Cultural crossover with vertical short films

Collaboration, localization and teamwork make commercial model from China successful overseas

For Western audiences, a nosebleed does not signal that someone is falling in love.

However, for many Chinese viewers, a nosebleed is a cue that love is in the air — love at first sight. When a character gazes at their crush, blood trickles from their nose, an exaggerated yet familiar sign of heart-racing attraction. This metaphor, often used in Chinese and Asian films and television, has become somewhat of a cliche but is widely accepted by local audiences.

"The idea simply doesn't exist in American cultural contexts," Annie Lee, a vertical short series director based in New York, told China Daily. "A nosebleed carries no such metaphorical weight. Unlike in China, where these kinds of indirect symbolism are often used to convey emotion, but these associations are rare in the West."