Discussing Zhang Yimou's Use of Colour in 'Hero'

Discussing Zhang Yimou’s use of colour in ‘Hero’ in a historical and cultural context, and assessing the domestic and international response to his work. As a student and admirer of all different sorts of filmmaking, I have developed particular interest in certain aspects of the craft, with one particular being an inventive use of colour within films. When a filmmaker pushes past the idea of colour simply just ‘being there’ and actually makes use of it in a particular way I always find it elevates my emotional response to the piece. However, when I began to research for this essay I found a surprising lack of material on the different uses of colour in film. Whilst explaining this mystery, Dalle Vacche and Price (2006) wrote ‘unlike the major areas of investigation within film studies – genre, auteurism, national cinema – to name but a few, colour remains an area of inquiry significantly less well heeled’. Therefore I wanted to use this essay to investigate one of my favourite directors, Zhang Yimou, and pull apart all the reasons why he pushed colour to its limit in his signature film Hero (2002). I will be looking at the different readings of his expressive use of colour in this film, as well as the critical and commercial response to it around the world, and also explaining how the use of colour has been an artistic choice throughout film history. When taking a broader look at the use of colour throughout film history, one point immediately becomes apparent: colour wasn’t always an option for the filmmaking community. However, even when you look at the very first films ever made, it’s obvious that the different tones between black and white vary because of the technicolour of the original subjects, and moving into the advent of actual colour in films, expressionist interpretations quickly appeared, including Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948), both films directed by virtuoso pairing Powell & Pressburger. Edgar, Marland and Rawle (2015) discussed the latter film, ‘watch the central ballet sequence …its expressive use of colour, setting, costume… one of the most important visual sequences ever produced for the screen.’ Powell & Pressburger’s experimentations with colour pushed the industry forwards, allowing future generations to experiment with their usage of colour to a greater extent. Moving forward three decades, Edgar, Marland and Rawle (2015) looked at Don’t Look Now (1973) to see how the usage of colour in film had become more expressionistic. ‘Throughout Don’t Look Now, the bright red coat becomes a repetitive motif in the mise-en-scène, symbolising John’s guilt around the death of his daughter, as well as playing a role in the ghostly story of past and future.’ This particular usage of colour within film, with one colour boldly standing out from a more muted palette, had been wildly popular in the film industry for decades for its assistance in pushing forwards particular points and creating references for the audience to be able to easily follow a narrative. A more recent film which also used this technique is Schindler’s List (1993), with the repeated use of a highlighted red coat allowing the audience to follow the location of the little girl and bring about a stronger emotional response as a result. Natalie M. Kalmus, credited as the “colour supervisor” of almost every single Technicolor film produced between 1934 and 1949, had as big a hand to play in the development and usage of colour as any director or cinematographer of the time. Describing her view of how colour should be used, Kalmus (1935) explained, ‘A super-abundance of colour is unnatural, and has a most unpleasant effect not only upon the eye itself, but upon the mind as well.’ Looking back at the examples of the usage in colour in film I’ve already gone through, the usage of colour is still quite subtle and very Page | 1 effective, something Kalmus doubtlessly inspired and would have enjoyed. However my focus film for this essay completely throws her rules away. Directed by celebrated Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, Hero (2002) is an overload of colour, combining the delicacy of the arthouse style with the overload of the modern blockbuster to create an unforgettable visual experience. The film has a non-linear structure, with the same story being repeated multiple times depending on which character’s perspective we’re viewing it from, and although the structure is very complex Zhang has a surprising technique to easily separate these timelines: colour. The revolutionary usage of colour in Hero (2002) was the result of a partnership between Zhang and his cinematographer on the film, Chris Doyle, who was already well known for using a vibrant colour scheme that affects the viewer due to his work on movies such as In the Mood for Love (2000). Together they decided to use colour to separate the different timelines, and overloaded each shot with its respective colour in order to both create an overwhelming visual experience and also create a more logical plot structure. As Edgar, Marland and Rawle (2015) explain, ‘Zhang and Doyle give us a code in the mise en scene to understand where we are, and each unit has a dominant colour: (1) Black; (2) Grey; (3) Red; (4) Blue; (5) White; and (6) Green.’ Using colour in this way benefits the film in two ways. Firstly, it makes a potentially unwieldy film structure work a lot better and the storyline becomes easier to process, meaning that the messages Zhang wanted to get across are a lot more accessible. Kalmus (1935) found this in her own research, ‘colours alone speak with more eloquence than could be described by words.’ However it also works in the way of simply making the film look very good; there are numerous scenes in the film that stick in the mind for their beauty and composure, and the overload of colour within every frame helps to create both a unique identity for the film within the modern filmmaking landscape and also create emotional responses within the viewer. Zhang’s use of colour within his films is perfectly programmed to create emotional reactions from the audience, just as any other aspect of filmmaking should be. It is widely known in many different forms of media that different colours create varying emotions, with an example being given by Edgar, Marland and Rawle (2015) while discussing Hero (2002), ‘The red, blue, white, and green sections could be interpreted as representing common emotional symbols. Since the red sequence is about a romantic spat, we might see the colour representing anger, or the green might represent envy.’ This instant emotional response to colour that most of the audience will have seems relatively simple, however ask a sample of strangers what emotions a colour triggers within them and you’ll likely hear lots of different answers. Dalle Vacche and Price (2006) agree, ‘How do we know what a particular use of red means if, in our culture, red can indicate multiple and often contradictory things: love and anger; revolution and madness.’ This varying reaction to colour should work against someone trying to use it as a storytelling tool, however it works in Zhang’s favour, underlining the idea that the narrative suggests; life is coloured by the viewpoint of the individual. As Edgar, Marland and Rawle (2015) state, ‘…we need to remember what the narrative is saying to us overall: the truth is relative. Each colour then takes on a different shade or nuance of memory depending who is telling the story.’ Therefore the angry red of one character could be the lustful red of another, or a scenario could be coloured green for one envious character and purple for another more powerful character, giving Zhang’s fictional world and characters more emotional depth. Page | 2 Looking at specific frames from Hero (2002), I wanted to pick out specific moments which highlight Zhang’s creative use of colour, and explain why exactly the shot works so well in this colourful context. In the two shots above, the character ‘Flying Snow’ (played by Maggie Cheung) is reflective after having just killed another character in battle. As her back is turned to the camera, the colour of the leaves turn to red, falling down around her and making her blend in with her surroundings. My immediate reaction to this scene is that the character is pondering the life she has just taken, and therefore the leaves change colour to match the blood she has just spilled. As red is normally viewed as an aggressive colour that would certainly seem to match my point. However when watching the film this shot doesn’t seem to signal anger or danger as you’d expect, instead a kind of sadness or resignation, something which I believe is due to the figure being swallowed up by the colour around her. As Hillenbrand (2013) states, ‘…the way the camera soaks the screen in redness functions counterintuitively, since this notional uniformity in hue only works to destabilize the very concept of solid colour.’ If you mix this concept with the stereotypical suggestion that red is a dangerous colour, it seems to signal that Flying Snow has resigned herself to the fatal consequences of her actions, for which she will eventually suffer consequences. Page | 3 In contrast to the other shot I highlighted, the frame above is notable for its lack of colour. The ‘white’ segment of this film is meant to signify the truth of the storyline, but due to the tragic consequences the characters suffer throughout this section it could just as easily point to other ideas.

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