First encounter of Jin Sheng Huo and Gu Xiao Meng. Gu Xiao Meng accepts an entrance examination of Wang Puppet Corps and needs to open the safe to take out confidential documents within ten minutes. Gu Xiao Meng then completes several assessments in just over four minutes. Director Jin Sheng Huo receives a report that she has passed the first test and requires her to take a decipher test.
The Code Ship - a meeting is held here by the Japanese Army and attended by senior officials and decipher professionals.
Li Ning Yu, Chief of the Confidential Division, sees that the given document is a German Enigma code, which is encrypted by the second generation Enigma machine. She explains the structure and function of the cipher machine, telling them it's impossible to decipher without the proper machine. After an intense argument and skepticism, Morita orders his soldiers to bring out the Enigma Machine and gives 96 hours to finish the task.
Jin Sheng Xian is one of the decipher experts invited to the Ship. He always competes with Li Ning Yu and tries everything to find evidences to take her down in front of Morita. In this scene, he secretly takes and hides a part of Li Ning Yu's manuscripts that should have been destroyed in time.
Tension between Wu Zhi Guo and Li Ning Yu. Wu Zhi Guo and Li Ning Yu have known each other long ago - Li Ning Yu saved him once in the midst of a hazardous snowstorm. In this scene, Wu Zhi Guo says he would sacrifice his life to get her out of here. However, she refuses and promises to complete the task within due, saying that their philosophy of life are different from each other.
Morita is assassinated during the party. Morita's subordinate, Mitsuo, orders everyone to stay and starts an investigation to find the killer.
After confronting Mitsuo, Li Ning Yu comes back to the room and successfully saves everyone.
Li Ning Yu asks Gu Xiao Meng to take her a photo before leaving. It seems to be a regular photo but it is not because Li Ning Yu intentionally does so to erase Japanese Army's suspection on Gu Xiao Meng bringing camera onto the Ship previously.
Gu Xiao Meng and her father Gu Min Zhang have a controversy over her previous mission on the Code Ship.
Tatsukawa Hihara is investigating about the assassination on the Code Ship in private.
The first conversation among Jin Sheng Huo, Li Ning Yu and Gu Xiao Meng at the workplace after coming back from the Code Ship.
Gu Xiao Meng, Li Ning Yu, and Jin Sheng Huo are forcibly escorted to Qiu Zhuang.
Gu Xiao Meng observes a work of art on the wall of Qiu Zhuang called "Di Yu Bian" (temporary translation: Transformation into Hell). About "Di Yu Bian": at that time, the painter was unable to draw the appearance of hell because he had never seen hell. Later, the carriage that his daughter was riding in caught fire. The painter suddenly got the inspiration of hell so he drew his daughter in the sea of fire, instead of rescuing his daughter.
After a period of time, Tatsukawa Hihara detects that these 5 people have worked together to leave the Code Ship savely and suspects that "Phantom" is also among the five.
The five of them on the first night being captured in Qiu Zhuang. Qiu Zhuang is a symmetrical-constructed architecture, so Hihara's room is on the opposite side in order to eavesdrop and secretly monitor them.
Wu Zhi Guo angrily threatens Bai Xiao Nian with a knife.
Li Ning Yu suspects a hidden wiretapping device on the table.
A small dinner party is held at the Hall of Qiu Zhuang (1).
A small dinner party is held at the Hall of Qiu Zhuang (2). A family member or close acquaintance of each person out of the five is invited to the dinner. However, an incident happens as Wu Zhi Guo shoots Pan Han Qing who is Li Ning Yu's family member. Things are getting intense.
Li Ning Yu is drawing something on a newspaper. Hihara is always skeptical of anything she does so he tries having a conversation with her.
Wu Zhi Guo is chained and tortured.
Gu Xiao Meng, Li Ning Yu, and Jin Sheng Huo are having breakfast at the Hall and talking about the "Phantom". Jin Sheng Huo thinks that if there were no "ghost" (which implies a secret or anything being hidden) in his heart, there would be nothing to be afraid of, but Li Ning Yu says that if others had no "ghost" in their hearts, Jin Sheng Huo would not be safe. After hearing this, Jin Sheng Huo refutes and asks Li Ningyu why she must think that Jin Sheng Huo is the "Phantom".
A small formal dinner party is held and everyone dresses up for the night. In this scene, Hihara and Wang Tian Xiang come into the Hall from the outside and stand on the other side of the wooden panel. The circle on the panel matches the view of the telescope in Hihara's room, of which Hihara uses to visually spy on everything happens in the Hall.
Tatsukawa Hihara eavesdrops on everyone in the Hall of Qiu Zhuang.
After Jin Sheng Huo leaves the table early, Gu Xiao Meng, Li Ning Yu and Wang Tian Xiang have a conversation over the situation of Bai Xiao Nian as he is now encaged at the basement and investigated privately by Hihara.
Li Ning Yu meets Jin Sheng Huo outside in private.
Wang Tian Xiang meets Gu Xiao Meng in her room.
Wu Zhi Guo is fighting with the Japanese soldiers and after that being shot by Hihara. Wu is then tied and tortured. As Li Ning Yu appears, she is locked in front of Wu Zhi Guo and threatened by Hihara. Hearing this threat makes Wu Zhi Guo want to break free and kill Hihara but he cannot do so.
Gu Min Zhang and Li Ning Yu's family member Pan Han Qing meets privately at Gu Min Zhang's mansion. They plan to save Li Ning Yu and Gu Xiao Meng from Qiu Zhuang.
Gu Xiao Meng's 25th birthday night. Hihara and Wang Tian Xiang previously were there to prepare a birthday table and about to cheer drinks for her birthday, but Gu Xiao Meng angrily refuses and asks them to leave, she wants to celebrate her birthday with only Li Ning Yu. Xiao Meng and Ning Yu have a good time and later Ning Yu plays the piano and sings a song for Xiao Meng as a birthday present.
There is an incident during Gu Xiao Meng's birthday night and Li Ning Yu becames the primary suspect in the eyes of Hihara. Hihara summons Ning Yu at the basement and plays a mind game with her. However, with her intelligence, Ning Yu once again comes back safely.
Li Ning Yu is hypnotized by a Japanese army doctor for testimony.
Hihara's Japanese army doctor prepares for a surgery on a dead prisoner to examine if there is any hidden message inside the body.
Gu Xiao Meng reunites with her father.
Pan Han Qing and Gu Xiao Meng examine the surroundings for wiretapping device.
Gu Xiao Meng meets Commander Zhang at his house after leaving Qiu Zhuang, talking about Bai Xiao Nian and other matters.
A night bar at Hangzhou. Gu Xiao Meng comes here to meet someone for private business.
A Japanese Army's General named Jiuchao Tiefu (commonly called the Marquess) is Hihara's teacher and stepfather. He and Hihara visit the Gu family's mansion to discuss something important.
Hihara is invited to a dinner night at Qiu Zhuang at 8pm, but the dinner actually starts at 7pm. When Hihara comes, he recalls of the previous five people he investigated and related events. The dinner is in fact a simulated Qiu Zhuang investigation. This time, Hihara is investigated in front of The Marquess by other five people, including: Gu Xiao Meng, Pan Han Qing (previously Li Ning Yu's seat), Gu Min Zhang (previously Jin Sheng Huo's seat), Commander Zhang (previously Bai Xiao Nian's seat), and his betrayed Wang Tian Xiang (previously Wu Zhi Guo's seat).
The ending scene of The Message - a view of the whole Qiu Zhuang under morning light from the above, with Gu Xiao Meng and Pan Han Qing standing in front of the fountain at the main courtyard, marks the end of the story of Qiu Zhuang, as well as Gu Xiao Meng continues to walk on her chosen path.
[*Chinese name order: Lastname-Firstname. For example, in "Gu Xiao Meng", "Gu" is the Lastname and "Xiao Meng" is the Firstname.]
In 1941, the military secret agent Gu Xiao Meng successfully infiltrates the secret place of the Wang Puppet Corps and becomes a translator and telegrapher in the confidential room of the pseudo-corps after unremitting efforts and disguises. However, the assassination of Morita, the deputy director of the Japanese Army Intelligence Department, infuriates the Japanese side, who believes that it is all planned and carried out by an underground party leader code-named "Phantom" who has broken into the Japanese pseudo-intelligence organization. To thoroughly investigate this matter and find out “Phantom”, Gu Xiao Meng and her colleagues Li Ning Yu ( Chief of the Confidential Division of the Puppet Corps), Jin Sheng Huo (Director of the Confidential Division of the Puppet Corps), Wu Zhi Guo (Chief of the Operations Department) and Bai Xiao Nian (Commander Zhang's confidential secretary), are arrested by the head of the Japanese spy agency Tatsukawa Hihara (Longchuan Feiyuan). Wang Tian Xiang, Director of the Secret Service of the Wang Puppet Corps, imprisons five of them in Qiu Zhuang and learns that the Chinese Communist Party underground worker "Phantom" is among the five. If “Phantom” cannot be caught within the deadline, then none of the five of them will survive.
In a crisis of being cut off at a critical juncture and facing the danger of identity exposure, "Phantom" deals with the enemy and tries every means to transmit information. Tatsukawa Hihara tries his best to force "Phantom" to appear, but he does not want "Phantom" to wittily deal with the Japanese puppets and secret agents, creating various illusions to confuse the enemy, not only causing chaos within the enemy organization. The Communist Party later discovers the spy that Tatsukawa Hihara painstakingly planted in the underground organization is code-named "Yellowbird”. Gu Xiao Meng succeeds in getting rid of the traitor and uses Qiu Zhuang’s secrets to kill Tatsukawa Hihara. In the end, Gu Xiao Meng chooses the same path as “Phantom”. Xiao Meng continues to lurch amongst their enemies to complete the unfinished business of “Phantom”.
Words: Espionage, Code-break, Suspense, Second Sino-Japanese War / World War 2, Military, Thriller, Historical, Psychological
Adapted from the novel "Feng Sheng" by Mai Jia. 1942, Nanjing - following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government, the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a mansion for questioning, and eventually, torturing.
Examples of Original Posters (1)
Examples of Original Posters (2)
Enigma Machines (1)
Enigma Machines (2)
Examples of cryptography (1) - Links to some preferences (beside Google) of deciphering techniques
Examples of cryptography (2)
Examples of cryptography (3)
Examples of cryptography (4)
Clothes (1)
Clothes (2)
Clothes (3)
The Message's original opening
[Teaser] Ink movement
Deciphering process
Gear movement
Process of code-breaking
Enigma machine in motion
Transition from day to night
Interaction between time placement and environment (1)
Interaction between time placement and environment (2)
Interaction between time placement and environment (3)
Burnt paper transition
"Hard-cut" scene-by-scene transition
Camera-zooming transition; Qiu Zhuang revealed after the layer of clouds
Ease-in/ease-out zooming transition
Lighting movement
Broken object
Text rearrangement
Hand Morse Code
Smoked Morse Code
Concept of original title sequence
Typeface/Font Exploration
Grunge/Crumbled paper/Old paper texture
Concept Inspiration 1 - Overlay-text texture
Concept Inspiration 2 - Numeric code
Concept Inspiration 3 - layout design of the report
Concept Inspiration 4 - Enigma machine keyboard
Concept Inspiration 5 - document folder
Concept Inspiration 6 - large and small smoked rings implying Morse code
Concept Inspiration 7 - Telegraph Code Book
Concept Inspiration 8 - decipher circle
Concept Inspiration 9 - Japanese Rising Sun flag during WW2
Concept Inspiration 10 - Wiretapping devices
Music inspiration 1
Music inspiration 2
I intentionally use both Mandarin and English for this title sequence because I'm designing an English title sequence for a Chinese drama. Also, lots of elements in the title sequence highly relates to Chinese cryptography as this drama is set in Sino-Japanese War during WW2 period.
A list of starring actors' names encrypted with numeric code to briefly introduce the genre of the drama. *All the numeric code are "translated" based on the preference of Chinese Telegraph Code 1983.
Xu Lu as Gu Xiao Meng (translator and telegrapher of the Confidential Division of the Puppet Corps). This character works as a translator and telegrapher, therefore she involves in constructs the message in numeric code and translate the message. She also has to write out the final translation on a report paper. This inspires me to use the layout of report paper combined with the numeric code to introduce the actor.
Janice Man as Li Ning Yu (Chief of the Confidential Division of the Puppet Corps). This character is a decipher genius and she successfully deciphers the Enigma machine assigned by Morita on the Code Ship. Therefore, I choose the Enigma keyboard to present Li Ning Yu.
Tony Yang as Wu Zhi Guo (Chief of the Operations Department). This character is a professional soldier whose fighting skills is in top-tier. He often involves in battles, and uses guns and knives.
Zhou Yi Wei as Head of the Japanese spy agency Tatsukawa Hihara (Longchuan Feiyuan). This character is a Japanese high-ranking officer and he understands decipher techniques very well. I use the Japnese WW2 Rising Sun Flag combine it with a decipher circle to illustrate the background of this character.
Zhang Zhi Jian as Jin Sheng Huo (Director of the Confidential Division of the Puppet Corps). This character is an experienced spy/officer. He loves smoking cigarettes and in fact he has used the cigarette's smoked rings to secretly transmit a Morse code on the Code ship. This inspires me to use small and large circles to highlight this aspect of Jin Sheng Huo.
Niu Zi Fan as Bai Xiao Nian (Commander Zhang's confidential secretary). This character holds a huge amount of information in his hand - profiles of officers, secret documentations, etc. I illustrate the contour of a document folder with a circular bearing.
Yu Ai Lei as Wang Tian Xiang (Director of the Secret Service of the Wang Puppet Corps). This character is Hihara's assistant at Qiu Zhuang. Some tasks he does including helping Hihara eavesdrop on everyone in Qiu Zhuang, placing the wiretapping devices as needed, and conducting information. I use some features of a wiretapping device (knobs, rotating disc, switches) to show this aspect.
Xu Min as Gu Min Zhang (Xiao Meng's father, businessman well-known as King of Ship in Hangzhou) This character's identity is more complicated than what he's well-known for. As a successful businessman, he is definitely knowledgeable and wise. I create a dense composition using different elements of numeric code, Morse code and Chinese letters to illustrate his knowledge and unrevealed identity.
Jia Dong Yan as Scenarist. As a screenwriter, he has to read and write a lot in order to compose a good script. As the drama introduces a lot of coding and decoding techniques at the time as well as the Telegraph Code Book contains a lot of Chinese letters, I use the layout of the book to illustrate Jia's role and show an aspect of the drama as the same time. I also use the Chinese letters of the main characters' names to better show the Telegraph book layout and briefly introduce them.
Li Yun Liang as Director. I use a more abstract composition with a vertical and a horizontal line to mimic the camera screen. I also use the Morse code for the first letters of his name (LYL) to imply control buttons and the Ship's windows because the Ship is actually not in the original novel but later added to the drama.
This frame shows that the drama is adapted. I keep its design consistent with the frame "Produced by Tencent Video" to maintain the simplicity and directness of the information.
The Title of the drama. For this title sequence, my goal is to harmonize the elements of the original sequence with my own design ideas, therefore I intentionally keep the original drama title's design.