WEBVTT

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When I was in the 3rd grade of elementary school,

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I won the third prize in a drawing competition.

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I only studied for one year,

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in junior high school.

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One time I saw the movie page

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on the newspaper

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my family subscribed,

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I took a pen and paper

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and imitated the image on the newspaper.

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And I had done

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a really close imitation.

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So, I asked

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a young man,

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who worked in Tainan.

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I asked him

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if I can learn to draw movie posters in Tainan.

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He said yes.

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So, I went to find my aunt.

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My aunt happened to know

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a friend who knew my master.

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So, her friend introduced me there.

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I started learning when I was 18.

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I earned 200 a month as an apprentice.

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I only had vegetable and rice,

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but was unable to afford fish and meat.

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I was skinny.

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I really had a hard time.

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So, I made up my mind that I had to learn it well.

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Skin of girls should be a bit pinkish.

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Red plus white and yellow.

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It’s experience.

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You will naturally know

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once you reach a certain level.

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Starting from the brighter part,

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which requires lighter brushstrokes.

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Darker part requires heavy strokes.

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This is medium color.

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There’s bright part

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and medium color.

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But medium colors have

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different shades,

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which create layer.

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As an apprentice, the master

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won’t teach you how to draw step-by-step.

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Instead, you have to learn with your own eyes

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and experience it by yourself.

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That is, to understand how it works,

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which is the most important part of learning.

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You have to improve repeatedly

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when your technique isn’t good enough.

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I have overcome plenty of difficulties,

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to achieve the technique I possess today.

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This is the poster I drew at Tong Yi Cinema.

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The movie is Island of Fire.

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This poster in Tong Yi Cinema

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was probably drew

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around 20 or 30 years ago.

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This is a Shaw Brothers Star, John Chiang.

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He is my idol.

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This is a poster I drew for Yanping Theatre.

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The business for the theater was prosperous.

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The movie starring with John Chiang and Tommy Tam

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were packed with audiences.

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The business was also booming

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in Tong Yi Cinema.

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At that time, Tong Yi needed

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around 500 posters monthly.

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Posters were hung in every cinema in Tainan.

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Around 500 movie posters per month.

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There were 4 to 5 poster painters,

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so, I drew around 100 posters per month.

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It was always

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urgent.

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In early days,

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there were no online advertisings.

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So, there were lots of

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posters painters

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at that time.

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It became a kind of

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feature in movie cultural

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during that period.

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Gradually, painting posters

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was replaced by online advertisements.

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Painting posters require higher cost

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so, it seems to be less popular.

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But luckily

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as a long-standing cinema,

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we still keep this tradition

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of hand-painted posters.

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At first,

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the host of Fun Taiwan came to make an interview.

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About half a year later,

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the Associated Press came too.

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Then the BBC from the UK.

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Lots of TV channels also came to pay a visit.

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I have to look at the poster for a long time.

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Under the sunlight,

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I used to stare at the posters incessantly

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without wearing sunglasses.

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And I kept starting.

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My mid-peripheral of retina was detached,

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and no treatment is able to fix it.

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This eye had far-peripheral retina detachment.

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I had a laser eye surgery.

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I look at things with this eye.

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This is occupational illness.

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Usually,

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people think

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that my piece of work

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is amazing and beautiful

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without knowing how hard it is to produce a poster.

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Because this kind of job

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tends to

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be the kind of job

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that is lonely and lonesome.

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Because a painter paints by himself,

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he has to bear the boredom

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and remain calm and professional.

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And he must be patient.

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For all these years, Master Yen

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shows such a professional spirit

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such passion

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that he is in fact equipped with the traits

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of being a true artist.

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I am almost

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70 years old.

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I’ve been painting posters

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for 50 years,

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which is record-breaking.

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It’s the longest record of all time.

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No one has ever painted for such a long time.

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If I complete a skillfully painted poster

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I’d be happy just by looking at it.

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I hope to tell

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the students that