Bitch Talk: On “Chemistry”

Every time I read a fangirl gushing about the “Chemistry!!!” of a drama couple, I wonder if they’re aware of what goes on in a set.

Take this for example.

 

Many viewers of this clip were flustered when they realized that the actress was the only female among a majority male crew, studying the couple’s every move on film. No wonder she felt self-conscious and remarked that she looked fat on screen. Her comment could be taken as a) body-shaming herself, or b) calling attention away from the scrutiny of their kissing technique.

Too often, what a fangirl sees as “chemistry” is simply fine acting by two professionals, guided by a director, and captured by a cameraman. There isn’t space, privacy, and freedom to develop authentic emotions on a set, especially in a sizzling scene like in the Youtube clip. So that sense of genuine connection between the main characters is produced in a very managed environment.

As soon as the director yells, “Lights, camera, action!” the actors are required to turn on their emotions like a light switch.  When the director calls “Cut!” they’re called to snap out of the moment. Like, who does that in real life? Switch their emotions on and off on cue? 

Then, as if the director’s orders aren’t enough, the actors must pay attention to the blocking, lights, props, timing, facial expression, hand placement, bad breath, voice control, delivery of their lines, …. and their partners.

Next time, you hear a fangirl raving about that so-and-so had phenomenal chemistry on screen, show her that clip of Liang Jie and her costar in “Mr Honesty”  or this Youtube clip of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn.” Their kiss kept being interrupted that her “inspiration has run dry.”

21 Comments On “Bitch Talk: On “Chemistry””

  1. Growing Beautifully (GB)

    I’ve watched a few BTS of the shooting of intimate scenes and generally pity everyone. LOL. They are scenes that are hard to get right on just a few tries. So many instructions and changes and re-shoots for different angles. Poor actors have about 20 other people standing around and getting as tired as themselves. I applaud all the times that is any convincing chemistry at all!!

  2. I don’t know how the actors do it. Don’t they get chapped lips after the 5th take?

    And if I were an actress and an actor were to shove his tongue into my mouth without my permission, I’d knee him. Seo Kang Joon (“When the Weather is Nice” lead) grossed me out in that short clip of him in a french kiss with An So Hee. Never looked at them the same way again. I’m not posting that YT here.

    🙂

  3. Growing Beautifully (GB)

    There was once I caught a BTS of a show I never even watched… “Flower Boy Ramyun Shop”, where the kiss scene actually had the poor FL lips bleeding. She complained. Seems that speed was required in that kiss and the knocking of teeth into lip was most tiresome. Poor kid. That was Jung Il Woo and Lee Chung Ah.

  4. #packmule3,not to mention the number of takes required for each camera angle, lighting,make up,hair,continuity. Have been a fan since childhood and as an adult took a few film courses. Most of what we see is so technical be and therein lies the magic. it’s not easy for the actors and so many takes are necessary
    If there are sex scenes, modesty patches are used to cover private areas but don’t always work. And in the American fi industry, because if issues related to sexual harassment, there are now intimacy consultants who are tasked with preventing wrong doing,e.g, lawsuits. I would be a liar if I said I didn’t enjoy the illusion. But as you so we’ll pointed out, there is so much work that goes into making us happy.

  5. I liked your article!
    That word is too fuzzy to make sense.
    And often it’s the story that produces the intensity.
    If I take the Yong Pal drama, for example.
    The two leads are Joo Won and Kim Tae Hee.
    My hunch before seeing the drama:
    Those two actors are completely incompatible.
    Joo Won is too cherubic, and he plays a rather comical character.
    Kim Tae Hee is a classy and mature woman, and plays a desperate woman.
    The usual term is “zero chemistry”.
    And yet, the sentimental story of the drama won me over!
    The script and situations produced the intensity of their encounter.

  6. @packmule3 isn’t that why they slap on copious amounts of chapstick BEFORE? And I think there are some actors (eg Ji ChangWook) who smoke, chew gum beforehand to get rid of the nicotine smell/taste…😕. So in reality it really isn’t very romantic at all.

  7. Unfortunately, for most viewers chemistry is all about the end product. Appearance that are almost perfectly match with each other. The look and eye/body-contact. When they are satisfied and get entertained with what they see upfront.

  8. “I love their chemistry” seems to be default comment on some sites (not going to mention one popular site). I feel like answering, “Gee, thanks for that nugget of information. Made my day.” hahaha.

  9. I heard about the nicotine smell. Ewww. If I were the unlucky actress kissing an actor who smokes, I’d take revenge by eating pizza with onions and anchovies right before our kissing scene.

    I say, fight bad breath with bad breath!

  10. It really is amazing how these actors are able to give us believable scenes of passion and emotion. I’ll never forget seeing a BTS of (now ended) variety show We Got Married. The scene was one where the couple is walking down the street under an umbrella together and it feels very intimate between the 2, and it feels like it’s just the 2 of them alone. Cut to the BTS and of course in reality the couple is surrounded by about 6-7 people holding mics, etc. And the camera was I think about 6 inches from their faces ( I was surprised at how close it was). I was truly amazed at their performance and ability to make me believe I was witnessing an intimate moment between 2 people. With the added pressure of a kiss or sex scene in the mix, I can’t even imagine how they do it, which is why I give major props when it’s done well because it’s not easy.
    Most of the time, viewers are caught up with the actors but the director is actually the one who has the most control over what we see on screen but this is unknown by most viewers. I was surprised by the amount of control a director has after I watched this BTS clip of a kiss scene in Taiwan drama “Hello Again!”. The director is constantly telling the actors where to put their hands, even telling FL how many seconds to wait before letting her shoe drop. It’s English subbed (just click on CC button at bottom right of screen). Eye opening.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZemcWGbwO8c

    As a viewer I’m caught up in what I see on screen and so I will focus on the 2 actors only as I do not see the camera, director and crew members. I think “chemistry” is used by viewers to explain their feelings while watching the actors’ performance, as it has been since the beginnings of film. I’ll agree that when we talk about “chemistry” we are not thinking about all the technical details and how it is really a group effort of many different professionals working together to produce a performance, but a viewer is not really meant to be thinking about that anyway. It’s supposed to look effortless and natural, otherwise how can we suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the story? When someone says “They have great chemistry!” I just take it to mean that for that person, they enjoy seeing the actors together on screen and find their interactions believable and exciting.
    While I do believe most viewers understand that it’s just a performance and doesn’t involve real feelings, there are definitely plenty of viewers who think what they see on screen is real feelings between the actors. Which is why we have “shipping” for every single drama. Case in point: there were several posts about the Ep. 11 kissing scene in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay where the poster was trying to point out all the ways/signs that the scene was showing how the 2 actors were not acting but actually attracted to each other. I fould the justifying a little disturbing actually. I always thought BTS would clarify that for viewers by showing the working conditions but instead those viewers just look for instances where they are sure they are seeing “real” emotions between the actors in these BTS clips.

  11. Just think that on some of these films they’re working 29 hour days. The actors and crew are probably spent half way through. And I bet bad breath and taste is common. And now with COVID, how do they prevent disease spread. Do they rapid test everyone, take temperature. I think it’s impossible to socially distance on a film set. They all should get combat pay.

  12. Many times the phrase “Great chemistry!” is followed by “Season 2, please!” even when the main character(s) is (are) killed off. So annoying…

  13. Your comment had me laughing. So true. “Season 2, please!” is another one of those useless comments.

    You gave me an idea for a blog post….

  14. Wow. That Torn MV of Natalie Imbruglia’s powerfully makes a point.

    With the utter lack of privacy that actors have while filming, it is a wonder we viewers are convinced we’re seeing an intimate, sincere moment. You’re right: what we see onscreen is the result of a team effort of actors, director, cinematographer, camera operators, gaffer, electricians, lighting technicians, etc.

  15. Howdy! 😊 I’m one of those culprit in the early days here in the blog but I’ve learned my lesson right? 😆

    If anything I have to give it to those hard working actors, directors and crew for making me believe that those fave kissing scenes of mine all looked and felt real. ☺️

  16. Good points, Table122000!

    Yes, the shipping of these lead actors can be excessive. I get recommendations on my YT account about Kim Go Eun and Lee MinHo dating secret “revealed!!” I don’t understand why my account is bombarded with these clips, and I’m tempted to delete youtube and download the app to get a fresh start.

  17. Sometimes watching intimate and emotional scenes makes me feel like an ugly voyeur…

  18. Thanks, @pm3. Great topic! I don’t know if the “shipping culture” is unique to Asian dramas, but it does seem, to me at least, to be more extreme for Asian drama fans. I try not to let the OTT comments about it bother me, but sometimes it really gets to me. What I find so funny is that it seems to happen to actors for every role they play-they get “shipped” with their co-star. It’s like there are “real feelings” with everyone an actor will work with. You would think that the “shipping” behaviors would only happen once in a while because it’s an especially unique bond or something, but no. That’s one of the reasons I don’t understand how these fans can always talk about “real feelings”. If “real feelings” are always happeneing with every role an actor plays, then wouldn’t that be a clue that the actor is practicing their craft?
    Then again, what do I know? I need to remind myself that we all need to give ourselves some slack in this area as it’s very easy to get caught up in the fantasy- we are all humans, after all. Plus, it is true that many actors are caught up in the fantasy themselves. We hear many times about actors meeting on set and then having affairs, dating, or even getting married. Sometimes it lasts but many times these relationships are brief. So I guess I can’t blame the “shippers”, but I do think some of them take it to the extreme.

  19. Old American Lady

    @Table122000, The extreme shipping culture is not confined to Asia. Google the series Outlander shippers and look at the damage to it’s male lead and the years long narrative wrought by mainly middle aged women, even when the female lead married in real life. This is not atypical. On many levels relationships develop on film and series sets because they are distant from home, sometimes remote and the work requires a level of pseudo intimacy that can emotionally be confused with the real thing. When filming is done, lots of actors and crew need to decompress and film relationships then come to an end. I think actors who use the Stanislavski Method, who immerse themselves in their roles, have a particularly hard time getting back to reality. Anyone who thinks these jobs are easy is fooling themselves. And now with fan meet ups and Cons, like comic con and Star Trek conventions, the talent is just continuing the illusion. As a young woman I went to a couple of Star Trek conventions where I saw first hand how insane certain fans can be. Of course, fan is short for fanatic and therein lies the extreme-fanatic fantasy run amok. I now am sort of seeing this with the Winter Gardeners and wonder if YYS will end up having toxic shippers/stanners. I think Korean liable law dies help temper them. But these people can definitely be viewed as an occupational hazzard.

  20. Thanks for your insights, @Old American Lady. It’s kind of sad to see that these types of extreme “delulu” behaviors are a part of the entertainment industy worldwide. I guess the rise of the internet has just made these type of “extreme fans” more visible. I feel bad for all of the actors and actresses that have to deal with this stuff.

  21. 🤣 Actually now the chemistry enthusiasts are now looking for more bts of the kissing scenes because they know it takes several takes to make them with the angles and rehearsals and all. That means more kissing than what is shown on the drama!!! 🤣 If it’s either to dissect and look for the futile “real feelings” or just want to enjoy the actors’ performance on a different view, I don’t know.

    I’m not sure if it’s because I saw this Mr. Honesty bts clip or some other bts clips that I began to ship less than before.

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