, celebrities posted on Weibo to promote the drama in support of Luo Yunxi (usually actors only ask for this favor when it's a really important project to their career): Huang Xiaoming, Tan Songyun, Wu Jingyan, Chen Yuqi, Cheng Xiao, Victoria Song, Zhang Ruonan, Huang Xuan, Chen Yao. The most noteworthy ones were Chen Xiao (whose drama was also opening on the same day) and EDG (the esports team that LYX supports)
#till the end of the moon#luo yunxi#bai lu#black moonlight holds the be script#cdrama#chang yue jin ming#chinese drama#tantai jin#tteotm#ye xiwu#ashes of love#immortality#2ha#love is sweet#leo luo
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190323 Incheon Airport heading to Hong Kong
MIngFai ✧ do not edit.
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171124 Palette Concert Tour Press Conference in HK
Cr: MingFai
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Ming Fay’s “Shad Crossing” (2004) at Delancey Street-Essex Street (F/J) celebrates the return of the once abundant shad fish to New York. These river herring typically spend the majority of their adult lives at sea and migrate up coastal rivers like the Hudson River in the spring. Considered a delicacy, shad played a vital role in the region’s history, however, due to pollution, overfishing and the construction of dams, migrations have declined, and commercial and recreational shad fisheries were closed in 2010. Ming Fay continues to investigate the symbolic relationship between the natural world and human needs or desires in his show “Beyond Nature”, on view at Sapar Contemporary through June 1.
#MTAArts#MingFay#delanceyst#essexstreet#lowereastside#hudsonriver#shad#shadfish#shadcrossing#beyondnature#saparcontemporary#LES#subwayart#overfishing
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Our very own China Country Manager, CK Li, won a super cool prize at the #MingFai 2017 Customer Appreciation Party #明辉集团 #百泥坑 #CSR #WASH (at Kerry Hotel Hong Kong)
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you have the same name as my cousin and youre like also the same age as her but as far as i know she doesnt have similar interests as me so i had a very weird moment just now
:o
my name is actually short for mingfay so if ur cousins name is mingfay then whoa
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Shui Long Yin 《水龙吟》 - What we know so far about this massive project
By now many of you have heard about Shui Long Yin 《水龙吟》, Luo Yunxi's upcoming and third project with the studio behind Till the End of the Moon. Here's my read on the announcement earlier.
1. Good news - It's going to be largely the same creative team behind TTEOTM.
You have Wang Yirong as Lead Producer & Artistic Director, Huang Wei as Costume Designer, Wang Haiqi as Action Director, Tsang Mingfai as Makeup Director, Huatian for World Concept (also known for Ashes of Love and the Untamed). Basically, we'll see the return of the brilliant minds behind the Dunhuang-inspired costumes and hour-long epic fight sequences.
It's a good sign they're holding most of the team together. A lot of great directors, like Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, David Cronenberg, work with the same creative talent over and over again. There's certainly an argument that you produce better work when you collaborate with people you trust and know well.
2. Up and coming Director Chen Zhoufei will make up some of the deficiencies of TTEOTM in the cinematography and lighting departments.
Chen Zhoufei started out as a cinematographer in films with the likes of Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. More recently he directed The Forbidden Flower (2023) and Double Tap (2021), which, if nothing else, is beautifully and stylistically shot.
It's interesting they've moved away from the old school Hong Kong directors they used in Immortality and TTEOTM. Directors from the TVB system are known to be more experienced, scrappy, and reliable when it comes to working within budget (which is why they're favored for big xianxia productions), but they've also been criticized for falling behind on technical execution and artistry.
It is as the industry article I shared predicted - Otters Studio is a relatively inexperienced player, but they can quickly close their gaps by bringing new blood to the team.
3. They're bringing a new Art Director, Zheng Chen from Lost You Forever.
This isn't all that surprising given that Luan Hexin, TTEOTM's Art Director, is with Huanyu, Bai Lu's management company. (In fact there was a bit of real life drama when Yu Zheng, Bai Lu's boss, publicly called out TTEOTM's producer for not refuting false rumors that Bai Lu was only cast because the production wanted Luan Hexin, arguably Huanyu's biggest asset, as part of her "dowry".) Now it's sad to see award-winning Luan go, but he is best for authentic period sets and IMO not the most suited for xianxias.
Instead, they've tapped Zheng Chen, who most recently worked on Lost You Forever, which I have yet to watch. With that said, some of the sets look great to me, with bold use of colors, and I can already see this pairing well with Chen Zhoufei's aesthetics.
4. This time they're not working with screenwriter He Fang, instead going with Lin Conghe (unofficial)
He Fang is the lead screenwriter behind TTEOTM and Immortality (everyone who's read Immortality's screenplay will know it's all but a guaranteed hit) and in my opinion one of Otter's greatest assets. She's brilliant at staying loyal to the spiritual core of source novels, while weaving convoluted plot points through a more robust background story and logic.
It's a slight disappointment that she won't be back, but it's also not entirely surprising. TTEOTM and Immortality are both big, female-oriented fantasy romance IPs. Meanwhile Shui Long Yin's IP is quite dated, lesser known, and incomplete, so I'd expect that the drama will only be loosely based on the original. While we don't know much about Lin Conghe, he did recently work on the Blood of Youth sequel, where he was the lead screenwriter alongside author Zhou Munan, so he might actually be a better choice for this genre (xuanhuan wuxia).
5. The way HunanTV & Mango announced the drama is unusually high profile, indicating that this is one of the platform's biggest projects.
It's rare to have one of China's biggest hosts announce a new drama that hasn't even started shooting or released any details yet live on prime time TV. (Usually a drama's official announcement comes out on the day of its booting ceremony, if not during its production or at its wrap ceremony.) It's even rarer for a costume drama to announce a TV platform at this stage. These days it's quite difficult for costume fantasies to get a coveted TV airing slot given genre restrictions and additional censorship requirements. Typically you do not find out officially whether it will air on TV until literally right before it airs.
Before the official announcement, rumors have already been circulating that there's a bidding war behind the scenes for this project, with Mango and its parent HunanTV outbidding Youku in the end. Mango/HunanTV is already the market leader in variety shows, but is behind the other three platforms in scripted content. Apparently, they've recently received an injection of funding to shore up their drama department and now investing in tentpole projects that can help them gain share. Clearly they saw what TTEOTM did for Youku.
6. There's another interesting player in the mix: China Mobile and its subsidiary Migu.
It appears that China Mobile (one of the most valuable companies in China and a state-owned enterprise) has invested in the drama, which will be made available on its online video platforms. Apparently, the last time China Mobile invested in a drama, they sent text messages to every user to publicize it when it aired. Now not sure if this will happen (it's not patriotic drama after all), but they've already been promoting the drama through their gazillion affiliate social media accounts. Either way, it should be a good thing for the drama's distribution to have such an influential backer given Mango's lower daily active user.
7. They're making it super clear that Luo Yunxi is going to be the dominant male lead in this drama
In the first Weibo post, they only announced the title, Luo Yunxi, and the airing platforms. In the second Weibo post, where they announced the rest of the creative team, they still did not announce the other actors! Of course, this is likely because Luo Yunxi's company (which is really just him) bought the source novel's IP and is credited as a co-producer. (They don’t have any production capabilities at all, so Otter will likely be quarterbacking this.)
This suggests, like many who have read the novel already know, that Luo Yunxi will have by far the biggest part. The other roles, including the female lead role, will likely be smaller and revolve around the main character.
8. Shui Long Yin is already generating a lot of hype.
To date its Weibo announcement racked up >1M likes (more than double that of TTEOTM). There's already a very active Douban group debating all the rumors, most importantly whether Luo Yunxi will use a wig or his real hair (a highly divisive topic). The new drama has even been reported by China Daily, China's state media facing the international community, which is again exceedingly rare. China Daily doesn't usually report on entertainment news, and most hit shows don't get mentioned even after airing.
There's always a big risk with productions with this much anticipation so early in the process, from fan wars and disruptive stalking on set to accusations propagated by competitors that can invite more state scrutiny. Fingers crossed that the team knows what they're doing and can weather all the storms that will undoubtedly come its way.
9. Finally, I remain cautiously excited.
Production quality will likely be great, with such a strong creative team and financial backers with deep wallets. My main worry is that it'll be beautiful, but boring. For this genre (xuanhuan wuxia or basically wuxia with high fantasy elements), it's really important that the story moves fast and the underdog hero keeps outsmarting or outfighting everyone else in a way that gives viewers a sense of exhilaration. It'd be all too easy for the story to get bogged down by a large cast of unmemorable characters and a meandering plot. Otters Studio is usually great at delivering fast-paced high drama (just based on TTEOTM and the screenplay of Immortality), but they're working with a different screenwriter this time and it's not easy to be a consistent hit maker. Let's hope they stick to their intuition and continue to present stories and characters that excite viewers.
#luo yunxi#till the end of the moon#cdrama#black moonlight holds the be script#tteotm#chinese drama#shui long yin#otters studio
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Shui Long Yin Official Announcement
Officially Announced:
Drama: Shui Long Yin 《水龙吟》 (no official English title is announced yet, but it loosely translates to "Water Dragon Roars"
Starring: Luo Yunxi
Platform: Hunan TV, Mango, Migu Video, China Mobile HD
Produced by: ZSTC Media Group 中视同成 (Luo Yunxi's own management company who owns the IP but has no production capabilities), Otters Studio 獭獭文化 (main production company)
Producers: the 11 producers listed are essentially executives of the platforms and production companies mentioned above
Lin Jun 林君, ZSTC Media Group Founder/CEO
Ye Fangcang 叶方仓, Otters Studio CEO
Tang Pan 唐潘, Mango Producer
Gan Yuqing 甘雨青, Migu Video Production Content GM
Zhou En 周恩, Mango/HunanTV Producer
Jiao Yunfei 焦云飞
Jiang Hao 姜浩, HunanTV Producer
Bu Yanan卜亚男
Chu Jianfeng 储建峰, Mango/HunanTV Producer
Tang Chenqi 汤辰骐
Lead Producer & Artistic Director: Wang Yirong 王翼荣 (Till the End of the Moon, Immortality)
Based on the Novel by: Teng Ping 藤萍 (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)
Director: Chen Zhoufei 陈宙飞 (The Forbidden Flower, Double Tap; also cinematographer of Shadow, a Zhang Yimou film)
World Concept: Huatian Concept Art 花田概念艺术 (Till the End of the Moon, Immortality, The Untamed, Ashes of Love)
Art Director: Zheng Chen 郑辰 (Lost You Forever)
Costume Director: Huang Wei 黄薇 (Till the End of the Moon, A Dream of Splendor, Immortality)
Action Director: Wang Haiqi 王海岐 (Till the End of the Moon, Immortality, Ashes of Love)
Makeup & Styling Director: Tsang Mingfai 曾明辉 (Till the End of the Moon, Immortality, Ashes of Love)
Unofficial Information
Genre: Xuanhuan Wuxia (basically wuxia with more fantastical elements, similar to Blood of Youth)
Production Period: Dec 2 (rumored start) for 4-5 months
Air Date: 1H 2025 (my estimation). It'll likely wrap around April 2024 and will need at least 9-10 months in post-production, which makes the earliest airing window CNY of 2025. Given the large investment, it'll likely air as soon as it receives its license. which will take longer than the average costume idol drama due to additional review requirements for TV broadcast
Episodes: 40
Screenwriter: Lin Conghe 蔺丛鹤 (Little is known about the screenwriter, which is not unusual. He was last credited as the lead screenwriter for the yet to be aired Blood of Youth sequel 《少年白马醉春风》 and a low budget drama The Yin and Yang Formula 《阴阳诀之祭情》).
#luo yunxi#till the end of the moon#cdrama#black moonlight holds the be script#tantai jin#tteotm#chinese drama
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