tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post7535733026622400479..comments2024-02-15T06:33:28.234-08:00Comments on LL's Musings 小賢角落: OCTB - Latest News!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-35791978683043473222018-02-22T22:59:16.083-08:002018-02-22T22:59:16.083-08:00@Eric Lim: Yes, Jiu Jik was based on Heath Ledger...@Eric Lim: Yes, Jiu Jik was based on Heath Ledger's Joker character from Dark Knight. The actor who plays Jiu Jik -- Justin Cheung -- actually did an interview last year where he talked about his inspiration for Jiu Jik and how he's a huge fan of Heath as well as his portrayal of Joker, which is why he modeled the character after him. Justin said that his own portrayal is nowhere near Heath's level, but he sees his performance as more his way of paying tribute to the late actor.llwy12https://www.blogger.com/profile/02401832364832078932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-16033455952133275732018-02-22T22:24:25.193-08:002018-02-22T22:24:25.193-08:00Notice that Jiu Jik is bearing resemblance to Joke...Notice that Jiu Jik is bearing resemblance to Joker from Dark Knight. Purple shirt, white skin, maniac laugh, Trying to bring the good person to the dark side, smeared red lips and saying he wont kill the main character cause he is nothing without himAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07000053055287419001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-76706501394339250652017-10-27T07:25:59.226-07:002017-10-27T07:25:59.226-07:00Finally….Jones Soong did a few in-depth interviews...Finally….Jones Soong did a few in-depth interviews with HK01 where he talks about his life prior to entering the industry and also the difficult path that he and his industry “brothers” went through in order to get OCTB made. There’s some really good stuff in the interviews – gave me some new insight into the series and also Visual Brothers company as a whole. I’ll try to put up some highlights when I have time…<br /> llwy12https://www.blogger.com/profile/02401832364832078932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-17373057265186141382017-10-25T18:52:18.635-07:002017-10-25T18:52:18.635-07:00@Phixter Totally agree about HKTV's The Menu, ...@Phixter Totally agree about HKTV's The Menu, Borderline, and Night Shift. Although I haven't watched OCTB yet I did catch a glimpse when my dad was watching it and I couldn't help but wonder if the police station was the same one used in Borderline? Anyway I have the same sentiments as you that I wish this success which inspire HKTV to resume productions again. In fact I feel this "success" will be another kicker for Ricky Wong who regretted not going the web series route when 100Most/TVMost skyrocketed to popularity online.<br /><br />@llwy12 Need to check back my previous comments but did you ever figure out whether some of HKTV"s production crew are working for Visual Brother's Limited? Can't be a coincidence that their filming style, real locations, and ideology are almost a mirror image of HKTV. If so it's great to see those trained by HKTV overseas and in different ways were able to find a platform to express themselves instead of returning to TVB.<br /><br />All in all it's nice to see new life and hope for HK tv series because I'm sure most like me have given up on the TVBully or TVCopycat ahem. Unlike the rest of my family I haven't watched any HK tv series minus Margaret and David: Green Bean after HKTV stopped.<br /><br />I think Fox's biggest issue will be whether their story-lines can resonate with HK culture and lifestyle. I believe tapping into HK culture and nostalgia was the main success to OCTB. If Fox can have storyline that reflects the true side of HK preferably right now then it'd be great. Though from the looks their focus seem to be on older eras such as premodern and 80s. Hopefully they will have some modern series as well.<br />sport3888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-7858297767295919072017-10-25T07:17:12.796-07:002017-10-25T07:17:12.796-07:00@Phixster: Well-said! It’s definitely rare for b...@Phixster: Well-said! It’s definitely rare for both veterans and newbies to all put in solid performances in a series, which is why seeing OCTB’s success is so refreshing and encouraging! <br /> <br />With that said though, there are a lot of companies jumping on the web series bandwagon nowadays, though so far OCTB is the only one I’ve seen that is a quality production targeted 100% toward HK audiences. Most of the other series emphasize the Mainland component more than HK, which of course isn’t surprising but frustrating when there are already so few purely HK/Cantonese options out there now.<br /> <br />Definitely agree that HKTV still wins hands-down (and not just their series, but also the way they operated as well as the overall philosophy of the company). I think for me, I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that HKTV is done and over with, though of course they will continue to live on through fans like us as a wonderful memory of what “could have been”. I will still support HKTV if they ever decide to resume filming again, but it’s going to be a tough road for them given everything that has happened and also the fact that the HK television industry’s landscape is different now. I think all we can really do at this point is hope for the best…<br /> <br />After seeing OCTB’s success, I’m actually interested in seeing how things are going to pan out for the next ‘major player’ in the HK drama world – Fox Asia. From what I’ve read, it sounds like they are planning to push out their series before the end of the year (though which series they are going to release first is hard to say) – there are some big names backing those series and also quite a few veterans involved in the production (some of the same people from OCTB and also HKTV’s series are in Fox Asia’s series as well), so on paper, it sounds promising…but we will have to see once the series come out…<br /> llwy12https://www.blogger.com/profile/02401832364832078932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-64807489350867796932017-10-25T02:46:05.052-07:002017-10-25T02:46:05.052-07:00Hopefully they learn from season 1 and improve on ...Hopefully they learn from season 1 and improve on it for season 2. I'm really glad that the solid acting in this series (from veterans to newbies) are getting recognition. It's a change from the current trend of Chinese artists only being recognised for their looks. <br /><br />OCTB is one of the better series to come out in the last 5 years. Of course HKTV still probably wins (Especially The Menu and Borderline/ Nightshift if you ignore the endings), but since HKTV is not producing series anymore, hopefully this will inspire other small production companies to make cantonese web dramas. Or better yet, inspire HKTV to start producing series again lol.Phixsternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-53232568264200650532017-10-24T07:18:08.599-07:002017-10-24T07:18:08.599-07:00@Phixster: That post on Facebook is actually from...@Phixster: That post on Facebook is actually from before they took the series down. Most people who read that also assumed that they were going to start charging for it, which is why reporters asked Jones Soong at the dinner whether that was true. Jones said at the dinner that they are not planning on charging audiences to watch and that the reason for taking it down was to create a 2.0 version. He said the plan at the moment is to put the series back up once the editing is done and to continue to let audiences watch for free. So far, that’s the latest “update” from what I can see (of course, this could change later but for now, let’s hope they keep to their word).<br /> <br />I agree with all of your points. The script definitely isn’t without its flaws, but overall, they did a better job than what we’ve seen from TVB’s scriptwriters in years. I’m actually not familiar with this particular scriptwriter so trying to do some research on him – from what I can see so far, he has mostly written scripts for films and most of them small films, a lot of it “cultish” stuff, which makes sense why he hooked up with Jones Soong, since they aren’t the “big budget production” type of movie guys. I liked the filming and directing angles as well. My understanding is that this style is kind of unique to Jones Soong and is the results of him studying filming for many years. Having a movie feel makes sense, since most of the behind-the-scenes crew are movie people, so that’s what they know. <br /> <br />Absolutely agree on the top notch acting from the veterans. They essentially carried the show and it was smart of the production team to focus on them rather than Danny and Jordan (both of whom have never been “great” actors to begin with). With that said, no doubt that all eyes will be on who the veterans will end up being for season 2, as we already know how important they are to this series. <br /> <br />I’m impressed with Justin Cheung as well – for him to kind of be a newbie (6 years in the industry) and still be able to hold his own so well against so many top notch veterans, really says something about his talent. His acting was way better than Jordan’s and Danny’s, that’s for sure. Yes, his character was a copy of Joker, but at least he is upfront about it for one and two, he did put his own spin to it – he said in previous interviews that he is a huge super hero movie fan and Heath Ledger’s Joker is one of his favorite characters, so in a way, he was trying to pay tribute to that through his performance (it also helps that Jones Soong is also a fan of Joker, so he was totally stoked on the idea). I actually started noticing Justin last year when I found out he would be part of The Menu movie version cast (his management company is Stephen Shiu Jr’s China 3D, the company that produced The Menu movie) and did some research on him…obviously I haven’t watched his previous movies (lol) but I had heard that his acting was pretty decent even when he debuted. I heard he’s gotten quite a few movie offers now after OCTB (including having the opportunity to film with Chow Yun Fat earlier in the year in a movie that I actually want to watch, as it has some of my favorite artists in it, like Liu Kai Chi, Catherine Chau, etc., plus the premise sounds interesting). Anyway…I’m actually looking forward to seeing Justin in season 2 and seeing what else he can do.<br /> <br />Yea, I’m a bit concerned about the plot for season 2 as well. The good thing is that with the experience of season 1 behind them, they still have time to tweak the script if need be and make sure everything makes sense. From what Sam Lee said during the dinner (he’s actually one of the producers of the series as well, as he’s one of the company’s partners), that sounds like what they are planning on doing….<br /> llwy12https://www.blogger.com/profile/02401832364832078932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5765116522593136045.post-67238602969939543532017-10-24T03:52:06.733-07:002017-10-24T03:52:06.733-07:00So I finished watching the series before it got ta...So I finished watching the series before it got taken down (and to those who haven't watched it yet, there are still some floating around on the internet on other platforms, because from their latest facebook post it sounds like they will be charging to view). <br /><br />Overall opinion:<br />- the script was mostly solid, good quality until the ending part where the plot holes became too big to ignore. But compared to TVB productions and some other Mainland productions I have seen, still decent. <br />- acting from the veterans were top notch and there were some promising young actors that stole the limelight aka Justin Cheung. Even though it was basically a copy of The Joker from Batman, he still managed to pull it off really well and was convincing as a psychopath.<br />- The acting from the 2 leads (Jordan and Danny), were probably the worse in the whole series but they were lucky to have veterans acting with them to take away the focus from them <br />- I liked the filming and directing angles, it was new and made the whole production more movie like. Not the best cinematography that I have seen in a Chinese TV series (that goes to Nirvina in Fire and The Disguiser) but some scenes were very impressive e.g. the dream scene where Jordan walks through those corridors of junk material and ends up shooting Danny<br />- I'm way too young to appreciate most of the inside jokes and references (or the historical period references for that matter too), which may have impacted on overall enjoyment level<br /><br />Looking forward to season 2 - I just hope it doesn't become repetitive in terms of plot lines and ideas. They should really consider making the series shorter if they were planning to do multiple seasons.Phixsternoreply@blogger.com