Film continuity: 02.(Hairdo again!)

 

Simply can’t get away from occupational hazard.

    As a teacher / editor / typesetter / proofreader / translator / interpreter (and pedant), I notice anomalies more than most people, I guess.  Even more since I'd worked on a few television documentary film projects where I'd learned the tricks of the trade, which include the issue of continuity.

    I’m watching a mainland Chinese drama series set in 1947.

    In one of the (55) episodes, there’s a scene in the courtyard where the young man wants to have a quiet word with his sister’s father-in-law, so he takes the older man to one of the side buildings.

    When he is in the courtyard, the young man’s hairline is straight:  straight across the top of the forehead (no fringe), and straight down the sideburns.

    A few yards across the courtyard and indoors, the young man’s hairline along the top of the forehead has gone wavy (a little clump of fringe has appeared like a promontory on his forehead), and his (left) sideburn has also become bigger with some wavy growth, sticking out into his (left) cheek more than before.

    My nephew Ching Kai (https://chingkai.co) in Singapore has worked in theatre as a set director, so I sent the before and after screenshots to him to share my outrage at this sloppiness by the continuity people.

    His reply was, “风太大。“ (fēng tài dà / “wind too big” / too windy)  Hahahahahahaha.

    Still laughing, even now as I’m writing it up as a blog to share his wit, two days later.