When the BL director uses doorways, windows, mirrors, or other apertures to give the audience the impression of looking at something they maybe shouldn’t.
Peekaboo Framing
It’s an emotional distancing technique to make viewers feel simultaneously slightly uncomfortable and privy to something very private.
It can also be done by including a wall or some over very close object of setting/location to one (or both) sides of the frame, so that the viewer feels as if they are looking around the corner of something. Or have just waking into a room and happened upon the drama unfolding there.
For this reason this technique is often used to depict loneliness or extreme intimacy, when characters are exposing themselves to deep emotions.
It is also usually off center, to give an unsettling weight to the image.
The director of Until We Meet Again, New, used this technique for the KornIn characters specifically, both alone and together. He was showcasing the hidden frightened threatened nature of their romance. It’s in direct contrast to DeanPharm who are often depicted center screen with regards to apertures as well in open public spaces as a couple, fully exposed with no close objects interrupting the view. I think this is intentional, showing how both the couple and society has changed after reincarnation.
Similarly, the director of Lovely Writer fell back on peekaboo framing for Gene and Sib, but only when they were engaging in scenes of extreme domesticity. Their actual kissing scenes were filmed directly.
This is interesting as it’s almost as if the commentary of the lens is that the domestic boyfriends emotional aspect of their relationship is more private than the physical. Which makes prefect sense under the construct of this particular narrative.
