absolutebl: Yaoi filming, staging & framing techniques in BL BLs that visually referen
absolutebl: Yaoi filming, staging & framing techniques in BL BLs that visually reference yaoi manga Takumi-kun series (2007-2011) Japan’s first and probably best known live action yaoi adaptation with a higher heat level. It showcases how framing, filming angles, body positioning, staging, and cinematography can be used to reference the origin manga. Docchi mo Docchi (2014) Japan’s most direct and faithful manga adaptation. This movie is a manga brought to life in every way, it practically is a storyboard. All they did was cut out the sexy bits. Which drastically effects understanding of plot is some really weird ways. But still, it’s intentionally spot on derivative. You can see it in the poster advertising the movie.Seven Days (2015 in 2 parts) - Japan’s faithful story adaptation of the original manga of the same name (and possibly my favorite BL of all time), although the 2 movies actually use more yaoi framing in their live action than appear in the original manga. (Possibly because this was the artist’s first manga so her style is a little undeveloped?) Love Stage!! (2020) - Japan’s recent traditional yaoi adaptation, although they dropped the cross dressing gender fluidity angle. Admittedly, it was kinda problematic but I would have liked to see them attempt to put it on the screen. It’s in the anime, if you wanna check out what I’m referring to. Cherry Magic (2020) - Japan’s best modern BL (IMHO) although it uses less of a yaoi filming style than I expected. Instead it melds some of Japan’s cinema mentality (which you can see on full display in Restart After Come Back Home or His) by applying long panning shots, dramatic lighting, and lens flares instead of yaoi quick cuts. However, it occasionally stages in a yaoi style and many of its close up shots owe their framing to manga. This might be because the original manga, while fantastic conceptually and story-wise, isn’t great artistically. 2 Moons (2017) - one of Thailand’s few early BLs that references Japanese yaoi, and even so, only lightly. Thailand will pick up and adopt yaoi visual tropes, but they don’t often use the filming techniques and staging. This might be because when Thailand is adapting from an existing source (like 2 Moons, Oxygen, Nitiman, KinPorsche etc…) they are usually going from novels (not manga) so they’re referencing the written word not a visual art form. Although… Great Men Academy (2019) - speaking of Thailand, this (not strictly BL) uses a lot of Japanese live action yaoi techniques. It has that superhero movie use of a strong storyboard, pushing it into advanced attention on framing and staging and a very clean concept. Oxygen the series (2020) - Thailand’s most recent consciously styled BL. Those candy colors, those very precise shots inside buildings, the way the cafe workers are dressed and move around in the background, it’s all quite yaoi - whether it’s an accident of director taste or conscious reference to BL’s heritage is difficult to tell. History 4: Close to You (2021) - Taiwan’s Anson Chen seems to have stepped right off the page of a manga and onto the screen, it’s crazy. Actually more of the HIStory franchise than you think uses yaoi filming, also the occasional style/wardrobe moment. (That weird one lock of hair that sticks up off Shao Fei’s head in Trapped? Such a manga nod.) Color Rush (2021) - Korea does a picture perfect pastiche of yaoi visuals in an elevated coming of age allegory for sexual awakening. This is one of my favorite BLs OF ALL TIME for a number of reasons, and filming style is one of them. Given (2021) - Japan never forgets its roots and the Given live action adaptation (of the anime of the manga) could have been made a decade ago and it would probably look exactly the same. This is traditional live action yaoi with a capital T. It makes really clever use of the looming nature of the instruments the boys carry on their backs as part of framing though, but also to indicate the obsessive nature of music and it’s importance to the narrative. Yaoi Sources for BL Production & Camera Work Japan’s early oeuvre of live action manga adaptations owes its staging, framing, and filming style to its source. Which is to say, much in the same way that early American superhero movies cribbed comic books for storyboarding and scene staging, so too went Japan with yaoi. The origin manga essentially provides a storyboard. This can feel unusual to Western audiences because romances and romcoms are rarely storyboarded so severely, certainly not to the extent that an action movie would be. The shift between close focus (on face, eyes, hands in particular) and then full body (couples together) is mostly done through sharp cuts back and forth (and very precisely framed), as opposed to in most non-yaoi romances, where the camera tends to pan in or out. Thus a storyboard reliant pre production, when it becomes production, can feel stilted and choppy. A Western audience just isn’t accustomed to seeing this style of filming applied to romance. YAOI STAGING Uncluttered and specifically staged settings, often with a framed center focus. AKA all the stuff in the room seems to revolve around the character (or characters) in the middle of the shot. Cherry Magic used this staging as a tool for metonymy. As Adachi is more and more unable to cope with being separated from Kurosawa, his apartment becomes cluttered and messy, and that messiness is less centrally focused - it’s leaking into other parts of the frame. In other words, the set dressing is being used to indicate increased emotional stress and mental pain but also a lack of unity between the two main characters. Vietnamese and Pinoy BL almost never applies (or thinks about) staging techniques for their set dressing. This gives their BL an aura of realism (we feel like they are filming inside someone’s actual home) but this materially separates it from yaoi references and roots. YAOI FRAMING 1. Placing a staggered couple in center with attention paid to body positioning, posture, and stance. Example: 2. Filming through a doorway or window to create peekaboo shots, often panning away from the couple to show they are together in a confined space. Obviously this is a popular in manga because it is a way to indicate space and still obey paneling constraints. Example: 3. Linear distance framing is also popular in BL and in yaoi manga (for exactly the same reason as above). Example: YAOI FILMING 1. The kinds of framing shots I just mentioned above are often cross cut with extreme close-ups of faces in both yaoi and live action BL adaptions.2. Switched focus from full body or ¾ shots of a couple to a specific body part (or point of physical contact) happens a lot too. This is usually used to emphasize physical interest or threat or both. Often the hand or hand placement will be focused on. 3. The classic tilted lens pointed over the shoulder shot is often used to emphasize the height, superiority, and/or dominance of the seme character. Live action yaoi loves an angled overhead shot. Like REALLY loves it. 4. The camera has a voyeuristic gaze. (Least we forget early yaoi in particular ties more to erotica than it does romance.) Guess who likes putting this one into BL? Why yes, that would be Taiwan. All these styles of filming are signal markers of yaoi roots and when they show up in a modern BL piece out of Korea, Thailand, or Taiwan I get bouncy. I would go so far as to say it indicates the director is familiar with the history of the genre and/or has been influenced by Japanese cinema. Common Visual Tropes that Come to BL from Yaoi A few tropes we still see today also come directly out of yaoi, but seem to be less intentionally used or applied. Dragging baby around by the wrist (there a moment in WBL 2 when Shi De just puts his wrist into Shu Yi’s own hand to be dragged and it’s such a WONDERFUL yaoi moment I CAN’T EVEN with those two.) Extreme height difference (emphasizing the seme/uke dynamic) Clumsy baby crashes into you Heart hurts (rapid heartbeat or heart pain means love) Staggered couple framing Aggressive loom (often executed with a hand braced up against a wall, very popular in locker rooms) More about the history of yaoi manga and BL the Top 10 + History series specifically, Japanese BL here. Further reading? Here are some yaoi recommendations for BL watchers. (source) -- source link