definitely fallen in too deep

Huo Linglong & Bai Yutang. Zhan Zhao Adventures | 雨霖铃 (2026)

Part 5: Camera Angles & Sound

(Other parts: Framing, Framing (bonus), Colour, Light & Shadow, Costuming, Bonus)

While the camera angles could have been part of the post on framing devices, I wanted to give them their own little highlight.

The East Palace has a habit of very rarely filming characters and scenes head-on, especially if it's during a monologue or less dialogue-heavy shot. It makes the scenes more interesting to look at and generally allows for more cinematic shots.

Scenes are either shot from below the characters' eyeline:

Or they're shot from above the character's eyeline:

The show also has an insane amount of Dutch angles and general spinny shenanigan shots, which makes for very dynamic and chaotic filming. The later episodes also have a surprising amount of handheld camera shots, creating a sense of confusion, urgency and chaos in the scenes.

I also want to take a second to praise the audio design. Some of the demons had very distinct and horrifying sounds associated with them, and the sound engineering set my teeth on edge in some cases. Best case in point, this fucking scene right here. Just chomping away on those candies, not a single note of soundtrack. Absolutely chilling stuff.

Yulingling Trio: Protectiveness

Part 4: Costuming

(Other parts: Framing, Framing (bonus), Colour, Light & Shadow, Camera Angles & Sound, Bonus)

As someone with a strong interest in historical fashion, I am always interested in the costuming used to give life to the characters. They tell their own tales, which are often highly specific to the culture they represent. While my other posts about framing, (lighting) colour, and light & shadow are somewhat universal for visual media, I don't pretend to know anything about the symbolism of certain colours or styles in Korean culture. What you'll find below is my interpretation and what I could find, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong :)

Gu-cheon's progression through the show in terms of costuming is pretty straightforward and clear. The clothing he wears (in public) shows his rising status: from the dirty beggar clothes at the temple, to the strict black robes of the feng shui master and ending the show wearing a hat usually reserved for the upper yangban classes. A real social climber!

However, the clothing that reflects his "true" emotions is what he wears in private, and to some degree also what he wears in the realm of Gwi. It's looser, sometimes untied, flowy and comfortable. Deep down, GC still identifies as and feels most comfortable in the clothes of a temple orphan.

Saeng-gang's wardrobe is less straightforward, but infinitely more interesting as it reflects her standing and alliances within the court. For the entire first half of the show, she is wearing the uniform of a court lady (essentially a servant). She has been summoned to the court by her father, but is to keep her real identity a secret. It's only after confronting the dowager queen, and thus revealing who she truly is, that she starts wearing clothing that fits her station as a princess. instead of the shorter blue jacket, she now wears the longer jackets of a high-class lady, and a braid that falls down her neck instead of tied up on her head.

However, SG remains visually separate from the royal family. She is wearing finer clothing, but usually in softer pastels, not the colours or styles worn by the other members of the royal family. Only after getting possessed by the crown prince's spirit, does she become visually part of the family. As she wears the royal reds, she is not only part of the cursed blood, but she also shows her alliance with the royal family.

After being betrayed by her grandmother and learning the truth of the curse, SG visually departs from the royal family and returns to her pastels, though with elements of black added to her wardrobe this time.

Similarly to GC, the king's clothing differs greatly between his public appearance and his private clothing. In public, he wears the stately and constrictive red robes of his station, while in private he mostly wears looser black and white or pastel clothing. During the appeasement ritual, he wears the most ornate clothing with a headdress reserved only for specific rituals.

As the realm of Gwi is a twisted mirror of the real world, it makes sense that clothing colours are also inverted and changed. GC's blue and black robes turn blood red in Gwi, except for in the primordial gwi-mae's realm. His hairtie remains red though, which I would like to think is a wink to SG's red hair ribbon but may just be a coincidence.

SG's clothes also change between the two worlds. Her blue collar becomes bright yellow, her red hair ribbon turns black. In the final scene, her previously pink jacket becomes blood-red.

Primordial Gwi Mae. I will give you whatever you want. In return, grant me your power so that I can save the Princess.

Part 3: Light and Shadow

(Other parts: Framing, Framing (bonus), Colour, Costuming, Camera Angles & Sound, Bonus)

Light is very important in visual arts. It draws and directs the eye to certain parts of the shot, and gives us a lot of subconscious information. How a character or scene is lit can influence how we feel about them. Can you really trust a character who is always cast in shadows? What does it mean when half of the screen bathes in warm light and the other half is hidden in cool darkness?

As humans, we get a lot of information from the facial expressions of the people around us. They help us understand how someone feels, what they think about us, how we should approach them (or not). The East Palace plays with this by deliberately hiding characters' faces in shadow, taking away that visual information.

It makes the characters mysterious, unpredictable, difficult to parse. It visually puts them at a distance from us, making it hard to empathise with them or understand their motivations. As the prince dies, we cannot see the faces of the king or any of the people around him. We cannot see his grief, his anger, or his disbelief. We are removed from empathising with him, because his humanity is hidden from our view.

Characters whose faces we cannot see turn into just silhouettes. Even those we may have previously cared about and related to become inhuman or otherworldly. It makes us question if we ever really knew them. Is the Gu-cheon who kills the ak-gwi still the man we know? Or has he become a different entity altogether?

Lighting can also quite literally put a character on the spot. It can be a sign of sudden realisation, of scrutiny or paranoia. As Saeng-gang gets closer to the truth of what happened 30 years ago, the king's actions are suddenly thrust into the spotlight again. In the same vein, his failure in handling the plague-village is under scrutiny by GC, who clearly sees the way the ghost(s) of the situation haunt the king.

And, as a bonus: a little study of light and shadow/warm light and cool light when it comes to our leads:

i think we deserve a soft epilogue, my love. we are good people and we’ve suffered enough. – Seventy Years of Sleep # 4. nikka ursula (n.t)

Part 2: Colour

(Other parts: Framing, Framing (bonus), Light & Shadow, Costuming, Camera Angles & Sound, Bonus)

Colour can be a powerful visual language in itself, one that many shows and films have long made use of. The femme fatale dressed in red, the grim reaper in his black robes, they all evoke certain emotions in us. The East Palace plays with colour, and especially with saturation to create visually distinct and powerful scenery.

The real world and the palace are heavily desaturated. It feels cold, grey, like all colour has been sapped out of it. This is clearly a place that has not known happiness or joy in a long time. In fact, it's a place that is mostly free of emotions whatsoever, where any expression of them is punished and pushed away. If there are colours, they are mainly cool tones like blues and greens.

The realm of Gwi, on the other hand, is oversaturated. It's full of warm colours such as reds, yellows, and purples. It's a volatile, emotionally charged place, where remnants of past grudges fester and bloom.

Different parts of the realm of Gwi are symbolised by different colours: the inner chambers of the palace are mostly red, the outside courtyard is yellow, the home of the soul-eating gwi-mae in the east palace is purple.

The realm of the primordial gwi-mae Gu-cheon makes a deal with is an exception. It's mostly cool, white and grey, but the colour is so overwhelming that it is clearly otherworldly. It shows that this gwi-mae is an entirely different entity from anything we've seen before, a being that is neither good nor bad but something simply beyond our comprehension.

There are scenes where the barriers between the real world and Gwi fade slightly. Whenever Gwi bleeds into the real world, scenes get warmer, yellow tones. Rooms are lit by candles, handprints shine through yellow light onto the paper walls. These are scenes with a strong spiritual presence, where you imagine that strange beings could step through the door at any time.

On the other hand, when the realm of Gwi gets less powerful or is invaded by elements of the real world, it becomes less saturated and some cool tones may be introduced. Saeng-gang's arrow quite literally pierces the veil between the two realms and brings the colours of the real world with it.

While mostly desaturated, the only colour that consistently pops in the real world is red. It's the royal red/magenta of the king's ceremonial robes, which always place him front and center as the most important person in the scene. His colour serves to anchor our gaze onto him at all times.

It's also the colour of SG's hair ribbons, or her jacket when she's more closely/visually allied with the royal family. (I've got another post coming with a breakdown of SG's wardrobe/colours)

Red also refers to spiritual practices or wards, ways to protect or bind in rituals. Note that the reds for these characters are very cooled down compared to the royal reds of the king and SG. While important spiritually, these characters are meant to blend into the scene more.