Drama, we all love it. Whether it is to pull us out of the mundane tenor of our lives or because it reminds us to be grateful for the calmness, stories of people struggling to simply make it through the day are captivating. From the days of the soap opera, a genre named for the homemakers doing laundry while watching these productions on the television, to the latest iteration of online productions, loyal and diverse audiences gravitate to these stories. One of the most recent and revolutionary are those created by GoodShort Productions. The company’s brief episodic series such as Will You be My Love Again, Becoming My Ex’s Mother-In-Law, and Fated Deal with the Mafia King have millions of views. These productions also have the common element of lead colorist Kai Tong creating a dynamic visual experience for them; one of the most important components in attracting younger viewers. GoodShort is acquiring a loyal audience with their commitment to bringing streaming content on par with major studio aesthetics and storylines which deliver exactly what viewers crave, but with unexpected twists. Wildly creative, Mr. Tong and his collaborators on these mini-series are giving consumers new choices to make in terms of what and how their entertainment is delivered in 2024.
GoodShort’s Will You be My Love Again quickly became one of the platforms most popular productions, amassing more than a million followers. This classic tale of mistreated children who find comfort in each other only to be separated and then reconnect in adulthood is presented with many modern twists. Melody and George are kindred spirits who haven’t fully given into the fact that they belong together. The audience is more astute than the characters themselves when it comes to this notion, particularly when gently prompted by Kai’s clever yet subtle artistry. In the first couple of episodes, we witness George as a child, being bullied by others. Grey tones with low saturation communicate his muted emotions and overall sense of hopelessness. When Melody arrives, warm colors are infused which increases the subjective brightness perceived by the viewer without affecting the overall tone of the image. The resulting effect is that, as George is being bullied by others on a gray street, Melody appears and brings light into his life. In episode six, when Melody discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her and her coworkers are acting unkind, Kai makes a very bold move by offsetting the entire image to green and then pulling back the skin tones slightly. The color palette is enriched by the cool but bright light, the pale skin, and the green walls. With this base, Kai adds details like Melody’s lips going from pink to ironic green and Melody’s boyfriend’s blue suit stands out more from the background. These pigment choices allow a transference of the emotional state of these characters to the viewer without any necessary exposition.
There’s a type of unconscious understanding that we all infer from color, whether we are aware of it or not. Kai leverages this often in the GoodShort min-series Becoming My Ex’s Mother-In-Law (over one million views). The ultimate revenge meets romance story, this series follows a young woman named Crystal who is framed for her boyfriend’s crime and then discovers he has dumped her after she finishes serving her prison sentence. As Crystal finds her way back to balancing the Karmic scales, loves presents itself in the most unlikely of scenarios. In scenes such as Crystal and Andrew’s (her love interest) first lovemaking, Kai uses a look reminiscent of The Shape of Water (Guillermo Del Toro’s Oscar Award–Winning film) with greens and blues that contrast reality and the aphrodisiac dream state. When Crystal is once again set up by her ex and is arrested, Kai uses a different green which is a nod to the Joker‘s color palette (the 2019 Oscar Award–Winning film by Todd Phillips).
His most recent work on GoodShort’s Fated Deal with the Mafia King, shows Kai once again intensifying the impact of the performances on-screen. A game of chess with dire consequences among mafia families, this story features multiple cliff hangers throughout the series. Kai confesses that working on this production was something of the realization of his dream to work on a story akin to The Godfather. In the office spaces, the restaurant, and the bar, we see how Kai has paid tribute to Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic film with his use of a low-key, warm look, which has orange mid-tone and milky white aesthetic. In contrast, the kidnapping scene leans into a green, dirty look which is heavily stylized.
By design, GoodShort productions are meant to be watched in the manner the viewer deems best, either in short episodes or continuously as a longer format. Because of this, it’s imperative that each episode elicit the desired emotion as quickly as possible. To this end, the color and the score of these productions hold more importance than that of more traditional productions. Kai Tong comprehends that the work he is doing is the foundation of a new style of entertainment; one that is likely to be the dominant form as the public prefers “on the move” viewing. While still deeply committed to the long form productions which have been the template of film and television for nearly a century, Kai is pioneering new territory with GoodShort.
Writer : Basil Thomson
Punit